S1: It's time for KPBS Midday Edition. On today's show , the arts and culture scene in San Diego. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed and inspired and make you think. Hear about an orchestra that welcomes adults to just have fun and play their instruments , regardless of skill level. Then Beth Accomando gives us a preview of this year's San Diego International Fringe Festival. Plus , Julia Dixon Evans will tell us about her arts calendar. That's ahead on Midday Edition. Every Wednesday for six weeks at a time. Adult musicians gather at the Coronado Community Center to practice their flutes , violins , and trombones. They call themselves the Coronado Terribles Orchestra. This is them at a recent performance of Blue Danube. You can hear a few out of tune instruments and wrong notes there , but that's the point , because the Coronado Terrible Orchestra is a judgment free zone , open for all to come , play their instruments and just really have fun. Founder and director Casey O'Hanlon is a studio is in studio with me , I should say. And Casey , welcome to the show. I'm glad to have you here.
S2: Oh , thank you for having me , Casey.
S1: I mean , you know this orchestra is your creation. This is your baby.
S2: Um , there there was a , an incredible director named Deb who decided to start this orchestra for , you know , novice musicians or , or professionals who were playing secondary instruments in a very non-judgmental space. And I just loved the concept. I actually played with them for a couple of seasons. And when I moved here , I realized that at least in in the South , you know , South San Diego , there just wasn't anything , uh , and anything for adults to be okay with being bad. Right ? We have some incredible community ensembles in San Diego. Um , you know , they are almost nearly professional level in some cases. And so they can be intimidating for the adult returner. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , you know , earlier this year , KPBS web producer Brendan Titchener did a story and a social media video on the orchestra that really got a lot of attention.
S2: Everybody was incredibly supportive , and we also had a lot of new people that were really excited to join us , so we've been able to expand. I actually had to expand our maximum from 30 to 40 people and moved to a larger room in the community center. Um , and , you know , start working out music that wasn't just small chamber ensemble music. Um , and that's all been incredibly fun. Um , like I said , we've we've reached the it that story reached the correct people for sure.
S1: Yeah , well , we touched on on. You know , how much experience some people have versus others. But I mean , I would imagine there's a lot of folks like myself who maybe played an instrument in high school and would love to pick it back up. I mean , is that kind of , uh , does that make up a lot of the orchestra ? Absolutely.
S2: Absolutely. One of our original members , uh , played flute in high school , quit for 20 years , and came back to it to play in the orchestra. Uh , that's been a large chunk of our members are picking their instrument up again. So I get I , I , I email back and forth with a lot of new members and kind of help guide them on , you know , how to build up your chops a little bit before the session begins , things like that. Um , so that they can feel really comfortable and confident when they come into that first rehearsal. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. What are the biggest barriers to learning an instrument today.
S2: I think time. And I think with adults we have this idea that we have to be really good at something immediately. Um , if if I'm not perfect at it , what's the point ? Um , and I think that that comes from the culture of I have to monetize my hobbies. I have to it has to bring some value. And I think that is the biggest , the biggest barrier that I find for adults learning a new instrument is that if they're not immediately good at it , if they can't monetize it , if they are not a professional within a couple of weeks , they're like , what's the point ? But the point is joy. The point is finding something that is specifically not making you money. That's specifically not , you know , a hustle. Mhm.
S1: I mean , and that's that is it. I mean no no story there. I mean so spaces like the Coronado Terrible Orchestra. I mean , you all really help people overcome that.
S2: So much confidence building happening. Um , you know , we have we have a lot of members that really struggle with that. Um , and quite a few that have come a long way that are , you know , that are okay to , you know , that maybe played 1 or 2 notes during the first session but are now playing full phrases loudly , you know , and that's that's all I can hope for is , is a little bit of confidence , you know , a little bit of joy. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Can you walk us through a typical rehearsal ? Sure.
S2: So we always we start out right at seven. We go through a little bit of a warm up. Um , I like to use this book called Treasury of Scales. I like to challenge a little bit. So , you know , we go through a scale that maybe not everybody is familiar with. I like to challenge my strings and flat keys , my , uh , wins and sharp keys. Um , and we just work with that exercise to one be able to play in those keys and to to be able to blend as an orchestra. We warm up with that , a couple of those and then we tune and then we usually will. I usually send out an email the week before saying , here are the things that we're going to work on. Um , and then that way they can focus , you know , players can focus their practice in. Because what I don't want is , you know , uh , players to feel overwhelmed at home. Um , because the reality is we're adults , we have adult responsibilities , we got kids , we got jobs. So if we're going to work on three pieces or two pieces , then I'm going to send that out the week before and say , hey , we're going to work on the Blue Danube , we're going to work on Pirates of the Caribbean. And that's what we're going to do. And so we , uh , you know , do some parts , some little parts on pieces until about 8:00. We take a break in the middle stretch , breathe. Yeah. Talk to each other , hang out and then come back the second half. And , um , usually we'll run pieces in their entirety this time around. We've got , uh , we're playing Van Halen hits. Okay.
S1: Okay.
S2: Oh , yes. So we have a drummer , uh , that has kindly volunteered his time to come out and play just the the Van Halen hits with us. And so in the second half , we've been just jamming out.
S1:
S2: Um , there's a lot of , uh , you know , muscle memory that ingrained itself much more than we think when it comes to playing an instrument. Part of my story is that I quit my flute after college. For a few years I was just really burnt out. And now , of course , I had played for , you know , probably ten years before I quit or 12 years before I quit. But when I picked it back up , it was incredible how quickly everything just kind of fell back into place. And I see that a lot with adults who used to play an instrument. It takes a little bit to knock the rust off , but it comes back pretty quickly.
S1: All right. Second hand I mean that's great. You mentioned confidence and and seeing that grow in the musicians you work with in music itself can be a huge outlet for mental health too.
S2: We need a little bit of joy , right ? We we everything is is kind of chaos and on fire. And you know what I love about our rehearsals and what I try to talk about during personal practice time is shutting all that out. Right. We are here. We are making music , and nothing else matters , right ? You know , we have the we do have a beautiful backdrop at the Coronado Community Center where , you know , we've got a whole bunch of windows. We can look out and we can see the bay and the boats and everything. And , you know , we really lean into that , that kind of vibe where , you know , we can just look out at the ocean and play our instrument and then look out at the ocean. Mhm. Um , but I think that , you know , having some sort of I think we don't prioritize that enough as adults. Right. We're doing better about telling kids that they need to take care of their mental health. But we're not. It's still not as great in this generation in this day and age. It , um , you know , telling adults they need to pause and they need to take care of themselves , right ? We're really push , push , push. Go go go. Um. And I think that , you know , an orchestra like this kind of forces people to , you know , take a few minutes away. Mhm. And , and I love that it's fun for me too , because it forces me out of my , out of my norm. You know , and , and I take a few moments away and it's nice.
S1: I love that you can look at the ocean too. Yes.
S2: That part yesterday we had sectionals. Uh , one of my good friends is a brass teacher , and she came out to work with my winds , and they went outside and they were right out on the patio with , you know , and the beach , the oceans just right there. So it was awesome. I was like , that is the perfect way to do a sectional. Yes.
S1: Oh my goodness , I would agree. Well , okay. So you also focus on really making classical music accessible and inclusive. Um , but you're taking it a step further of it's inclusive of all body types , neuro types and disabilities. Talk about that. And some of the ways classical music has actually been exclusive. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. In general , um , you know , classical music. And I look at this from the collegiate perspective , right ? The , um , you know how it is , it is very much valued people who are able to be in a practice room for hours and hours on end , um , who are able to focus for that long , who are able to physically be present for that long. And if you aren't there , then , well , it weeds you out pretty quickly. Um , and that's one thing that I struggled with in college. You know , I mean , just being on the neurodivergent spectrum , right ? I struggled with that a lot because , you know , being in a practice room for two hours at a time and trying to be productive is not easy. Um , so , you know , we're looking at , um , you know , performance aids , you know , how can we make , um , playing for a couple an hour at a time , even more accessible if you , you know , have chronic illness , right ? Um , so even just putting a break in the middle of rehearsal. Take a break. Stretch , breathe. Get some water. You know , that's not something that a lot of , uh , you know , orchestras , even community ones do , because we gotta go. We have stuff to do , you know , and we need to keep up. So , um , you know , trying to put breaks in the middle , encouraging people. Hey , if you need to get up , stand up and walk , do that. You don't have to ask me. You don't have to feel weird about it. Um , also encouraging those little performance aids. So even in the flute world , we have little , um , like , thumb helpers , right ? These have all been kind of looked at , looked at as cheating in the world of classical music. These little performance aids have been looked at as cheating in the past and but I mean , adding one of those in helped my thumb position be correct. So I wasn't hurting myself , you know , and little arm rests so that you can keep your arm up for a. Long.
S1: Long.
S2: Period of time , things like that. And so we're doing our best to , you know , I do my best to make sure that I'm , I'm researching those aids as people need them and , um , trying to figure out what's out there or what can be modified to be helpful in , in our space. Um , because , again , chronic illness is real , um , and people struggle with it. And so not everybody can sit there and play their instrument for two hours without stopping. Very true.
S1:
S2: Bring your instrument. Um , you know , there are we ? I usually try , Since we have a vast , um , range of abilities , I typically try to have about 4 to 5 pieces that we're working on at any given time. Um , and some of them are going to be a little bit on the easier side. Some of them are going to be a stretch if you are struggling with the stretch pieces. I always encourage anybody who's struggling with those , let me know. I can write you down an easier piece. You know I can write you down an easier part. Or even last night we were talking , uh , you know , that was our last , I guess , our dress rehearsal. Um , I said , you know , if worse comes to worse , play the first note of every bar , right ? That's it. Play the first note of every bar , and next session you'll play one more of every bar. Um , so really , I mean , there's there's really no barrier to entry here. I try to make it as , um , accessible as possible. You know , just be willing to challenge a little bit. Be willing to be silly and laugh and especially laugh at the mistakes , because we laugh at all the mistakes. As a matter of.
S1: Fact , yourself too seriously.
S2: Here ? Exactly. I think in The Blue Danube in particular , there's a at the end. There's a grand pause during that performance. And at the beginning , right before I started , I said to to the musicians , I said , don't play during the grand pause because this was something we'd worked on and we'd get to the end. And one person played during The Grandpas and we all giggled.
S1: I love that , that's great. Well , I can't wait to check out a show or maybe even join the orchestra. Yeah , I've been speaking with Casey Casey. Colin Hanlon. Sorry about that. Director of the Coronado Terrible Orchestra. The orchestra will be performing Wednesday , May 13th at the Coronado Community Center. Will include any links and information on our page at KPBS. And we're going out with another performance by the Coronado Terrible Orchestra. This is from Pirates of the Caribbean. Cassie. Thank you so much.
S2: Thank you.
S1: Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. So next week , the San Diego International Fringe Festival returns for its 14th year to celebrate bold , uncensored creativity from across the country and around the world. This year , San Diego Fringe expands its binational footprint as it prepares to welcome global leaders for the World Fringe Congress to discuss what's new this year. KPBS Arts reporter Beth Accomando speaks with the creative minds who make fringe happen.
S3: We're on the eve of the 14th annual San Diego International Fringe Festival , and although I find it hard to believe There are still some people out there who don't know what a fringe festival is. So I asked Kevin Charles Patterson , the founder and CEO of our San Diego Fringe , to provide a little history about the rebellious roots of fringe.
S4: Yeah , it started in 1947 , in Edinburgh , Scotland , when they were having a festival in their city , and there was a group of artists that weren't included in that whole festival and that group of artists with disappointment say , okay , well , if we're not going to be a part of that festival , we're going to start our own on the fringe of the main festival , and we're going to call it the Fringe Festival. And that's where the whole movement started. With these artists creating their own project , and that movement has carried around the world , and we're at a point where it's almost 300 festivals around the world. The model primarily is making sure that it's open access , easy access as well for artists and audience to be able to either create new works or experience new works. It's really an incredible platform.
S3: And I feel like that sense of kind of rebellion and being on the fringes really infuses everything about the festival and the type of artists that you get.
S4: Yeah , it's it's really interesting to see. I think that sometimes we will see productions that are within the festival that most likely would never find a home outside of the festival. And the most fascinating thing is when one of those shows ends up being a success and word of mouth spreads and people say , oh , you have to go see that show. And it could be something that's really avant garde that we would never buy tickets for. But we go ahead and we try it out and can end up just loving it. It's incredible to also hear audience feedback when they do go see things that they normally would not see , and the appreciation for the experience , I love it.
S3: San Diego Fringe took a hit when it lost its home base of the Spreckels Theater in downtown San Diego and had to relocate. Then it took another hit when Covid shut down in-person events such as live theater. But it's been slowly rebounding , and this year , producing director Shawn Davis says it's increasing the number of shows and expanding the fringe campus.
S5: The footprint , again , is kind of all over San Diego. We try to hit lots of different areas. So this year we're adding San Diego State into our mix. They are partnering with us. So we've got three venues there. We're doing the Sdsu mainstage , formerly the Don Powell , the Prairies Theater and the experimental there. So that's kind of new for us that way. We have some our BYOB reach for bring Your Own venues is expanded all the way up to Poway. We've got a group performing in the old Poway Park , you know , and then we're also again at Liberty Station out in the midway area with L.A. girls , Old Town with the school for Creative Careers , Balboa Park with the Mary Hitchcock Puppet Theater , and the Centro Cultural de la Raza. And then , of course , 49th and Logan Cultural Complex. We've got no limits in new Destiny , which we've been at for a couple of years , and we have a brand new theater that is this is its inauguration for not only for the fringe , but for everything called the Golden Corpse Theater. Not quite as many shows as I was hoping for. We've had a lot of problems with people not being able to get into town or come to the festival. We had one , one of our groups from Italy. Not only were they denied a visa , they were told that they couldn't reapply for ten years. So that was kind of shocking. So we did not get the international groups that we had were hoping to for this year , because this year we are the hosts for the World Fringe Congress. And that's a pretty big deal considering we're only in our 14th year. There have been fringe festivals have been around way longer than us that they've never gone to. So this is a big feather in our cap and a nice accolade for San Diego to have them here as well.
S3: Now , one thing that I've seen confuses people is the idea of the fringe tag. So explain why people need a fringe tag to attend the festival.
S5: The fringe tag is actually your admission to the festival itself. That's kind of our way of , you know , getting a little bit of money when we're having all of these terrible budget cuts , and especially now we need it more than ever. In the last two years , our budget has dropped by more than 60% because because of the cuts , I think we are probably closer to 35% of what we were getting two years ago. I have to have some way to perpetuate the festival. So tag sales does that. City grants and funding was doing that. But now that's kind of a bleak for all the arts organizations in town. But the fringe tags are what gets you into the festival , so you have to have a tag to access the festival. Then you buy a ticket because the ticket proceeds. When you buy that $13 ticket , all $13 that goes to the show that you're seeing , we don't take a cut of it. We don't take a percentage of it. That all goes to them. The fringe tag is what really keeps us going.
S3: And the fringe tag is a single time purchase. You buy it once and then you get to attend the festival.
S5: You buy it once and it's a great souvenir because they look like little metal dog tags. There are a few of us that you'll see wandering around that have all 14 of them on honor chains.
S3: Now , one thing that is different for you is there is now paid parking at Balboa Park , and Balboa Park is your home base. Do you have any sense of how this might impact you.
S5: Well , I think for us , because I was a little shrewd on this one , and I did not do daytime shows in Balboa Park this year. We are not doing I've got one group that's doing some early shows prior to 6:00 , only because they can only be here for one day , but for all the other shows , we don't start Balboa Park until 6 p.m. so that we can kind of avoid having our audiences have to pay for parking. It's kind of sad , because it means that I'm putting less shows in a theater to to do that , I had to drop at least two shows from from both of the venues in Balboa Park , but luckily I had other places I could move them to before we go off of paid parking in Balboa Park for San Diego State. It is also paid parking , so people should be aware of that as well. And we do have that on our program that we're printing our program schedule. It has QR codes that you can scan , and it will give you the parking information for both Balboa Park and for San Diego State University.
S3:
S5: We've got that. Also this year you will see delegates running around from all over the world , which is kind of interesting because normally that's not the case where you don't have , you know , people from other countries that may not have a show in the festival , but they're here at the festival to see the festival.
S3: And you also have an awards show.
S5: We do every year. We do at the very end of the festival. We let everybody go crazy. We have an awards night , and then some of those awards are traveling awards where some of the acts will travel to other countries. We've sent quite a few to Australia , New Zealand , but we also have a couple of shows in the festival this year that we're award winners from Australia and New Zealand. I believe we the show from India is also one of the ones that was sent over as one of the exchanges. So we have exchanges with , you know , several cities where we can send people there. They can send people here. They don't pay production fees when they come here. These people don't pay production fees when they go there. We also , for all of our national and international acts , we try to house them and billet them. And we've billeted , I believe , 41 people so far and we still have a few more to go. That's one of the unusual things with our festival that we really do. If you go to other festivals , you do a buy in to be part of the festival , but then you have to get your space , you have to get your technicians , you have to get all of that on your own here. You know , people pay to be in the festival and they we put them in a venue , we supply a technician. And for some of them we even supply housing. I mean , you know , it's it's kind of a deal you can't beat.
S3: As Davis mentioned , San Diego Fringe will be hosting the World Fringe Congress. And to explain what that is. I spoke with its director , Holly Lombardo.
S6: Wild fringe has been operating since 2007. So next year is our 20th Birthday. And what we set out to do is connect Fringe Festival directors and producers all over the world together , and support them with creating new festivals and to share knowledge between festivals , basically. And now we we support 300 fringe festivals all over the world , all in different shapes and sizes , from the Edinburgh Fringe , which is the longest standing and the largest in the world , to some of the smaller ones , you know , with 1015 events. So we are here to support and to bring fringe festivals together and therefore create amazing platforms for touring artists and for audiences to see new and exciting and innovative work. Basically , fringe festivals are a very exciting sector in the festival. Ecology.
S3: And this year , the World Fringe Congress is coming here to San Diego.
S6: I'm delighted. I literally can't wait for it to be in San Diego. I think for San Diego City , it is a really kind of culturally thinking city to be in. It's got some amazing cultural offerings. One is the Fringe Festival , of course , which has been going a long time and utilizes many venues and partnerships across the county and even into Mexico as well. So we're showcasing the the cross-border relationships and partnerships that you have in San Diego. Also , it's going to mean that there are 50 plus international delegates coming in to the city for a few days , and we are showing them what San Diego has to offer. It is going to be an amazing Congress , which I'm very excited about. So it's going to be a kind of complete cultural immersion. And I understand from all the people that I've spoken to and met through organizing this Congress , that San Diego has that international cultural outlook , and it wants to be kind of an incubator for cultural exchange and new work and innovation , you know , and challenge LA in its media and film. I can see San Diego being the cultural and arts and theater performing arts exchange in the same way that LA is for film and media. So this is the start of that journey , particularly when it comes to partnering with international arts and kind of innovating when it comes to cultural consumption for audiences in San Diego.
S3:
S6: I am a complete fringe a holic , and I have been since 2002. I've been working in fringe festivals so many , many years , and what excites me about them is the innovation and the forward thinking and the generosity of spirit that comes with the people that run them , and the artists that take part in them and the venues that support them. Um , and they are always on the front line of innovation , of experimental work and kind of and change as well. So they're not afraid to shape the future of how people might consume art and culture , but also they're there to to be a springboard for the stars of the future. So without fringe festivals and having that starting point for careers , we wouldn't have your Broadway shows and we wouldn't have shows and amazing artists , you know , and musicians around the world , many of which have started in fringe festivals. Well , fringe festivals around the world collectively reach about 19 million people in audiences. It isn't small , although some of the fringe festivals are small. Collectively , it has a huge offer. You know , 60,000 events happening , 170,000 artists touring , you know , and that's a relatively conservative guesstimate , I would say , about what fringe does. I'd say if anybody's listening and wants to try a fringe out and you're in San Diego , then this is the opportunity to to come and see what happens. It's lively. It's Invigorating. The tickets are not expensive. It is a very exciting place to be , and the more you immerse yourself into it , the more you will get out of it , basically. And that goes for everybody. Artists , festival directors and audiences.
S3: And to reflect on what it means for the San Diego Fringe to host the World Fringe Congress. I'll let Kevin Charles Paterson have the last word.
S4: World Fringe Congress I went to the very first one that they ever had. That was a full official World Fringe Congress. And it is movers and shakers from around the world. They're really fringe festival organizers all together in one place , and it's a sharing of best practices and ways of us boosting what we do to be of more help of service for the artists and then also for our communities. We went to all the different sessions , and I would sit in the room and it would be all these people from around the world , and I found it so inspiring with what they were doing for the arts and culture in their cities around the world , and the impact that they were having on their communities around the world with the shared experiences as people attend the festivals. And I just thought , this is really quite magical to sit in the middle of all of this with all these organizers and look at the impact that they're all having. And it was so inspirational that from that time and that visit , I said , this is what I want to do. So that's my whole outlook on all of it. But what it brings to San Diego and what makes it special for us , having it in San Diego is it puts us on this global arts and culture spotlight. You can't have people from Nigeria , from United Arab Emirates , And we have people from Sweden. The point is , we're having people from all around the world that create festivals , that puts this spotlight on us , and it's wonderful for the recognition. It's wonderful for us to be able to perpetuate more opportunities for artists. Nobody knows this yet. But with the Lagos fringe coming from Nigeria , I want to talk to them about doing a tour ready award where we can do an exchange. You've already witnessed that in New Zealand , at New Zealand Fringe , where we sent an artist away and brought an artist. So that's another thing with having World Fringe Congress here is we can try to foster even more cultural exchanges , creating more opportunities for our artists and putting more of a spotlight on our city.
S1: That was Beth Accomando speaking with San Diego fringes Kevin Charles Patterson and Shawn Davis , as well as World Fringe managing director Holly Lombardo. San Diego Fringe launches May 12th and continues through May 24th. For locations and details , go to KPBS. Up next , Julia Dixon Evans tells us about the arts events on her weekend calendar. KPBS Midday Edition returns after the break. Welcome back to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. This weekend , there is photography that explores where our food comes from , classical music about sinkholes , and a couple of free ideas from Mother's Day. All of it is on the arts calendar of KPBS Arts reporter and host of the finest podcast , Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , welcome.
S7: Hey , Jade. Thanks for having me.
S1: It's always glad. I'm always glad to have you here in studio and really get into these events that are happening over the weekend. Um , first let's talk about this photo exhibit , which I think is really neat in that it honors farm workers. Tell me about that.
S7: So this is by Jimmy Dorantes. He's a photojournalist who grew up in Calexico and the exhibits called The Hands That Feed Us. It's about honoring , understanding the people who are responsible for getting the food on our tables , on the grocery shelves. A big part of his childhood was seeing his family members and neighbors across the border traveled to do farm work. His mother grew up with a family who were farm laborers in Imperial Valley , and they also traveled. Um , they started taking photos really young age. Like early elementary school. He got a camera when he was a little kid. Ended up spending decades then in his career as a photojournalist for time magazine. But he remembers the moment when he first took a photo of a farm worker. It was when he was 14. One of his friends in high school noticed he was into taking pictures and said , you have to take one of my grandfather. He's this farm labor , you have to see him. And it ended up being this gorgeous black and white photo of this older man. Um , this and all of his other work is on view at the Photographer's Eye. It's a small gallery in art collective space in Escondido. The exhibit's going to open Saturday with a reception from 5 to 7. And then for future weekends. The gallery hours are Friday and Saturday from 11 to 5. Through June 6th. And this is free.
S1: All right , well , let's stay in the North County because there's an exhibit at the Santa Isabel Art Gallery. Um , what can you tell me about that one ? Yeah.
S7: So this , um , Santa Isabel Art gallery. It's a small gallery. It's right in Santa Isabel and the main drive , like , kind of between Ramona and Julian. It's right next to Dudley's bread , which I love. Um , and this is an exhibit by a local collective. It was formed in 2021 around like a pretty unique goal , which is to support the San Diego River Park Foundation. And you might think of the San Diego River as just like the section paralleling Mission Valley , but it's actually 52 miles long. It starts like the Santa Isabel Open Space preserve up in the mountains all the way to Ocean Beach , and this exhibit is part of their River days 2026 event. It's called Art of the River. So there's painting and sculpture and all of the works in some way. Connect the stories of the plants , the animals , the landscapes along the river. Their histories and their future. There is an event Saturday evening from 4 to 7. This opens the exhibit and then the gallery is open 11 to 5 on Sunday two. So if you want to check it out either day , maybe Mother's Day. Take your mom on a little hike. The Santa Isabel Open Space Preserve is a little ways up the road , but really gorgeous.
S1: That sounds wonderful. And the Dudley's bread was an extra little nugget in there. Exactly.
S7: Exactly. Get your mom a loaf of bread. Yes , that's what I want.
S1: Any other Mother's Day suggestions ? Yeah.
S7: On Sunday , there's actually this really sweet option in Poway. It's at the Poway library. It's their Mother's Day tea party. They'll have refreshments and a performance from the Poway Symphony , which is a small chamber ensemble connected to the Power Unified School District's adult school. And the Tea Party is free. It's all ages and you can also check out a book while you're there , which is probably what your mom really wants you to do. It's 2 to 3 on Sunday at the Poway Library.
S1: Another lovely event. There's an artist talk on Saturday at Bread and Salt. Is that right ? Yeah.
S7: This is part of Tatiana Ortiz Rubio's exhibit. It's called noncompliant. And this has been up for a while now. I think like over a month at Bread and Salt. Um , Ortiz Ruby is one of the recipients of the San Diego Art Prize this year , and she has this new solo exhibit. She told me that the work is inspired by the idea of what she refers to as Crip time , informed by her own experience with her daughter.
S8: I caregiver , my daughter who has complex disabilities and I. I know in the underlying of my work it has always been present this idea of how someone with an intellectual disability experiences time differently. Sadly , it is completely based on what a productive body can offer to society.
S7: And when I first learned about Ortiz , Rubio and first saw her art , she was doing a lot of these like cloud like murals with charcoal. But her work is so varied and I love that , like , especially with this exhibit. Like , I love it when an artist has a thing that they do really well , but they also have this really thoughtful range. Yeah. And Ortiz Rubio is going to be in discussion with Elizabeth Rutledge , who's she's an artist , curator , educator and writer. And she recently curated an exhibit at Best Practice. I think it was just over a year ago called Picturing Health. This was about chronic illness , sickness and disability. So this should be a really interesting conversation between two experts on this. And just like a chance to dig in a little deeper into the art , as well as some social issues and a chance to to see the exhibit if you haven't already. At 6 p.m. on Saturday , May 9th at Bread and Salt.
S1: All right. And the GI Film Festival is underway. What's on your radar there ? Yeah.
S7: So , as you know , it's the annual festival of cinema by for and about the military veterans and their families , presented by KPBS at Mopar in Balboa Park. And tonight is the documentary shorts block. It's at five so early evening. And there's a panel hosted by our own KPBS military reporter , Andrew Dyer. I love documentary shorts. Just , you know , it's longer than a news story , but , like , still short enough to be , like , really impressive storytelling. And also tonight is a screening of Ugo and Artist at War. This there's a panel with Beth Accomando , also KPBS , Beth Accomando. And tomorrow night is a screening of American Solitaire and the always fun Narrative shorts block. Tickets are $11 for military veterans , students or KPBS members or their $16 for the public. Wonderful.
S1: Wonderful. And I'll actually be moderating the panel for American Solitaire on.
S7: KPBS own Jade Hindman. Friday.
S1: Friday. I'll be there. We'll talk about it.
S7: And that one looks incredible.
S1: Um , Moxie Theatre is opening a new show this week , so tell me about it. It's called A room in the Castle. Yeah.
S7: Yeah. This is by Lauren Gunderson. Um , she's one of the most prolific playwrights working right now. In fact , American Theater Magazine ranked her as one of the most produced playwrights for multiple years in a row. Um , she's written the half life of Marie Curie. Exit , pursued by a bear. Those are just a couple that we've had on local stages recently , and A room in the Castle is a new work. It premiered last year at the Folger Theatre , and it's about the women of hamlet. So Ophelia , Hamlet's mother , Queen Gertrude , and then a new character that Gunderson created like this , made to Ophelia. It centers their experience and their stories , but still is very much about the troubled hamlet. It opens the Sunday with a matinee at Moxie Theater. Runs through June 7th. Wonderful.
S1: Wonderful. On a random note , Gertrude is such a solid name , a great name. I mean , all right , um , let's talk about music before we go , because the San Diego Symphony has a set of performances this weekend.
S7: It's by contemporary Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz. Her Sonate concerto. And it's about sinkholes in Mexico. Ortiz's imagine these like vast , intricate underground worlds connecting them. We're listening to Alisa Wilkerson playing it right now with the LA Philharmonic , and the symphony is also performing Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony and Beethoven's Leonore Overture number three. Performances are 730 Saturday night and 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon at Jacobs Music Center.
S1: And what's going on in live music this weekend.
S7: So one show on my radar is L10 11. They're playing at the Casbah Saturday night. They're an LA based instrumental post-rock kind of duo. Um , but also playing is a local band called Band Argument. They put out a full length album last summer called if the Accident will. It's just like this really excellent album's propulsive but also like mellow indie rock , great songwriting , and it has this kind of math rock vibe. Um , yeah. Their sound reminds me a lot of the sea and cake.
S1: All right , well , you can find these on our website , KPBS. Thank you so much , Julia.
S7: Thank you. Jade.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
