S1: Welcome in San Diego , it's Jade Hindman on today's show. The Arts and Culture Shaping San Diego. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. So by day , they worked in California's fields. On a night out , they dressed up and went dancing for Filipino men. In 1930s San Diego , taxi dance halls , offered music company and a dance partner won ten cent ticket at a time. Outside those rooms , racial discrimination restricted their lives. California law even barred marriage between Filipino and white partners. That's the world of Mary Sullivan's new novel , Taxi Dancer. Inspired by a real San Diego murder case , the book follows Eli , a Filipino farm worker , and Lucinda , a white taxi driver they hope to marry in Washington state until Eli's arrest for murder threatens their whole future. So Liv Sullivan joins us to talk about the novel and the community whose history she's spent years researching. Marie , welcome. Hi.
S2: Hi. Thank you for having me , Jade.
S1: So glad to have you here. So , um , my first question is , what was the inspiration behind this book?
S2: Well , I was working as a volunteer in the San Diego History Center's archives , and I realized the there was not a Filipino collection. And John Panther , the archivist at the time , challenged me to put together one. So I spent a year just going through every single like microfilm newspaper. And it was 100 years of beauty pageants. And this one. Fascinating. Taxi dancer , taxi dance hall murder and subsequent murder trial. So I kind of went down that , um , that rabbit hole because I had never heard of taxi dance halls at the time. I don't think a lot of people know about it. And that was 25 years ago. So I've been sitting with this story for literally a quarter century. Mm.
S1: Mm. Well , I mean , so before I get to taxi dance halls , you did mention the stories based on a real murder that happened during that time. What were the details of that case and how did it inspire this story?
S2: Well , apparently there were two rival taxi dance halls in 1934. The Gaslamp District was at the time called the Stingray District , because before all of that land was reclaimed for the San Diego Convention Center , there were docks and you could see stingrays , you know , swimming under the docks. So this was like the red light district , kind of. And one taxi dance hall was on sixth and market , where Parkinson Market is located now. and it was owned by a Filipino named Paul Arriola , and the other taxi dancer was on third and market. It was owned by a white woman named Mamie Savage or Minty Savage , and apparently she put a hit out on the rival taxi dancehall owner , Paul. She got her Filipino bartender to find someone who was willing to shoot the guy. She offered that guy $500 and of course skipped out on that. And so he was , uh , they had a dragnet. After the shooting happened , Paul was shot in the lobby of his own dancehall. Uh , Jose Gonzalez , the original shooter , fled to San Francisco. A police dragnet found him and brought him back. And it was a very sensationalized capital punishment trial. I think it was a first for San Diego. And , um , eventually he divulged a murder conspiracy. So all three of them got , like , life in prison. And , um , Minty Savage was actually her claim to fame , was she was the first inmate of the newly formed Tehachapi Women's Penitentiary. Wow.
S1: Wow. There's a lot going on there with that story. You didn't have to create much , but I mean , where where does the the fiction end and your story begin here? I mean , how does that work? Where does the real case end in your fiction? Begin on this.
S2: Well , you know , the the real life murderer was not that great of a guy. He was just this kind of , like , down on his luck ex-Navy discharge guy who was like a drug , and he had basically no money. So he was an easy target for someone to say , hey , I'll give you 500 bucks , which was a lot of money at the in the 30s to kill someone. And I wanted that guy to be more sympathetic. And the whole point of taxi dance halls was that , um , Filipinos were barred from marrying women. So the only white women. So the only way that they could associate with white women was to dance with them. Can't marry them. Might as well dance with them. So I , I , you know. It lent itself to a love story , essentially. And that's where the fiction begins. So I kept the basic like skeleton of what happened. He is still shot in his own lobby. Um , but I also fleshed out the characters. There was a bouncer who first heard the gunshot and came running out to see his boss bleeding out on the floor of the lobby. And , um , there was a I put in the conductor who was like a music teacher in the Philippines who came to the United States as , uh , they called it a pension , which is like the government sponsored , like education. And I just kind of fleshed out that world. Um , and I added Lucinda , who was the love interest , because there's got to be , like , some kind of love , because otherwise there were no redeeming qualities for this guy who shot , you know , the dancehall owner and , um. Yeah. And the actual dancehall owner murder victim was married to a white woman already , so they were illegally married. She was French , Norwegian , I think , but the newspapers really downplayed that fact. The newspaper coverage really just wanted to show Filipinas off to be like , you know , transients. And they call this guy the mayor of the Filipino community , whatever it is now , uh , whatever that was , there was not a Filipino colony. There was in the Philippines because the United States owned us. Right.
S3: Right.
S1: Um , well , this is what I was going to say , what I want to talk about , because there's a there's a lot to unpack in what you were just saying. There's there are stereotypes in the consequences of that to unpack. And there's also , um , you know , just simply how Filipino men came to be in America. Like you mentioned , the Philippines was under American colonial rule. So how did that relationship shape Filipino migration to California?
S2: Well , essentially , we were like , what? Puerto Rico is without the voting rights and any other rights. We were a territory of the United States at that time in 1934 , so that meant the borders were porous. We could go to the United States without getting visas or anything. And the migration , if I memory serves , began when the plantation owners in Hawaii got kind of like annoyed with like , the Japanese and Chinese farm workers. They were like , these guys are getting too uppity. We need more docile people. And so they figured , oh , Filipinos , we own them. Why don't why don't they go? So the Filipinos started out in Hawaii , and then they went over to like , the United States , and they just kind of followed the the crop cycles , the harvest cycles , and went up and down the coast as far as Alaska. They did the salmon run and the canneries , and that's how they proliferated. And , you know , they after 400 years with Spain , they thought , okay , we're still owned by another colonizer. But the Americans brought in , you know , America likes to think public education and the idea of democracy. So these these men came to the United States , as many immigrants do , thinking , oh , we're going to have the American dream. Only to find out that they couldn't own or rent anything in our in this country , and they couldn't marry white women , so they did the best they could.
S3: But explain that.
S1: Explain that to me , though. Where were the Filipinas?
S2: Um , the Filipinos were farm workers , so they came in as low cost labor.
S3: Where were the women and the Filipino? The women.
S2: They did not come because.
S3: The Filipino. They.
S2: They. Yeah. We were not like the Japanese who had pictured brides and basically sent away to get married to their pen pals and the Chinese , uh , you know , there were brothels , but eventually they brought the women. But Filipinos were still a very Catholic country as they continued to be. And the women stayed home. You know , they were not going to go work in the farms. They were going to stay home. So that really it was a generation of bachelors that came over , um , hoping to win the American dream and then realize , oh , we can't marry anyone because it's illegal in most of the states. Um , to California's credit , we , uh , the California Supreme Court struck down the anti-miscegenation laws 19 years before loving versus Virginia , which only got around to it in 69. So in California , it was 1948 when the Supreme Court in our state said that's unconstitutional and interracial marriages should not be illegal. So but in those days , you had to , you know , elope to Washington state or Arizona where there were no such laws. Um , and the rest of them just stayed home and danced. Okay.
S1: Okay. So in all of that , bottom line it for me. What did America offer them as workers and what did it deny them as people just trying to build a life.
S2: They offer them the opportunity to , um , you know , to travel and to earn a living. A lot of these men wanted to send dollars home to their families in the Philippines , and they were hoping to build lives here. And they were told by the laws prevailing at the time that they could not they could not buy a house , they could not rent anything. They could not marry the women. So they were denied the American dream , in essence , um , and yeah , it was only it was only when we became a commonwealth through the Tydings McDuffie law in 1935 , that the borders closed. And this is the interesting thing. They also installed the Filipino Repatriation Act because at a certain point they were like , oh , too many Filipinos are here. We gotta send them home. So they offer them an all expense paid trip back to the Philippines on the condition that they never return to the United States. 90 years later , the Department of Homeland Security has rebranded that , uh , that repatriation act as Project Homecoming. So , um , clearly they are ahistorical things. They didn't know that. They tried it before and it didn't work. So , um. Yeah. Okay.
S3: Okay. Well.
S1: Well. All right , so this this story does center on , um , the taxi dance hall , so. So , um , take take me inside one of San Diego's taxi dance halls. What would we see and hear? And and how did that dime a dance arrangement work?
S3: It was.
S2: Really interesting. And , uh , Paul Cressey , a sociologist in Chicago , realized it was such a nationwide phenomenon that he did a whole study about it. And essentially you went , you know , Filipinos got all cleaned up , went got their barber shop , shave and all that , put on their one good suit and went to the taxi dance hall , and a guy would be selling tickets. So basically you would buy a ticket for a dime and you would select the woman you wanted to dance with for three minutes , because that's all you got for $0.10. And she would split the ticket in half. She would tear it in half , put half the ticket , the stub into her stockings , and they would dance for three minutes and then the cycle would go on again. And at the end of the night they basically , from what I gather , they would take out all the ticket stubs that they had , you know , stuffed into their stockings , and they would get a nickel for every dime dance they sold. And that's how it went. Um , it was pretty good money for women at the time , uh , for dancing and Filipinos. They were raised , you know , to treat the women well. They generally knew how to dance from all accounts. They they were good dancers. They were very gallant. They were gentlemanly. And the white women dancers were , um , generally young. They started out in their teens. Uh , anyone older than 30 was considered kind of , you know , aging out of the profession. And , um , and yeah , some of them like , took advantage of , uh , Filipinos. They were like , they would call it catfishing. They would get they would date someone. You're not allowed to date them , but they would on the side date them. And eventually some of these men would end up paying for their rent or their groceries. and sometimes they shared like a favorite girlfriend among them. It was a whole culture , and I think Doris Day sang something.
S3: Was it all?
S1: And was it all consensual?
S3: Yes , yes , yes , it.
S2: Was a business transaction. It was a step above prostitution. Really. Um , and yeah. So I don't know , there were taxi dance halls all across the country. Uh , so it was a big deal.
S1: You've said you , you know , that you wanted to show these men beyond their work in the fields. You know , you want to just show their style and their dancing , their desire for romance , what gets lost when we remember people only for their labor or their suffering? Well.
S3: Well.
S2: You know , it was the way it goes back to the way the newspaper articles about this murder portrayed Filipinos small , brown , not very intelligent , um , unattractive men like they did sexualize them. When when you think about it. Um , I don't know if you remember Saturday Night Fever , but Tony Manero , played by John Travolta. He worked in a blue collar job , but then he put on his white suit and got on the disco floor. And he was. He was king. And so I kind of liked to think that Filipinos of their day who went to taxi dance halls were their own versions of , like , Tony Manero. They were like downtrodden and brown and covered in dust because they worked in the fields for a dollar a day. But at the end of the week , they had that one night or two nights of fantasy where they could believe that they were living the American dream , dancing with a beautiful woman , even though he they had to pay for that privilege. So , um , so I think that's what gets lost. You know , um , there have been a few books that talk about taxi dance halls , but not very much creative work has come out about them , because , again , a lot of these people did not have descendants to write about them the way the Japanese Americans had , like descendants to write about the internment camps. And , you know , so I kind of wanted to bring that up to give people the idea that , you know , these were men. These were young men who had dreams and who were desirable to white women. Um , and , you know , they were just denied all of that because of the racist laws at the time.
S1: And what did you want to , you know , really reveal about the racial laws and how they shaped people's private lives in this?
S3: Um , well.
S2: Just in the way and this continues today , how , um , you know , the prevailing laws prevented people who who come to this country , who came to this country with their all their dreams and ambitions of creating lives and making they're making a way through this country where they were set back by the laws. They they didn't know that the laws existed. And then they showed up and they did honest work , but then they were denied that dream that they were hoping to achieve. Um , yeah. And I know that Filipinos like the stereotype is like the modern generation. The older brother generation , as they're called , are famed for , you know , the farm workers unions. And that is all very admirable. And it's wonderful. Um , and , you know , Cesar Chavez , uh , kind of stole their thunder because they were the Filipinos were trying to organize the farm workers into unions , um , long before Cesar Chavez came onto the scene. Um , but there was also the other aspect. Yes. They were , you know , there were strong union supporters , but they also had this , like , this fantasy life that they , they wanted to live out. You know , there's a whole round person to that character. And I wanted to bring out that other side.
S1: So what do you hope people take away from Taxi Dancer?
S2: I want , um , I want people to know that this was a part of history that that was never talked about , that was never celebrated. Um , and hopefully they'll have a more rounded idea or a more comprehensive idea of the Filipinos of that generation. You know that that we were intelligent , we had dreams. We were artistic , we knew how to dance. Um , you know , it's kind of like , uh , like with African Americans. Yes. There was a history of slavery , but then there was a Harlem Renaissance. You know. Yes. You have like , uh , you have all of that. The sad part. But then there was also the celebration of all of these wonderful writers and composers and singers. Um , I want to bring that out for the Filipino community as well , because even in the Philippines , I didn't know about taxi dance halls until I went down so many rabbit holes. And there's all this stuff just waiting to be celebrated and talked about and written about creatively. You know , so.
S1: Mathematicians and scientists and all , all sorts of things. I know. Yeah.
S3: Yeah.
S1: I've been speaking with Marie Sullivan , author of the book Taxi Dancer. She'll be celebrating the launch of the book at the San Diego Central Library October 27th. Will include more details on our website KPBS. Gorg! Marie , thank you so much.
S2: Thank you so much , Jade. It was a wonderful conversation.
S1: Coming up , if you're looking for something spooky and fun this weekend , KPBS Arts reporter Beth Accomando has you covered with a pair of recommendations that include a karaoke ghost story and a Halloween horror convention. We'll be right back. Welcome back to KPBS midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. It's October , and Halloween is only a couple of weeks away , so KPBS arts reporter and horror expert Beth Accomando has found some spooky treats for you to enjoy. The San Diego Filipino Film Festival kicks off this Saturday , and while it's not all hard , she speaks with the director of a ghost story set in a karaoke club. Then she sits down with the founder of Scream Diego , a Halloween and horror convention also happening this Saturday. Take a listen to her interviews this Saturday.
S4: The San Diego Filipino Film Festival is having a one day event organized by Benito Bautista and Emma Francisco. Usually it's a little longer , but this year it's a single day , and one of the filmmakers who's going to be there is Cristian Yamani , who has a short film I adored because it's horror related , and this is called Okie Okie Dokie. So to start with , explain what this film is about.
S5: Yeah , so Okie dokie. Okie is a film about a karaoke bar worker that accidentally brings a dead pop star back to life.
S6: Uh , my testing , my testing.
S7: Of course it doesn't work. You piece of crap! Hello? Hello.
S6: The mic is finally working.
S7: It's finally working. It's a beautiful night , everyone. Everyone can go back to their singing and all. I'm just not gonna sing.
S4: So where did this idea come from?
S5: I wrote this script back at the end of May , because I wanted to work with a certain actor in the movie , and I've never done a true horror piece or tried my hand at one , so I thought it would be fun. And then I thought it'd be kind of fun if we set it in a karaoke bar , hence the name okey. Main character's name is okey. It was between that or Carrie and then have her last name okey. But I think it was a little too funny for that.
S4: And this is a ghost story. So is this something that you enjoy? Do you enjoy the horror genre and ghost stories?
S5: It's funny , I like certain horror films. I'm not the biggest , like jump scare kind of person. I love Japanese cinema , especially like Jay Horror , so I like the creepiness and like the very unsettling. So I tried my best to kind of use that as like my North Star , specifically , like Kiyoshi Kurosawa's stuff like Cure and Pulse were very like my inspo. And then it ended up becoming more of like Korean horror , where like , they mix like a bunch of genres. I think that's kind of somewhere in between that.
S4: And where did you shoot? Because it looked really great.
S5: Yeah , we actually shot at a local karaoke spot called Melody Karaoke Bar. They were gracious enough to let us use their location.
S4: And you're a local filmmaker?
S5: I am.
S4: So what's it like trying to make films in San Diego?
S5: You know , like all independent art and especially films as well , it's hard. It's hard because a lot of it usually costs money. And I always say , like anyone who's down to come and be on our sets because everyone does it mostly in kindness. Um , just because it's just how we kind of support each other's arts. Like they'll come onto my sets in kindness or for very little , and then I'll go on to their sets for the same exact reason , just , um , because I think the most important thing is just like continuing to create. Even though I know , like , financially , it's just tough on some people. So.
S4: And what do you find is the biggest challenge for making films? Is it trying to get the financing or something else?
S5: I would say that. I would say trying to get the financing first is typically the hardest because even if people do it for free , the rule is like , at least you feed them well. And then if you kind of think of that like $20 per person for lunch , and then you have like a crew of ten people , that's like $200 a day. and then , you know , if you shoot for a weekend for three days , it ends up being $600 just for just to feed people. And honestly , that's still on the low end , but I think it's more of asking more favors , like for the people to continue to like , create art with us just because it feels bad knowing that our small budget projects feel like higher budget just because of like the talented people who come on and do it for free or very cheap.
S4: And your film is going to be part of this weekend's San Diego Filipino Film Festival. How does that feel? And what is the benefit for you to show a film at a festival like this?
S5: Well , I think the benefit overall is just to show it to more than five people , which is really nice , especially with a crowd. So that's typically so enthusiastic about film. The crowd that comes to the San Diego Filipino Film Festival , it means a lot. I've been volunteering there since I moved back from San Francisco , so for about three years , Emma , one of the co-founders of the Filipino Film Festival , she actually hit me up like the day after we wrapped and said , hey , congratulations on rapping. How close is it to being done? We have a we have a special screening in two months if you think you can make it. And I was like , ah , let me check it. And then. Yeah. And then we made it.
S4: And what's the community like around the Filipino Film Festival? Because there's a very strong Filipino community in the South Bay. And do you feel that that helps you and supports you when you show your film there? 100%?
S5: 100%? Yeah. I don't think I could have made this film without like their guidance and support specifically from Emma and Benito , just because I , I work with some of the volunteers who helped me on my sets as well. So and then obviously the support around them , because they just foster such a loving and supportive community that anyone who kind of is in that like realm or just like in the proximity of them. People just feel like they want to support like , especially when you get like the stamp of approval by the two of them. But like the San Diego community and the Filipino community always feels very at least because I grew up here , it just feels very supportive. We all show up to each other's events , even if it's not film , like if it's coffee shops or pop ups or just any type of support , like where we can just show up and kind of show out.
S4: Emma and Benito are very active in terms of trying to create kind of this next generation of filmmakers. So what kind of things did you benefit from through them or through the festival? Yeah.
S5: Yeah. So they are the champions of independent cinema. Like first off with the film festival , they bring in all types of films that aren't typically shown in other film festivals. So we're able to see one , we're able to see ourselves on the screen , but we're also able to see different parts of our culture that we might not be like in tuned with. So they give us that opportunity to go ahead and see all that and then them as people. Their philosophy in the sort is like , you have our numbers , just text us if you ever need like anything , any advice , any if you want us to connect you with any of our network , like they're just like that. They kind of , um , kind of like the , the parents of like , I would say like San Diego Filipinos in a way. Like everybody goes through them , like. So yeah.
S4: Now for your film , you have a Korean actor in it. Why did you kind of choose that kind of a character for your film?
S5: I chose , um , so her name is Julian. Song is our lead. We actually just met at a festival like a screening in LA , and I remember asking her if she had a real. And she sent me her real. And I was like , well , you're like , really good. Let me go write you something. So there's like , no specific reason on like why she's a Korean character playing it was just more so I really wanted to work with her and then kind of like hopefully foster more things after this as well.
S4: So for you , what is making a short film kind of mean in the sense of is it a calling card to hopefully jump to something bigger , or is it a chance to just experiment with ideas and see what you can do?
S5: Yeah , that's a good question. I think short films first and foremost is like the repetition. I treat it as kind of practice. Like this is where we can experiment , like you said , and mess up as well. And also just they feel very like doable. Like we can do it in a weekend and then be done in a couple months , which is nice , but I would say it's more like practice for me.
S4: All right. Well , I want to thank you very much for talking about your film. Okey. Okey dokey.
S5: Thank you so much for having me.
S8: I want to hear this song one more time , please.
S4: To continue our theme of. Horror.
S3: Horror.
S4: We have Screen San Diego coming up this weekend , and I have with me the founder and that is Dennis Michael Burchard. So tell us what inspired you to start Scream San Diego and what is it?
S9: Oh , there's there's a few things that culminated into the creation of Scream Diego. And I've just been a horror fan all my life. Like when I work at home , I always have some random horror movie playing. And what's funny , when I'm on a zoom call and there's someone getting murdered , uh , I'm like , that's a TV. And I've gone to Los Angeles , Orange County , just to go to a Halloween and horror type of convention. And there's some good ones up there , and I'm like , why don't we have anything? We have enough of a horror fan base down here. Why don't we have anything? So I was like , okay , if we're gonna have it , I'm going to have to do it. And it took about seven years from inception to actual execution for our first year. This is our third year coming up. So two years ago was our first year , and I'd been daydreaming about it for like seven years before we actually got around to making it happen.
S4: So what can people expect coming to scream , Diego?
S9: Oh , there's so much. You know , starting off with our horror short film festival , we have about 30 films there. Most of them are local or regional , but we have some international submissions. We have one from France , we have a couple from Mexico. We're like legitimate international film festival. So there's that. There's a lot of different panels from voice acting in horror movies to we have the Horror Writers Association all covering a variety of horror and Halloween themed topics. It's something for everyone. Just in the panels. We have our vendor hall , which we have 40 plus vendors , a lot of artists showing scary , spooky themed art. We have the Bellas Academy doing our Zombie Lounge , which they will give everyone a zombie make over for free just for coming to the event. If you want to look like a zombie , by the way. By the time you enter and leave , they got you. We've got a lot of special guests from a variety of TV shows and movies. One of our guests is Vincent and Maude from The Walking Dead and Mark Hall from Toxic Avenger. We've got the director , Dustin Ferguson , who's done probably hundreds of B-movies , and you may not know his name or you do , but you definitely have seen one of his one of his B-movies. So , yeah , we also have a a kids room where they can we have a limited amount of free pumpkins that we have for kids to , to decorate , to draw and to put stickers on no carbon. We're not letting kids cut anything up at this event. And and speaking of kids , kids under eight are free to the event with a paid adult.
S4: And what are the challenges for you to put on a convention? Because it seems very difficult to find spaces. And if you do find affordable ones.
S9: Yeah , logistically , financially , that's the biggest hurdle right there is finding the appropriate size space , because we have small centers like where we are the DoubleTree , or there's large ones like the San Diego Convention Center. Nothing , not really anything in between. And they're not cheap. So finding the space and then being able to pay for the space , those are the biggest hurdles or challenges with producing anything like this. But we hustle and we make it happen because we I really believe in this event. I believe San Diego deserves a Halloween and horror convention. It's like , why do we got to go to North to Los Angeles just to do something fun and cool? Let's , let's we have enough horror fans down here to give San Diego something like this for you.
S4: What is the reason for that keeps you going on this , because it's a lot of work and probably doesn't make you a lot of money. So like , what is the driving motivation for you to keep this on , keep you going?
S9: For me , I've just always been a horror fan and I'm a big Halloween guy. Like Halloween , that's my time of year. My house. It always looks like a haunted mansion , not just during October , but like all year I've got skeletons up and I've got artwork up with ghosts. And that's my jam. Like , Halloween horror is my thing. And I believe that it is a lot of other people's thing too. And some people , they really look forward to this time of year , like people look forward to Christmas or people look forward to certain times a year. And and this is mine. And , and I think people are always looking for something fun , interesting , creative and memorable to do. And that's what we want to try and do with this event.
S4: Are you kind of fed by the passions of the people who attend , who also share your love for horror?
S9: Oh , totally. Especially when they see the movies , the films that we have , like in the past film festivals , and they come out just raving about it , or they found some merch item that they just love and they're showing everybody and it's they meet some of the guests and they're like , I was a big fan of you in this , and it's fun to see that kind of excitement in people. And when they leave saying , thank you for this event or it can't wait for next year , or even when people check into the event and they're like , I was , oh , I was looking for a horror convention in San Diego and you guys came up. It does help keep the motivation for doing so. Something so challenging to to put it together for just that reaction that people have a good time , they can't wait for next year. Those are rewarding.
S4: And where are you going to be this year?
S9: We have a DoubleTree by Hilton at the Hazard Center in Mission Valley. That's our first year there. We were at the Hanley Hotel last year and there's a lot more space. Heather , it was cool because it's an older hotel , so that dated , older feeling kind of lends to some spooky aspect. And the DoubleTree is nice , but it's a little too modern. It's a little too nice for like a spooky event , but they're both good. They're both good venues to work with.
S4: No ghosts wandering their halls.
S9: We don't know that Hanley definitely might have some ghosts there , but.
S4: And what is it about horror that you love? You know , I talk to people about horror all the time , and people go like , oh , I can't watch that stuff. Or how can you? You know , you're so dark for liking that. But what is it about the genre or about horror that you find attractive or that appeals to you.
S9: When it comes to movies? There's something about , I don't want to get too dark there , but something and there's so many different genres , subgenres of horror , too , because it was like zombie , there's home invasion , there's supernatural , there's psychological horrors , and Something about that suspense. You know you're going to get through at the end of it , but there's something about walking on that edge of safety and assurance and then peering over to that dark edge. And there might be something scary or spooky there. But then you make it and you walk out of the theater. Go on. That was fun. Or going to a hot trail like they're all over San Diego. And those are fun , too. And just hearing people scream. That's a that's a cool experience , seeing people have fun that way.
S1: That was Dennis Michael Burchard speaking with KPBS Beth Accomando about Scream Diego , San Diego's horror and Halloween convention. Scream Diego takes place Saturday at DoubleTree in at Hazard Center. She also spoke with Christian Yamani about his film Okie Dokie Okie that screams at the San Diego Filipino Film Festival , and you can also check out the film at AMC Plaza Bonita This Saturday will include more details on our website , KPBS. Still to come , your weekend preview , KPBS midday edition is back after the break. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. For our weekend arts preview , we have DIY art. Migratory birds , metal and more. Joining me with all the details is KPBS arts reporter and host of the finest podcast , Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , welcome.
S3: Hey , Jade.
S10: Thanks for having me.
S1: Glad to have you here. So a very unique art festival returns to Escondido this weekend. Tell us about other places. Art fairs South. Yeah.
S10: Yeah. So this is actually the second year that other places art fair , the the South iteration has been hosted here at California Center for the Arts Escondido. It's co-presented by Harvest and Gather , and the original fair was founded in San Pedro in the Los Angeles area. It showcases alternative DIY and like unconventional art , and it's kind of an antidote to this traditional art fair model , primarily because those are actually really expensive for artists to participate in. Um , and they also are wanting to make this a more authentic experience and more accessible. Um , so at CCE , they have these immersive installations set up all around the grounds. There's like pop up displays , um , work by Project Paint , the Prison Arts Initiative , Burn All Books and Friends and interval and tons more. And this is Saturday from 11 to 6 p.m. and it's free.
S1: All right , well , let's stay on DIY art. Um for one more. This weekend is also the San Diego Zine Fest. Can we? What can we expect with that? Yeah.
S10: Yeah. So this is the 14th annual San Diego Zine Fest. Uh , this year it's both Saturday and Sunday at Woo Studios in Barrio Logan. It's like the sprawling complex of galleries and design and workshop spaces , and the festival centered on zines , of course , like these handmade DIY books , kind of like pamphlet style publications. And these are often like xeroxed and stapled together , distributed organically. Um , this has been going on for a really long time , and they're still being made. Artists are still drawn to making zines , and they're going to have a ton of vendors at the festival um , zine makers , artists , small presses , other creatives , as well as live music and DJ's. Most of the live music performances will be on Sunday , but DJ's both days , um , there's also food and drink and they'll have live screen printing demos on both days , so bring something to print on. It runs from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Wu Studios.
S1: While in visual art , a new exhibit of paintings is inspired by migration , especially birds and the Pacific Ocean. How? How can we check it out? Yeah.
S10: Yeah. So this is at the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library in La Jolla. It's a solo exhibition by painter Sylvia Fernandez , and part of the show involved interviewing women of all ages from all over the world , asking them a series of questions. And then Fernandez will would transpose their answers into paint , along with their literal shadows , into her works of art. And she also weaves in nature , especially things like migratory birds and the flora and fauna of the Pacific Ocean. She was born in Lima , Peru , and then now lives here in San Diego. And so she draws on that like the two different experiences with the Pacific Ocean in each place. And yeah , this exhibit is pretty immersive. Like much of these paintings are hung on big double sided canvases and they're suspended from the ceiling. So you kind of walk among the paintings and they'll like sway and spin a little bit as you move. It opens up on Friday at 530 with an artist talk and then a reception , and it'll be up on view through early January.
S1: Oh , that sounds really nice. Signet beta just opened their production of job or job? Job?
S10: Job?
S1: Like work? Like a work job. Mhm. There we are. What do you know about this one. Yeah.
S3: Yeah.
S10: It's job or the loss of a job as it may be. So this is a relatively new play. It was on Broadway in 2024. It's by playwright Maxwell Frederick. And it recently opened up to be available for independent theaters to license it. So Cigna is opening it in San Diego this week. Um , it's a , like , psychological thriller and a dark comedy. It's about a woman who is in this crisis mode after a viral post online cost her her job , and it follows her and a therapist. And that's it. Like the only two characters , basically , a session goes completely off the rails. It's directed here at Cygnet by Hannah Mead and stars Caroline Gottlieb as Jane and Jacob Bruce as Lloyd. It'll be on stage through November 1st. Hmm.
S1: Hmm. There's a contemporary dance performance that explores the idea of chosen family. Tell us what we can expect.
S10: Yes , this is a performance. It's at the outdoor amphitheater at UCSD. It's by Contra Tiempo activist dance theater. The company is based in LA , has roots in San Diego. Founding artistic director Ana Maria Alvarez is dance faculty , UCSD. And this dance is called Roots of Loving as it's about like thinking about family as a verb , like chosen families. I've seen a couple of previews of this. It's really powerful , expressive work. And this performance is Friday night at 730.
S1: All right. And you have a couple of music picks on your radar. Let's start with indie rock. Yeah.
S10: Yeah. So two local acts are joining forces for a joint album release show at Soda Bar. Jordan Crimson has a new album coming out , as does the band cope. Um , I've listened to a few of the tracks from each of these , and they're both really solid albums. This is the latest single from the band cope. It's called Good People. I especially love this song.
S11: Good people tried everything I could. I've been bleeding , but we're good people.
S10: And both bands will be supported by a couple other great local projects. There is neutral shirt. Uh , Brian Warren , who's of the long standing local band Weather Box , and this is Saturday night at seven at Soda Bar.
S1: And finally we have an event called Metal and Myth. Right.
S10: Right. So this is actually part of the one book , One San Diego program. The concert is that at the Downtown Central Library. It's on Saturday afternoon. And as you know , the adult selection is this book by indigenous author Stephen Graham Jones. It's called Buffalo Hunter Hunter. So they're bringing in a local indigenous metal band called warpath , and the band members are from the Santa Isabel and Barona reservations. Their music , it's intense and great. Like , yes , it shreds and there's some screaming , but it also has like the strong melodic element. This is their song decimation. And since this is a one book event , if you're one of the first 20 people , you get a free copy of Buffalo Hunter Hunter. It runs from 2 to 330 on Saturday and it's totally free and all. ages.
S1: All right. Definitely warm music right there. All right , all right. Sounds like a blast. And you can find details on these and more arts events on our website , kpbs.org. I've been speaking with KPBS arts reporter and host of the finest podcast , Julia Dixon Evans. Julia. Thank you.
S10: Thank you. Jade.
S3: 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.
