S1: It's time for KPBS Midday Edition. On today's show , all the arts and culture shaping San Diego. This week , I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and make you think. Find out who's playing at the San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival , then hear about one of the latest productions at the La Jolla Playhouse. Plus , bassoonist Joi Guidry talks about what inspires her music in your weekend preview. That's ahead on Midday Edition. Well. Today marks the start of the second annual San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival , and this festival is once again bringing jazz luminaries to the shores of our border region to celebrate both San Diego's and Tijuana's rich jazz history. It runs through the weekend , with concerts happening on both sides of the border. And joining me today are two local jazz figures behind the festival , Dan Atkinson and Julian Placencia. Welcome to Midday Edition , you all.
S2: Thank you. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. Hey.
S1: Hey. Glad to have you both here. So you each have had a long connection to the local jazz and music scenes here in our region. What was the inspiration behind creating a jazz festival for San Diego and Tijuana ? Dan , I'll start with you on that one. Hmm.
S3: Hmm. Well , this is a long story , because when I began my career in jazz back in the 80s , that was the last time there was a really At international level. Jazz festival here in San Diego was back in 1984 and it was called San Diego Jazz Festival. And I started my series in La Jolla at the Athenaeum in 1989. So it's been a long wait. And , uh , you know , there have been a lot of ideas over the years , but last year we had a catalyst , which was the World Design Capital San Diego Tijuana initiative , and I thought , let's go for it , and let's do this as a binational initiative , uh , within the context of that event and , and within the context in which we live here. So , um , that was really how it came about.
S1: Well , Julie and I imagine putting on a festival simultaneously in two different countries with one very present , uh , border brings with it some unique challenges. No.
S2: It has a lot of challenges , but also a lot of rewards because , um , it's really important for us to open like new spaces for local musicians. And it's just a pleasure to have international musicians coming to Tijuana , and also local musicians that have the opportunity to play in San Diego. It's just great.
S1: Well , for for this year's festival , you are honoring longtime San Diegan and jazz legend James Moody. So ? So tell us more about him and what you got planned.
S3: Well , I had the opportunity to work with Moody , uh , you know , some years ago now and got to know him a bit. And , uh , I really think , honestly , he's probably the most eminent jazz musician who's ever called San Diego , his home. He lived here for 20 years. And , uh , we got the opportunity through his widow , Linda , who called me up and said , I'm making a big event in New York City to celebrate Moody's 100th anniversary of his birth. And how about San Diego ? Is San Diego going to do something ? And I said , yes , we are. So we have a really special program planned to honor his legacy at our Escondido event on Saturday with some really magnificent musicians. It's , if I do say so , sort of a must see.
S1: Well , here's a little of James Moody's music this piece , Moody's Mood for love. Right.
S4: Right. Cool. Pretty baby , you are the soul. It snaps my control. Such a funny thing. But every time you hear me. Wow.
S1: Wow. I mean , you just gotta love it when you hear it.
S2: And consequentially , of course , because this is a binational region also in Tijuana , not as popular maybe with the general population , but certainly with the jazz musicians and promoters. Um , it is it is also important and important event.
S1: Well , let's dive into more of our local jazz history. Julian , because Jelly Roll Morton , uh , was one of its originators and lived and worked in Tijuana. So can you tell us more about his work in our region ? Sure.
S2: It's , uh , when prohibition started in Tijuana. Tijuana was a very , very small town. It was only about a thousand population. And so when prohibition started in the US , of course , a lot of , uh , uh , Americans in , in Italian immigrants and Armenians , they , they came to Tijuana to do business. So Tijuana had this main street , Avenida Revolucion , where we're going to have the festival now on Sunday. And it's a it's a historic avenue. And , um , a lot of these bars started popping up. Cantinas and bars and cafes and restaurants , uh , for the whole 13 years of prohibition. And those small cafes and bars , they , they doubled in , in , in quantity. And so back then , of course , a lot of the music was live music. And since Tijuana was so small then , we know all these musicians that came by were from other places , a lot from the US and others from Cuba , from the south of Mexico. And so we know that one of these great musicians was Jelly Roll Morton , and he used to play at the Kansas City Bar , which is where his famous Song and hit came from. From Kansas City stomp. It wasn't from the city Kansas City , but from the bar in Tijuana where he used to play. And.
S1: And. Yeah. Yeah.
S2: Yeah. So , um , so it's it's we're really proud about these facts and how , um , our city started growing because of prohibition. And it started like this whole , uh , scene for music and musicians. Even way back then , of course , people came to party , to gamble , to have a good time because they couldn't do it , you know , in the same manner in the US. Uh , but , you know , our Avenida Revolucion is going strong. It's been being remodeled , remodeled recently to become partly , uh , pedestrian. And we're also going to be involved with a lot of the music and cultural scene that's going to be evolving there , uh , very soon.
S1: So very great.
S3: And I think Jelly Roll is a great example. I mean , here is the first composer of jazz , you know , a truly historic figure in this music. And he spent time in San Diego as well as Tijuana back in the 20s. And there are stories about the gigs that that happened in this town as well as in Tijuana. So I feel like we're really linked in a very , very serious way. Um , another example , which I hope we'll be able to do in a future edition of the festival , is a piece by a great saxophonist named Arthur Blythe , who grew up here in San Diego in the 60s , I believe primarily , and he was one of the top saxophonists in jazz for a period of time. He wrote a piece called Down San Diego Way , which is on his most important album , and it's a piece that has a Latin feel to it rhythmically and , and , you know , a very black feel to it in terms of the kind of the urban feel of the music. And , um , you know , he grew up in Linda Vista and Encanto , and I had a chance to work with him several times. So these are the kind of things that actually sort of , I think , lend an identity to our region that is really unique and that connects us really to the entire world in a very special way. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , one known jazz artist featured at this year's festival is Arturo O'Farrill. Tell us about him and what he'll be bringing to the festivities this weekend. Well.
S3: Well. I had a really wonderful opportunity to be introduced to him when he brought his entire big band from New York City to do a recording session right at the border wall in plastic Tijuana. That was five years ago. Oh , no. I'm sorry , seven years ago. And he was there as the guest of a festival , Fandango Frontiers , which is a sonorous festival of folkloric Mexican music. And they did a recording , and the recording won the Grammy Award for that year as the best Latin jazz recording. So we're bringing these two people back together. Arturo with his his eight piece band , and Jorge Castillo , who is the Tijuana based founder and director of Fandango , Frontera. And this music , this combination of jazz and San Rocco is something really magical. So we're very excited about that piece of the program , which will take place both in Escondido and in Tijuana.
S1: Well , here is Arturo O'Farrill from his 2018 album Fandango at the wall , recorded here along the San Diego Tijuana border. This is El Macek. Yeah. Now , Julian. Uh , Dan mentioned this music song. Hiroko.
S2: It's a very folkloric type of music. Uh , Veracruz had many , many , uh , Cuban immigrants because they're so close. Veracruz , geographically and Cuba are very , very close. So it always had this , uh , connection. And a lot of the immigrants there were from Cuban origins. So this folkloric music has has these elements. And of course Cuban music has the African Afro-Latin element as well. So this is kind of like the doorway into all this beautiful world of Afro Cuban music or Afro Mexican music. And of course , for us that were from the north , from Tijuana , where we're kind of alien to , to this magical place because geographically were so far away. But we're connected , of course , because we're the same country. So for us , it's , it's we're very proud also to have this Mexican folkloric music being fusion together with jazz. It's just great.
S1: Yeah , you can certainly hear it all come together. Dan , you also are incorporating not only some artists from the region or who've lived here during their lives , but also incorporating compositions about the region.
S3: And and this region has inspired some great music from musicians who are recognized as the , the giants of jazz. Um , one of these pieces , uh , is by a great multi reed player based in Los Angeles , Bennie Maupin , and he's known for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. But back in the 70s , he wrote a piece called Ensenada. And it's a beautiful , meditative piece of music. I contacted our mutual friend Julian's and mine , Yvonne Trujillo , who's probably the leading jazz musician in Baja who lives in Ensenada. And I said , you know this piece , can you play this piece ? And Yvonne said , I've never heard this piece and we sure are going to play it , so I'm excited about that one. Also , Arturo O'Farrill is going to play a piece by Carla Bley , who's one of the leading jazz composers. I was about to say one of the leading women jazz composers , but she's just one of the leading composers , and she lived in San Diego for a little while in the 50s. And I think maybe this piece that she wrote called Tijuana Traffic , stems from her experiences at that time. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Let's take a listen to that. Very nice. You know , it's just it's lively , it's upbeat , it's happy , it's smooth , all of that at the same time. You know , you've put on or really put an emphasis on making much of the concerts free. Um , and I'd love to hear you talk just briefly a little bit about that and break down which events are free to the public and which are ticketed. Okay.
S3: Okay. Um , well , I'll just speak to this side and Julian can can speak about Tijuana. But , uh , tonight we're starting out at courtyard in the East Village with three bands. Uh , that program is 100% free to the public. Uh , I should say , for the listeners , it is looking like it's going to be packed. So , um , we hope we can get everyone in , but that's , uh , to be determined. Um , and then this year , we also added an outdoor stage in Escondido. Um , so that we have two of the of the five bands that will be open and free to the public at no admission charge. And I really took inspiration for this on this side from festivals in Atlanta and Chicago and Detroit that have been going a long , long time. Wonderful jazz festivals , and they're mostly free to the public. So that's a really central part of our mission.
S1: All right. Julian.
S2: Yeah , we've started our festival in 2011 , and we do it through our non-profit organization , and we're just committed to bring arts and culture , especially music , through to our community. So everything we do is non-profit. We work with some government grants. And so we're just happy for this to be happening. Um , this year , together with San Diego as well as it was last year.
S1: All right. Well , you know what ? I've been speaking with Dan Atkinson and Julian Placencia from the San Diego Tijuana Jazz Festival , which is happening today through Sunday. As we head to break , let's take a little listen to Bennie Maupin's in Sonata. You can find out more about the festival at TJ jazz or at our website , pbs.org. Dan , Julian , thanks so much for joining us.
S2: Thank you. Jade.
S5: Thank you.
S1: Still to come. Outgoing directing fellow Kat Yin talks about her La Jolla Playhouse production , All the Men Who Frightened Me when KPBS Midday Edition returns. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. As many parents know , the transition to parenthood can be scary. One of the La Jolla Playhouse , his latest productions , All the Men Who Frightened Me , explores the fear and uncertainty that can come with becoming a parent and the joy , too. Joining me to talk about the play is theater director Kat Yen. She was recently the inaugural directing fellow at the La Jolla Playhouse. Kat , welcome to midday.
S6: Thank you so much for having me.
S1: So glad you're here. So the play follows a young couple , Tai and Nora , as they prepare to move into Tai's childhood home. I'm wondering if you can set the stage for us. Who are Nora and Tai , and what are some of the things they're really grappling with in this play ? Sure.
S6: Um , well , we start to play with Nora and Tai , who are a couple who have been trying to have a child , and we meet them right after a doctor's appointment in which it's confirmed that Nora is infertile. So we start off the play with a couple that is grappling with that and quickly into the play. Uh , Ty , who is the husband and also a trans mask individual , decides to get off t um , testosterone and carry the child himself while they are on this pregnancy baby journey. Um. Ty then has to confront his fear of being a quote from the play father because his own father left him when he was young and his and his grandfather left his father when when his father was young. So there's sort of a generational cycle of fathers leaving. And as Ty is pregnant and growing this baby and becoming very aware of the reality that he's going to be a father like any day now. Um , he struggles to deal with that generational trauma. And then , um , I don't want to give too much away , but , um , Men sort of appear in the house and end up helping him figure out his path through the trauma and into parenthood. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , you're on the precipice of parenthood yourself.
S6: Um , I mean , I'll say that , um , my husband and I are also dealing with infertility. So , um , the way that I really relate to Ty and Nora's journey is the fear. The fear of parenthood. Um , you know , uh , having had a lot of family and friends who had kids , um , in all sorts of different ways. Um , I'll just say that it does feel very different when parenthood looks like doing a lot of forms , a lot of doctor's appointments. Um , like all the methodical organization that has to happen when you're dealing with infertility and , um , all of that just means there's more time and room to think and be afraid of what is to come. Um , so I just think that's something I really share with both Tai and Nora. Just this kind of , like , very scary , but exciting , but scary journey into parenthood.
S1: Oh well , bad. Well , the play also deals with ideas of belonging and feeling at home.
S6: And I guess I'm saying that as someone who has been on the road for a really long time , it's been like almost a decade of me not having a home. Home because I was in grad school. And then when you're a theater director , you travel to where the gig is , you know ? So I'm moving every few months. Um , but in this play , something that Nora , the wife , does as she's getting ready for the baby , and because she's not the one who is growing the baby. She decides to be kind of useful in this other way , and does a huge restoration of of Ty's childhood home to get it ready for the baby. And I guess on my end only recently post this fellowship do I now have like a home that I think I will actually be in for more than a year. And I shared the story earlier about how I literally put up a painting and almost cried because it was the first time in like almost a decade that I can make a place my home. And since then , I've been able to just think so much more about my future. And again , I think that's the same place Nora and Ty are. They need to create a home first so that they can build their future on top of it. Wow.
S1: Wow. So no idea is is the playwright behind all the men who frightened me ? Can you talk about what it was like to work with Noah ? You know , I understand you knew each other from Yale , actually.
S6: Oh , yeah. No. And I've been good friends and collaborators for several years since going to grad school together. Um , I mean , he's he's literally one of my closest friends and favorite collaborators. So , um , this fellowship concludes in , uh , me picking a play of my choice to go into full production. And there's a reason that I picked this play , not just because the topics are so close to me , but because I really respect and want to continue to invest in this. Playwright Noah Diaz , in his work. Um , I just think he has such a unique voice and also , I , I don't know , he has this , like , really amazing sense of both style and like a type of real human depth. Um , and somehow being able to balance both of these in a way that I haven't quite seen before.
S1:
S6: Um , ah , the amount of people who have reached out who are trans or non-binary or have families. Through , I guess , a less conventional method. Um , and um , who have expressed feeling really seen by this play and something that I really like about Noah's work. And again , one of the reasons I keep working with them is that I think he's really good at. Yes , technically , um , representing folks who are all around us in everyday life that we don't see as much on stage. But the way that he does it , I think he's really good at , uh , creating characters that let people feel seen by those characters but not feel like they're on exhibition. And a lot of the feedback that we've gotten has been pretty much exactly that. Um , folks who are like , I have never seen a play where a trans individual can just be a normal human being , and it isn't an exhibit about them being trans. And that's the way I feel about this play. This is , you know , as I talk about it and describe it , this is a couple dealing with infertility , dealing with parenthood , um , and that and dealing with generational trauma and those being the main themes of the play. And that could be true with another type of couple , but that isn't the type of couple that we want to be exploring in this play.
S1: Um , well , I want to pivot a little to talk about your fellowship because you wrapped up your directing fellowship with the La Jolla Playhouse not too long ago.
S6:
S7: Experience at La Jolla Playhouse was. Wonderful.
S6: Wonderful. I mean , like , there's so much I could say , but I'll just say that I came into this , um , really wanting to learn specifically from Chris Ashley , really wanting to learn how large institutions like La Jolla Playhouse work , and then also learning about how musicals work. Because even though I've been in the industry for a really long time , I've done mostly plays , and through the fellowship I was able to associate two musicals of Hunter S Thompson Musical and Redwood , and I was also able to direct the most recent pop tour show , The Weather Busters of Beech Castle , as a way for me to get to know the community a little bit more and get my work out there more , which has been lovely. Um , and then like for them to truly , truly mean when they started the fellowship , hey , this is going to be a play of your choice and then stand by it when , let's be honest , this is this is a pretty big play. It's a play that involves an entire house renovation with a cast of seven , um , in 2025. And something like that is really hard to produce now. And not only did La Jolla Playhouse support it and produce it , but they have been supporting this play for about six years. Um , they were the original ones to commission it. And since then we've had like half a dozen workshops that have been fully supported by La Jolla Playhouse , both in San Diego and in New York. Um , so , yeah , I just couldn't be more grateful for this fellowship opportunity.
S1: Well , I , I , I am curious.
S6: One is representation. But in the way that I previously described , which is wanting to be seen and not exhibited , there are so many plays with the with the best intentions to try to give a spotlight to people who haven't had it , but they really do it in a way that makes these people feel less human. They make them feel like something to be again exhibited or watched , almost like in this sort of bizarre , like zoo like way. And , um , what I really like about this play and Noah's work and this production is that we allow people who don't have as much representation on stage and on film that we want to have , we give them representation but like to just be people dealing with people things. Um , so everything that we've talked about involving Ty being trans , you'll see in the play that , yeah , it's true he is. But the scenes don't revolve around that. And his inner dilemmas don't revolve around that. You know , they revolve around things all of us can understand , like generational trauma. Um , the other thing that I'll mention is , um , this is just the personal taste , but , um , you know , as money gets tighter and tighter in the American theater , um , programming plays and musicals has changed. Um , I will say that , like , honestly , 20 years ago , I was seeing in a lot of ways riskier , messier work. But now everything that is produced has to be ensured that it will make a profit or at least break even. And there isn't a lot of , like , government support or anything like that. And there's sort of very , very few funds around. So a lot of the American theater has like moved smaller and safer and sort of neater. But that was one of the most amazing things about this fellowship for me is that there's something like still kind of messy about this play that I really love that. I know this sounds silly , but reminds me of the stuff I saw like 20 years ago in New York where , like any night you could just drop into a downtown theater and like ten years later , I'll still have a flash of a show that I'm like. I don't know that I can very accurately be like , here are the three themes , and here's how it helps America. But what I do know is like it's made an impact in me deep down inside that still affects my art and what I do on a subconscious level. And I think this play does a little bit of that. It really reaches for something beyond itself and isn't , uh , scared to make a mess while doing it.
S1: That is excellent. I've been speaking with Director Kat Yin , In. All the Men Who Frightened Me is currently on stage at the La Jolla Playhouse through October 12th. You can get tickets at La Jolla playhouse.org. Kat , thank you so very much.
S6: Thank you. Jade. It was good to be here.
S1: Up next , how bassoonist Joy Guidry looks at her ancestry and spirituality as inspiration for her music.
S8: There was a lot of intention , spiritual intention that went into each of these songs and to me , spiritual intentions , words that go with that music , that goes with that. To me , that all says a prayer at the end of the day.
S1: Hear about Joy's upcoming concert and more in your weekend arts preview when Midday Edition returns. Welcome back. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. Experimental bassoonist Joy Guidry knows who she is. In her new album , she explores music as spiritual practice through prayer and improvisation. She performs in San Diego tomorrow at Bread and Salt Silo Room , along with sets by the Calvary Baptist Praise Team and DJ and performer Sushi Sombrero. KPBS arts reporter and host of The Finest podcast , Julia Dixon. Evans recently sat down with Guidry to discuss her music. Here's that conversation.
S9: Your new album is called Five Prayers.
S8: Improvising for me personally , like helps me connect a lot to my past , like physical past of just being younger , but also like through my ancestry. Um , my family is from Texas and Louisiana , so there's just such a strong sense of improvisation within church. Um , between , like the preacher , the choir , the movement to everything. It's all like , I don't know , I don't want to say a performance , but it's just like , all interconnected spiritually. Um , and that kind of has stuck with me throughout my whole life and now and the music that I make as well. So I approached each of these tracks in moments of 2024 , going into 2025 , when I just really needed a break and I would just go do a studio session , and I just really needed to disassociate from reality. And that's where each of these songs comes from. And it's , I don't know , it was kind of fun. It was never , ever supposed to be an album. They were supposed to be like demos for shopping around for a new record label or , you know , pitches for something else. And then here we are today talking about it. So , yeah , I don't know. It's it's there was a lot of intention , spiritual intention that went into each of these songs. And to me , spiritual intentions , words that go with that music , that goes with that. To me , that all says a prayer. At the end of the day.
S9: I love that. And you have said before that your work explores black music traditions , particularly in terms of healing music. Can you talk about that and how that has shown up in your work in the past ? And still.
S8: Yeah , I would say just kind of from growing up in the South and going to a lot of different forms of black church with kind of having different forms of Christianity in my family , I got to experience so many different types of gospel choirs or different , even different types of gospel music. And at the end of the day , it all really felt healing to me. Um , so kind of with that , like , I bring that into my music today and like , even when it's ambient music or even if it's a little harsher and it's like really intense noises , music. And I'm actually just like screaming with a bunch of distortion and some heavy bass. It kind of still all feels like it's coming from the same place because , you know , gospel music all has the same root. It feels like my music still is coming from me. So it all has the same root and kind of has that message of healing no matter how it's coming out. But I'd say , like in those spaces of my concerts , of trying to provide this space that is very comfortable , very healing. Sometimes it has gotten a little bit in a different direction , where people will come up to me and tell me how the show has healed them , and sometimes what they can say is very , very heavy for me to hear. And as an artist , I think it is really important that we also have boundaries as well. Like we're not here as like servants , you know , um , we are here to like , share a gift. And I can't share that gift if I don't feel comfortable. So I've started to feel more empowered , like through my friends , to say things and shows off like , hey , like I always appreciate the things y'all share with me , but like , please be a little more mindful of like the nature of what you're sharing because it can be really heavy. And I'm not a therapist. And that also , you know , plays into a lot of different dynamics of like American black history with black women all throughout , I mean , from enslavement to now kind of being seen as everyone's mom. Everyone finds comfort in a fat black woman and things of that and things of that sense and stuff. And it's kind of like , I feel like if I don't say like , hey , please , like kind of put my foot down and say , like , stop doing that. Like , I'm not your mom. It's just going to keep happening. And it's kind of like this other form. I don't know , you could say race education in America , but , um , through ambient music. But it has really started to feel healing for me as well as it has been for my audience members. So that has been really , really nice and like getting to incorporate so much of my history and ancestry in my music. It's always a healing experience and always remembering like this is the root of my music. My spirituality is the root of my music , and I have to nurture and honor that before I can go on any stage and play this synth , play Ableton , play bassoon , play anything.
S9:
S8: I would say with this specific tour with my prayers , it's definitely designing a show that is softer , like 99% of the time , and finding different ways to explore the possibilities of the bassoon and different ambient aspects. And some you could even say like neoclassical and some jazz sense and things of that way. But yeah , when designing think this , um , definitely , definitely took the softer approach. Um , for most of the time. Um , so when it's me , it feels kind of like , I guess when I'm playing solo , it feels kind of like this journey of different stories , of the poems I tell throughout the show of like , self-love and knowing what I deserve , knowing what we all deserve in this world and like how things like aren't supposed to be like this , you know , kind of like a softer you could even say like a Bible study , you know ? Um , and when I have my trio , it's it's like a southern revival. It's a whole , whole different energy. Those shows are so like. I mean , it just gets pretty punk and , like , I'll stand on a table and , like , mix heavy four on the floor. 808 you know , hard techno with , um , gospel music samples , you know , and things like that. So it's just it's kind of a completely different vibe , um , depending on who I have with me. But. Yeah. So I kind of designed each chunk of the tour a little differently or will give myself like an option A or option B , like. Yeah. So I kind of just kind of approach it , um , show by show.
S9: What has changed in you or in your music since ? Amen. And Radical Acceptance , your earlier albums ? This new album , particularly tracks like Miles , have this like the ambient and strong electronic element like you were talking about.
S8: So throughout the years since radical acceptance , um , I mean , the biggest thing that's changed is I've changed , you know , I've transitioned. And going through a gender transition is something that is just so incredibly difficult in so many ways. I never would have imagined. And I've always loved myself , but I feel like before I transitioned. I was loving a version of myself that I was forced to love because I didn't know if I would ever have the strength or courage to physically try to make this transition. So a lot of my music was focused on processing that focus on processing all of the emotional trauma. I was I have gone through and constantly putting myself through. So that was always just very , very difficult. And my music had this much grungy take on things , and the free jazz I was doing , I would say was way , way more radical than , um , things I normally do now. Um , and I've loved that era. You know , I miss it , honestly. Um , but as I've gotten further along in my transition and now , like three years later , going through a man approaching , it was completely different. I could tell a story of really like where I'm starting to be now on this journey of healing , instead of kind of focusing on the past so much , I can kind of start to dream of the future , and that's why I , like a lot of the songs are so much softer. Still have that like kind of honestly like a little bit of a sad quality to it. Um , there's still like a strong message of perseverance and a strong message of , um , still kind of like fighting for something , you know , fighting for some kind of happiness , fighting for some self preservation , fighting for self liberation. All of these different themes that I believe come with gospel music. Um , that's I mean , that's why the theme of Amen was really it was a gospel. It's things I needed to hear as I'm still swimming through my gender exploration and all of the things like that. Um , and now through five prayers , I mean , I feel like I've arrived , you know , I feel so in my body , in this really deep , guttural , beautiful way that , like , I wake up and I absolutely know who I am. There is no more question. It's no more question of like , wow , what would I look like if I did it ? Or like , what would life be like if I could go in my closet and see the clothes that I've always wanted to wear , even when I was little ? And like , what would it feel like when I look in the mirror and like , I see the true version of my mom , you know , um , and just get to live the life I've always wanted to , um , gender wise , you know , which which goes with everything else , you know , in my life , essentially. But yeah. So it's just been , like , such a beautiful journey of life and , um , this music that it just really speaks to it in a way of that , like , people should come with no expectations. I'm playing bassoon and synth. I mean , like , what expectations can you come with for that ? You know ? So , um , yeah. So it's I'm really excited. And , um , I love San Diego so much.
S1: Well , that was musician Joy Guidry , speaking with KPBS arts reporter and host of The Finest podcast , Julia Dixon Evans , who joins me now. Julia , welcome.
S9: Hey , Jade , thanks for having me.
S1: It's always a pleasure. So that concert is happening Friday night at Bread and Salt.
S9: There is a really interesting group show opening up at a gallery at Luce Studios. It's in La Jolla. The show is called Modern Light and it's curated by Elizabeth Armstrong. There's three artists Los Angeles photographer Kelly Nipper , Palm Springs painter Kim Manfredi , and local Carrie Fukuyama. And I want to point out that in the description of the exhibit , they refer to Carrie Fukuyama as an object maker , which I absolutely love as describing her work. It feels profound , but also a little bit of an understatement. I mean , she is an incredible sculptor. She works with paper as well , but mostly , I would say works with light. Like she'll use folds and cuts and different materials to make shadows and light a part of the piece of work itself. and in the show she has these pieces that almost look like origami like , but huge folded pieces of canvas. An incredible use of color as well. And these three artists were chosen because of how they use light and really different ways. Like photography is , of course a distinct use of light , but what's fascinating to me is how cohesive these pieces are , and these artists are in the show as a whole. So it opens at a gallery on Friday , there's a reception from 6 to 9 , and it'll be on view through January 15th.
S1: All right , well , book lovers can discover not just one , but four new authors at small press night in on a Saturday. So tell us about this event.
S9: Yeah , so Small Press Night is now in its 12th installment. It's an indie reading series. They focus on writers and poets publishing books that are a little outside of the Big Five publishing machine. Um , and in my opinion , small presses are where publishing really takes risks and I love it. The series has always had like a combination of locals and touring authors. And on Saturday , Washington DC based writer Samuel Ashworth will be here celebrating his new book. It's called The Death and Life of August Sweeney , and it's set in a restaurant kitchen , and I was just learning that. Ashworth himself has previously worked in a restaurant kitchen. Also reading is local Emily Greenberg , who has a short story collection called Alternative Facts. She was also a recent guest on an episode of The Finest. Her short stories are fascinating , and they're kind of bonkers as well. She has one that is like one long run on sentence inside of Kellyanne Conway's head. Also reading our two other locals , poet Matthew Valdivia and writer Sara Z. Phelps. It's Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Book Catapult in South Park , and if you want to see pro tip show up early. These usually end up being standing room only , which is kind of cool for the books.
S1: Thing it is really is. It sounds like a good event. Well , before we go , it is October , which means it's kids free month at San Diego Museum. So what do we need to know ? I know my my child is definitely looking forward to this.
S9: Right ? This is a program from the San Diego Museum Council. And the way it works for the most part is if you buy an adult ticket , you can get a free kids ticket to any of 60 participating museums , and some of the museums in that count are already free , either for everyone or for youth. But for others , this can be a pretty big savings. It's good for tourists as well , so think about it as like a chance to check out the places where child ticket prices are relatively high. Um , Legoland , Birch Aquarium , Fleet Science Center are all on the list. You go to the San Diego Museum Council website , enter your email address , and they'll send you a link to all the coupons or coupon codes. And it's pretty instant. I tried it and I got the the email right away. Some places have stipulations , like you need an advance reservation , but the deals all go through the end of the month , October 31st.
S1: Very nice. Well , you can find details on these and more arts events on our website at kpbs.org. I've been speaking with KPBS arts reporter and host of our arts and culture podcast , The Finest , Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , thank you so much.
S9: 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.
