Things To Do In San DIego: Tuesday, September 10-Monday, September 16, 2019

Besides all my computer chaos, it was a pretty great week. I caught Bleached and The Paranoyds at the Casbah on Thursday, on Friday, Jeff and I had an amazing dinner at Louisiana Purchase and went to see Band of Skulls at the Belly Up, and on Saturday me, Nova and Darren went to La Jolla Cove for some snorkeling, and then on Sunday we went to my parents house to celebrate my dad's 71st birthday, and Monday I dragged my reluctant dog to the beach while Nova was at practice. This week is pretty low key. I might try to check out Greg Laswell at the Belly Up and Jake at the Casbah on Friday, but otherwise will just blow where the wind takes me. Full listings for the week are after the jump.

The Magnolia Set To Open This Week

LiveNation's new entertainment venue, The Magnolia, opens its doors this week in El Cajon. There will be a grand opening ceremony tonight at 5pm. On Thursday the 12th, Queen Nation and Idol X will play the first show, followed by Countess Luann and Friends on Friday, September 13th.

From The Magnolia website

San Diego County’s newest venue, The Magnolia will open in El Cajon this September after 10 years and an incredible $7M renovation!  Formerly known as the East County Performing Arts Center, upgrades include a reconfigured seating layout showcasing great sightlines for 1200 fans, a completely refurbished lobby bar serving craft beer and cocktails, a brand new VIP Lounge, plush front row seating, updated guest amenities and elevator access to the upper level seating for easy accessibility. 

As part of the beautiful renovation of The Magnolia, fans can expect to enjoy events of all kinds, including use of the outdoor plaza and venue grounds! From movie nights to beer festivals, food trucks, street fairs and more, the venue will showcase different events all year-long, bringing together our community and visitors to experience a new level of entertainment in SoCal.

ALT949 Reveals Not So Silent Night Lineup

I was having a pretty fun time trying to follow the clues for ALT949's Not So Silent Night bit today they've finally revealed the lineup. I got three out of the six (Shaed, White Reaper, Winnetka Bowling League) but wasn't even close on the other three (Neon Trees, Local Natives, Half Alive).

The lineup includes Neon Trees, Local Natives, SHAED, Half Alive, White Reaper, and Winnetka Bowling League. The show takes place on December 8th at Del Mar Arena. Get your tickets to the show here.

What I'm Reading & Watching

What did the cormorant say to the sea lion??

I have had a hell of a weekend. We went snorkeling, chilled out, hung out for my dad's 71st birthday, and I thought it would be low-key and I would get ahead of email and social posts for work and get caught up when, BAM!, I got a FINAL NOTICE from Photobucket that they're switching to a subscription based model and all photos over their free limit would be deleted by Monday, September 9th. I wouldn't have noticed, to be honest, because my original account is linked to an email that is just chock-full of spam which I never read. So I missed months of such notifications. However, I had a second account affected, too, which is when I took it seriously. More of my woe-is-me  tale after the jump (and actual stuff I'm reading and watching)

Things To Do In San Diego: Wednesday, September 4-Monday, September 9, 2019

My birthday month is finally here! Me and Indah are super excited about that. Let's run through the week...on Tuesday I went to Bryan Ferry and then caught Mal Blum at Soda Bar. Wednesday is my evening to check out the sea lions while Nova plays soccer, and Thursday I went to Darren's soccer game, then caught The Bird and the Bee at Casbah. We went to the Zoo on Friday and then again on Monday for the final night of Nighttime Zoo, and in between Nova had her first soccer tournament of the season and we went to the tidepools (Saturday) and snorkeling the cove after Sunday. And last night I caught Local Natives and The Melvins. So yeah. Summer is very much still alive around here. Full listings are after the jump.

City of San Diego Shuts Down The Irenic & Street Angels Homeless Shelter for Teens

Last week, The Irenic posted a dreary message on their Facebook page:


Full Statement Link (full text here):

After nearly six years of opening the doors of our church to host All-Age events for the North Park Community, The Irenic has been ordered by The City of San Diego to cease operations, effective immediately on September 1, 2019. We believe that this order is a violation of our rights as a faith community to use our property to both bless the community and generate income to support our ministry, and are seeking legal counsel on how to proceed. It is our sincere hope that we will be able to begin hosting events again soon. We encourage you to reach out to Councilman Chris Ward's Office and Mayor Falconers Office to voice your support for The Irenic. Thank you so much for your support. 

Now, obviously I work for the Casbah and as such have worked the door for our events at the Irenic for many years now, but I have no inside information about this news. I will say my own opinion, which is that it sucks, and not just because of the lost income it means for me and our staff. There's been a neighbor hellbent on getting the venue shut down and fuck that guy. He allegedly called the police for EVERY. SINGLE. SHOW. I hear this is from Code Enforcement, but am sure Mara "Fun-killer" Elliott had a hand, as she seems to be chasing everything that makes this city cool, from shutting down Nova's derby facility with just 72 hours notice (and thus ending her derby involvement altogether) to resurrecting issues at the Observatory long thought to have been resolved and now this. It sucks. The Casbah has 10 shows with no home should the issue not be immediately resolved. Looking at Soda Bar's calendar, they also had at least 10 shows booked through the end of the year.

Update:
Casbah is working diligently to move all the previously scheduled shows. The sold-out Phora (10/13) show has been moved to House of Blues and with additional capacity means more tickets are on sale. Benjamin Francis Leftwich (9/18) has been moved to the Merrow, which unfortunately means this is now a 21+ show. Casbah will be making announcements as shows are moved.

Everyone has been covering this story, so here are some links:

GoFundMe: Save The Irenic & Youth Homeless Shelter

Statement from Councilman Chris Ward

MissionGathering Response To Councilman Chris Ward's Statement

City Pulls Plug on Irenic - SoundDiego / NBC

Youth shelter, music venue shut down by City of San Diego (Video) - CBS8

Community rallies around North Park Church that shelters homeless youth - 10News

Church fights to keep its music venue and homeless shelter open - Fox 5 San Diego

Keep The Irenic Open - Change.org Petition

Wonderfront Adds Bands & Releases Lineup By Day

I worked through the night, and then when I was finally ready to go to bed, of course what I'd been waiting for finally came through and I'm glad I check my email one last time before getting some sleep. Today, Wonderfront added the final artists to the lineup as well as publishing the breakout of bands by day.

The new acts are: Guitar Legends 3 (featuring an all-star band of surprise guests) | Migos | J.I.D. | Jhay Cortez | Khea | Wild Belle | Gioli & Assia | Grandma | Jesse Baez | Banda Tierra Brava | Los Crecidos | Seis en Linea | Cydeways | Glades |  Brewfish |

Wonderfront Festival will take place November 22-24, 2019 at various locations along and around the waterfront area. Tickets and details are available here.

For your information, full press release after the jump.

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, August 27-Tuesday, September 3, 2019

We thought Nova went through her first week of school unscathed, and then today it all kinda fell apart with a full on meltdown and I almost cried for her because, as we can all attest, middle school SUCKS. So for those of you whose kids had your first day today, all I can say is good luck. Last week I caught Generationals and Pure Bathing Culture at the Casbah and Snail Mail and Choir Boy at Music Box, hung out with the sea lions on Thursday, watched the SDSU women's game, watched Darren's soccer game, hung out with my parents, swam at Fiesta Island, binge watched some TV, dropped by Habitat House for their farewell party with Joel P West performing, and spent the scorcher of Sunday at the Safari Park. This week I'm looking forward to Bryan Ferry, The Bird and the Bee, and Throwing Muses among others. I've been promising more updates but have been having some tech issues, so hopefully I can fix that soon and get back in my groove. In the meantime, listings are through Tuesday to get you through Labor Day weekend. After the jump.

KAABOO Prices Jump Tomorrow

Tickets for KAABOO go up on Tuesday. All three days and all levels of VIP sold out last year. If you're interested in going, the best time to buy is now.

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, August 20-Monday, August 26, 2019

Nova starts 7th grade today, so we spent the last week absorbing all the life out of summer that we possibly could, which meant some swimming with Ficus at Fiesta Island Dog Park/Beach, getting in some Zoo and Balboa Park time, and an awesome multi-modal Saturday where we took bikes/bus/trolley to Harborfest and Sunday doing a fun ride from Normal Heights through Balboa, down to check out the new 6th Avenue bike lanes, around the harbor, and back home on the Rapid, which is a funny story that I tweeted about here, and Monday was all work save for me taking Nova to soccer and running up to La Jolla to visit my sea lion pals. I also had some nighttime fun and got to see Devotchka on Wednesday, Orville Peck on Thursday, and Kyle Kinane on Sunday. This week we'll dive back into the ritual of middle school but hopefully get to see some shows like Generationals, Snail Mail, and a couple others on the radar. Full listings through Monday are after the jump.

Adams Avenue Street Fair Lineups Released

I told you I had a million things to catch up on, and I'm doing my best to catch up on old news. The Adams Avenue Business Association released the schedule a while ago, but we're still a month out so it's all good. The Adams Avenue Street Fair takes placec on September 21st & 22nd on Adams from 35th to 30th with a new stage added to the mix by Polite Provisions. 
Check out the whole lineup and schedule here.

Clear The Shelters TODAY!!

This Saturday is another Clear The Shelters event!

From NBC:

Are you looking to adopt a loving new forever friend? Whether you're looking for a dog, bunny, bird or cat, we're waiving fees at select shelters across the County to help every animal find their furr-ever home!

Check out the interactive map to find the shelter closest to you.

From The San Diego Humane Society:

San Diego Humane Society will be participating in Clear the Shelters Day on Aug. 17 from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. The nationwide adoption drive is in partnership with NBC and Telemundo. There will be waived adoption fees for all animals at SDHS as well as other participating organizations. Last year, we adopted 431 animals into new homes in a single day — more than any other shelter in the country — and we’re looking to beat that record this year!

"San Diego Symphony Announces Bayside Performance Park" Opening in 2020

rendering from San Diego Symphony/Raindrop Marketing

Today the San Diego Symphony announced the Bayside Performance Park is set to open in 2020. I'm not a big fan of 'public-private partnerships' and giveaways of public land to private entities, but I haven't delved deep enough into this deal to really know how the thing came to take shape, how the land was given or sold or leased. As the current Bayside stage on Embarcadero Marina Park South is an eyesore and limits public access, it feels like the public just accepted it for so long that of course this is an improvement, but it still makes me feel icky, which is the general feeling I get whenever Jacobs' name is attached to anything. I hope I'm wrong and the promises made to the public come to fruition. So often we see 'public access' guaranteed and then funding is cut so, for example, public bathrooms end up locked during any meaningful hours when the public would actually need them. Let's just leave as being cautiously optimistic, though the way the Port is so eagerly giving away Embarcadero Marina Park North to future hotel development and the eventual razing of Seaport Village, I'm not sure I trust their stewardship in anything. Decide for yourself.

Full press release after the jump.

Seaport Sessions Kick Off This Thursday!

Growing up in Chula Vista, my mom cultivated a love for music in me from a very young age. I was never personally musically inclined, but we always went to free street fairs and concerts, whether or not we knew the bands playing. My earliest recollection of such events were the free Seaport Village concerts. They were by the (now defunct) Jolly Roger, and we'd go upstairs to their bar where they always had a free spread of hors d'oeuvres and on special days, my parents would order us virgin strawberry daiquiris (basically milkshakes, tbh) and then we'd go watch the band and the funny "old" (everyone is OLD when you're 5) people who would come to dance to the music. Well, now I'm OLD, and I'm glad to hear someone is activating the space again before the temporary renovations get underway and down the line when Seaport Village becomes unrecognizable. From what I've heard, these will at least run through December, so we'll keep you posted as more bands and talks get added to the calendar.