Things To Do In San Diego: Wednesday, November 13-Monday, November 18, 2019

The holidays are approaching and I am imagining in my brain that things slow down and I can get caught up and chill a bit but it's not really looking that way. But it does mean that I kinda keep blowing off shows I want to go to but just can't muster the energy. So last week I really only ended up catching French For Rabbits at Space, working for Skegss at the Casbah on Friday, and working for Rhett Miller at Music Box on Sunday. We also had some fun time hanging out with my family over the weekend, and we spent Veteran's Day at the Safari Park, where you can see this adorably loving lappet-faced vulture pair, who are always nuzzling and working together to adjust and build their nest. It's hard to get up there these days, since the sun is setting so early and they're only open until 5, but both the Zoo and Safari Park have some great extended hours for the holidays, so I'll add my Holiday Event Guide to the list of the million things I need to do. Already this week I've missed Broncho and Drew Holcomb, but I'll try to get my biz together so I can enjoy some shows this week. I'll be shooting at the Music Box for Art Alexakis on Thursday, and Cold War Kids at the Observatory, and I'll be selling merch for The Ocean Blue on Saturday. I'm also really excited to catch Trashcan Sinatras on Sunday at AMSD. Listings through Monday are after the jump.

Coming Soon: North Park Live! - Saturday, November 30th

I've been super busy lately but I couldn't really talk about it until it was all locked in and confirmed, but I'm happy that I've been asked to do a couple projects with North Park Main Street. The first of those is North Park Live, an event in conjunction with Small Business Saturday presented by My Point Credit Union.
There will be shopping and dining specials, live art, and lots of free live music spread across numerous venues. I'm pleased to share that among the artists, you'll be able to catch Erik Canzona, Michael McGraw, Heather Marie, Nena Anderson, Gaby Aparicio, TJ, Nate Donnis, Luc Trahand, Shelbi Bennett, and Julia Sage. Lock the date into your calendar and make sure if you're gonna spend money this holiday season, to consider shopping local.

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, November 5-Tuesday, November 12, 2019

I already told you that I mostly stayed home like a hermit because I was sick and stuff, but I pulled it all together to get to Dia de los Deftones which was pretty fun. I hadn't been to the Sycuan Park at the Park and I was impressed with the layout and it looked like it would've been pretty fun to do all the decorating and stuff that they laid about the park. Me and Tim Fears were both shooting, so we got there early enough to catch all the acts. After the event, we caught Black Mountain at the Casbah. That's pretty much the extent of my whole week, though Nova and I wandered Ikea without a purpose to hang out and eat in their cafeteria. There are some great shows this week, but I've got a lot on my plate, so realistically I'll probably take it easy until Skegss on Friday. Listings are done through Tuesday this week, since Monday is Veterans Day...all after the jump.

Things To Do In San Diego: Friday, November 1-Monday, November 4, 2019

Today is the kickoff for San Diego Beer Week and I feel like I got enough posts in this week that I'd bring the updated listings back up to the top. I added a few Dia De Los Muertos events and some of the venues that didn't have listings when I did these on Monday night. I'm still feeling under the weather and mostly at home taking it easy, though I did get out of the house on Wednesday to La Jolla Cove while Nova was at soccer, maybe for the last time since Daylight Saving Time is ending this weekend. I also did a little shopping while Nova wrapped up trick-or-treating with her friend, so I guess my isolation made me buy new beds for all the pets so all my pictures of them don't have 15 beach towels strewn across the sofa. I'm shooting Dia de los Deftones, so I won't be holed up all weekend, but mostly I'm hoping to get up to the Safari Park for their Dia De Los Muertos weekend. We shall see... listings through Monday are after the jump.

Things I'm Reading & Watching: Katie Hill's Amazing Parting Words | Looking For Alaska | Wired | CityLab

I only knew about The Testaments, Margaret Atwood's long awaited sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, about a week before its release, but the second I heard about it, I reserved any format I could on every library I could (San Diego, Chula Vista, San Diego County) and within a week or so of release, I already had the book from one library and the audio CDs from another. Unfortunately, I couldn't get to the book at all...it was the same time the Casbah was transitioning from Ticketfly to Eventbrite and I was buried in work, but I've now got the audio recording and am listening as I work, as I clean, as I lay around being sick. Darren is listening, too. So today, I was watching this amazing speech by Katie Hill, and he walks into the room. And granted, he couldn't really make sense of what was being said but says, "Oh, you must've caught up to me and passed me, I haven't heard that part yet." I don't know if I should laugh or cry. That he could hear the words of Katie Hill, and mix them with The Testaments says so much about where we are. Yesterday he asked me if Nova was too young to experience "toxic masculinity" and I said it's something females experience from the time we're born, then proceeded to give examples. Listen to Katie. It's 8 minutes long. Take the time. And let's at least celebrate today's Impeachment vote victory. Still such a long way to go.


more watching and reading after the jump:

Friday, November 1: Free Bike Lights at San Diego Central Library

*Light Me Up Safety Lights in photo do not represent what will be provided at this event

November 1: San Diego Cyclists Get Road-Ready with Free Bike Lights at Central Library

Bike light installation prepares bike riders for the end of Daylight Saving Time
Bike Coalition to make night time riding safer for commuters

WHAT:
As the majority of the country transitions from Daylight Saving Time to Standard Time, the San Diego County Bike Coalition and the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) are partnering to invite all bike commuters to receive free front bike lights. All riders on bikes can head to the San Diego Central Library where Bike Coalition staff and police officers will encourage safe, nighttime commuting with free bike light installation, helpful tips and important safety information about riding in the dark.

WHY:
With nightfall arriving almost 60 minutes earlier after Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, November 3, the Bike Coalition wants to ensure all people in San Diego have access to what they need to be visible on busy streets and get home safely. People who commute on bikes and pedal home in the dark during the Standard Time months will be safer on our shared roads. California state law requires cyclists to use front and rear lights when commuting at night.

WHO:
San Diego Bike Coalition
San Diego Police Department
San Diego Central Library

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Location: San Diego Central Library (330 Park Blvd, San Diego, CA 92101)
Date and Time: Friday, November 1 from 5 to 6 p.m.

Source: GoMixte

Wonderfront Set Times Released

This week, the organizers of Wonderfront released set times. Bookmark this page and hold on to it. If you still haven't picked up your tickets, you can still buy them and get all the information you need for the festival at WonderfrontFestival.com. Full schedules are after the jump.

Things I'm Reading & Watching: BRDGS | Lefsetz | AB5 | The Laundromat | Any One of Us and more

"If your vote didn’t matter, they wouldn’t fight so hard to block it" -SPLC

BRDGS is an artist from Toronto, but he wrote a song called "San Diego," and I kinda love it.

So another couple weeks have passed and I've made more notes on things I read in my daily perusal of the interwebs and daily influx of countless emails. These are things that I find interesting, infuriating, entertaining, or educational. Full clips/list/links are after the jump.

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, October 29-Thursday, October 31, 2019

I think I've been really over-committing to things lately and it's totally caught up with me in that besides some work and meetings, I intend to leave my house as little as possible this week. Last week started with Jeff taking me to see "Almost Famous: The Musical" at the Old Globe and it was phenomenal, but it closed out this week with complete sell outs, so I didn't feel any urgency to review it at the end of the run. On Wednesday Darren and I went to the Observatory for Caravan Palace and had a chill time since my photo pass had fallen through. I didn't get any magical responses to Lizzo on Thursday either, which was fine by me, but I got called to work at Music Box on Friday for Queen Nation and worked on Saturday for Har Mar Superstar's new project, Heart Bones. But the whole week I've had that tickle in my throat and lungs and besides a couple hours at the Zoo on Sunday night, I'm down for the count, trying to rest, drink all the fluids, and rest some more. There are shows I'd love to see this week, but besides working at the Casbah on Wednesday, don't expect to see me anywhere. It's almost as my subconscious knows how much I despise Halloween. But if you're not scrooge mcscroogey like me, I hope everyone has a fun and safe week. Full listings after the jump.

Sunday October 27: CiclosDias Takes Over Streets of Normal Heights, North Park, and City Heights

I super love CiclosDias events, which is why I'm so disappointed in myself for not getting this up sooner, but Sunday, October 27th is CiclosDias!!

(source: GoMixte)
October 27: Mid City to Become Car-Free Playground for CicloSDias
San Diego Bike Coalition invites the public to support local shops at open streets celebration

WHAT
On October 27, streets like Adams Avenue in Normal Heights and El Cajon Blvd. in City Heights will close completely to cars, creating a cyclist’s paradise and encouraging residents and tourists to bike, walk, skate or stroll through neighborhood streets. CicloSDias brings people of all ages together in new areas of San Diego each time to support local businesses and enjoy time outdoors.

Live entertainment, activities for kids and food vendors will line the streets instead of the usual motorized vehicle traffic. The event encompasses close to four miles of car-free exploration: click here for the map.

WHY
Drawing inspiration from Los Angeles’s CicLAvia and Bogotá’s weekly Ciclovía, CicloSDias brings the public out to open streets to enjoy connecting with communities and local businesses while catching a glimpse of what streets would be like without car traffic. CicloSDias participants will get to rediscover their neighborhood in a more intimate and unique way.

VISUALS/ACTIVITIES
Hundreds of community members walking, biking, skating through Adams Avenue and other Mid City streets
Live music from five bands spread along Adams Avenue
Bike maintenance workshops with Bikes del Pueblo
Shopping at local shops and food vendors
Fair at 44 party with live music and Zumba class led by the YMCA
A SAN DIEGO TRADITION
CicloSDias first rolled through San Diego in 2013 in North Park. Since then, the Bike Coalition has engaged community partners, city officials, local businesses and neighbors to host six additional open-streets celebrations in beach and inland communities across San Diego County.

WHO
This year, CicloSDias is a partnership between the Bike Coalition and:
The City of San Diego
County of San Diego
The California Office of Traffic Safety
San Diego Police Department
Adams Avenue Business Association
City Heights Community Development Corporation
Fair at 44
Metropolitan Transit System
YMCA
Blind Lady Ale House

This Thursday: Ken Stringfellow of The Posies To Perform At Vinyl Junkies Record Shack

In high school, I fell in love with The Posies. I had a chance to catch their Soda Bar show at Soda Bar in 2018 and it flooded back tons of memories. So imagine my surprise when I got an email from Ken Stringfellow himself:

Ken from the Posies (and many other things) here
I'm coming to town (October 24th) to play at Vinyl Junkies, in their tiki patio, a rather whimsical location for a performance that normally has decent gravitas... on this tour I'm playing my album "Touched" in its entirety, plus songs & stories from my 30 year career in music...
The show is me, solo, alternating between guitar and piano. Shelbi from the Midnight Pine will join me for a few duets as well.

Get tickets to this special intimate performance below:
An Evening with Ken Stringfellow
Vinyl Junkies Tiki Patio
Oct 24 7pm
https://stringfellowsandiego.eventbrite.com

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, October 22-Monday, October 28, 2019

Ride at House of Blues

Last week didn't exactly go according to plan. I did, in fact, get to shoot Ride at the House of Blues on Tuesday and went out after and made quite a night of it, but by Wednesday I was feeling rundown...sure, I had a bit of an h.o., but my sleep schedule was more jacked than usual, work has been intense, the weird weather had my allergies in overdrive resulting in a migraine and knowing I'd be working on Thursday night, I had to bow out of Surf Curse on Wednesday and Darren kindly relieved me of soccer duty or having to go out of the house at all. By Thursday, my generic allergy pills and advil seemed to help, but then I got called off from having to work (which I kind of expected), so decided another day of not leaving the house would suit me just fine as I had to sort out MailChimp and a whole bunch of other work. By Friday, I was back to myself, and after getting my work done in the morning, blasted out to the Zoo for the afternoon, before going to the Clairo show at the House of Blues. It was great, though there was a contingency of parents in the side room who we fit in with more than the Clairo-loving tweens, but it's not our fault SiriusXMU made us love her. On Saturday, Nova had a SkateWorld birthday party, so I spent the afternoon with my dog at Fiesta Island until it was pickup time and Sunday me and the kid went shopping and then I was up all night doing listings. I guess I don't do so well as seasons change, and the 90+ degree weather this week with Santa Ana winds and such aren't helping, but I'm trying to get it all together because I've got lots of fun stuff this week, like finally seeing Almost Famous tonight at the Old Globe, shooting Caravan Palace on Wednesday, and I'm still trying to work my way into Lizzo on Thursday. I haven't quite decided on my move for Friday, but Saturday I'll be working for my pal Sean, aka Har Mar Superstar at the Merrow, and if all goes according to plan, going to the Belly Up on both Sunday for Ra Ra Riot and Monday for Lucy Dacus. Yikes. We'll see what I actually pull off, but I'm looking forward to the week.