CRSSD Announces Fall 2019 Lineup

I was just looking at an old Hot Chip poster thinking they were due for another San Diego date. CRSSD Fest just announced their Fall 2019 lineup, taking place on September 29 & 30 at Waterfront Park. Tickets open Tuesday, June 11th at 11AM PT. Alumni on sale just before that at 10AM. Save this link.

Things To Do In San Diego: Wednesday, May 29-Monday, June 3, 2019

They're showing The Lion King on ABC and according to Wikipedia, "The Lion King is scheduled to be released on July 19, 2019, which marks the 25th anniversary of the release of the original film." And in light of the passing of M'bari at the Zoo, I thought I'd share this pic of the male at the Safari Park (I think his name is Ernest, but I can't be sure) who was having a good time showing off on Memorial Day. It was a super great weekend...Nova had her final futsal game, we got to see my niece's games, we got in a little mini hike at Mission Trails, I went to see The Lemonheads, hung out at Ken Club. On Sunday we went to Tim's annual Memorial Day BBQ, and on Monday spent most of the day at the Safari Park, but somewhere in the mix of all of that I got super sick, which hit me hard Monday night and will probably linger for at least a week, though I'm fighting with tons of fluids, OTC meds, tea, soup, emergen-C, and some CBD products from Pure Ratios which I'm now selling on the side. (use coupon code "sddialedin" on your orders!)  There are some rad shows this week, but for now, I'm Down for the count and not trying to get everyone else in my orbit sick around me. Full listings through Monday are after the jump.

Things To Do In San Diego: Friday, May 24-Tuesday, May 28, 2019 - Memorial Day Weekend

Idles slaying the Belly Up on Tuesday, May 21st, 2019

I decided that I'd do a weekend update of the listings because (a) I realized I had skipped a handful of venues for the weekend listings unintentionally (b) because there are sooo many updates of sell-outs and (c) because the week overall has been rad but Thursday was an entire wasted day of suck that I want to start fresh with the weekend. Quick rundown...I went to that amazing Johnny Marr show at House of Blues on Monday. On Tuesday, I went to see Idles and Fontaines DC at Belly Up, which was total insanity, and followed up with Geographer at Casbah, and on Wednesday I went to a lecture about ethics in wildlife photography which was more fascinating than it maybe sounds. Thursday was a shitshow day if you follow the Casbah Facebook page, so I spent a day that was supposed to be chill fully troubleshooting and trying to fix all of the events. When I got things back in order, we spent the evening with my nieces and then I went to Darren's soccer game and spent the night catching up on my trash TV. So yeah, a good week. A shit day. An awesome weekend ahead. Listings through Tuesday, as updated as I could make them, after the jump.

Update: Due to illness, the shows with THE WHITE BUFFALO scheduled for tonight (Friday May 24) and tomorrow night (Saturday May 25) have to be postponed until Monday September 2 and Tuesday September 3. 

Tickets for the May 24th show will be honored for the September 2nd show and tickets for the May 25th show will be honored for the September 3rd show.  If you cannot make the new show date work then refunds will be available at point of purchase.

Tonight the opening act, LA Edwards, will still perform one set at 9pm, and tomorrow night, he will be joined by Ron Blair & The Chris Torres Band, and Nancarrow.  All ticket holders for either White Buffalo show are welcome to join us free of charge for either (or both) of these shows

PSA: California State Parks Memorial Day Weekend Safety Tips

It's Memorial Day Weekend and not only one of the biggest road trip weekends of the year, but San Diego is always a top destination for the holiday. California State Parks sent this helpful reminder for safety tips etc. that is definitely worth a read (after the jump). 

Palm Canyon at Anza Borrego Desert State Park 

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, May 21-Tuesday, May 28, 2019

After last week's episode of Game of Thrones, I finally came to terms with the fact that the writers weren't going to satisfy fans with the ending, so I gave up on reading every fan theory or listening to every podcast about the final season and it freed up so much time! I've been trying to shoot a lot more these days, in fact, my camera just reset back to 0001 which means I completed another 9,999 photos. On Tuesday night, I went to see Carsie Blanton at the Casbah and she's really great if you haven't had the chance to check her out. On Wednesday, I shot Santigold at the House of Blues, and it was my first time there in ages. That was a fun night because she literally played all her hits and then some. On Friday I went to Rabbit Hole for Karen Barnett's birthday and The Havnauts were playing, and on Saturday I got to shoot Cowboy Junkies at the Observatory. Sunday was awesome and rainy and a perfect pajama day to get all of this week's listings done so I could chill on Monday and be ready to see Johnny Marr. The show was incredible and I'm so glad I went.

This week's listings go through Tuesday on account of Monday being Memorial Day. Full listings after the jump.

Photos: Peter, Bjorn & John @ The Irenic. May 5, 2019

Peter, Bjorn and John played at the Irenic on Cinco de Mayo this year, but I was happy to be working at their show. Little did we know that mere months later, The Irenic would be shut down by the City, so we maybe should've appreciated what we had a little more. Still, this was an excellent show. I was a little bummed that the room was only about half house...having seen the band before when "Young Folks" was all the rage, their shows were selling out in every city, but so goes the music biz in 2019. The empty space in the room didn't matter, however, when the band jumped into the crowd and played some jams. I'm sorry these didn't get posted sooner. These and dozens of others were held up in drafts and never published.

Photos: #PeakBloom at Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden at Balboa Park

I'm having a perfect lazy Sunday. I finished reading Life Will Be the Death of Me: . . . and You Too!, the latest book by Chelsea Handler, Darren is off working, Nova is hanging out with a soccer buddy, and I'm at home trying to stay off social media because I don't want any GoT spoilers or commentary until after we watch it tonight. I've got a ton of photos to post, some LA Daily episodes to catch up on, some posts have had on my brain for a minute, and I want to get a jump on listings because I'll be shooting Johnny Marr on Monday and I don't wanna be under pressure to get them done. So I guess I just filled up my day with a whole lot of time on my laptop, though I might also try to sneak off to the Zoo or something today, too. First, a million pictures of the #PeakBloom at the Inez Grant Memorial Rose Garden at Balboa Park that I shot on Friday.

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, May 14-Monday, May 20, 2019

Last week was kinda rough. Friday was the one year anniversary of the death of Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit, and I guess it was consuming me more than I expected. But overall it ended up being a great week. On Tuesday I got to take Julie (you know her from The Office) to the Casbah for the sold out Phantom Planet show and then we closed the night at Whistle Stop. I need to make that happen more often. I also went to see Lady Lamb on Thursday at Soda Bar, and on Saturday, Nova and I went to North Park Festival of Arts and then she caught Robert Ellis with me at the Observatory until Darren grabbed her so I could shoot The Eels. On Sunday, my family got to reignite our Gator By The Bay Mother's Day tradition and then Darren and I had a quiet night watching Game of Thrones (and subsequently reading every review about the episode.) But to be honest, one of my new favorite things is to swing over to La Jolla Cove on Nova's soccer days. I can't tell you how many hundreds (maybe thousands) of photos I've taken of sea lions and sea birds, playing with settings and trying to make myself a better photographer while also just being in total peace among the amazing animals. So I thought post Mother's Day, I'd choose this photo, this double-crested cormorant waiting for her eggs to hatch. Huge shout out and thank you to Jon, who donated to @sddialedin via Venmo last week. So generous, and I was so humbled. Listings through Monday are after the jump.

North Park Festival of Arts 2019 Set Times

Not gonna lie. It took me way too long to track down these set times. I realize they're all listed out at ExploreNorthPark.com, but why these can't be found in one organized place is beyond me. So I found three stages and thought I'd post the set times here to reference on Saturday. Find them after the jump. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, May 7-Monday, May 13, 2019

 I'm gonna keep it short this week. It takes me a ton of hours to compile these listings. Other situations have it automated, but that also means they're not up to date when things cancel and shit. And mostly I'm just trying to feel relevant when everything is telling me that I'm not. So ugh. I had a super awesome week. I got to go the Zoo twice, Sea World once, and still killed my shit as soccer mommy and taking that time at the Cove to play with my camera, because I always have a lot to learn. On top of that, I went to the Friday El Vez show, and worked Saturday and Sunday at the Irenic for Omar Apollo and Peter Bjorn and John, respectively. Sorry I was being cranky when I posted the listings before. This line of work is almost always awesome but every once in awhile you have to deal with shady people and you just have to smile about it.

Photos: Failure @ The Fonda Theatre

Failure reportedly had issues booking their current tour and ended up skipping SD this time around. Luckily our photographer Tim Fears was in Hollywood to capture the space rock legends' incredible performance in this set of photos.

FAILURE

more photos after the jump.

Rosey's Read/Watch/Link List

I always think I post all the best things and events, but after doing my listings last week, consulting my 50+ sites and email and Facebook and such, I realized how many non-music things are always going on in town. I've been trying to include general sports stuff at Pechanga Arena, between The Seals, The Gulls, and The Fleet, but with all the film and movie stuff, museums and foundations and non-profits, it's just too much to pack into my listings.

Here are some calendars you should bookmark for special events:
San Diego Public Library
MTRP newsletter here
San Diego County Bicycle Coalition
BikeSD events here

Back to my main point, which was that instead of really reading and watching a ton this week, I got out of the house--a lot--more than my usual, at least. Besides my usual spots and getting Nova to soccer and such, we did the San Diego Book Crawl, I went to see the Sea Lions of La Jolla a couple times, went to the San Diego Zoo twice, went to Sea World to use some free passes I had that were expiring, and then did mom shit like huge runs at Grocery Outlet and Costco. I like to include my dog in some of these adventures where she's allowed, but her leg is still jacked, so I ordered her something called a "hock brace" which, surprisingly, she seems to appreciate for the support. She licked it a little but seems to be cool putting weight on her leg again, which is the ultimate goal.

My watchlist hasn't changed much this week...I'm fully on board with all my Bravo shows--RHONY, RHOBH, WWHL (Watch What Happens Live to the uninitiated,) and the end of the season for Vanderpump Rules. And I hate to admit that I love Very Cavallari on E! and I don't hate to admit that I want to be BFF's with Busy Philipps and her Busy Tonight show, also on E! I wish I could say I'm watching anything requiring a brain, though maybe watching 'professional sports bettor' James Holzhauer on Jeopardy! has become appointment TV on the occasions that I can actually be home between 7:30 and 8pm.

It should also be noted that we chose to have only one TV in our house and me and Nova are on board when Darren wants to watch Golden State in playoffs. (I don't let on that I actually love watching basketball. Only I prefer it on mute with some other radio talk, podcast, or music playing instead of the annoying announcers and that ick of squeaking shoes nonstop.)

I didn't finish this post when I intended to so I'm gonna start a clean one.

Photos: Taking Back Sunday + Frank Iero and the Future Violents

Here are photos from the 2nd night of Taking Back Sunday's recent shows at The Observatory along with openers, Frank Iero and the Future Violents.

Taking Back Sunday

Reclaim Cinco De Mayo

I saw this floating around Facebook today and thought it was worth a share. I definitely have a new appreciation for Cinco de Mayo at this phase of my life, merely in the fact that as I walked around Old Town with Nova I saw so many happy and beautiful families of all shades freely enjoying themselves and it made me feel deep down joy. But whatever you think of the the day, some cool things to keep in mind. 

Rosey's Read & Watch List: Gay Of Thrones | Special | Huge In France | Kim's Convenience | If Beale Street Could Talk

I started this list last immediately after my last read/watch post on 4/14, so I'm gonna post now because I waited, and now I have way too much to add now so I'm due for a fresh post. All after the jump.

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, April 30-Monday, May 6, 2019

I'm always a cheerleader on why everyone should get out to shows, and then gas hits $5 a gallon and rideshare prices increase, Game of Thrones is on TV plus a ton of other stuff I need to read, watch, shoot, or write, and I have to carefully think about the shows I get out to. Last week I only hit Superorganism on Tuesday and worked at the Kiefer show on Saturday. The rest of the week was chill. I did some cleaning out of over 100 old drafts on this site, caught up with old work, caught up with lots of reading, and binged a decent share of TV. I was trying to get my sleep cycle back to normal which maybe finally clicked on Saturday, so we were up early and ran all over town doing the San Diego Book Crawl, then went to Nova's futsal, then a couple more book shops, a nice pre-birthday dinner for Nova, and then I worked at Soda Bar. Sunday we hit up EarthFair, hit our 7th stop of the book crawl, then had a little family birthday party for Nova with my fam. On Monday, my sister and I went to the Zoo for the final chance to see the pandas, and in the evening while Nova was at soccer, I went back to La Jolla Cove for the sea lions. The listings are taking longer and longer and quite a few venues haven't updated for May, but what I've got through Monday are after the jump.

Weekend Event Quicklinks: Artwalk | Adams Avenue Unplugged | San Diego Book Crawl | more...

There's a ton of stuff happening this weekend, so I thought I'd make a little post of quicklinks so you can find artist and event schedules with ease.

Saturday & Sunday 

• ArtWalk Little Italy @ India St between Date & Grape (Free, 11am-6pm)
• In Your Neighborhood Block Party with The Paragraphs, Western Settings, Mistress 77, Parker Meridien, Cheyenne Benton, El Camino Hight School Jazz Septet and more @ Pour House (Free, All Ages, 12-8pm)
• San Diego Book Crawl @ San Diego Library Shop, UC San Diego Bookstore, Warwick's Books, Mysterious Galaxy, La Playa Books, Bluestocking Books, Verbatim Books, The Book Catapult, Run For Cover (Facebook event page 10am-5pm)
• 36th Annual Encinitas Spring Street Fair @ Downtown Encinitas/101 (9am-5pm, Free, All Ages)
• Tequila & Taco Music Festival 2019 @ Embarcadero Marina Park South (Ticketed Event, 21+, Sat 12-7pm | Sun 12-6:30pm)

Saturday Only

• Adams Avenue Unplugged (Free, All Ages some 21+ venues, Noon-10pm)
• La Mesa’s Earth Day Festival @ Harry Griffen Park (Free, All Ages, 10am-1pm)
• Mission Valley Craft Beer & Food Festival 2019 @ San Diego County Credit Union Stadium Practice Field (Ticketed Event, 21+, VIP 12-1:30pm GA 1:30-5pm)
• The Quintessential Festival @ Nobel Athletic Fields & Rec Center (Ticketed Event, 21+, 1-5pm)

Sunday Only 

• EarthFair @ Balboa Park (Free, All Ages, 10am-5pm)
• 29th Annual Multi-Cultural Earth Day @ WorldBeat Center (Free, All Ages, 11am-7pm)

San Diego Zoo Bids Farewell to Panda Program | Last Chance Views Through April 29

San Diegans were shocked when the San Diego Zoo announced an end to the panda program. Most of us understood that this program was always meant to be temporary, but after 23 years, we kinda thought it would be forever. I remember when the pandas first came to San Diego in 1987 for a 100 day stint. I think I was in 6th grade and my mom bought me a bright red panda shirt that I wore until it wouldn't fit anymore--maybe the only time we've ever paid full price for a souvenir, ever.

When the pandas came back in 1996, I'd spend my lunch between classes at City College hanging out at the Zoo. I've been lucky to attend a couple behind the scenes and media events over the years and I'm heartbroken that they're not gonna be around anymore, particularly after the investment by the Zoo in the breeding program. Like many, I'm holding out hope that this isn't goodbye forever, just goodbye for now, and now that Bai Yun is ready to go into retirement, some new breedable pandas will make their way here and the program won't really be over. Pro-tip: The lines for pandas are going to be insane this weekend. If you don't want to wait in the lines but want a last glimpse, you can see the pandas from overhead while crossing the bridge from the treehouse to the elephants or just check out the panda cam.

I definitely went through some pangs of nostalgia digging through my old photos. Check out some more snaps after the jump and check out the Zoo's press release.

Things To Do In San Diego: Tuesday, April 23-Monday, April 29, 2019

I was trying to find a picture to post this week and realized I didn't shoot a single show this week. Actually, that's not entirely true...we did go to Kero Kero Bonito last Monday and Saturday I worked the Big Thief show and snapped a couple pics, but it was Nova's spring break so we were mostly running around whenever I wasn't chained to my laptop for work. We drove out to Anza-Borrego on Tuesday and hiked Palm Canyon and The Slot. During Nova's soccer on Wednesday, I went back to see the Sea Lions in La Jolla and later that night attempted to see Ages and Ages on Wednesday but were too late, so ended up at Death Cab for Karaoke instead. My Kero interview fell through on Thursday, so I skipped going to the second show and got hours of work done instead with a little break at Fiesta Island with the dog, who is still limping but begging for walks nonetheless. Same kinda went for Friday so on Saturday we could be up early for Nova's futsal, then her friends' Easter party, and then the amazing Big Thief show at the Irenic, and Sunday we just had a short late afternoon jaunt to the zoo. I love having family time, but it's exhausting trying to still keep up with work while trying to keep up with the fam. Low key week ahed because it's a massive weekend. Listings through Monday are after the jump.

Plaza De Panama Committee Dissolved: Jacobs Plan Is (Supposedly Officially) Dead!

This week, the committee tasked with raising money for the Jacobs Plaza de Panama Project officially dissolved. They blamed lack of support by Councilman Chris Ward for a revised 2 phase project--essentially "let us build a parking garage and ruin the bridge but we won't do any of the other things we promised to fix the park."

Kind of exactly what SDSU is now doing with the stadium site.

I think Jacobs realized this hot-button issue would stain the mayoral campaign of Todd Gloria, who was disappointingly a huge supporter of the project despite the massive outcry from his constituents. I imagine some new outrageous and unnecessary proposal will arise once Jacobs gets his guy in as mayor. Our council is spineless when it comes to standing up against money. I mean, they were going to allow NAMING RIGHTS. In the park! AYFKM? I wrote about all of this in February but here are some new stories confirming the dissolution of the fundraising committee.

And since these articles can't even try to act like they weren't all in favor of this gross project, let me remind you this plan would (1) build a parking structure (2) remove all parking from the inside of the park to be replaced with PAID parking in said structure (3) cut into the historic bridge (4) allow naming rights for ego-driven "philanthropists," among many other things. And don't get it twisted, the reason the City couldn't go over budget is because once they hit a certain amount of City contribution, it has to go to voters and they know the voters would overwhelmingly vote no.

Voice of San Diego doesn't even try to be unbiased, being that Jacobs is the single largest VOSD supporter: The Plaza de Panama Project Is Officially Dead 

Plaza De Panama Project Dead for Now (NBC)

Official Statement of the Plaza De Panama Committee

In other Balboa Park news...wtf happened to the dragon?? The "Nikigatory" by Niki de Saint Phalle is gone from in front of the Mingei and all I could find was this old article from 2017 about the Mingei's desire to increase their curb appeal. I also found this old proposal from 2009 for The House of Charm, the building which houses the Mingei. If anyone knows the updated deal there, I'd love to know because I've now gone down a three-day rabbit hole of old Council meeting notes and subcommittee minutes which has made me sideline actual work that I should be doing.