Our picks of this week's events
A traditional Indian dancer in drag, a long-awaited solo show by Saratoga Sake and the rest of the best of this week's happenings
Special events
Just ride
Ride a freakin’ bike, dude—you live in San Diego, where it’s, like, 75 degrees outside all year long! That’s the message Jeff Bochert and Salvador Gonzalez want to get across in their first-ever BuyCycle event, which will be held from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, July 12, at the Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave. in Kensington. Bochert, who bartends at the Ken Club by night and is a fulltime bike messenger by day, says the buy-sell-trade bike swap will feature about 20 independent vendors and drink specials, like $2 cans of PBR. If you want to be a vendor yourself, give Bochert a call at 619-757-8327; otherwise, just show up or be on the lookout for next month’s BuyCycle swap, which will be held at another local bar or park.
Food & Drink
Take paws
If anyone has work cut out for them, it’s the Friends of the Humane Society de Tijuana. If you’ve ever been south of the border, you know how in-need a lot of animals are down there. Just to lighten things up a bit and add a little refreshment to the Humane Society’s hard work, Muttropolis, a design-minded pet-supply store, is hosting its annual Summer Pooch Party & Ice Cream Social, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at its La Jolla location (7755 Girard Ave.) Saturday, July 12, and at its Solana Beach location at (227 S. Cedros Ave.) Sunday, July 13. The pooch-centric festivities will feature frozen organic treats for the first 30 dogs, dog games and contests, prize giveaways and information booths. Adoptable dogs from the Friends of the Humane Society de Tijuana will be on hand to win your hearts. www.muttropolis.com or 858-755-2647.
Politics & Community
Art school
By now, you’ve heard about The New Children’s Museum’s decision to cut ties with The Museum School in order to use classroom space for visiting regional classes instead. The Museum School—a charter school that’s been providing about 80 kids, grades 3 through 6, with project-based, hands-on learning with a particular focus on the arts—is looking for a new home. From 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, July 12, gallery owner Luis De Jesus will open his Seminal Projects space for A Bright New Future—Art Auction to Benefit the Museum School, a fundraising auction that features work by notable local and national contemporary artists. Preview and silent bidding on all the works will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, July 10 and 11, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 12. www.friendsofthemuseumschool.org or 619-236-8712.
Music
Key of green
Saving approximately 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the environment is no easy feat, but StayClassy.org, a social networking company in San Diego; Flobots, an environmentally aware band from Denver; and Sustainable Waves, a company focusing on sustainable energy solutions for the entertainment industry, think saving the world is worth the effort. Imagine that. You can join the fight to end environmental ignorance by attending the third annual Stay Classy Tailgate party featuring music by Flobots, Doomtree with P.O.S., Dirty Sweet, The Exfriends, Lady Dottie & The Diamonds, The Kneehighs and 40 Oz. to Freedom on solar-powered stages. And don’t even think about leaving the party grounds, on J Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues, Downtown, without recycling your party cups. The greenness begins at noon Saturday, July 12, and ends with an after-party with Shark Attack at The Fleetwood, 639 J St. $20. www.stayclassy.org.
Fashion
Hats for all
Opening Day of Del Mar’s horse-racing season kicks off at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday July 16, with the famed One and Only Truly Fabulous Hats Contest. This year, the grand-prize winner takes home a 42-inch TV and DVR/VCR valued at $1,800, so don’t mess around and take advantage of The Village Hat Shop & Betmar Hats’ annual Pre-Race Day Trunk Show from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 12, at The Village Hat Shop in Seaport Village, 881 W. Harbor Drive, Downtown. www.villagehatshop.com or 619-233-7236.
Books
Why care?
In her new book, For the Love of Animals, Kathryn Shevelow, author and UCSD professor of 18th-century British literature and culture, introduces us to the women and men who first thought of animals as more than just servants to humans. She leads with Margaret Cavendish, an eccentric and extravagant 18th-century duchess who, among other things, wrote about the “downright stupidity of the beliefs most people in her day held about animals.” Through characters like Cavendish, Shevelow is able to weave the history of animal rights into an enjoyable narrative that teaches readers more about human behavior than it does about animal behavior. For more on the book, listen to Shevelow give a talk at The Book Works, 2670 Via de La Valle in Del Mar, at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 10. www.book-works.com or 858-755-3735.
Art
Creepy pretty
CityBeat’s had its eye on local artist Saratoga Sake for a while, and we think it’s about time he had his first big solo show. Answering the call is—who else?—the über-hip gallery to the north, Distinction Gallery, 317 E. Grand Ave. in Escondido, with Vamperina, an exhibition featuring recent pop-surrealism works by Sake, “blood” punch, pink cupcakes and Japanese snacks purportedly served by “miserable looking ballerinas.” One of our favorite art-punk bands, BRAAIINS!, will provide the tunes. Vamperina opens from 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday, July 12. 760-781-5779 or www.distinctionart.com.
Dance
The wink move
In traditional Indian folk dancing, an exaggerated wink (adorned by heavy black eyeliner and bright eye shadow) is just as important as a perfect arabesque in ballet. Queen Harish, a veteran dancer from Rajasthan, India, will show you the subtleties of Indian dance—facial expressions and delicate hand gestures—along with the more dramatic theatrical side (she’s actually a he, and, yes, he can whirl and twirl just as elegantly as any girl) at Portugalia Restaurant and Pub, 4839 Newport Ave. in Ocean Beach, from 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, July 10 (tickets are $10). The next day, July 11, Queen Harish will share his secrets of dance and performance at a workshop at Studio at North Park, 3800 30th St., which costs $35 in advance and $40 at the door. www.nomadartz.com or 619-884-7707.
Published: 07/08/2008
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT