Our picks of this week's events
This week: A midnight bike ride with a cause, a dub dance night you should know about and the rest of the best of this week's happenings
ART
Global interdependence
Tijuana artist Marcos Ramirez ERRE traveled to the Yunnan Protected Areas in China, served a residency there and came up with a project that will show viewers why the United Nations has listed the area as a culturally and naturally significant site that should be preserved. ERRE is one of the eight artists in Human/Nature: Artists Respond to a Changing Planet, a collaborative multiyear exhibition that sent artists to United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage sites around the globe and asked the artist to create something that investigates the relationship between natural environments and human communities. The resulting projects will be on view in the traveling exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s Downtown location at 1001 Kettner Blvd. beginning Sunday, Aug. 17. www.mcasd.org. 858-454-3541.
Making spaces: Randy Perkins and Ruth Seeger renovated an old taco shop in East Village and, after months of hard work, turned it into Studio Michelangelo, a new school, studio and gallery located at 1433 Market St. The two Switzerland natives are already on their second official exhibition, Temporal Garden: A Vision of Regional Sculpture, and are having a second opening for the show at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15. The exhibition features a diverse collection of sculptures by the couple, plus Chester Gould, Joseph Bennett, Lea de Wit, Fred Briscoe and more sculptors from the area. www.studio-michelangelo.com. 619-990-1613.
OUTDOORS
Bike night
In case you didn’t get the memo, riding bikes in San Diego is super-cool right now. Join the cycling masses at midnight Saturday, Aug. 16, for the annual Midnight Madness Fun Bicycle Ride hosted by the San Diego chapter of Hostelling International USA and the Uptown Optimist Club of San Diego. Dress up for the costume contest and meet at the San Diego County Administration Building at 1600 Pacific Hwy. The ride is pretty mellow, spanning a primarily flat, 20-mile tour along Harbor Island, Shelter Island, Old Town and Downtown. Registration is $35, with proceeds benefiting youth education and outreach programs. www.sandiegohostels.org, www.sandiegomidnightmadness.org.
BOOKS
Meaningful mystery
In The Olive Horseshoe, author Ben F. Small uses the story of billionaire Denton Wright—who’s off on a kayaking adventure when he gets word that his father’s body has been found mutilated and washed up on the Spanish coast—to tell the larger universal tale of a man on a mission to find the meaning of life. The mysterious events that unfold during Wright’s quest to sort out the details of his father’s death involve a beautiful yet dangerous woman (what good story doesn’t?), a possible connection to a major drug cartel and plenty of violence. Does Wright eventually find what he’s looking for? Find out more when Small signs and discusses The Olive Horseshoe at the Central Public Library, 820 E St., Downtown, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20. www.sandiegolibrary.org. 619-236-5800.
NIGHTLIFE
Dub dance
The crowd that pours out from the Del Mar Racetrack after the horse races sometimes sticks around North County and goes out to places like Belly Up Tavern (143 S. Cedros Ave. in Solana Beach). For the last few Fridays, the crowds at Belly Up have been pleasantly surprised by the new summer-long series Rub-A-Dub Friday, hosted by the audio/visual collective Dub Traffik Control. The dubsters of DTC say patrons are reporting that they’ve never heard the type of vinyl/electronic/live dub music the collective makes and that they’re lovin’ it. The dub dance party that’s been going off every Friday continues at 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 15, with DTC and featured guests Bredren, plus some DJs yet to be announced. www.bellyup.com. 858-481-8140.
BALBOA PARK
Imaging India
At 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 14, photographer Frederic Roberts will talk about Humanitas: Images of India, his exhibition currently showing at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. Roberts spent months and months living in small villages throughout India and came back with intimate photos of the country’s domestic and economic life. The lecture is free for museum members and $10 for everyone else. If you miss the lecture, stop by MoPA from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16, for India Festival Day, which will focus on the region of Gujarat by featuring The Gujarati Association of San Diego doing sari demonstrations, henna painting, clothing displays and dance performances. Roberts will hang around and answer questions about his exhibition. The festival is free with museum admission. www.mopa.org. 619-238-7559.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Tiki takeover
Tiki is more than just a Polynesian style of architecture and decoration or a large wooden carving you most likely associate with an island vacation. Tiki culture is a way of life for some. Take Otto and Baby Doe von Stroheim for instance. The two live their lives surrounded by all things Tiki, and Thursday, Aug. 14, through Sunday, Aug. 17, the two will share their obsession with Tiki Oasis: A Voodoo Vacation on Zombie Island, a weekend-long festival featuring a Tiki marketplace, a Tiki carvers hut, late-night voodoo dance parties featuring the best in surf and garage rock, a ukulele jam, Tiki tours of San Diego and more. Otto and Baby Doe have rented out the Crowne Plaza Hotel (2270 Hotel Circle North in Mission Valley) and the Bali Hai restaurant (2230 Shelter Island Drive) for the festivities. Check www.tikioasis.com for the schedule of events and tickets.
Drink more beer: At last count, the Stone 12th Anniversary Celebration and Invitational Beer Festival had 30 specialty and craft brewers lined up for the day’s beer-related festivities. The lineup includes lots of local brewers, like Vista’s Backstreet Brewing and San Diego’s AleSmith Brewing, plus some out-of-towners like Scotland’s Brew Dog and Belgium’s Grotten. For a $35 charitable donation, the 21-and-up crowd can drink as much beer as they can handle, snack on food that includes beer as an ingredient and enjoy the park-like setting of the California State University, San Marcos, campus (333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road). The beer drinking goes from 11:15 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 16. Designated-driver tickets are just $10 and will be sold at the door. www.stonebrew.com/12th.
Published: 08/12/2008
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