Our picks of this week's events

ART 

Printing youth

Kenny King is a poet armed with a camera and a penchant for Warhol-like pop-art. For his show at Mesh, 2980 North Park Way, opening from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, in conjunction with Ray at Night, King will unveil his new series, images of club kids silk-screened over painted backgrounds. If the new stuff is anything like his self-portrait, viewable on his MySpace page (www.myspace.com/thekingseye), the kids’ expressionless faces will hit a sort of poetic rhythm through King’s repetition of form offset only by a variety of color. 619-295-5251.

POLITICS

Lady love

Women are getting closer and closer to taking over the world. They’re making more money, getting more schooling, having fewer children and generally kicking more ass. Don’t be left behind barefoot in the kitchen. Instead, help conquer one of the last frontiers—politics—by joining your local branch of the League of Women Voters, a political group that pushes participation over partisanship. On Saturday, Jan. 12, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Malcolm X Library, 5148 Market St., LWV’s Southeast Unit will meet to discuss the Feb. 5 presidental primary—the meeting is open to the public. For more league events, check out www.lwvsandiego.org or www.lwvn csd.org (North County).

NIGHTLIFE 

Mash it up

There have been some recent backlashes against what people in the music world call “mashups,” but don’t let that deter you, my friends. Yes, blending songs together until they become one entirely new, funkier and more danceable song has been done and done again, but that doesn’t mean they’re not interesting. Be a rebel, be a trouper, or, better yet, be an admitted fan and stop in at Confidential, 901 Fourth Ave., Downtown, for a magical blend of scratching, remixing, funk, soul, hip-hop and good ol’ rock ’n’ roll by Bay Area mashup master DJ Solomon. The set starts after 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12. www.confidentialsd.com or 619-696-8888.

BOOKS

Literature alive

Penny Entwistle and her mother Anne Marie run a bed-and-breakfast inn in rural Illinois that serves as a retreat for literature’s leading ladies, like Scarlett O’Hara and Madame Bovary. There are rules, however, that govern interactions between fiction and real life—most important, no one is to interfere with the characters’ predestined fates, no matter how tragically they’ve been penned. Penny, 13 and full of angst, gets tired of seeing her fellow females make stupid mistakes and intervenes, only to find herself the unwitting heroine of her own book in the making. Eileen Favorite, the clever mastermind behind The Heroines, will tell you more about Penny’s misadventures when she reads and signs her new book at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 11, at Barnes & Noble, 5500 Grossmont Center Drive, Suite 331, in La Mesa. 619-667-2870.

The spots: San Diegan Tom Gatch’s new book, Hooked on Baja, is mostly about where to find the sweetest fishing spots in Baja California. But there’s a catch that’s not fish-related: Gatch squeezes in some easy-to-follow instructions on how to go about purchasing real estate down south and lets you in on a few authentic Mexican recipes that rarely make it this side of the border. Gatch will talk about Hooked on Baja at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, at Borders Mission Valley, 1072 Camino Del Rio North. 619-295-2201.

To simplicity: From Robert Irwin’s slow abandonment of abstract expressionism in favor of careful minimalism to his love of falafels and good Coke machines, author Lawrence Weschler’s biography, Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: A Life of Contemporary Artist Robert Irwin, is the most compelling writing on the somewhat austere artist to date. If you’ve been downtown to see Irwin’s show at the Museum of Contemporary Art, you’ll probably be able to conjure up some good questions for Weschler, who’s known for breaking down complicated issues for the common folk. Weschler will talk about Irwin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, in the Jacobs Building, 1001 Kettner Blvd., Downtown. www.mcasd.org or 858-454-3541 ext. 151. $5.

MUSIC

’Tis the season

Living in a city that’s practically a paradise 10 months of the year, San Diegans don’t experience seasons the same way most parts of the country do. For us wussies on the West Coast, we’d rather pine for winter snow than actually trudge through it. Lucky for us, the San Diego Chamber Orchestra is performing Music for the Seasons, linking works for winter, spring, summer and fall by various composers. The concert features soprano Katherine Blumenthal and violinist Lindsay Deutsch, who has gained quite a strong reputation in her young career. The concerts take place at 7:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 14 and 15, and Friday, Jan. 18, in La Jolla, Rancho Santa Fe and Downtown, respectively. Go to www.sdco.org for ticket details and locations.inter, spring, summer and fall by various composers. The concert features soprano Katherine Blumenthal and violinist Lindsay Deutsch, who has gained quite a strong reputation in her young career. The concerts take place at 7:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, Jan. 14 and 15, and Friday, Jan. 18, in La Jolla, Rancho Santa Fe and Downtown, respectively. Go to www.sdco.org for ticket details and locations.

SPECIAL EVENTS

It’s alive!

The Balboa Theatre is back and rumored to be better than ever, having undergone a $26.5-million renovation after 18 years of sitting stoically yet stagnantly at the base of Horton Plaza. Downtown’s redevelopment agency, the Centre City Development Corporation (CCDC), is celebrating the reopening with five free performances this weekend. At noon Friday, Jan. 11, the Montgomery High School Mariachi Performers will take the sleek new stage first, and acts including the Bayou Brothers and the Moonlight Chinese Dancers will fill the stage through Sunday, Jan. 13. To get your free tickets, stop by the CCDC Downtown Information Center at 225 Broadway at Horton Square or the box office at Third Avenue and B Street. If you get the tickets online at www.sdbalboa.org, you’ll have to pay a small service fee. 619-235-2222.