The to-do list

Comedy

Laugh tracks

One of our favorite parts in Old School is when Will Ferrell’s character is sharing a dance with his bride to that live band that’s doing a rather earnest, expletive-laden version of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” The same band showed up in The Hangover, but we had no idea the band was actually a musical comedy group called The Dan Band. The schtick is simple: The all-male band takes hit songs with female-oriented lyrics (Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” Mary J. Blige’s “No More Drama,” to name two) and adds some stand-up comedy know-how. The result is like watching your funniest friend do an over-the-top karaoke session. The group fucking wants you to come to House of Blues at 8:30 p.m. Friday, June 19 to see them. www.thedanband.com.

Photography

Tavern trifecta

Each month, Belly Up Tavern puts together an evening of food, art and music, and this month’s event, happening Thursday, June 18, is especially excellent. Local band No Knife will play  what they’re saying will be their last show since reforming for The Casbah’s anniversary series in January. Doors open at 8 p.m., and tickets cost $15. Beginning at 7 p.m., though, in the adjoining Wild Note Café, you can check out the work of iconic rock photographer and Morrison Hotel Galley co-founder Henry Diltz. The café will serve a special menu of items priced at $12.50 or less. You don’t need to eat at the café to see Diltz’s work, but if you do, reservations are recommended (858-720-9000). 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. www.bellyup.com.

Art

Chalk It Up

The La Jolla Festival of the Arts will showcase more than 200 artists from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 20 and 21—including this year’s featured artist, oil painter Jeff Yeomans—but the most interesting attraction might be Calle Color, a live street-chalking exhibition that includes renowned asphalt beautifier Lori Escalera and others (not to mention a first-ever high-school chalking competition). The festival, which also includes music and food and raises money for sports and rec programs for disabled San Diegans, happens near the corner of Genesee Avenue and Regents Road. $10. www.lajollaartfestival.org.

Look and listen: If you’ve ever wished you could look at art with an appropriate musical soundtrack, the Mingei Museum’s Early Evening @ Mingei series presents Cool Jazz on a Hot Night, happening from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 19, at the Mingei’s Balboa Park location. E.S.P. and The Gatherers will perform live jazz to complement the museum’s current exhibition, Masters of Mid-Century California Modernism, a retrospective look at the career of husband-and-wife design team Jerome and Evelyn Ackerman, who helped shape the SoCal—and beyond—decorative-arts scene. Guests are asked (but not required) to don mid-century garb, but regardless of how you dress, you can partake in eats from The Pearl and Solare Restaurant and wines from Baja California. $10 at the door, $8 for museum and Jazz 88 members. www.mingei.org.

Identity revealed: Disconnected salon has thrown some great parties showcasing local artists, so it seems only natural that now they’ll also have a gallery inside the salon. The grand opening of Gallery a.k.a. (3830 30th St. in North Park) has all the makings of a great time. The work of spray-paint pop artist Jason Feather, the comic-book-inspired Christy Zaragoza and one-time CityBeat cover artist Kelli Murray will be on display. With free beer from Stone, free wine from Rock Canyon Vineyards and music courtesy of DJ Johnny Tran, the party kicks off at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 20. www.galleryaka.com.

Music

Vital organs

For some people, the word “organ” conjures the image of a church. For others, it summons visions of gothic manors filled with the scary notes of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor. And for some, it suggests paté. All of these people could potentially find delight if they bring a well-stocked picnic basket to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park for the Summer International Organ Festival, every Monday at 7:30 p.m., from June 22 through Aug. 31. The festival will feature local organists, as usual, but also special guests from Argentina, Scotland and Maine, plus Felix Hell, a 23-year-old German who’s been touring since he was 9. If you can’t get a German named “Hell” to play the Toccata and Fugue for you, then demand your money back. Then again, the show is free.

Film

Mad women

Thursday, June 18 will mark a night of firsts at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla. It’ll be the first time Iranian-American filmmaker Shirin Neshat’s work will be shown in San Diego, and it features her first feature-length film. The New York-based visual artist / filmmaker developed the screenplay for Women Without Men, an adaptation of exiled Iranian writer Shahrnush Parsipur’s “magic realist” novel of the same name, in 2003 at Sundance’s Screenwriters Lab. Still a work in progress, what will be shown recounts five women’s experiences when Iran’s democratically elected government was ousted by the CIA-supported Shah. Along with the film, the museum will show several of Neshat’s other works, including The Last Word (2003). After the screenings, which start at 7 p.m., Neshat will answer questions from the museum’s film curator, Neil Kendricks. $15, $10 for museum members and students. www.mcasd.org.

Special Events

Star maps

If you’ve seen Unscene, the handy little pocket guide that steers readers toward unique, independent businesses, then you’ll likely dig Urbanist. Similar in design and aesthetic, Urbanist works as a map for all the cool, edgy and underground things to check out in the city. The guy behind it is San Diegan Nate Benedetto, who oversaw four editions of Unscene before breaking off to create his own guide, so can you bet that it’s insidery and up-to-date. The guide probably includes U-31 (3112 University Ave., North Park), where a guide-release party starts at 11 p.m. Saturday, June 20, with live music from Swim Party and DJ Disc-O. www.urbanistguide.com