Fish & Chips: Using High-Tech Tools to Learn More About Fish
"God Still Hates Polar Bears" by rock-poster artist Derek Hess
Art
Nature vs. unnatural: When socially conscious artists are at their best, they’re presenting juxtapositions that you haven’t otherwise seen and doing so in ways that let you figure things out for yourself. With Plastic Fantastic—which opens with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30, and remains on view until June 20 at the Oceanside Museum of Art (704 Pier View Way)—Leucadia’s Allison Renshaw uses abstract mixed media and dramatic splashes of color to contrast what she considers “the artificiality of high-end living” with San Diego’s beautiful natural landscapes. A $10 cover for the reception gets you wine and hors d’oeuvres along with a preview of the exhibition. Also, Renshaw will discuss her work during a Gallery Walk and Talk from 7 to 9 p.m. Feb. 25. www.oma-online.org.
Motherly love: Bay Area video artist Lauren Woods isn’t exactly a veteran at this stage, but it’s fair to call The AFRICA Archives her life’s work. For years she’s worked on videos, photographs and mixed-media pieces that investigate American perspectives on Africa, and for the first time ever, at the UCSD Art Gallery (Muir College Drive in La Jolla), she’ll show off four of the Archives’ major works together. In the exhibition, M(other)land, Woods has a video piece that uses original footage and re-edited borrowed footage to examine the junctions between American hip-hop culture and African identity. The biggest highlight, however, might be “A Portrait of the African Shore,” a five-monitor video installation that questions stereotypes of the African landscape. The show opens with a reception from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 3. universityartgallery.ucsd.edu.
Food & Drink
Out of the rut: If you eagerly await Candice Woo’s “City Eat” column every Wednesday, quickly devour it and then think: I’m going to try that restaurant but then never quite make it there, you’re not alone. It’s an easy habit to pick up: Go to the same restaurant and order the same thing over and over again. Good news: San Diego Restaurant Week has been extended another week, through Friday, Jan. 29. You can choose from more than 180 restaurants and get a three-course dinner for $20, $30 or $40, depending on the restaurant. And, hey, if you don’t end up liking what you try, you can always go back to your original spot knowing you tried something new. Check for participating restaurants at www.sandiegorestaurantweek.com.
Special Events
Helping Haiti: Sometimes an event happens that makes everything else seem very small. The earthquake that struck Haiti just two weeks ago, obviously, is one of those. In just a matter of minutes, millions of Haitians were left without any food, water or shelter in a country largely reduced to rubble. They need our help, and this weekend there’s a pretty easy way to contribute. From 6 to 11:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30, the World Beat Center (2100 Park Blvd. in Balboa Park) will host a Haiti Fundraiser Concert. The $10 cover goes straight to either the Yele Haiti Foundation or MercyCorps, two nonprofits helping change the lives of those living in impoverished nations. The mostly-reggae lineup includes local bands River Bottom Rockers, One Drop and Through the Roots. www.worldbeatcenter.org.
Music
Dose of cool: The yearlong Jazz in North Park Concert Series at the Birch North Park Theatre (2891 University Ave.). It’s good news for anyone who thinks that San Diego needs a good dose of jazz-appreciation pills. First up on Wednesday, Feb. 3, is The Jeff Hamilton Trio, whose music is best described as what you’d expect to hear while you’re kicking back in the lobby of Manhattan’s Algonquin Hotel with a perfect martini in hand. The show starts at 7 p.m. $27, $15 for students. If you think you’ll be attending more than one show in the series, there are three-show and six-show ticket packages available. www.birchnorthparktheatre.net.
Film
Aural aid: Scott Paulson’s got one of the best side jobs in the world. The musician and his talented / quirky Teeny-Tiny Pit Orchestra get regular gigs around town providing background music for silent-film screenings. At 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, at The Loft @ UCSD (Price Center, fourth floor), Paulson and the TTPO will perform tunes to accompany Siren of the Tropics, the 1927 silent film that helped launch Josephine Baker’s career. In it, Baker plays Papitou, a free-spirited girl from the Antilles who falls in love with a Parisian prospector and follows him back to France. A “Pre-Flix Mix” with curated tunes and food and drink for purchase from Zanzibar starts at 7 p.m. $12. www.artpwr.com.
Performance
Mashed puppets: The magic of puppetry isn’t limited to the craft and artistry; it also benefits from an audience’s relief in not having to deal with, or even look at, human beings for at least an hour. Take, for example, the municipal controversies surrounding downtown stadiums: Who really wants to sit through City Council bickering when the alternative is to watch the puppeteers of San Diego’s Technomania Circus illustrate its “Stories about Petco Park & The Anger of Ra.” That’s the finale of the Circus’ Puppet Mashup, a showcase featuring illusions using ultraviolet light, shadow puppetry (the stuff you do with your hands in projected light) and rod puppetry (a signature tool of Jim Henson’s muppeteers). The show starts at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29 and 30, at North Park Vaudeville and Candy Shoppe, 2031 El Cajon Blvd. $10. www.technomaniacircus.com, www.northparkvaudeville.com.
Books
Angst release: On his website, www.strhesspress.com, former Cleveland rock-poster artist Derek Hess says he needed an outlet for his “angst with right-wing politics”—so he created Please God Save Us, a book of politically and socially charged art with text by Kent Smith, a former scribe for the alt-weekly Cleveland Scene and a current member of the Board of Education for Euclid (Ohio) City Schools. The book covers the Christian Right, the Republican Party, Fox News, foreign and environmental policy, stem-cell research and lots more. Smith will sign copies of the book (each copy also pre-signed by Hess) from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, at Filter coffeehouse (4096 30th St. in North Park) and from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29, at The Red Crow Studio (3812-A Ray St. in North Park).
