Fish & Chips: Using High-Tech Tools to Learn More About Fish
"But Who Has Won?" by Maggie Taylor
Art
Curiouser and curiouser: Maggie Taylor has reinvented the concept of collage. The fine-art photographer picks out interesting old photographs and other ephemera from antique shops and flea markets, scans images of each item into her computer and combines them with her own drawings and photos. Such was the process for her new series, Selections from Almost Alice… and more, a three-year, 45-image project based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. From 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, Joseph Bellows Gallery (7661 Girard Ave. in La Jolla, www.josephbellows.com) will host an opening reception for the exhibition, which will be on display at the gallery through April 3. And at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21, Taylor will be at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park (www.mopa.org) to discuss her work.
The naturals: Certain storefronts are so intriguing that passersby can’t help but stop and enter, just to see what’s going on inside. North Park’s Pigment is one of those stores. In its front window hangs a dozen or so eco-orbs by Tend Living—circular glass terrariums, filled with bright succulents, suspended from the ceiling. The store is definitely at the forefront of melding local art, modern design and green living. Now, Pigment (3827 30th St.) is holding its first-ever art show, Again & Again, featuring work by Amy Paul and Jocelyn Duke. Paul’s prints feature mostly nature and cityscapes while Duke creates grid paintings composed of hundreds of thousands of vibrant layered lines. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20. The art will be on view through March 27. www.shoppigment.com.
Famous friends: This one’s really a no-brainer if you’re at all into pop art. It’s not every day that you can stop by a San Diego museum and see a Warhol. In fact, the last time Warhol’s work was on display here was in 2006. Four years later, he’s coming back, and this time he’s brought some friends. Classic Contemporary: Lichtenstein, Warhol and Friends boasts major pop, minimal and color field works from the 1960s and ’70s. Warhol’s silkscreen “Flowers” print will be there, as will Ellsworth Kelly’s “Red Blue Green.” The show runs from Sunday, Feb. 21, through March 21 at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s La Jolla location (700 Prospect St.). www.mcasd.org.
Books
Ozzy-fest: In his memoir I Am Ozzy, published late last year, Ozzy Osbourne writes, “I’m just John Osbourne: a working-class kid from Aston, who quit his job in the factory and went looking for a good time.” From there on, it was a wild ride on the crazy train for the former Black Sabbath frontman, and, reportedly, the book covers it all, in a starkly honest manner, from the early days of Sabbath through his time as a reality-TV star. The Mumbling Master of Metal Macabre will sign copies of his book at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave. in La Jolla. You have to have a ticket to exchange indecipherable pleasantries with the man, and the only way to get one is by buying a copy of the book at Warwick’s. www.ozzy.com, www.warwicks.com.
Spoken Word
Mohawks and musings: Part stand-up comedy, part spoken word, part multimedia presentation, Joe Sib’s California Calling has been heralded by The Los Angeles Times and has made fans of members of Foo Fighters and Bad Religion. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, Sib brings his one-man show to Hensley’s Flying Elephant Pub (850 Tamarack Ave. in Carlsbad). Surrounded by photography by Murray Bowles, Edward Carver and Lisa Johnson, the O.G. punk rocker who fronted the band Wax and founded Side One Dummy Records will wax entertainingly on growing up in California and his love of punk rock and skateboarding. Some anecdotal gems include the story about trying to convince his dad to let him see Bad Religion on Easter Sunday and stalking Johnny Ramone right before The Ramones broke up. www.hensleyspub.com.
Theater
Ethnograffiti: Surely, pioneering anthropologists Bronislaw Malinowski, Franz Boas and Margaret Mead could never have guessed that one day their fieldwork methods would be applied to comedy. In 2001, actor-writers Richard Montoya, Ricardo Salinas and Herbert Siguenza—known as the Culture Clash trio—created a performance for the San Diego Repertory Theater based on anthropological interviews with the most exotic dumplings in America’s melting pot. This spring, they bring Culture Clash in AmeriCCa back to the Repertory, updated with new characters and sketches, from political activists in New York to Ugandan cab drivers in San Diego. The show runs from Thursday, Feb. 18, through March 7, at the theater, 79 Horton Plaza, Tickets start at $34. Check www.sdrep.org for showtimes.
Music
Sonic coup: Here’s a not-so-subtle news flash: The bands playing Coachella are not underground. On the other hand, the two-dozen bands playing the three-day International Pop Overthrow Festival are, indeed, indier that thou. From 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 19, through Sunday, Feb. 21, at O’Connells (1310 Morena Blvd. in Bay Park), the second-annual festival will feature some of the best in national, international and local talent. And while the emphasis is on pop, there’s a little something for everyone, whether it’s electro-rock sexiness (Bullet & Snowfox), hard rock (SO3) or soft-spoken troubadours (Greg Friedman). $10 each day. Check www.internationalpopoverthrow.com for the lineup.
Film
Fire in a crowded theater: Explaining Burning Man to the uninitiated is “like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind,” say the organizers of the epic art and anarchy festival in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. So, why tell when you can show films? San Diego’s “burner” contingent will screen shorts and full-length films on Saturday, Feb. 20, at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. The first part of the Burning Man Film Festival starts at 5:30 p.m. and includes a documentary about attendees’ efforts during Hurricane Katrina. The second part starts at 9:20 p.m. and includes a documentary by a French news team following a group of first-timers. Each series costs $15 individually or $25 together. sdbmff.com.
