Coming of Age Film Festival
Joshua Bell performs at Copley Symphony Hall on Friday, March 12.
Art
Past influences: It’s no surprise that David Gough’s childhood home in Liverpool, England, overlooked a cemetery. His artwork is dark, often macabre, but strikingly colorful at the same time. (He credits Hieronymous Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights as an early influence, too.) From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 13, Thumbprint Gallery (2637 University Ave., Suite A., North Park) presents Dark + Light, an exhibition featuring new works by Gough, as well as Jerrell Conner, who’ll display images from his graphic-novel series, Revelations, which he describes as “tackling huge topics of faith, politics, prophecy, and eschatology.” Both artists’ work will be on display through April 4. www.thumprintgallerysd.com.
Glow in the dark: Artists are typically right-brainers, but you don’t have to be a right-brainer to enjoy art, right? In an attempt to “feed the art side of your brain,” the Oceanside Museum of Art has enlisted The Ancient Gallery to install Total Information Awareness, an interactive black-light installation crafted out of mass-produced cultural icons and original fabricated sculptures and paintings. From 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, March 12, you can see the installation at the semi-regular after-hours event Art After Dark, which will turn the museum (704 Pier View Way) into an avant-garde, glow-in-the-dark art-and-performance space. You’ll hear techno-fusion beats, see the San Diego Acro Yoga Acronauts and feed your belly with local handcrafted beer and sushi from Miso Harney. The exhibits Plastic Fantastic, Discoveries in Dystopia and Industrial Alchemy will also be on view. $25. www.oma-online.org.
Major deviations: What Livejournal is to blogging, DeviantArt is to online art—both are old-school communities, each edgy but nurturing and home to many of the various nerd fandoms. So, it’s gratifying to the geek’s heart to see one of DeviantArt’s most active illustrators—Aaron Jasinski (jasinski.deviantart.com)—on display in a material-world art gallery. On his blog, he reveals one piece he’s hanging: a Storm Trooper helmet sprouting tentacles—Star Wars and shokushu goukan in one! Jasinski’s work will be exhibited alongside the equally deviant art of Josh Taylor (humangarbage.deviantart.com) in Curious Reminiscene, which runs through April 3 at Distinction Gallery, 317 E. Grand Ave. in Escondido. The opening is on Saturday, March 13, from 6 to 11 p.m., with live music from Templates. www.distinctionart.com.
Film
Food + movie: Say the word “estomago” and take a guess at what it means. If you guessed that thing in your gut that holds food, you’re right! Estômago is also a 2007 Brazilian / Italian film about a prisoner who works his way up the prison power-ladder through his unique cooking skills. But where’d he get them? And how’d he land in prison? That’s what the film’s really about. Part of ArtPower’s Foovies series, the screening of Estômago will be preceded by a menu that includes dishes like spaghetti puttanesca, a roasted banana and caramel bread pudding for dessert and, to drink, Palma Louca Lager. Enjoy your meal to the tunes of the talented Scott Paulson. Dinner begins at 7:30 p.m., film at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 11, at The Loft @ UCSD (in the Price Center). $26. www.artpwr.com.
Lectures
Tell us about Neil Patrick Harris!: Actors often say that performing comedy is a lot harder than performing drama. Is the same true for directing comedy? Find out from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday, March 15, when in Danny Leiner, director of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, will give a free talk about the art and commerce of a film and television career as part of the Media Fellows Series at California State University, San Marcos (in Room ARTS240). In addition to H&K, Leiner’s got plenty of TV cred under his belt, having directed episodes for some of the best small-screen series—Arrested Development, Freaks and Geeks, Strangers with Candy and The Sopranos—and he’s slated to direct the upcoming film The Corporate Zombie Killers. For directions and parking info, go to www.csusm.edu/guide.
Books
Éire of the beholder: Perhaps the greatest irony in literature is that some of the greatest writers in English are actually the Irish: Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett. For the 31st year, D.G. Wills Books (7461 Girard Ave. in La Jolla) will hold its Annual St. Patrick’s Day Open Reading of Irish Poetry and Prose. The Wednesday, March 17, event is BYOIC (Bring Your Own Irish Classics), so come with text in hand and prepared to belt it out. If you’ve read Tom Robbins’ Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates and remember the C.R.A.F.T. Club, you know what 7 p.m. “until it ends” means when Finnegan’s Wake is involved. www.dgwillsbooks.com.
Activism
Hair club for mensches: There are reasons to shave your head (joining the Army, Skinhead International or a Buddhist monastery, for examples), and then there are causes to shave your head. At least 17 San Diegans are registered to shave their scalps for a nationwide Shave-a-Thon to support St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a Pasadena-based nonprofit that funds pediatric cancer research (excluding stem-cell research). The Paul Mitchell-endorsed stylists at A Robert Cromeans Salon will start buzzing at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 13, at Basic Urban Kitchen + Bar, 410 10th Ave. in East Village. Ten dollars will get you entrance and free pizza; another $10 will get you a T-shirt and raffle tickets. If you can’t make it, you can still sponsor a shavee; search for “San Diego” at www.stbaldricks.org/participants.
Music
Not your average fiddler: Joshua Bell is good at playing the violin. Perhaps that’s an understatement. To elaborate, he’s what you would call a virtuoso, a purveyor or, well, a master. His catalog of recordings is expansive, ranging from Gershwin to Beethoven to the soundtracks for the films Angels & Demons and Defiance. He also performed on the Academy Award-winning soundtrack from The Red Violin. If all that’s not impressive enough, the guy’s violin is a rare Gibson Stradivarius that was once stolen, in 1936, from the Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman. Bell recently performed a well-received recital at Copley Symphony Hall, and for one night only, at 8 p.m. Friday, March 12, he’ll return to perform Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy, plus works by Dvorak and Tchaikovsky, at Copley Symphony Hall (1245 Seventh Ave., Downtown). $20-$50. www.sandiegosymphony.com.
