Education of the Modern Doctor: Marcus Welby vs. House 
MAY
North Park Festival of the Arts at University Avenue & 30th Street. North Park is a neighborhood that loves the arts. What better way to celebrate that than with a huge festival from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, May 16, featuring six stages with live entertainment, hands-on art activities with the North Park Craft Mafia, a juried art show and an international food court and beer garden—plus, a bicycle valet courtesy of Velo Cult bike shop. Free admission. www.northparkfestivalofarts.com.
San Diego Geek Pride Fest at Queen Bee’s Art & Cultural Center, 3925 Ohio St., North Park. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Either join ’em or laugh at ’em from 6 p.m. to midnight, Thursday, May 20. twitter.com/SDGeekPrideFest.
Taste of Little Italy along India Street. Mmm... pasta, pizza, ravioli, gelato, vino, veal, garlic bread. From 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 26, enjoy the delicacies of Italy. Buon appetite! $35 in advance, $40 day of. www.tasteoflittleitalysd.com.
Smoke on the Mountain at the Horton Grand Theatre, 444 Fourth Ave., Downtown The Great Depression is coming to an end, and the Sanders Family Singers are back on the road—except that bus just broke down. Produced by Lamb’s Players Theatre, it opens Wednesday, May 26, and run through June 7. $26 to $48. www.lambsplayers.org.
Private Lives at Old Town Theatre, 4040 Twiggs St. Elyot and Amanda, once married and now honeymooning with new spouses at the same hotel, reignite the spark. Produced by Cygnet Theatre, it opens Thursday, May 27, and runs through July 3. $17 to $49. www.cygnettheatre.com.
Summer and Smoke at New Village Arts, 2787 State St., Carlsbad. In search of love and spirituality, Alma is confronted with John’s need for sensual fulfillment. Opens Thursday, May 27, and runs through June 20. $20 to $40. www.newvillagearts.org.
Mad Men Theme Party at The Pearl Hotel, 1410 Rosecrans St., Point Loma. Do up your best Don or Betty. Or how about Roger? Gotta love Roger. From 7 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, May 29. www.thepearlsd.com.
Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival at various locations. The celebration of Jewish culture includes music, theater and dance performances in venues throughout the county. From Sunday, May 30, through Monday, June 21. www.sdrep.org.
JUNE
The Art of the Stompbox at the Museum of Making Music, 5790 Armada Drive, Carlsbad. The exhibition highlights the development and use of effects pedals in American music and includes a display of pedals ranging from 1940s prototypes to current-day “boutique” pedals. Opens Tuesday, June 1, and runs through Sept. 30. www.museumofmakingmusic.org.
Wine, Cheese & Chocolate Festival at Spanish Village, Balboa Park. From 6:30 to 10 p.m. Friday, June 4, gorge yourself on the finer things in life—wine, cheese and chocolate—in support of the Women’s History Museum. Sue Palmer provides the entertainment. $25 in advance, $30 day of. www.womensmuseumsd.org.
Harvey at the Ione and Paul Harter Stage, 1142 Orange Ave., Coronado. Can Elwood P. Dowd help it if his best friend happens to be a 6-foot-tall invisible rabbit? Produced by Lamb’s Players Theatre, it opens Friday, June 4, and runs through July 18. $28 to $56. www.lambsplayers.org.
Art Around Adams along Adams Avenue in Normal Heights and Kensington. This free event is a visual feast, wherein more than 75 businesses convert their storefronts into art galleries and / or performance spaces from 3 to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 5. A free shuttle will travel up and down Adams Avenue so you can see it all. www.artaroundadams.com.
Sati Zech at Lux Art Institute, 1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas. Berlin-based Zech is Lux’s final artist-in-residence of the 2009-10 season (they’ll be back in September for their 2010-11 season). Zech’s work is a mix of painting, textile design and sculpture. Her series Bollenarbeit is a reference to the hills and mountains that are covered by vineyards in the region of Germany where she grew up. See Zech’s work starting Saturday, June 5, through Saturday, June 26. www.luxartinstitute.org.
Fiesta Del Sol at Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach. It’s two days of completely free, live, local music including B-Side Players, Aggrolites, Atomic Groove, Candye Kane and more. Music starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 5, and 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, June 6. www.fiestadelsol.net.
Rock N’ Roll Marathon. A revamped race route goes along the waterfront and through Petco Park. If watching people run and listening to music ain’t your thing, you might want to avoid those areas on Sunday, June 6. www.san-diego.competitor.com.
Here Not There: San Diego Art Now at MCASD La Jolla, 700 Prospect St. Wondering what’s new with San Diego’s artists? This exhibition offers a peek into what emerging local artists are creating in various mediums. See works by Adam Belt, David Adey, Kelsey Brookes, Christopher Puzio, Allison Renshaw and Jeff Irwin, among others. Opens Sunday, June 6, and runs through Sept. 19. www.mcasd.org.
Greek Festival at St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church, 3655 Park Blvd, Hillcrest. Sure, Greece may be in hot water financially, but there’s still a lot to love about the country. This festival celebrates all things Greek with lots of authentic food, traditional music, folk dancers, church tours and more. The festival spans a whole weekend, Friday, June 11, through Sunday, June 13. On Friday, from 5 to 10 p.m., admission is free. www.sdgreekfestival.com.
Counter Cultures: The Secret Lives of Games at the Museum of Man, Balboa Park. That’s board games, not video games. See displays of more than 100 games, including contemporary and classic like Pollyanna, Camelot, and Pirate and Traveler. You can play them, too, or interact with demonstrators. The museum is also sponsoring a game design competition in conjunction with the exhibit, which opens Friday, June 11. www.museumofman.org.
San Diego County Fair at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. The fair is back, with its fried food, aging rock stars and terrifying rides. We love it, and the summer wouldn’t be the same without it. This year’s theme: “Taste the Fun.” Opens Friday, June 11, and closes Monday, July 5. $13 adults, $7 for kids and seniors, free for kids 5 and younger.
Reduced Shakespeare Company at The Lyceum stage, 79 Horton Plaza, Downtown. All 37 of Bill’s plays are chopped and channeled into 97 minutes. Friday, June 11, through Sunday, June 13, and Friday, June 18, through Sunday, June 20. $25. www.sdrep.org.
Summer Shakespeare Festival at The Old Globe’s Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, Balboa Park. This year’s line-up includes The Madness of King George, King Lear and The Taming of the Shrew. Shows open Saturday, June 12, and Wednesday, June 16, and run through mid-September. $29 to $56. www.oldglobe.org.
Distinction Studio Artists at Distinction Gallery, 317 East Grand Ave., Escondido. The more than two-dozen artists who rent studio space from Distinction display their best work. This is a good chance to scope out up-and-comers. Opens Saturday, June 12, and runs through July 3. www.distinctionart.com.
Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock ’n’ Roll Photographs Selected by Graham Nash at Museum of Photographic Arts, Balboa Park. That’s Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills and Nash, and he’s selected a bunch of iconic photographs taken by masters behind the lens (including Annie Leibovitz, Mick Rock and Lynn Goldsmith) that have come to define rock ’n’ roll. Opens Saturday, June 12, and runs through Sept. 26. www.mopa.org.
Surf Report at La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Forum, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive. Judith, faced with a demanding surfer-turned-venture-capitalist boss, an underachieving husband and a wannabe-artist daughter, swims against the tide. Opens Tuesday, June 15, through Sunday, July 11. $30 to $75. www.lajollaplayhouse.com.
Each to Their Own at Subtext Gallery, 2479 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy. The illustrator and sculptor John Antoski, whose work straddles then and now, high-brow and low-brow, returns to Subtext for a solo show on Friday, June 18. The exhibit’s up through July 18. www.subtextgallery.com.
Beer and Sake Festival at San Diego Marriott Del Mar, 11966 El Camino Real, Del Mar. The Japan Society hosts its eighth annual festival, where you can sample Japan’s signature drink and various Japanese brews. Last year’s event included a competition featuring expert sushi chefs, as well as how-to sessions and samples. From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 25. $60. www.japan-society.org.
Nighttime Zoo at the San Diego Zoo, Balboa Park. See what the animals are up to at night. We recommend scouting out the nocturnal creatures (like the cats). The park stays open until 9 p.m. starting Saturday, June 26, and stays that way through Sept. 6. www.sandiegozoo.org.
Ocean Beach Street Fair & Chili Cook-off along Newport Avenue. From 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 26, take part in O.B.’s gigantic street fair that includes five music stages, a chance to contribute to a community mural, a beer garden for the grownups, pony rides for the kids, a skateboarding expo and, of course, copious amounts of original-recipe chili made by amateurs looking to win the competition. www.oceanbeachsandiego.com.
Taste of Gaslamp Hit the streets of Downtown either Saturday, June 26, or Sunday, June 27, for samples from more than 20 restaurants eager to show off their house specialties, plus beer tasters from Samuel Adams. Get your tickets early, because this one’s been known to sell out. $30 per day. www.gaslamp.org.
La Jolla Festival of the Arts at the corner of Genesee Avenue and Regents Road. This one’s two days of art reveling, Saturday and Sunday, June 26 and 27. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, see work in various mediums by more than 200 artists from the U.S. and Mexico. Plus, there will be a live street-chalk exhibition, book signings, author lectures, live music and food vendors. www.lajollaartfestival.org.
It All Adds Us: 20 Years of Exhibitions at the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. During the last two decades, the Athenaeum has hosted more than 200 exhibitions. Check out materials from past shows and a special project to commemorate the event. Opens Friday, June 25, and runs through July 31. www.ljathenaeum.org.
Taste of Adams Avenue along Adams Avenue in Kensington, Normal Heights and North Park. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 27, you can either walk or take a free trolley from restaurant to restaurant, sampling what Adams Avenue has to offer. $25 in advance, $30 day-of. www.adamsaveonline.com.
JULY
Avenue Q at the Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown. A cast of people and puppets school us about real life in New York City. Produced by Broadway/San Diego, it opens Tuesday, July 6, and runs through July 11. $18 to $76. www.broadwaysd.com.
Over the Line Tournament at Fiesta Island, Mission Bay. What’s Over the Line? It’s something like softball, it’s played on the sand and it’s tradition. It’s too late to put together a team, but not too late to take in the craziness. This year’s OTL happens over two weekends, 7:30 a.m. to dusk, July 10 and 11, and July 17 and 18. www.ombac.org.
Annual Family Insect Festival at San Diego Botanic Gardens, 230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas. Past events have included cooked mealworm larva in three different flavors, pretty butterflies and the hawks and owls who like to eat ’em (don’t worry—no butterflies will be harmed at this event). From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 10, and Sunday, July 11. www.sdbgarden.org
Toulouse-Lautrec’s Paris: The Baldwin M. Baldwin Collection at the San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park. The museum brings out its collection of more than 100 works by the iconic turn-of-the-century Parisian artists. The exhibition opens Sunday, July 11, and runs through Dec. 12. www.sdmart.org.
Hairspray at The Lyceum stage, 79 Horton Plaza, Downtown. High-schooler Tracy Turnblad and her mother Edna navigate the racist climate in 1962 Baltimore. Produced by San Diego Repertory Theatre, it opens Saturday, July 17, and runs through Aug. 15. $33 to $52. www.sdrep.org.
San Diego LGBT Pride Festival in Balboa Park (at Sixth Avenue and Laurel Street). Show your pride with more than 50,000 others on Saturday, July 17, and Sunday, July 18. On Saturday, a parade takes over University Avenue starting at 11 a.m., and Sunday is all about live entertainment, vendor booths and an art exhibit. The festivities go until 10 p.m. Saturday and 8 p.m. Sunday, but that’s not including all the after-parties that will have Hillcrest hoppin’ until the wee hours. Get your tickets before July 1 and they’re $15 for one day and $25 for both days. www.sandiegopride.org.
Stone Sour Fest at Stone Brewery, 1999 Citracado Pkwy., Escondido. Taste a bunch of sour brews and, for entertainment, have someone take your picture after every sip. Tasting commences at 11 a.m. Sunday, July 18. $40 includes 10 taster tickets and a commemorative glass. www.stonebrew.com.
Viva La Revolucion: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape at MCASD Downtown, 1100 and 1001 Kettner Blvd. Did you know that the majority of the world’s population lives in urban communities? This exhibition plays on that fact, exploring art by artists whose work addresses urban issues. See artwork in both the museum’s galleries and at public sites throughout Downtown. Twenty artists from eight countries—including the anonymous Banksy and Obey-creator Shepard Fairey—will show their work. Opens Sunday, July 18, and runs through Jan. 2, 2011. www.mcasd.org.
Del Mar Racing Season at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Get your bets ready and, ladies, get ready to break out your largest, most obnoxious hat because race season gets underway Wednesday, July 21, and goes on until Wednesday, Sept. 8. $10 on opening day, $6 every other day. www.dmtc.com.
In the Heights at the Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown. The breeze carries three generations of Latino music through Manhattan’s Washington Heights. Produced by Broadway/San Diego, it opens Tuesday, July 27, and runs through Aug. 1. $18 to $79. www.broadwaysd.com.
The Norman Conquests at the Old Town Theatre, 4040 Twiggs St., Old Town. Assistant librarian Norman plots a quiet weekend in the country with his sister-in-law. Produced by Cygnet Theatre, the three full-length plays run in repertory beginning Wednesday, July 28, and runs through Nov. 7. $17 to $49. www.cygnettheatre.com.
The Seven-Year Itch at New Village Arts, 2787 State St., Carlsbad. Richard invests in his fantasy life with women until fantasy and reality blur. Opens Thursday, July 29, and runs through Aug. 22. $20 to $40. www.newvillagearts.org.
AUGUST
miX tape at the Ione and Paul Harter Stage, 1142 Orange Ave. Coronado. The world was about to end at any moment in the 1980s—but for Generation X, life (and the music of the time) was booming. Produced by Lamb’s Players Theatre, it opens Friday, Aug. 6, and runs through Sept. 19. $28 to $58. www.lambsplayers.org.
U.S. Open Sandcastle Competition along Seacoast Drive, Imperial Beach. Professional “sand carvers” manipulate sand in ways that need to be seen to be believed. The competition starts at 9 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 8, and goes until 2 p.m. Get there before 4 p.m. because that’s when the tide comes in. www.usopensandcastle.com.
Hillcrest CityFest 2010 along Fifth Avenue. This gigantic community celebration has it all: music, arts, crafts and food. This year’s fest happens from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 8. www.fabuloushillcrest.com.
North Park Music Thing at the Lafayette Hotel, 2223 El Cajon Blvd. and nearby venues. San Diego’s version of South by Southwest carries on for its third year with panel discussions during the day and live shows at night. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 13 and 14. www.sandiegomusicfoundation.org/npmt.
JEST in Time: Phylogenesis of Clowns at Distinction Gallery, 317 East Grand Ave., Escondido. Clowns freak some people out, but this exhibition is for a good cause. Fifty artists from around the world will show works that illustrate the evolution of clowns, and all proceeds from the show will benefit ArtHatch, a nonprofit focused on art education for kids. The opening reception is from 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 14. The show runs through Sept. 4. www.distinctionart.com.
Fiesta del Sol along Logan Avenue in Barrio Logan. The two-day community-building street fair with a celebrates its fourth year on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 14 and 15, and serves as a fundraiser for Justice Overcoming Boundaries. www.fiestadelsolsandiego.org.
Tiki Oasis at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. The annual convention, happening Aug. 19 through 22, focuses on all things tiki, lounge and exotica. This year’s performers include King Kukulele, Thee Swank Bastards and Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid, among others. www.tikioasis.org.
Summergrass San Diego at the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum, 2040 North Santa Fe Ave., Vista. Stake out your spot on the museum’s 40-acre property and take in some solid bluegrass tunes Friday through Sunday, Aug. 20 through 22. www.summergrass.net.
Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals at Qualcomm Stadium Rugby Fields. On Saturday, Aug. 28, watch wiener dogs vie for advancement to the finals. www.holidaybowl.com.
SEPTEMBER
Art and the Animal 50th Anniversary Exhibition of the Society of Animal Artists at the San Diego Natural History Museum, Balboa Park. See what the Society of Animal Artists—an artist-membership organization devoted to the theme of animals in art—is all about at its 50th anniversary exhibition featuring more than 100 flatworks and sculptures. Exhibit opens on Saturday, Sept. 4, and runs through Oct. 31. www.sdnhm.org.
Grape Stomp at Menghini Winery, 1150 Julian Orchards Drive, Julian. Remember that episode of I Love Lucy where Lucy’s in Italy and jumps into the barrel and stomps grapes with her feet? Well, you can do that, too, all the way out in Julian. From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 4, be prepared to get your feet dirty because there’ll be plenty of stomping barrels, plus food and wine and other activities. www.menghiniwinery.com.
Trolley Dances 2010 at various locations along the San Diego Trolley line. On Saturday, Sept. 25, and Sunday, Sept. 26, see dance in the most unexpected of places: trolley stations. Produced by the San Diego Dance Theater. www.sandiegodancetheater.org.
