San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
“Possibilities” by Brandi Morgan, one of the pieces in the Dia de la Mujer show at The Front
Art
For the ladies: More than 45 women submitted work for this year’s Dia de la Mujer art show at Casa Familiar’s gallery, The Front (147 W. San Ysidro Blvd. in San Ysidro). For the first time, the show was juried—CityBeat arts editor Kinsee Morlan was a juror—and prizes were given to the top works. The exhibition, though, is just part of the fun. The Roots Factory’s DJ Ana Brown will be one of the night’s musical guests, writer Ola Garcia will give a reading and a handful of businesswomen will be on hand to tell you their trailblazing tales. Food and drink will be served, and guests can browse through a craft fair. It’s rumored to be the biggest and best celebration of women in the county, and it’s free and happening from 6 to 11 p.m. Thursday, March 3. 619-428-1115.
Color matters: Martin Hsu and Andrew Brandou are masters at using color. While their art fits within the category of Asian-inspired illustration, the paints they choose to fill in the lines are bolder and more beautiful than what you normally see from that genre. Both Hsu, whose stunning re-imagining of the Sanrio world would charm even the most avowed Hello Kitty hater, and Brandou, a southern California artist who draws influence from things like opium dens, cults and kids’ picture books, are featured in Primavera at Subtext Gallery, 2479 Kettner Blvd. in Little Italy. The exhibit, on display through April 3, opens with a reception from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, March 4. subtextgallery.com
Special Events
Holy debauchery: Technically, Mardi Gras is a religious holiday. But it really doesn’t matter what you believe in when it comes to Fat Tuesday: Anyone can celebrate. In San Diego, this means closing off entire city blocks, hauling in street performers for parades, loading up on alcohol and getting crazy. You can celebrate either Downtown or in Hillcrest, although we can tell you that you’ll probably encounter two very different crowds at each. However, the requisite attire—feather boas, masks, gold and beads—should be in full effect at both locations. The party starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 8. Go to gaslamp.org or hillcrestmardigras.com for tickets.
Dance
Getting Experimental: Visionary Dance Theatre has as its mission a promise to take on difficult subjects and push boundaries. It’s not surprising, then, that Visionary’s upcoming Planet Carmen comes with a “contains mature subject matter” warning and is touted as being “risqué.” The experimental theatrical production, which melds different genres of dance with live and recorded music and dialog, follows the creation of the universe and the development of human relationships and sexuality in an attempt to examine the underpinning of societal expectations. Performances start at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 5 and 6, at the City Heights Performance Annex (3791 Fairmount Ave.). $12.50 in advance, $15 at the door. visionarydancetheatre.org
Film
Box-office catastrophe: They don’t make disaster films like they used to. In fact, they don’t seem to make many disaster films at all anymore, which is why film buffs have to turn to the 1970s for nature-’sploitation movies featuring super-ensemble casts and over-the-top plotlines. On Saturday, March 5, FilmOut San Diego will hold a Disaster Day Triple Feature of epic, earth-shattering proportions at Birch North Park Theatre (2891 University Ave.). First up, at 4 p.m. is Earthquake, followed at 6:30 p.m. by The Towering Inferno (not recommended for Ground Zero first responders) and ocean-liner catastrophe The Poseidon Adventure at 10 p.m. Each film is $7, or you can catch all three for $15. filmoutsandiego.com
Books
Poetry is hell: Drawing as heavily from bottles as Charles Bukowski and backed by local online lit-art project The Latent Print, local writer Greg Gerding will promote two new books—Piss Artist and The Idiot Parade, both from University of Hell Press—with a launch on Saturday, March 5, at Agitprop gallery (2837 University Ave). The event’s free, presumably because the type of people who’d best enjoy Gerding’s pickled poetry and prose would rather spend whatever scraped pennies they have on a one-way ticket to the bottom of a jug of whiskey. The reading starts at 7 p.m. (booze will be available), followed by an after-party at 10 p.m. with garage-rockers The Stereotypes at Bar Pink (3829 30th St. in North Park). thelatentprint.com
