San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
Bill Caballero will perform at the Latino Music Festival
Art
Call to draw: When Space 4 Art (325 15th St. in East Village) sent out its first-ever call for works that exemplify contemporary drawing, the gallery got more than 80 submissions from across the United States—so, jurors Karen McGuire, curator of exhibitions at the William D. Cannon Art Gallery, and David White, founder of the avant-garde art space Agitprop, had a lot to choose from. From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 11, see the 21 pieces that made the cut at Drawing Expanse. And don’t just expect works on paper; you’ll also see sculpture, performance, photography and video by Louis Schmidt, Claire Zitzow, Lea Anderson, May-ling Martinez, Michele Guieu and more. The literary group So Say We All will be on hand to perform works inspired by the show, which runs through July 17. sdspace4art.org
Could be cool: Pardon My French is a new event that organizers say is “all about raising the bar to foster a renewed interest and appreciation for arts and culture in our community in a non-conventional way” by merging art and art collecting. We’re all for the sentiment, but it remains to be seen if this is a right way to go about it. The first of the new monthly series of second-Thursday events will happen from 7 to 10 pm. Thursday, June 9, at the W Hotel (421 W. B St., Downtown). Guests pay $20 (part of which goes to programming at the San Diego Fine Art Society) to see works by Los Angeles artist Cutter Cutshaw, drink champagne and listen to music. Is it worth it? There’s one way to find out. pardonmyfrenchsandiego.com
Books
Tour de agony: The Tour de France is a pleasant jaunt across the French countryside compared with Race Across America, a 3,000-mile, nine-day cross-country competition during which competitors lose the use of body parts, hallucinate from lack of sleep and, for a tragic few, die from the grueling toll. Amy Snyder chronicled the race’s most controversial year—2009—for her book Hell on Two Wheels, and she’ll talk about it at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 8, at Trek Bicycle Shop (4240 Kearny Mesa Road, Suite 108, in Kearny Mesa). At 7 p.m. Thursday, June 9, she’ll be at The Book Works in the Flower Hill Mall (2760 Via de la Valle in Del Mar). Can’t make either date? On Tuesday, June 21, Snyder will be at Upstart Crow in Seaport Village. hellontwowheelsbook.com
Activism
Ho no!: You wouldn’t blame a Jew for being beaten by a neo-Nazi because he wore a yarmulke, and so it’s certainly not OK for anyone to blame a rape victim for “dressing like a slut.” Earlier this year, a Toronto police officer said those words in a public-safety seminar, igniting outrage by feminists and victims-rights activists across the continent. The response took the form of a “SlutWalk,” in which women, wearing normal clothes or stereotypically “slutty” ones marched in defiance of the culture of blaming the victim. Local supporters can join the movement on Saturday, June 11, with SlutWalk San Diego, which will start at 1:30 p.m. at City Hall (202 C St., Downtown). The march ends at Horton Plaza Park with a rally with speakers, including local writer Ikoi Hiroe. slutwalksandiego.blogspot.com
Special Events
Bits and pieces: Alexis Smith is a master of cobbling together oddities to form works of art. The collage artist, who could probably be considered a hoarder, has long collected everything from playing cards to restaurant menus in order to create her ironic-yet-sophisticated collages. She’s moved from small-scale handmade objects to medium-sized collages to grandiose installations, one of which can be seen on the UCSD campus. At 7 p.m. Thursday, June 9, Smith will be at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla for A Conversation with Alexis Smith, talking to the museum’s chief curator, Kathryn Kanjo. We hope she touches on her time studying at UC Irvine with Robert Irwin and Vija Celmins and how she goes about finding her materials. $10. mcasd.org
Photography
Music
Suena bien: Type “Chunky y Los Alacranes” into Google and one of the suggested hits that comes up adds “chorizo sandwich” to the end of the band’s name. Why, we’re not quite sure. What we do know is that the band, fronted by Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez has for more than three decades provided the unofficial soundtrack for San Diego’s Chicano community. Catch Sanchez and his mates (“Los Alacranes” translates to “the scorpions”) at the 15th Annual Latino Music Festival, happening from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, June 11, at the Sherman Heights Community Center Field (301 22nd St.). Other performers include The Israel Maldonado Band, Bill Caballero & His Quintet, Todo Mundo and Cumbia Machin. There’ll be food, art and a variety of vendors. Free. shermanheights.com
