From 2011 Comic-Con events to a Vegan Beer Night

LoveLikeBeer Glass No. 2

Food & Drink

Beer and veggies: Traditional bake sales look old and boring compared with the food soirées LoveLike- Beer is hosting. Check out the group’s second-ever event, Vegan Beer Night, from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, July 26, at Blind Lady Ale House (2416 Adams Ave. in Normal Heights). The crew behind LoveLikeBeer has invited chef Aaron La Monica to come up with a one-night-only vegan menu, Automatic Brewing Company will offer a special release for the occasion and each dish will be paired with a craft beer. The event has no cover charge or prix-fixe menu, so you can order as you please. Fifteen percent of sales will benefit San Diego Animal Rescue. lovelikebeer.com

Outdoors

Storm the beach!: Whether you think riding a fixie is the way to go or prefer the feel of a beach cruiser, everyone can agree that the bicycle culture in San Diego is getting bigger and better. Helping get the pedal to the metal is the Urban Bicycle Social Club and its awesome bike-riding get-togethers. With summertime in full swing, the bike crew—and anyone else who feels like breaking free from the SUV for an afternoon—is heading to South Mission Beach for the Bicycle Beach Day Haul In on Saturday, July 24. The official meeting spot is Adams Avenue Bicycles (2606 Adams Ave. in Normal Heights) at 10:45 a.m., with everyone riding out promptly at 11 a.m. No driving around in circles trying to find a parking spot? Sounds good. meetup.com/Urban-Bike-and-Social-Club

Art

Finding home: Artist Genna Jennings’ This Old House, a multimedia, installation-art event, seeks to “exorcise,” as she says, her childhood home in Alpine before it’s put up for sale. More than three-dozen sound and visual artists from San Diego, Tijuana and L.A. will take over the home at 2989 North Victorian Drive on Saturday, July 23, and, through their works, explore themes of nostalgia, loss and decay. There’ll be a rummage sale from 3 to 6 p.m., followed by a reception until 11 p.m. Tour the site-specific works throughout the house and, as the invite puts it, “please come smoke Glenna’s grandma’s cigarettes! Read her mother’s Penthouse magazines! Check out her dad’s apothecaries! Visit a room housing both a giant rock and the history of the Entire World!” For more, email glennajennings@gmail.com.

Art of alchemy: For the upcoming group show at Voz Alta Project Gallery (1754 National Ave. in Barrio Logan), art collective corner Liquor Store has asked nine artists to play the role of alchemist and respond to the idea of the ancient tradition of transmutation. Together, Jason “Mars” Gould, Ricardo Islas, Kim Garcia, Kevin Kao, Katherine Sweetman and others have created mixed-media drawings on translucent plastic sheeting, along with other drawings, to be part of a coloring-activity kit. There will also be paintings in the exhibition, Color Me Alchemy, which opens from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 23. The show will remain on view through Aug. 3. cornerliquorstore.net

Funny business: Lalo Alcaraz, a nationally syndicated cartoonist whose political comic strip,“La Cucaracha,” appears daily in the Los Angeles Times, The Dallas morning News, the San Francisco Chronicle and more than 50 other major newspapers, is most famous for his witty satirizing of politicians and for his radio show, the Pocho Hour of Power. Just in time for the Comic-Con crowd, at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 23, Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park will host Cartoonista!, a casual and entertaining Q&A with Alcaraz and emcee William “Memo” Nericcio, an SDSU professor and the author of Tex{t}-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the “Mexican” in America. $5. centroculturaldelaraza.org

Comic-choreography: Not only did you fail to score passes to San Diego Comic-Con, but now all the best after-hours parties are sold out. Don’t worry, young geek. Cirque du Soleil has you covered with a free, outdoor performance right across from the convention center. The acrobatic wonders currently based out of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas will be putting on a special adaptation of their current sci-fi-inspired show, KÀ, on the side of Petco Park facing the Omni Hotel. The show features a complicated battle, with the stadium wall acting as the “ground,” so viewers feel like they’re getting a bird’s-eye view of the action. The interactive performance starts at 9:30 p.m. Thursday, July 21, but fans are encouraged to arrive at least a half-hour early. cirquedusoleil.com/comiccon

Halloween in July: The Zombie Walk is kind of like the zombie version of the LGBT Pride Parade—every year, walking corpses of all shapes and sizes gather and lurch through the streets of San Diego, to the horrified delight of passersby. You’re welcome to join them Downtown at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, July 23; simply put on your blood-stained, pale-faced finest and show up in the courtyard area next to Horton Plaza at Fourth Avenue and Broadway (note: snacking on bystanders is strictly prohibited). Zombie families can also attend an all-ages pre-party at House of Blues at 2 p.m., while club-kid zombies can hit up the 21-and-older Zombie Defense Network dance party at 9 p.m. at Spin Nightclub (2028 Hancock St. in Middletown; see x-sanguin.com for tickets). sdzombiewalk.com

Boy wonders: If you witnessed last year’s costumed Comic-Con counter-protest against the Rev. Fred Phelps’ bigot squad, you know that the pro-gay and pro-geek communities are often one and the same. This year, Alexander Salazar Fine Art (1040 Seventh Ave., Downtown) is catering to both aesthetics with Comic Cock Conviction, an exhibition of male nudes and gay comic superheroes. The gallery solicited open submissions but will also feature the work of Joe Philips, creator of the comic book The House of Morecock. The show opens at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 21, and includes a screening of Philips’ film Stonewall & Riot: The Ultimate Orgasm at 8 p.m. The exhibition will be open from 6 to 9 p.m. throughout Comic-Con, with a costume party on Sunday, July 23. alexandersalazarfineart.com