San Diego CityBeat - Arts & Culture Features

Head Crammers - Nudge these nuggets into your noodle

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 CDT

A new app called Buycott makes it easier for you to make informed decisions about what goes in your pantry, plus more things we like.

‘Warehouse 1425’ art show: creativity and controversy - Organizer of May 17 exhibition in East Village fends off criticism

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 CDT

If the event sounds familiar, there’s a reason. Unsolicited emails from people in the local art community have been sent to CityBeat blasting the show as a rip-off of Parachute Factory.

‘Coffee Shop Chronicles’ is short and sweet - New Play Café’s site-specific dessert theater is the start of something good

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 CDT

New Play Café’s production of The Coffee Shop Chronicles, a collection of seven site-specific plays written by up-and-coming local playwrights, continues with a sold-out show at 7:30 p.m. Friday May 3, and another on Friday, May 10

‘Visible Bodies’ puts it out there - Photography project lets transgender folks share their personal experiences

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:00:00 CDT

A photography project called Visible Bodies aims to tell the diverse stories of transgender San Diegans in order to empower those in the community and educate those who aren’t on the misconceptions surrounding trans people.

Frank Bill’s bare-knuckle writing - The Book Catapult brings Midwest author and his violent, meth-centric ‘Donnybrook’ to San Diego

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:00:00 CDT

When it comes to art—and especially literature—it takes a lot to make me squirm. Yet, Frank Bill’s novel Donnybrook made me cringe. Many times.

A sea change in Oceanside’s art scene - The Hill Street Country Club is building the city’s creative community

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Oceanside isn’t exactly world famous for its art scene. The Hill Street Country Club wants to change that.

FIGMENT San Diego’s palette of people - Event will showcase the growing trend of participatory art

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Inside Little Fish Studios, a new home for comic-book classes and workshops in Ocean Beach, co-owner and comic artist Alonso Nuñez is fighting the urge to finish his superheroes.

Words on the street - Graffiti’s made it on gallery walls, but for artists Neko and Persue, nothing beats the real thing

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 CDT

Neko grew up around that scene and has been participating in it since 1991, after he was initially inspired by the Old English graffiti lettering he saw at Grant Hill Park. He points out the Golden Hill mural at the beginning of a nearly two-hour tour of some of his favorite street art around San Diego.

Frequency Film Festival is bringing movies back to Ocean Beach - Impressive, eclectic collection will be screened March 21 through April 6

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 CDT

The thought of starting a new film fest from scratch is certainly daunting, but Paul Parietti is giving it a shot. The first iteration of his Frequency Film Festival kicks off on Thursday, March 21, and runs on and off through April 6.

The mad scientists of sound art - Meet some of San Diego’s experimental noise-makers

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:00:00 CST

Sitting on the patio of Krakatoa, the Golden Hill coffeehouse, you’ll eventually hear the sound of an airplane ripping through the sky or a shopping cart full of clanking glass bottles being pushed down the alleyway by a homeless person.

In painter Kelly Vivanco’s work, the eyes have it - The stories behind the artist’s characters can be found in their peepers

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 CST

There’s just something about Kelly Vivanco’s eyes. Well, not so much her eyes, although they are a striking bluish-gray. Rather, it’s the eyes in her signature mix of pop-surrealism and Renaissance portraiture.

Head Crammers - Deposit these dynamic developments into your dome

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 00:00:00 CST

CityBeat Staff recommends their current favorite websites, apps and podcasts.

A tour through noir writer Jim Thompson’s San Diego - It’s a tale of crime fiction, despair and the bottle

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 00:00:00 CST

But Chandler isn’t the only legendary crime writer to have lived and written in San Diego. The other is Jim Thompson. Maybe you’ve never heard of him.

A festival on the Fringe - San Diego’s set to join cities around the world with a celebration of adventurous performance art

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:00:00 CST

Regardless of whether San Diego is really America’s Finest City or more like Kansas-by-the-bay, the weirdest, wildest and most experimental artists from around the world are going to converge on its streets.

Illnesses helped shape Rob Morey’s new passion - His new work is careful choreography between artist and dripping glass

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 00:00:00 CST

Rob Morey’s glass bowls and other decorative pieces are lovely, but the artist considers that side of his work his living, not his love. Lately, Morey’s passion comes when he’s working on his new body of work—extremely delicate strings of glass he weaves into chaotic yet controlled abstract compositions of color and form.

Art Struck in 2012 - 11 art makers, gallerists and curators share favorite works of the year

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:00:00 CST

To conclude CityBeat’s arts coverage in 2012, we wanted to hear from the gallery owners, museum curators and visual artists whose names popped up next to the mostbuzzed-about events and accomplishments from the past 12 months. We asked these local tastemakers to tell us about their favorite piece of art from 2012.

Culture Shock grooves through good times and bad - San Diego hip-hop troupe celebrates 20 years of dancing

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 00:00:00 CST

Culture Shock’s founder, Bunch has seen two decades of dancers come and go—many have gone on to success on a larger stage— and as recently as this fall, she nearly lost a large part of her beloved creation to financial ruin.

Head Crammers - Apps, books, albums and TV shows: Squeeze these scraps of substance into your skull

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 00:00:00 CST

Last August, comedian Tig Notaro took the stage at Los Angeles’ Largo nightclub and introduced herself: “Good evening. Hello. I have cancer. How are you? Is everybody having a good time?”

Christmas-tree violence and chocolate butt plugs - Twisted filmmaker John Waters returns with his twisted live holiday show

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 00:00:00 CST

John Waters hates Easter. Well, the popular version of it, anyway. Christmas, on the other hand, is a different story.

A Ship in the Woods embarks on a limitless journey - Alternative arts venue in Del Mar will eventually need a new home

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 00:00:00 CST

Down in the canyon, a gust of wind swept under the cargo parachute hanging from the tall trees, causing the side nearest Kiersten Puusemp and RJ Brooks to blow open.