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The Curtain Closes on Birch North Park Theatre?

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The intersection of 30th Street and University Avenue is the physical center of North Park, as well as the hub the commercial and cultural activity in the neighborhood.  In the early 1900s this corner earned the moniker of “Busy Corner“, a title that would be fitting today as well.  Standing at Busy Corner throughout the years would give a clear view of the many changes that have occurred throughout the decades since the first homes and businesses appeared in the first decade of the 1900s.

In 2012, after filing for bankruptcy, the Lyric Opera  sold the mortgage note on the property to David Cohen, owner of the West Coast Tavern that is housed in the front of the theatre building.  Mr. Cohen is now trying to foreclose on the Lyric Opera and take ownership of the building.  A hearing on the issue took place before Judge Margaret Mann in downtown San Diego on Wednesday, February 27th, but no ruling was issued and the case will be continued on March 7.

Pending a decision in court there are many possibilities for the future of the space but no clear direction.   [Read more…]

Gang Girl at ECC

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“Gang Girl”
Friday, March 1, 2013
ECC (Education Cultural Center)
4343 Ocean View Blvd.
Showtime 7pm

“Gang Girl: The Story of a 22-Year-Old Girl in the LA Bloods Gang,” is a work of art in the form of a documentary that I had heard about and now I’m glad that I have the opportunity to see it, thanks to the San Diego Chapter of the Association of Black Psychologists. They’re bringing it to town so that all who care can spend an evening exploring critical issues and strengths in the lives of inner-city youth and their families.
  [Read more…]

Desde la Logan: Las Monthly Ondas February Edition featuring The HeART of Loteria

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If you’re of Mexican descent then at some point in your life you have probably played the ubiquitous game Loteria. For those who are not Mexican Loteria is somewhat similar to Bingo except you use numbered playing cards with iconic images on them such as La Calavera, El Borracho, El Catrín, La Luna, El Diablito, La Muerte and many others instead of numbered balls.

Ruben Torres, who I wrote about in a previous column called Love Thy Neighbor. It’s Not About Charity, It’s About Humanity, has teamed up with a collective of creative Southern Cali folks to curate a massive art exhibit, to be held at the Centro Cultural de la Raza, called The HeART of Loteria.

Ruben told me that “the opening reception is meant to celebrate a family tradition through art, performance, food and Loteria game play. It is meant to be an experience that is rich with Loteria inspired imagery and art. There will be about 200 art pieces that will be featured, created by artists from all walks of life. There will be two main experiences – inside and outside.   [Read more…]

“War Horse” at the Segerstrom Center: Puppetry Gallops to a Different Level

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by Alejandra Enciso Guzmán

The five Tony award winner War Horse opened last week at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa California. Segerstrom Hall shined, filled to its maximum capacity with almost 3,000 souls. Over the course of two and a half hours, theater goers enjoyed the ups and downs of this complex story situated in England during World War I.

Albert, sixteen, gets a foal thanks to his father Albert’s gambling win. Joey the foal comes alive onstage. It is a puppet made out of mostly cane which has been soaked, bent and stained a light cinnamon color. Three puppeteers– one for the head, one for the torso and one for the tail, bring Joey to life with breathing, neighing and puffing sounds… simply fascinating! The puppeteers wear overalls and boots of the same color. Even though they are seen all the time onstage, the handling is so fine, so delicate, they disappear into the puppet.   [Read more…]

Clybourne Park at the San Diego Repertory Theatre – A Review of the Friday Night Performance

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By Jim Bliesner

The first act of Clybourn Park, now at the San Diego Repertory Theatre is about “white flight” or “block busting” set in 1959. The second act is about “gentrification” and “new urbanism” set in 2009. In the first act a black family is buying a home in a traditionally Caucasian neighborhood. In the second act, the same house is being sold by a black couple to a young Caucasian couple moving back into the city wanting to remodel and add onto the old house. If this was San Diego the play would be called Sherman Heights or Golden Hill and cover the same period. The play is about a real phenomenon across the American urban landscape and alive today.   [Read more…]

Desde la Logan: January Happenings in Barrio Logan and Beyond

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Sometimes I take for granted the things that are happening in my barrio and the surrounding areas. I consider myself lucky to live in a community that cherishes culture in all it’s varied forms. I have Chicano Park, The Roots Factory, The Spot Barrio Logan and The Voz Alta Project all within two blocks of my apartment. My community is a living creature, alive and vibrant, with culture oozing out of it’s streets and alleys like sweat from a worker’s brow. For the most part I know what is going on around here.

Because I usually know the haps in Logan I sometimes fail to realize that others may not know what’s going on. Therefore as a service to not only my community but also the greater San Diego community at large I will regularly compile a list of cultural and activism related events that will be taking place. This list will not only feature events taking place in Barrio Logan and the rest of the Historic Barrio District but events elsewhere in San Diego that I think readers of this column and San Diego Free Press should consider attending. Most will be hosted by the places I normally frequent (and places I should frequent normally) and many will be related to Chicanismo, Native issues, lefty causes and other stuff that I’m down for. Please support these grassroots cultural happenings, spaces and organizations by attending their events and, if so inclined, throw a few bucks their way.   [Read more…]

Film Review: Smiling Through the Apocalypse, and the Sixties (at the Palm Spring Films Festival, January 3-13)

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By Bob Dorn

Apparently, we made it through the Apocalypse. It wasn’t the most recent one, predicted to accompany the exhaustion of the Mayan and Olmec peoples’ Long Count calendar last December. Instead, it was the one so many of us lived through starting some 50 years ago, the one we like to say lasted a decade, the 60s.

Back then, half of us seemed to aspire to higher consciousness and the other half of us learned to run from people who told us to travel astrally, or to go to Vietnam to kill Vietnamese, or to get a PhD in business management or to go out of our minds simply to find out what that might be like.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line – The Sound of One Hand Clapping at UT-San Diego

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We’ll start off today by talking about UT-San Diego, always one of my favorite topics. With advent of the New Year there are changes afoot at our local daily newspaper, changes that have me scratching my head… But hey, they’re the experts, right?

I learned via Twitter yesterday that Manchester’s minions are now required to gain management approval should any TV or radio station ask them to comment on pretty much anything. It seems as though UT-San Diego has done a deal with Clear Channel, one of the mega-corporate media meisters. Although they operate a half-dozen or so outlets locally, what we’re really talking about is giving KOGO (home to Rush Limbaugh and other righties in San Diego) and XTRA Sports radio first shot at any UT staffers.

  [Read more…]

SDFP Exclusive – Jean Marc Barr: Cruise Control, Soul Grind, and Jack Kerouac

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By Micaela Shafer Porte

Jean Marc Barr, international French/American film actor and director, and part-time Pacific Beach, California local, loves Pacific Beach for its mellowness and great skateboarding.  “San Diego is the place where ‘nothing’ is supposed to happen.  It is a nice break from my hectic life, living out of suitcase, travelling around the world. “  He is here for the holidays, in preparation for attending the Sundance  Independent Film Festival 2013, in his latest role as Jack Kerouac  in the film, Big Sur, which is being presented on January 23.

“I started skateboarding late in life, at the age of 42, because I was inspired by my nephew, Oliver, and I needed a physical activity to keep me in shape during my stays with my family in California.  Entering my 40’s, I felt “vulnerable,” so wanted to try a new sport, a dangerous one, as a challenge…”   [Read more…]

Right-Wingers Whine About Oscar Omission for ‘2016: Obama’s America’ — Here’s Four Simple Reasons Why It Got Snubbed

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By Laura Gottesdiener / AlterNet / Dec. 5, 2012

The directors of the anti-Obama film hilariously claim the film faces discrimination.

Gerald Molan, the director of the extremely anti-Obama movie, 2016: Obama’s America , is mad that his and Dinesh D’Souza’s film wasn’t on the shortlist of documentaries nominated for an Academy Award.

“The action confirms my opinion that the bias against anything from a conservative point of view is dead on arrival in Hollywood circles,” he complained  to the Hollywood Reporter.   [Read more…]

The Starting Line —Hey San Diego! Don’t Miss Out on an Opportunity Called Politifest

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Those of us who are active in politics rarely acknowledge the reality that, regardless of our views, we are a distinct minority. It is all too easy to make the jump from, say, knowing that the quality of life is an important consideration for San Diegans, to the assumption that everybody actually has an opinion or gives enough of a damn to think about the issue.

So when an event occurs whose purpose is to raise consciousness about getting out and actually doing something, I think it’s a Big Deal. Voice of San Diego’s Politifest, at Liberty Station (Point Loma) this Saturday starting at about 10 am, is a one stop no risk opportunity for anybody that grasps the importance of citizenship to get involved. There will be eighty plus organizations with people willing to expound about their cause, give you a brochure or two and, if you’re willing, sign you up for future activities.   [Read more…]

San Diego Theater: “Juanita Hits the Jackpot!”

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Twenty three years ago Teresa Gunn was performing on stage in DC with her rock and roll band when a song came into her head “just like that.” The band had no idea what Teresa was doing when she launched into a spontaneous a capella rendition of “Trailer Park Money.” Teresa didn’t know much more about that moment than the band did. The song/message entered her head, she delivered it and the show went on.

Teresa never forgot that particular message. In the intervening years, that song became more fully realized as “Trailer Park Queen” and then continued to evolve as a series of one woman performances about Juanita, a mysterious unseen presence who cannot be abandoned, only temporarily ignored.   [Read more…]

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