For sports fans, the San Diego GULLS have a home game against the Ontario Reignat Pechanga Arena Friday at 7.
The San Diego CLIPPERS, the NBA G League team, will be at Frontwave Arena in OCEANSIDE. They’ll be playing against a team that hustles – the Memphis Hustle, which sounds more like a dance than a b-ball squad.
DONAVON FRANKENREITER just had his birthday, and he’s at the usual place he stops when he’s in town, the Belly Up Tavern in SOLANA BEACH if ya wanna “swing on down.”
If you want someone just as mellow as Donavon, but a different style, pianist JIM BRICKMAN is at the BALBOA THEATRE downtown.
KARL DENSON’S TINY UNIVERSE with Jackie Greene, will be bringing their sound to THE SOUND in DEL MAR. Karl is the great jazz sax player who’s toured with the Rolling Stones, played with Lenny Kravitz, Steve Winwood, and for fans of funny movies – you may have seen him in the group Sexual Chocolate in “Coming to America.”
If the magic of how a fat Santa got down a small chimney wasn’t enough for you, THE ILLUSIONISTS are at the SAN DIEGO CIVIC THEATRE downtown with their “Magic of the Holidays” show.
For comedy, JIM FLORENTINE, who you see a lot on various Fox shows (and whom I liked on “Crank Yankers”), is performing at the AMERICAN COMEDY CLUB downtown. He’ll be there Saturday, too.
Also on SATURDAY NIGHT…both the Gulls and Sockers have home games you can catch.
If all the eating over the holidays didn’t put you into a turkey coma, you can zone out with a Grateful Dead tribute band, EASY WIND, at the Belly Up Tavern doing a show cleverly titled a “Jerry Christmas.”
One of our best local talents, REBECCA JADE, is doing a “Soulful Holiday” show at Sycuan Casino. She’ll be doing a number of tunes from her recently released record “Just Another Christmas Album.” She’ll be bringing lots of talented folks with her, including local guitarist Joshua Taylor.
And an artist I never thought would garner a tribute band, but here we are….with “one more night” of tributes – it’s FULL COLLINS doing a Genesis and Phil Collins tribute at NAVAJO LIVE in SAN CARLOS. It’s only 10 bucks!
On SUNDAY, if you haven’t gotten rid of those relatives yet and want a mellow Sunday brunch, the SOTO SIX QUARTET is at the Brick Hotel in OCEANSIDE, performing on their Succulent Coffee Patio, and there’s no cover charge. But I’m going to rack up a bill on mimosas.
If you’re feeling guilty for not going to church Sunday morning, you can go to a church in the late afternoon, at 4:30 at the FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH CHAPEL downtown. It helps if you’re hankerin’ to hear some jazz instead of a sermon – ARCHIE THOMPSON AND THE ARCHTONES will perform jazz, blues, and gospel tunes. That show features other guest musicians, and it’s free.
There are always a few movies that opened on Christmas Eve, and a handful this year.
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN: I was never the biggest Bob Dylan fan - amazing songwriter, but horrible voice. I do think “Blood on the Tracks” is one of the best albums ever made, although that was 10 years after this movie ends, as it only deals with Dylan’s time going to New York from Minnesota, and then going electric at the Newport Folk Festival. So this isn’t a traditional biopic depicting the artist's entire life. Like most of these types of movies, a lot of the stuff isn’t exactly factual (Dylan even insisted the filmmakers put in a bogus scene). But it totally conveys the Dylan we’ve all heard and read about (yeah, he’s a genius, but also a jerk). Timothee Chalamet will get an Oscar nomination, but I’m hoping Edward Norton also gets a “supporting actor” nod for his role as folk legend Pete Seeger. Elle Fanning is good as the frustrated girlfriend, and so is Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez. The talented Scoot McNairy is a bit wasted as Woody Guthrie, as he’s in the hospital the whole time and can’t speak. Side note: you can catch McNairy’s two other great performances from this year, in “Speak No Evil” and the underrated “Nightbitch.” One last cast member that deserves a mention is Dan Fogler. The heavy-set actor often has comedic roles, and he was good as one of the record label managers. You don’t have to be a Dylan fan to like this movie, but that certainly helps. And yes, Chalamet deserves a lot of credit, but let’s not give him credit for the singing or voice. After all, it is Dylan, not Dean Martin or Sam Cooke that he’s pulling off. For hardcore music lovers like me, you’ll be happy that some props go out to Johnny Cash, Al Kooper, and Mike Bloomfield. This gets bonus points for playing my two favorite tracks – “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” and “It Ain’t Me Babe". 4 stars out of 5.
NOSFERATU: I’ve felt director Robert Eggers has been overrated by other critics (his films include The Northman, The Lighthouse, and The Witch). This is certainly his best. The cinematography is incredible and the movie has atmosphere and set designs that are brilliant. I thought Count Orlock (Bill Skarsgard, who was even creepier than when he was the clown in “It”) was scary, but the mustache looked goofy. But at a reception with the cast, producer Chris Columbus (a great director in his own right) told me Eggerts did a lot of research on the original story to get the look just right, even having old pictures plastered all over his office. Besides Skarsgard, another nepo-baby is in the film – Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-Rose. She’s good, as is the always reliable Willem Dafoe [fun fact: this is Dafoe’s second “Nosferatu” film, as he was in the excellent “Shadow of the Vampire”]. Aaron-Taylor Johnson is good, and continues to do interesting roles. I told Nicholas Hoult at the reception that it was funny that he just did another vampire movie, the surprisingly fun Nicolas Cage flick “Renfield” last year. He smiled and said, “We were two weeks into filming this when somebody realized that.” My favorite character was played by an actor I wasn’t familiar with – Simon McBurney. He’s the guy that helps bring the vampire to town. I had mixed feelings on what I felt about the movie. Yet I was never bored watching it. Perhaps younger, teen audiences that expect a different kind of vibe with their horror movies, might be disappointed. 3 stars out of 5.
BABYGIRL. This is one of those movies critics will praise, thinking it tackles something deep when really it’s just unbelievable goofiness. That being said, Nicole Kidman is fabulous as a high-paid CEO who starts an affair with an intern, and the bizarre sexual fetishes she has. Her acting is great, and she looks fabulous (and as is the case in most of her films, she’s nude). But at the end of the day, the movie just doesn’t work. And you’ll often find yourself seeing things you’ve seen in better movies. Hey – the guy is showing up at her house with her kids and husband there, reminding me of “Fatal Attraction.” Oh, being told to get down on your hands and knees in the office – didn’t we see James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhall do this in “Secretary” 22 years ago? The best moment I had in this movie was when Kidman is screaming at her husband, and punching him in the chest while they’re in bed, and saying “I’ve never had an orgasm with you!” I leaned into my wife and sarcastically said, “That is Antonio Banderas, right?” The ending of the movie is kind of clever, but overall, this just didn’t work for me. 2 stars out of 5.
THE FIRE INSIDE. Sports movies based on real events are a tall order. We all know the underdog will win. We see the same cliches we always get, but…if they’re done right, we enjoy them. And this one is. I loved Brian Tyree Henry in the underrated Jennifer Lawrence film “Causeway” a few years back. Here he plays a tough boxing coach, who sees a young girl coming to his gym to work out her frustrations on the heavy bag. Her name is Clarissa Shields, and if you don’t know the true story, I won’t spoil it here. Just see the movie and thank me later. Shields has dreams of making it to the Olympics, but she has many obstacles in her way. It’s one of the rare movies that, when they tell you on screen at the closing credits what happened to the person – you’ll have tears of joy streaming down your face. 3 ½ stars out of 5.
And lastly, for those who couldn’t keep their mouths shut during WICKED, the studio is releasing the WICKED SING ALONG version at theatres this weekend. So unless you sound like Bob Dylan, go and have a blast singing those songs with those around you.
Photo credit: Getty Images