Where to take your sweetie for Valentine’s Day? If they love live music, Sue Palmer & The Motel Swing Orchestra will be doing their boogie woogie swing thang at Humphrey’s Backstage Music Club on SHELTER ISLAND. Palmer has been a local legend on piano in the music scene, and if you’re going to see live music, you can get a nice dinner there with views of the water and boats at the dock. Nothing says romance like that.
At the JAZZ LOUNGE, it could be a wonderful world for you and your loved one, with a Tribute to Ella & Louis (that would obviously be Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong). That’s all weekend long, and you can have dinner and enjoy songs you know and love.
If you’re not in the mood for some cheesy romantic stuff on VD – there’s the SEUSSIFICATION OF ROMEO & JULIET at the Trinity Theatre Company inside the Mission Valley Mall in SAN DIEGO all weekend. The idea of that love story done in a Dr. Seuss style, reminded me of a great bit “The Kids in the Hall” once did with the Dr. Seuss bible, but I digress….
The Belly Up Tavern in SOLANA BEACH was just named in Billboard magazine as one of the best music venues in the country. Tonight you can see the DOLLY PARTON VALENTINE SHOW. It’s a benefit show for breast cancer, with local musicians doing all of the Parton tunes we know and love. I’m stoked that Nena Anderson is involved, as I’ve always loved her singing, along with Whitney Shay, and many others – including a horn section.
WICKED is still playing at the San Diego Civic Theatre DOWNTOWN all weekend long.
A tribute band I’ve seen a few times, and they’re amazing – QUEEN NATION will be at the Music Box DOWNTOWN. Aside from the guitarist having a goofy wig to look like Brian May, the singer looks and sounds just like Freddie Mercury, and the crowd always goes nuts hearing the hits, and deeper cuts (my two favs they do are “Need Your Loving Tonight” and “It’s Late”).
Another band that was huge in the ‘70s…you can show how deep your love is by taking your spouse to see the Australian Bee Gees at Sycuan Casino in EL CAJON.
If you dropped the ball and tried to make dinner reservations too late on Valentine’s Day, going out on SATURDAY isn’t a problem. Here are some things you can hit…
The ESCONDIDO CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL, which my wife and I went to last year, is great fun. Lots of chocolate and wine. It runs from 12 to 5 p.m. and you walk down the historic Grand Avenue, stopping at various shops, art galleries, and restaurants, with each having a variety of chocolates paired with local fine wines, craft beers, champagne, and non-alcoholic beverages. This is a must for chocolate lovers, or those guys that just gave their wives a lame Whitman’s sampler box for Valentine’s and need to make up for it.
The HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS will be at Pechanga Arena. If you lost big money betting on the Super Bowl, I’ve got a tip for you. Put your money on the Globetrotters to beat the Washington Generals.
For those up north in TEMECULA, one of the best named tribute bands – No Duh – doing their No Doubt/Gwen Stefani tribute at the OLD TOWN TEMECULA COMMUNITY THEATER. They’ll have an Amy Winehouse tribute the following day, if you want to come in like a breeze, on Sunday morning…errr…evening.
Other entertainment on Sunday –
If you’re all out of love, because you used it up on Valentine’s… go see AIR SUPPLY at Harrah’s Resort in VALLEY CENTER.
If your love is a bit younger and is more of a Swifty…at MOONSHINE BEACH there’s an all-ages show by “Dream Like Taylor”, a Taylor Swift tribute act covering all of Swift’s musical eras, complete with costume and instrument changes. I’m sure nobody will be booing like they did to the real Taylor Swift at the Super Bowl.
The SAN DIEGO GULLS have a game at 5 p.m. against the San Jose Barracuda at PECHANGA ARENA. It's Star Wars Night!
For more sports, the SAN DIEGO SOCKERS play at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside. It’s “Teacher Appreciation Night” so maybe they’ll hand out apples to the first thousand fans.
I think tribute bands are a lot of fun, but this is easily one of the strangest, but they’ve got the goods. I saw them on Jimmy Fallon last month. Terrific character actor MICHAEL SHANNON put together an R.E.M. tribute band with Jason Narducy, and they’ll be at the Belly Up Tavern in SOLANA BEACH.
One of the best comedians of the last 10 years is BRIAN REGAN and he’ll be at the Magnolia Performing Arts Center in EL CAJON.
A good friend of mine, STEVE POLTZ, one of the most clever songwriters around, sold out his birthday show at the Belly Up the other night. He added a show at the Music Box DOWNTOWN.
And at the MOVIES for the weekend…
If you’re still trying to keep the romantic weekend going, you can always make the female love of your life happy by taking her to see THE NOTEBOOK at the Rooftop Cinema Club at the Manchester Grand Hyatt DOWNTOWN on Sunday.
If you’re a woman trying to pay back your man for a nice Valentine’s day and wanna show him a whole lotta love…take him to see “Becoming Led Zeppelin.” It was at a few IMAX theaters around town last week but not many. It’s opening at the Angelika Film Center on the 14th, for a one week run. The Angelika is my favorite theater in town, and Zep is one of my favorite bands. I might see this twice.
Something I’m mad that I saw once…CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. Captain America is now played by Anthony Mackie, which is fine. The President was played by Harrison Ford, who I believe has played the Commander in Chief before on screen. It was also cool to see 73-year-old Carl Lumbly as a tough guy. But it was ridiculous seeing tiny actress Shira Haas (Orthodox) playing a tough character that didn’t seem the least bit believable.I won’t waste your time telling you the premise, as it was so utterly ridiculous (and felt stolen from the Naked Gun movie). I’ll just say that there was no humor (despite a few attempts at jokes that fell flat). The special effects were bad. You don’t care about these underwritten characters or the many subplots. It’s going to be one of my first entries on my “worst of the year” list. Even fan boys will be disappointed. 0 stars.