FRIDAY night…with live theater, perfect timing at PowPAC in POWAY. They’re doing I NEVER SANG FOR MY FATHER, which is a touching story and…with Gene Hackman dying recently, it’s a reminder that this is the first movie he got an Oscar nomination for, and the one movie he said he wished his mom would have lived long enough to see. Like most of the plays and comedians mentioned in this column, they’ll be going all weekend.
“Alice by Heart” is at the Howard Brubeck Theatre at Palomar College in SAN MARCOS. It’s from the Tony and Grammy winning creators of “Spring Awakening” (which include the great musician Duncan Sheik). It's a touching musical inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Also in San Marcos, there’s a COUNTRY LEGENDS TRIBUTE SHOW at the Bornemann Theater. You’ll see performances from a Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, and Glen Campbell. Wear those wigs and rhinestones!
If you like your tribute bands a bit louder, and are out East, at the RAMONA SOUNDSTAGE, you’ll get tributes to Ozzy Osbourne and AC/DC. There’s not supposed to be rain, so no worries about being thunderstruck.
If your music tastes run more along the classical vein, at the Jacobs Music Center DOWNTOWN, you can hear an orchestra perform pieces by Rachmaninoff, Ravel, and Bartok. No holding up your lighters and yelling for “Bolero” when they play Ravel. It’s going to be the “Mother Goose Suite” they perform.
If you have your heart set on hearing “Bolero” that will be performed at GROSSMONT COLLEGE with their show “Spanish Nights – A Concert of Passion and Fire.” You’ll hear the Ravel classic, along with some Bizet and de Falla. I feel more cultured just writing about it! The Grossmont Symphony Orchestra will be performing, with their new conductor Hernan Constantino, who is the San Diego Symphony violinist and Mainly Mozart director.
And on another college campus, and perfect for the weather we’ve been having lately – you can see SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN at the MiraCosta College Theatre in OCEANSIDE.
CIRCUS VARGAS is in Plaza Bonita in NATIONAL CITY all weekend. I saw the show when it was in Escondido a few weeks ago and it was a blast.
For comedy, “blue collar” cigar smokin’ comedian RON WHITE will be at Harrah’s Resort in VALLEY CENTER.
Canadian comedian IAN BAGG will be at The Comedy Store in LA JOLLA.
TIM DILLON will be at The American Comedy Company DOWNTOWN.
SATURDAY NIGHT – There’s a Saturday night special show at the RAMONA SOUNDSTAGE, with blues rock tributes of Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top. The ZZ tribute is the perfectly named “Beer Drinks & Hell Raisers.”
If you want to see hell raisers on ice, the SAN DIEGO GULLS have a home game against the Ontario Reign at Pechanga Arena.
If you like your athletes fighting and getting physical on roller skates instead of ice skates, there’s ROLLER DERBY in the afternoon with the San Diego Wildfires All Star team taking on the Los Angeles Derby Dolls in EMERALD HILLS at Ringer’s Roller Rink.
If you saw Wicked onstage in San Diego recently, see the story that started it all. At the POWAY CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS, the Poway Youth Theater will perform THE WIZARD OF OZ.
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM has been doing their electronic thing for over 20 years, and they’re starting a new tour right here in San Diego at PETCO PARK.
At BALBOA THEATRE, the CITY BALLET is putting on a performance of “Swan Lake II – Ballet Boogaloo.” Just joshin’. This new ballet is simply called “Swan Lake II” but I couldn’t resist.
At an ELTON JOHN TRIBUTE in NORTH PARK, at Colabo Performing Arts you’ll also get special appearances by a David Bowie, Santana, and Linda Rondstadt.
Right around the corner in North Park, local legend SARA PETITE has her American Roundup, with the Honky Tonk Angels, performing tributes to Dolly Parton and more of country music’s most iconic women. That’s at the KENSINGTON CLUB on Adams Avenue.
SUNDAY…is more of a casual day, and you might prefer to have brunch, sip a mimosa and listen to yacht rock. If you’re more of a hip-hip fan, instead of yacht rock, you got LIL YACHTY, along with TYLER THE CREATOR at Pechanga Arena.
There’s a Pink Floyd tribute act at the BELLY UP TAVERN in Solana Beach.
At THE SOUND in Del Mar, you’ve got THE SIMON & GARFUNKEL STORY. This is an international hit show that plays like the Jersey Boys, but about Simon & Garfunkel.
AT THE MOVIES –
MICKEY 17 is the big movie coming out this weekend, and it was such a disappointing movie, because the director (Bong Joon Ho) gave us the terrific (and Oscar-winning) movie “Parasite” a few years back. And the trailer for it looked intriguing (and they were smart to use The Animals great song “It’s My Life.”). This movie has so many problems. First, Robert Pattenson is doing this dopey New York accent, which never really makes us like him; yet we’re supposed to have sympathy with the fact that he’s an “expendable” so the scientists kill him over and over in their experiments up in space. A failed politician and cult leader-type, played by Mark Ruffalo, is done poorly. It’s too campy and stupid a character; but Toni Collette as his wife, is as amazing as always (she’s one of the Top 5 actresses working today). They throw a lot of jokes at us, and most don’t work. And anything that could be interesting, you feel like you’re seen in better movies. For example, when they re-create his body, but forget to put a table out for when he comes out of the machine, causing him to fall on the floor (a joke they used repeatedly), I thought a similar scene that worked better (in one of the best films ever made), was in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” when the doctors are erasing Jim Carey’s brain of bad memories, but they’re smoking pot and not doing their job correctly. There are other points in the movie you’ll think of “Snowpiercer” “Okja” and “Alien”, but I digress. The movie is muddled and preachy ,and just doesn’t work. My wife and I disliked it, and I can’t imagine anyone else liking it either. 0 stars.
MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE…is one of those movies where the title is a spoiler alert (kind of like the military movie “Lone Survivor”). That was never going to be the secret, as the commercials showed you Zoe was dead. The cast is excellent; you’ve got Morgan Freeman running a PTSD support group. There’s Ed Harris as the crusty old Vietnam Vet, and grandfather to Sonequa Martin-Green (The Walking Dead). She’s back from Afghanistan and suffering PTSD, and often has conversations with her dead friend (played by Natalie Morales). There’s a meet/cute with Utkarsh Ambudkar (Ghosts) that is kind of cute (but also a bit contrived). The film felt like it was made-for-TV, mostly because of the poor writing and various plotlines that don’t always work so smoothly. It does have a few humorous moments, and you’ll cry a few times. It doesn’t just cover PTSD, but Alzheimer’s. There’s also a twist that worked well, but was poorly executed in ways. I think most people will enjoy it, and they’re offering military discounts at a lot of theaters (and the Bob Woodruff Foundation is collecting donations so veterans can see it for free). 2 ½ stars out of 5.