FRIDAY – it’s the 4th of July. I won’t list all the various places you can see fireworks. One place you surprisingly won’t be able to see fireworks…
The PADRES game against the Texas Rangers. They will have an Independence Day theme and celebration, with a limited-edition hat. If you want fireworks with your baseball, that was July 3rd with the Lake Elsinore Storm (their minor league affiliate).
Another event without fireworks but an amazing show….at the Fairmont Grand DEL MAR…an eco-friendly drone show at 9 p.m. Perfect for dogs and vets that might not want to hear the explosions. Hundreds of choreographed lights across the sky will create an incredible display.
If you want your explosions to come from a drum set and horn section, THE ENGLISH BEAT are returning to the Belly Up Tavern in SOLANA BEACH. They’ll be there Saturday, too.
SATURDAY – if you didn’t party too hard on the 4th and can wake up at a reasonable time…
There’s a show at 11 a.m. with one of the biggest local talents – REBECCA JADE. She’ll be at the La Valencia Hotel in LA JOLLA. She does a variety of music genres and is excellent at singing all of them.
MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL is still playing at the Civic Theatre DOWNTOWN and they’ll have a Sunday matinee show as well.
The PADRES are still playing the Rangers at Petco Park.
Over at Snapdragon Stadium, there’s SAN DIEGO FC vs Houston Dynamo FC. San Diego is in first place, and Houston is in the top 10.
You might smell smoke coming from the DEL MAR FAIRGROUNDS because ZIGGY MARLEY is in concert. The LONG BEACH DUB ALL STARS will be there, too.
For all you “scrubs”...one of the best-selling American girl groups of all time, TLC, will be at Viejas Casino. Obviously, they’ll be without Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, but the other two gals will be rockin’.
For tribute band fans, there’s a JOURNEY group at the Music Box, and an ABBA tribute at Rady Shell.
SUNDAY –
The PADRES wrap up their series against the Rangers, and as usual for Sunday games, it’s KidsFest where they can run the bases after the game. There is also a “Hello Kitty” theme.
EARTH, WIND, & FIRE have lost three band members over the years, but they’re still performing, and will be at Rady Shell DOWNTOWN.
If you want to end the weekend on a more mellow vibe, SUNDAY NIGHT JAZZ is happening at Tio Leo’s on Napa Street.
AT THE MOVIES –
JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH. Before the movie started, I was talking with a few other critics about how Hollywood does sequels and rehashes the same stories. We talked about how much we disliked the latest M3GAN movie, and I said “They’ll have M3GAN fight Chucky next.” After this movie ended, I told my friend that they’ll have the Dinosaurs fight Godzilla next. He said, “It’s the same director who did one of the Godzilla films.” This movie had a few cool visuals, but it was the same story. And it’s easily the worst performance I’ve ever seen by Scarlett Johansson. Mahershala Ali was great in it, but his character, and none of the other characters – you ever cared about. The movie was void of all suspense. You’ve seen all this before in previous Jurassic films, and a lot of stuff from Jaws. My wife said as we walked out, “But it was great to hear that wonderful John Williams score.” Nope. If I want to hear that score (which was great in the first film), I can probably buy a John Williams Greatest Hits CD. That being said…if you saw commercials for this and were interested in seeing it…you probably won’t be disappointed. It did nothing for us, though. 1 ½ stars out of 5.