FRIDAY –
You’ll enjoy some laughs with comedian and actor BRAD WILLIAMS at Humphrey’s on SHELTER ISLAND. He has a show on Saturday as well.
BUILT TO SPILL is at the Belly Up Tavern in SOLANA BEACH.
THEE SACRED SOULS are at Petco Park with LA LOM and The Womack Sisters.
An unusual film festival, the LEO CARILLO RANCH FILM FESTIVAL at the Ranch in Carlsbad, will show Leo Carillo films, including The Cisco Kid.
The STINKFOOT ORCHESTRA is doing some Frank Zappa stuff with a 14-piece orchestra, at the Music Box DOWNTOWN.
SATURDAY –
SAN DIEGO FC is at home against the LA GALAXY at Snapdragon Stadium. You can hear all the action on San Diego Sports 760 starting at 7:00pm.
MUSE and PORTUGAL THE MAN will play the Amphitheatre in CHULA VISTA. It will be madness when you try to leave that venue, so be warned.
The 17th EDITION BRAZILIAN FESTIVAL SAN DIEGO will be at Waterfront Park DOWNTOWN. It’s the first time in 14 years the Brazilian Festival is happening in San Diego. Lots of fun activities for the whole family, and they’ll showcase Brazil’s art, history, and traditions.
If you’re a stargazer, this is the event for you. THE SKY TONIGHT: THE PALOMAR OBSERVATORY EXPERIENCE, a lecture and private tour with a local astronomer at the Observatory in the PALOMAR MOUNTAINS.
For Yacht Rock fans, the Six String Society presents CAPTAIN’S ORDERS, at the Sunshine Brooks Theater in OCEANSIDE. Hear your favorite yacht rock tunes performed by lots of talented local musicians.
The group CLASSIC ALBUMS LIVE always does great shows where they recreate a classic rock album. They’ll be doing one of The Beatles fans’ favorites – The White Album – at the Rady Shell DOWNTOWN.
For more Beatles, local tribute band COME TOGETHER will play Humphrey’s on SHELTER ISLAND.
If you like harder rock with your tributes, there’s a Black Crowes and Led Zeppelin show happening at the Belly Up Tavern in SOLANA BEACH.
SUNDAY –
MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE is playing Petco Park DOWNTOWN.
If classical music is more your bag, the SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY is doing a fan favorite – TCHAIKOVSKY SPECTACULAR at the Rady Shell DOWNTOWN.
ON STREAMING ….
Robert DeNiro stars with Michelle Monaghan and Adam Scott in THE WHISPER MAN, a movie adaptation of the Alex North book about a child abducted by a serial killer (Netflix).
Joel Edgerton returns as a man abducted into an alternative reality in DARK MATTER, Season 2 on AppleTV.
And season 2 of ADULTS, about a group of twenty-somethings in New York premieres on Hulu.
AT THE MOVIES –
The studios didn’t screen any films for the critics this week, so I thought I’d mention some movies from some big talents we recently lost, both at 80-years-old.
TIM CURRY.
He played Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Shakespeare, Doctor Dolittle, Long John Silver, King Arthur, and the evil clown Pennywise in IT. That’s a pretty diverse range of characters. He was also in the first movie I remember being a board game first – Clue. He was in a movie I once got into an argument with Roger Ebert about – Congo (Ebert liked it, and I was giving him a hard time, because it was awful). Probably the best movie he did was “The Hunt For Red October.” He also did a lot of voice over work.
He had been having health issues for over a decade, but the news of his death was still shocking. Especially coming soon after we heard about
DOLLY PARTON.
The fun trivia question I used to throw at people years ago was: “What movies use the Dolly Parton song ‘I Will Always Love You’?”
Everyone would answer “The Bodyguard” and some also knew “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” But nobody ever got the third one. That’s a mid-1970s Scorsese movie called “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” (Ellen Burstyn, Kris Kristofferson, Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster, and Vic Tayback – who went on to do the TV show “Alice” but I digress). There’s a scene where you can barely hear the Parton song playing in the background on a radio.
I was only a kid when I watched “9 to 5” on HBO, but I loved it. Dabney Coleman played such a heel in ‘80s movies that watching him getting tortured by Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Jane Fonda, was just so much fun. The song Parton did for the movie also got nominated for an Oscar. It lost to “Fame” by Irene Cara, but the song did win a bunch of Grammy’s and was a hit on the pop and country charts. The lyrics are so clever (and the typewriter sounds were a brilliant touch by Dolly, who got the idea while tapping her long fingernails on a table).
I hated “Steel Magnolias” but I saw it when I was a few years out of high school, and it felt too cheesy for me (I hate to use the term “chick flick” because a few of my favorite movies of all time are: Terms of Endearment, Prince of Tides, and Sense and Sensibility; a good movie is a good movie, no matter who the demographic is).
In “Steel Magnolias” it felt like Parton was just playing a version of herself, but that’s fine. I can list 100 actors that do the same thing. Julia Roberts and Olympia Dukakis were the best parts of it.
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas – I thought it was awful. My favorite thing about it was being a teenager and my family going to Universal Studios, and seeing the set where they filmed it (as a teenage boy, I was hoping to see more, but again, I digress).
Rhinestone – easily the worst movie Parton has done, and the worst acting performance from Sylvestore Stallone. The story is about a country singer who claims she can turn anybody into a singing sensation, and says the next person that comes into the bar she’ll do that with. That’s Sly, who is a cab driver (perhaps Frank Stallone would’ve been better for the part). It’s a shame the movie sucked, because it has a character actor I loved – Richard Farnsworth, and a comedian I dig – Tim Thomerson (he plays Dolly’s ex).
I immediately thought of what my wife said when I sat down to write this. She barked, “Try not to be so negative about her movies. She just died.”
Well, I can’t say anything negative about the movie she did in the early ‘90s. That was “Straight Talk” where she mistakenly takes the microphone on a radio show, and ends up giving advice on the air. I can’t say anything negative, because I didn’t see it (although it didn’t get good reviews). It has a good cast, though – James Woods, Griffin Dunne, Teri Hatcher, and Michael Madsen, who recently passed away.
I completely forgot that Parton had a small part in “The Beverly Hillbillies” (movie, not TV show). That was a mess of a movie.
Of course, she did many musical and Christmas specials, and everyone that worked with her had kind words. I teared up reading a story singer Chris Isaak told about her backstage. And I’m sure we’re going to be enjoying all the wonderful stories that come out from the various stars that worked with her, and the fans that were lucky enough to meet her.
RIP.