Never mind December — this Saturday is the most wonderful time of the year for your local audiophile, amid a weekend full of other entertainment options.
Friday, April 17
San Diego ArabFilm Festival: The festival returns to the Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) in Balboa Park for its second weekend of screenings thru Sunday, with an array of films that includes “Calle Malaga,” the Moroccan entry for Best International Feature at the Oscars. The museum is at 1649 El Prado in the park.
San Ysidro STEM Fair: The fifth annual “celebration of curiosity, community, and opportunity” will be held at Smythe Elementary, 1880 Smythe Ave., starting at 1:30 p.m.. Admission, as always, is free to the public.
Saturday April 18
Coronado Flower Show: The theme for the 104th edition of the event is “Welcome to the Jungle,” and organizers have live music lined up as well as a beer and wine garden, and floral installations around Spreckels Park to match the motif. Tickets for the two-day event, which concludes on Sunday, are $10 with kids under 12 admitted for free. The park is at 601 Orange Ave. in Coronado.
Cypress Hill goes “High and Outside” at Petco Park: The Padres will be up I-5 playing against the Angels, but L.A.’s elder statesmen of hip-hop will hold down the fort at Gallagher Square at the ballpark at 100 Park Blvd. and hopefully bring Saturday night to a high point, so to speak. Tickets available via Ticketmaster.
“Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys”: The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla will host the first West Coast exhibition of more than 130 works from the personal collection of recording artists and spouses Alicia Keys and Kasseem Dean (aka the rapper Swizz Beatz).
According to the museum, the Deans’ collection “will feature 37 Black American and diasporic artists from Africa, Europe, the United States, and the Caribbean whose monumental works tower in both scale, conceptual depth and technical skill.”
After the free public opening, which includes tours at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., the Deans’ exhibition will be at MCASD until Aug. 9. The museum is at 700 Prospect St. in La Jolla.
Record Store Day (RSD): Now in its 19th year, the celebration of local music shopping will once again see several San Diego retailers taking part, including:
- Beat Box Records in Barrio Logan, 2148 Logan Ave.
- Cow Records in Ocean Beach, 5040 Newport Ave.
- Discovery Records & HiFi in Temecula, 27537 Commerce Center Drive.
- FeeLIT Records downtown, 909 E St.
- Flimzy’s Records in Banker Hill, 3104 Fifth Ave.
- Folk Arts Rare Records in City Heights, 3610 University Ave.
- M-Theory Music in Mission Hills, 827 Washington St.
- Normal Records in East Village, 550 15th Street #102.
- Re-Animated Records in La Mesa, 8320 La Mesa Blvd.
- Record City in Point Loma, 3545 Midway Drive, Suite J.
- Soulside Vinyl in Normal Heights, 3535 Adams Ave.
- TAANG! Records in Hillcrest, 3830 Fifth Ave.
- Vinyl Junkies in South Park, 2235 Fern St.
Buyers be wary, though — though RSD is marked by a trove full of exclusive releases, not every store will carry them all; TAANG!, for instance, will only offer the Lemonheads and Dropkick Murphys exclusives. Best to contact the store you’re eyeing and make sure they’ll have it in stock (at least if you beat the rush).
Sidro Saturday: Girlpower: Hosted by the art and design collaborative known as The Front, the latest Sidro Saturday event coincides with an exhibition marking Dia De La Mujer (International Womens’ Day). As such it will feature performances by San Diego Poet Laureate Paola Capó-García and singer/songwriter Linda Owlen, who fronts Rock en Español legends Tijuana No. The event runs from noon to 5 p.m. at El Salón Theatre, 114 W. Hall Ave.
TakingLiberties!: After a one-month break, the rock dance party returns to the TilTwo Club in City Heights with DJs Mike Delgado and Heather Hardcore. The club is at 4746 El Cajon Blvd, and there’s no cover for the event.
Sunday April 19
Earth Day Festival/Tianguis de la Raza: Hosted by the neighboring WorldBeat Cultural Center and Centro Cultural DeLa Raza, respectively, the two events will set Balboa Park abuzz with activity throughout the day.
El Tianguis (a Mexican term for an open-air market) is already a staple at Centro Cultural, and runs every third Sunday of the month. This month, it intersects with WorldBeat’s 34th annual festival, which features what organizers describe as “a vibrant celebration of the diversity of people, plants, animals, and ecosystems that make up our planet.”
Both events are free to the public; El Tianguis opens at noon at 2004 Park Blvd., and the festival starts at 11 a.m. at 2100 Park Blvd.
Fallbrook Avocado Festival: The local chamber of commerce will host the 39th edition of the event from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. downtown along Main Ave. Besides live musical entertainment, the festival will have “Best Dressed Avocado” contests for both avocados and people as well as a Little Miss and Little Mister Avocado event for kids between 5-10 years of age.
Live Listening Party at Scanners: The Normal Heights-based “DIY zine and ephemera archive” at 3131 Adams Ave. will host an afternoon spotlighting “West Coast DIY Pop” released between 2006 and 2015, hosted by Matty Terones. Admission is free.
