Good morning, and welcome to the U-T Arts & Culture Newsletter.
I’m David L. Coddon, and here’s your guide to all things essential in San Diego’s arts and culture this week.
The lesson that school board president Lois Green learns in Encinitas filmmaker Roman Koenig’s fictional short film “Red Blooded” “goes beyond education,” he said. “I just wish people would treat each other and themselves better. People are losing sight of the fact that we don’t see each other in each other.”
Koenig’s film is about how Lois’ intolerance toward immigrants and marginalized people, including students, culminate in a dramatic reckoning of self. The issues it raises are heightened in the educational setting and extend beyond Lois Green (played by Denice Riddle).
“They’re exacerbated because you have parents who want to have a stake in their children’s education,” said Koenig, “but we’ve entered an era where parents want direct control over what schools do. It’s not about parents being interested in their children’s education; it’s about their being interested because they have an agenda they want to push.”
“Red Blooded,” written and directed by Koenig, was filmed over two years in various San Diego County locations. Already honored on the festival circuit, it is nominated for five awards at the upcoming San Diego Film Awards at the Museum of Photographic Arts on June 22.
In advance of that, “Red Blooded” will be screened at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Media Arts Center San Diego’s Digital Gym Cinema.
Comedy
Dr. Alan Maisel is the author of the comedy show “Heart Attack Shmart Attack.”
This is not a gag (though the show may be funny): There really is a comedy show starring a San Diego cardiologist titled “Heart Attack Shmart Attack.” Writer and star Dr. Alan Maisel will be accompanied onstage by an opera singer Margaret Star and by actor-comedian Walter Ruskin.
Maisel taught cardiology for 40 years at UC San Diego Medical School and ran the coronary care unit and heart failure program for 36 tears at San Diego’s VA hospital. He is considered a world-renowned expert on cardiac biomarkers. He is also the author of two medical fiction novels, “Bedside Manners” and “Brain Chicane.”
Billed as “not for the weak hearted” (wink wink), “Heart Attack Shmart Attack” show will be performed at two San Diego locations. First at 8 p.m. Saturday at Point Loma Assembly, 3035 Talbot St., then at 8 p.m. Monday at San Diego Musical Theatre, 4650 Mercury St., San Diego. Tickets are $20-$25 at kacklez.com/maisel.
More film
If you’re a fan of or advocate for short films such as “Red Blooded,” there’s an entire week of them to indulge in at the Palm Springs International ShortFest, getting under way on Tuesday northeast of us.
More than 300 shorts will be screened through June 24, none of them lengthier than 40 minutes and many accompanied by forums with the filmmakers in attendance. Here is a directory of this year’s entries: psfilmfest.org/shortfest-2024/film-finder.
If Palm Springs is too hot for you in June, you can purchase a virtual pass that enables you to watch the films from home. The Virtual ShortFest will be accessible July 10-14.
Pop music
The Cowboy Junkies. There are those bands that are best experienced in an intimate setting. The Cowboy Junkies is one of them. I’ve seen the Canadian group fronted by siblings Margo and Michael Timmins (with brother Peter on drums) at Humphrey’s on Shelter Island and last year at The Sound at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. This time around, the band is performing at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach on Sunday night.
You’d be hard pressed to find a review of a Cowboy Junkies show that didn’t employ the word “atmospheric.” Well, it’s appropriate. Their gigs are the kind in which you immersive yourself in the mood and in the largely low-key jamming at which the band excels.
This year as last, the Cowboy Junkies are touring in support of the band’s most recent album “Such Ferocious Beauty.” Expect among the set covers of other artists’ works as well, including fellow Canadian Neil Young and certainly Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane,” a song the band has made its own since first recording it in the late ‘90s.
Visual art
Oceanside Museum of Art’s Street Level series returns at 6 p.m. Friday, June 14.
It’s party time Friday night in downtown Oceanside when “Street Level” returns to the Museum of Art from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The museum’s second in its summer block party series features host/singer Natal1e, singer songwriter the Holy Rainbow Club and DJ Jocelin.
The party coincides with Pride Month and with the OMA’s current exhibition “Undocumented Times / Queer Yearnings.” Artists will be on hand for this all-ages event, which is free for museum members and $15 for all others.
And finally, top weekend events
The best things to do this weekend in San Diego: June 14-16.
Coddon is a freelance writer.