Books and food
"Gup Shup: Immigrant food tasting and stories" is an event from the San Diego Writers Festival featuring three local writers whose writing explores the intersection of food and immigration. It's part of Mingei International Museum's "Community Mondays" series.
"I think every conversation, no matter if you're an immigrant or not, is around food," said Madhushree Ghosh, author of the memoir "Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory, and Family."
Ghosh will host a conversation with Jane Muschenetz, Huda Al-Marashi and the City Heights CDC's New Roots Farm. Muschenetz is author of the poetry collection, "All The Bad Girls Wear Russian Accents," and runs a food blog with her husband, Table M. Al-Marashi's memoir is "First Comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story" and a recent middle grade novel, "Grounded."
"When we're talking about immigration, there's also the piece of exile that we have to consider. There's a separation. There's layers of inaccessibility. For Iraqi immigrants, especially the ones that came in earlier generations, there was no going home," Al-Marashi said. "But food is always accessible. Food is the thing that we can make in our kitchens, we can make in our homes and we can easily pass on."
The event at the Mingei will feature a discussion on food, immigration and culture, and will also include food tastings from Sudan, Iraq, Ukraine and India — including Muschenetz's mother's Ukrainian-Jewish salad, "Vinigret"; homemade chutney from New Roots Farm's Fatima Abdelrahman; Ghosh's spicy Indian chutney; date cookies, Arabic tea and more.
Details: 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2. Mingei International Museum, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. $20.
Poetry
Lora Mathis' "The Snakes Came Back" book release will be held at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla. Mathis' poetry is intimate, soft, surprising and relatable. In "The Snakes Came Back," Mathis fits powerful scenes into tiny lines of text, narratives swirling with resignation or an undercurrent of angry empowerment. Her poems seem as comfortable shared around Instagram as they do scratched on a bathroom stall, or etched into archival-grade paper — Mathis has a knack for unveiling the bloodied and beating heart of the present while also seeming timeless.
To celebrate the book's launch, Mathis will read poetry set to live ambient music by Matty Terrones, and a pop-up bookstore will be on-site.
Details: 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29. Jacobs Hall at MCASD, 650 Coast Blvd., La Jolla. $15-$20.
Visual art
Revision Studios' "Outside The Line" is a group exhibition featuring the work of various San Diego artists alongside artists-in-residence at Revision Studios. Resident artist Joey Thurston will be featured in the show, but more than 20 other artists will also show work, including Joe Yorty, a 2023 San Diego Art Prize recipient. Revision is a nonprofit that champions inclusivity in art and social practice, offering inclusive spaces and opportunities for creative practice and learning business and community skills.
Details: 3-6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30. Revision Studios, 8691 La Mesa Blvd., La Mesa. Free.
Cédrix Crespel: "Distance" opens at Madison Gallery, his first U.S. solo show. Crespel works with a surreal form of landscape painting, lending a blurred wash to a scene partly obscured by thick, almost cartoonish swishes and mark-making. The works are actually large and viewable up-close, but exude a topsy-turvy sense of distance, like the viewer is standing far, far away or the painting is very small. The exhibition opens this weekend, though the opening reception (with the artist in attendance) will be Oct. 14.
Details: On view Sept. 30 through Oct. 30. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, or by appointment. Madison Gallery, 320 South Cedros Ave., Ste. 200, Solana Beach. Free.
Françoise Gilot: "Lithographs: 1950-1990" is now on view at the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library in La Jolla. Françoise Gilot passed away this June, and during her life, her success and legacy as a prolific painter was often overshadowed by her relationship with Pablo Picasso. She also later married Jonas Salk, and lived and worked in San Diego for some time. The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library just opened a new exhibition of lithographs by Gilot, including some that have never been exhibited before, all from a period spanning four decades. Gilot's work, particularly her portraiture, is intricate and stunning.
Details: On view through Nov. 11. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. Free.
Kids
Kids Free October San Diego kicks off on Sunday, brought to you by the San Diego Museum Council. More than 50 museums and attractions, ranging from the San Diego Natural History Museum to Seaworld, will offer free admission for kids with a paying adult.
Details: Oct 1 through Oct. 31. Find participating locations and the fine print here.
Music
Madison McFerrin performs at The Loft at UC San Diego Thursday night. McFerrin's music is both edgy and lush, breaking through genres to serve up complicated but entrancing songs. Professor King Britt will open the show with a DJ set.
Details: 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28. The Loft at UC San Diego, Price Center, Lyman Ln. at Lyman Ave., UC San Diego. $30+ (free tickets available for UCSD students).
Songwriter Sanctuary is a monthly "Nashville-style" songwriting round, featuring a few writers each month. This Friday's event features Julia Sage, Please Ask for Paul and Paul Sage Cannon. (Even though their names seem to be part of a word association super group, they are in fact individual acts!) The event will also serve as a single release party for a new track, "Calling," by Please Ask for Paul. It's all hosted by local music icon, Jeff Berkley, and the artists take home 100% of what's donated at the door.
Details: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29. Normal Heights United Church, 4650 Mansfield St., Normal Heights. $10 suggested donation.
"We are Hip-Hop: 50th Anniversary Showcase: 1973-Forever" is a celebration of hip-hop's significance and legacy, with performances from rappers, dancers, DJs and street artists. It's presented by the Origin Hip Hop Academy and Hip Hop Dreamz Performing Arts.
Details: 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30. Kroc Center, 6845 University Ave., Rolando. $30+.
The Leonard Patton Quartet featuring Ed Kornhauser will hold a free afternoon show this weekend. Patton is a dynamic jazz vocalist who also runs The Jazz Lounge in Rolando, and will perform with his quartet, along with prolific jazz pianist (and frequent co-collaborator) Ed Kornhauser on keys.
Details: 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 1. Free. Encinitas Library, 540 Cornish Dr., Encinitas. Free.
More live music picks
Friday: Eve Selis at Music at the Marston (singer/songwriter); Odeska with Bob Moses at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre (electronic); The Mastersons at Museum of Making Music (folk); Bad Religion at Observatory North Park (punk); SIERRA with Street Cleaner at Soda Bar (electronic/dance).
Saturday: Tallest Man on Earth with Andrea Von Kampen (indie) at the Observatory North Park; Local Natives at The Sound (indie); Night Beats at Soda Bar (rock); Brant Bjork at Casbah (rock); The 1975 at Pechanga Arena (rock).
Sunday: Pile at Soda Bar (indie); Lisa Sanders & Brown Sugar at Poway Fall Festival (folk); Victoria Monét at SOMA (R&B).
For more arts events, or to submit your own, visit the KPBS/Arts Calendar here. If you want more time to plan, get the KPBS/Arts newsletter in your inbox every Thursday to see event picks for the weeks ahead.
