S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS for today's arts and culture show. We're talking about Halloween , Dia de Muertos and Art to see this weekend. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and engaged. Our film critics share their favorite recommendations for Halloween movies.
S2: It's a film that just has this , like , warm and staticky nostalgia that I think is perfect to kick off a fun Halloween night.
S1: Then hear about a theater production honoring Dia de Muertos. Plus , your weekend preview. That's ahead on Midday edition. First the news. It is Halloween , and for our midday movies , we've got a few horrifying film suggestions. They are actually set on October 31st. So joining us once again are KPBS Cinema Junkie , Beth Accomando and movie Wallace podcaster Yazdi Favela. Welcome to you both.
S2: Thank you.
S3: Thank you.
S1: All right , let's get into it.
S2: I mean , I do celebrate Halloween 365 , but I will say Halloween night is always reserved for my home haunt. And this year we are going to be scaring the crap out of kids , hopefully with Godzilla stomping into my backyard. I can't wait.
S1:
S2: And somebody pops it into a VCR and plays it. And here's a little bit of the trailer to set the tone.
S4: Tonight is Halloween.
S5: Halloween is Satan's night. The night of the devil.
S4: Reporter Frank Stuart has a special Halloween treat in store for viewers tonight. He'll be leading a group of paranormal experts through the infamous Webber house.
S6:
S7: Their son went haywire.
S2: Okay , the director , Chris La martinez , says that two minutes into the movie , you will probably figure out it's fake because we've become a culture of nonbelievers. But he hopes to make people remember why they fell in love with VHS. So this is essentially a love letter to VHS and a public access TV. And it's presented like this lost video tape that someone just pops into the VCR for us to watch. And it contains a public access channel Halloween news special in which a reporter is about to investigate a haunted house. It's not really scary , but it's just so much fun , and it conjures up the spirit of Halloween night and the kind of ridiculous things that the media will do to attract viewers. And it's all wrapped up in this vintage VHS packaging. It's spot on in terms of creating the commercials and the look and sound of what a news broadcast on a public access station would be like. And it's a film that just has this , like , warm and staticky nostalgia that I think is perfect to kick off a fun Halloween night. And even better , if you can put this in your VCR and play it. And then fast forward through the commercials.
S1: You know , I appreciate what they're doing there with that one , I really do. So , Yazdi , you've got some found footage , at least a found footage film of your own to recommend a very different one in terms of its tone , though , but still tied to television , right ? Yes.
S3: So my recommendation is the film Late Night with the devil from last year , which is a film about a live television broadcast in 1977 , when a late night talk show host attempted to film a live demonic possession. Of course , this is fictional , but the film cleverly uses the conceit of found footage to show what was happening that night between the film segments of that late night talk show. The film is an atypical horror film , in that it is set almost entirely within the confines of that talk show in real time , but it uses the horror elements related to the demonic possession to comment on many other things , such as the obsession we have with capturing something previously unseen on television or on social media. The talkshow in question has guests who are questioning of demonic possession and eager to expose those who exploit people and their beliefs. And finally , the film also wants to comment on the price we are willing to pay literally to the devil to get what we want , be it fame or ego. And even when the film makes a few missteps towards the end , I think it is so much fun and also genuinely scary , easily evoking and building dread leading up to that demonic possession.
S8:
S9: A summoning requires a carefully controlled environment. The the lights , cameras , audience conditions here are hardly conducive.
S10: The TV studios controlled enough environment for my money.
S8: Half a million bucks , to be precise.
S11:
S2: Okay , we need to mark our calendars , because I think this is the first time Yazdi has picked a scarier film than me.
S11: This one stranger.
S3: Things have happened. Yes.
S1: Oh my gosh. So I saw this movie too , and it was fantastic. And it's. I'm a heart. I'm a tough critic here because I feel like so many horror movies have the same plot , and I've seen them all. There's nothing new under the sun for me when it comes to Halloween movies , but this one was really good.
S3: It was considering like it seems to have been made from , like , you know , $0.10 lying around somewhere. You know , for an independent horror movie , the script is really tight , and it kind of makes you feel like it's really found footage from , from the late 70s. Mhm.
S12: Mhm.
S1: All right. Well for our next picks we move away from found footage. So Beth what do you have next.
S2: Okay I'm going for fun over genuinely scary again. So my next pic is called The Midnight Hour and this is a film you could start watching around 1030 , and then you could have it end at midnight , right along with the characters in the movie. So this too is an older film. It was made in 1985 and it was made for television. So , you know , it's not going to be too scary or gory. But again , I'm looking for films that have the spirit of Halloween running through their veins , and this one is set on Halloween night. Of course , you've got some teenagers who decide to do something stupid , and they steal vintage costumes from a local museum and open a book. Actually , it might be a scroll. And as they always do in movies , they read things they shouldn't.
S13: A structure's motherboard does. McGahn. I invoke your powers. Come heed my bidding on this Knight of Knights. The eve of Samhain , all Hallows Eve. Spirits of darkness , I command you to rise from your graves at lava beside me. All manner of demons. I implore your release from eternal torment. Castigate saga. May all manner of dead. Renewed by sleep. Thirsting for blood. This night and forever. He who is touched by evil shall become evil. Sodom is Sagami.
S2: And yes , they bring back the dead. And they have to perform a ritual by midnight on Halloween. Or else everyone will stay as evil monsters. It has a young LeVar Burton and Sherri Belafonte doing a song and a ridiculous dance called Get Dead. Obviously , it was hoping to be some kind of a Michael Jackson thriller video.
UU: That you put in the night , and that'll do you write to me in the dark ? I'm dead. You're dying. Everybody should try and get me dead.
S2: Like when you've Halloween special. It's really fun. And it's very Halloween themed. And it doesn't often get mentioned in these kind of lists. It also has Wolfman Jack coming over the radio airwaves , appropriately introducing songs fit for Halloween night.
S1: All right , Yazdi , your next pick has a similar Halloween setting , but is really about something else entirely. Yes.
S3: Yes. So this is not a horror film by any standards. More of an existential dread sort of film. This is the film Donnie Darko , which came out in late 2001. It was the first film from writer director Richard Kelly , and it's about a teenage boy played by a very young Jake Gyllenhaal , who is convinced that the world is going to come to an end on Halloween day. And he's also being guided to commit crimes by an imaginary friend that only he can see as a person wearing a sinister bunny face mask. One of the other things the movie takes on is this a healthy disregard for authority and challenging those who are trying to force their opinions on others. And here is a scene from the movie of Donnie Darko speaking out against one such authority figure , played by no other than Patrick Swayze.
S14: What is your name , son ? Gerald.
S15: Well , Gerald , I think you're afraid. Are you telling us this stuff so we can buy a book ? Because I got to tell you , if you are. That was some of the worst advice I ever heard. You see how sad this is ? You want your sister to lose weight. Tell her to get off the couch , stop eating Twinkies and maybe go out for field hockey. You know what ? No one ever knows what they want to be when they grow up. You know , it takes a little , little while to find that out , right , Jim ? And you there. You see Protect yourself from your head down into a well. You know what ? Maybe you should lift some weights or take a karate lesson. And the next time he tries to do it , you kick him in the balls.
S3: The movie came out , as I mentioned , late in 2001 , and made only about half $1 million in the box office since its release and , you know , abysmal performance at the box office , the movie has gained kind of a cult following. And at this point , I wonder if more has been written about any other film in the history of cinema than Donnie Darko. You know , I watched this movie again last night , and I loved that. It still remains like an enigmatic puzzle , and almost like 20 some years later , people are still arguing about what it means and how its themes of time travel and mental health and bullying and teenage angst , how they all fit together with this plot , which is , you know , reasonably convoluted. And there are about 100 theories , but no consensus. And I love the fact that anybody who is watching it for the first time can join the discourse and bring their own ideas to the table on exactly what happened. It's not a happy movie , but it's a movie , you know , which really asks a lot of questions. And I and I like that.
S1: I love that horror movies come with a message. Okay , for our final picks , you both go to a director who's often associated with Halloween , and that is Tim Burton.
S2: And this is Frankenweenie. So this is one of my favorite Burton films , and it's really sweet and it pays loving homage to the horror genre. So that's what I love most about it. So in addition to the obvious reference to Frankenstein , there are references to Vincent Price , Peter Laurie , Ray Harryhausen , the stop motion animation guy , the Bride of Frankenstein , and all the movies that he probably grew up loving and that we all feel a connection to. So it's got absolutely stunning and delightful black and white stop motion animation. And it's the story of a young boy whose beloved dog dies and he reanimates him.
UU: Are you alive and. You're alive. That's what you and your life. If you leave it , you're alive.
S11: Okay.
S2: Okay. It's not technically set on Halloween night. It's set on what they call Dutch day. And I looked that up , and apparently that is October 22nd , so it's fairly close. But it is just a valentine to the things I love about the horror genre. And it's about a young boy's love for his dog. And it's that love as well as the lightning that brings the pup back. So I know this is not what I usually recommend , but I just thought I would like switch it up a little bit.
S1: All right , I'll allow it. Thank you. What's your final Halloween night ? Film recommendation. Before.
S3: Before. Before my final Halloween night recommendation , I completely check bed spec for Frankenweenie. I adore that film. Little boy and his dog. What's not to love ? Everybody should watch it. My pick is another gorgeously rendered stop motion animation movie from this director , Tim Burton. And that movie is Nightmare Before Christmas. I won't lie , that is my go to film for Halloween. I watch it , you know , almost every year. And the movie is about Jack Skellington , the pumpkin king of Halloween Town , who spends all of his time trying to devise ways to scare the town people until one day he stumbles upon Christmas Town , and he hatches this big plot to kidnap Santa Claus and all kinds of craziness and choose something is missing.
S16:
S10:
S17: These tiny bags.
S18: This time we really did. He sure is big Jack and heavy. Let me.
S10: Out ! Sandy Claus.
S19: In person. What a pleasure to meet you. What ? Why ? You have hands. You don't have claws at all.
S3: I love this movie. There is not a shred of sentimentality in it. It's pretty dark. The visuals are wonderful , and I just found out recently that the female lead of Sally is voiced by Catherine O'Hara , who has been a mainstay in a lot of Tim Burton's movies. Tim Burton of late has become kind of a gun for hire for big studio movies , and he's been making these very artful movies , which unfortunately have been lacking heart. And I would really love for him to go back to , you know , his roots and do something like The Nightmare Before Christmas again. I certainly would welcome it.
S2: And this is another film that Tim Burton , he wrote and produced this , and he wrote the book that it was based on. And I just want to remind people that the film was actually directed by Henry Selick , but it definitely has Tim Burton's stamp on it in terms of the visual style and the look of the animation.
S1: Well , I want to thank you both for providing us with a full night and maybe day of Halloween set movies to watch. I've been speaking with KPBS , Cinema Junkie , Beth Accomando and Movie Wallace , podcaster Yazdi , Zavala , Beth and Yazdi. Thank you both.
S17: Thank you , thank you.
S1: And we want to go out with some appropriate music. The song is This is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas.
S20: This is Suddenly everybody make a scene.
UU: Trick or treat. Your name is on a dime. It's our time.
S1: Coming up , the community reflects on Dia de Muertos through a new theatre production.
S21: Just the thought that they come back and say hi for a day. Just to be able to see how we live.
S1: Welcome back to KPBS midday edition I'm Jade Hindman. Tomorrow marks Dia de Muertos , or Day of the dead. The Mexican holiday and traditions celebrated widely in San Diego , honors death , life and memories of the departed. Spirits of loved ones are also thought to visit their relatives. So this weekend , the Old Globe is partnering with community members and artists to perform a play commemorating the holiday. The central story is inspired by participants and the memories of their loved ones. Joining me now is Valeria Vega. She is the family and cross-cultural program manager at the Old Globe. Valeria , welcome.
S21: I thank you so much for inviting me. It's a pleasure to talk with you all , as always.
S1: So this particular play is part of the Old Globe's Colab program , and it involves community members.
S21: We teamed up this year with Casa Familia and Casa Familia , reached out to their community , and invited participants to join the workshop that started in August. The first process and the first level is conversations where we invite and in this case we commission a playwright , a well-known playwright in the community , and in this case , I invited Krystal Mercado to be part of these conversations with the participants. We got 12 people signed in for this program. We met every Thursday , two hours in Casa familiar , talking about what the other Los Muertos is for them. What do our traditions mean for them now that most all of them are based in San Diego and based in the United States ? And with that information and what certain like little creative exercises where they got to write and got to talk about and write poetry and write monologues. Krystal Mercado left for two weeks. And in the process she developed this play. Is Seguimos Juntos or Still Together that we bring that we brought back , um , to the second level of our of our workshop. And then I was the one that directed the process with the participants. Mhm.
S12: Mhm.
S1: Well I want to ask you about the play itself. Tell me what it's called and walk me through the central storyline.
S21: Of course it's called Still Together or Seguimos Juntos. And the playwright Krystal Mercado , um , had a wonderful idea of bringing objects to life that told the stories of the ones that have past objects that in life belonged to them. And now they're we're going to tell their story with their perspective , and they were going to share what they lived with the ones that had passed. So with writing exercises , very creative writing exercises like poems and Mad Libs and , and then asking them to , to actually write a monologue that was based on this object , talking about them , they all of them develop a monologue that Christal curated , and the seven participants teamed up together and kind of figured out how we wanted to tell the story and how we wanted these objects to come to life and tell the story. So we have a football jersey talking about Max and how he lived with Max and how they played together , the game and how they went and had dinner with the family , and how and then how he got washed and , and was always constantly being hugged by the mother that told the story. Then we have the game of Pokemon talking about how the grandma used to choose the pennies and used to grab pennies off others to be able to win the game , and and watching telenovelas with the grandmother all the time. So it's this beautiful objects that are that are telling the stories of the one that passed. Would the voice of the ones said remember them and wanted to honor them ? Hmm.
S12:
S1: Well , we actually have a clip from that scene you mentioned of the football jersey. Let's take a listen. Yeah.
S22: Yeah. La la liga. Vamos a casa. Donde mama ? No. Yes or no ? No , sir.
S1: So describe the scene for me.
S21: Of course , it's the jersey saying that when they finished the day , um , when they got back home. And. And mom always used to greet them with a big , warm , loving hug. That's , uh , floor. Floor is the name of the participants that we just. We just listened to her voice and her story. Mhm.
S12: Mhm.
S1: And that clip was from your performance this past weekend at the Old Globe. In talking to all of the participants.
S21: All of them had a beauty and a remembrance of the person that we that that is witnessing their loved ones talk about them. Definitely this one , the one that we saw. I believe that one of the most difficult things as human beings that we encounter as mothers or fathers losing their children , right ? That is not part of of what we normally are accustomed to or what we normally grow up thinking that one day that's going to happen. We are able to say goodbye to our elders in a way , in a slow process. And and some of them , we say goodbye and we know we're going to say goodbye to them eventually. But in this case , Flora talking about her son and this way and and wanting to be so brave and and sharing this story out loud. And of course , it was an emotional moment and rehearsal. We we went through the scenes and we told the story and we were there and encourage all , all of us together. But definitely these this weekend with the first performances that they had. It was a very emotional piece because she finally told the story with an audience and and assimilated what the story was about and the moment that she was sharing with all. So definitely Flor floor made a beautiful moment , but all of them have the essence. Also , Diane spoke about her resemblance with her grandma. So in one moment when she's talking about that and how the grandma used to say , you look like me and you even have my hair , you have the color of my skin. That was also a beautiful moment to witness.
S1:
S21: We do definitely keep a copy of the script and we do a document. The whole process and everything is in the archives and in the file. But also this year I got to work. Aside from Casa Familia , we've all been working in the past years , always with City Heights and their Festival of Los Muertos. But this year I didn't because we work with Casa Famiglia. I didn't want to lose that that connection and also lose that opportunity to perform in City Heights. So , um , Friday , November 1st , we're going to be in Gaza familiar with their celebration in the evening time. And on Saturday , November 2nd , we are going to go to City Heights and perform it there as well with their community. So in one way or another , it's still going to be living in our memories and in our hearts as well.
S1:
S21: It's our people as Nostra Nostra is. Is there more , more vivid and more alive ? It's cities and it's communities that you you listen to the language , you hear people hablando espanol and and being of course. And you see that also close. So close a second away from , from Tijuana and , and city heights being so diverse. And it's communities that constantly remind us of , of where we live and geographically , where San Diego is in the in the world so close to Mexico.
S1:
S21: It's just the thought. Just the thought that they come back and say hi for a day just to be able to see how we live life and sometimes how we live life and honor them. That also is a big thing. Some of the some of the moments where we unite and and cook their favorite dishes and and remember the love and remember the moments we light candles to guide them. We put Flores in Chile so they can smell them , and they can follow the path. And just the whole thing of thinking that they're going to be here for , for a day with us. Um , that's my favorite part.
S1: That's beautiful. There are so many ways to honor the holiday.
S21: And also at the Old Globe , we have various different audiences and and and communities that they actually go in there without knowing a lot of the information that we share or encounter , a lot of the traditions that they probably have heard about , maybe in a , in a very , um , lightweight. But when they get to , when they get to experiences and see it , we are connecting in various levels and we're also connecting and , and customs and in rituals and in we're sharing culture. We're sharing culture even even if it's not ours necessarily.
S1: I've been speaking with Valeria Vega. She is the family and cross-cultural program manager for the Old Globe. Valeria , thank you so much for joining us.
S21: Thank you for having me.
S1: The Old Globe's Dia de Muertos play will be shown at Casa Familia in San Isidro on Friday , and again on Saturday at the Annex Performance Center in City Heights. Entry is free and open to all ages. For more information and stories about Dia de Muertos , you can head to kpbs.org. Coming up , your weekend preview and a new exhibit from border artist Alvaro Alvarez.
S23: I am from San Diego , from Baja , from the border. So these are buildings that I feel attached to as it is.
S1: KPBS Midday Edition returns after the break. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. Border artist Alvaro Alvarez reimagined 46 high rise projects abandoned along a 90 mile stretch of the Baja coastline after the 2008 financial crisis. His art evokes memory loss and renewal. The exhibit will be featured as a Dia de Muertos ofrenda in San Isidro this Saturday. KPBS arts reporter Julia Dickson Evans recently visited Alvarez in his studio to discuss the buildings , the art and why he's anchoring this project with Dia de Muertos. Here's their conversation. Okay.
S24: Okay. Can you start by describing the buildings that inspired this project ? What is this network of abandoned buildings ? Yeah.
S23: So the 46 buildings that are distributed along the coast of Baja California , they stretch from the border in Tijuana all the way down to Ensenada. So it's over 90 miles and it's just skyscrapers on the beach. Originally , they were getting built in 2008 , in what was to be the state's largest development ever 3 billion USD in sales. 12,500 homes , 65,000 jobs. And it all became halted because of the financial crash. So for 15 years , they've been sitting on the beach as concrete and steel skeletons. It's beautifully eerie , but it's been over a decade and a half of this construction purgatory , if you will.
S24:
S23: And why ? Well , because it's right next to California. Most of the investors were American buyers. Many of them were looking to retire. The promise of these 46 buildings was high end , fun amenities living on the coast at an affordable price , all within driving distance from San Diego from LA. And given that retirement or sort of second home. That was really the the model for the housing. Okay.
S24: Okay.
S23: This was already so , you know , ingrained in my mind , so part of my own architectural identity , if you will , because I am from here. I am from San Diego , from Baja , from the border. So these are buildings that I feel attached to as it is , especially because I was studying and working in architecture. Away from here , unfortunately , there wasn't anything I could do being far away. My grandfather , on the other hand , I. I witnessed him keep at it for ten years , ever since I did that original research as an intern. He then took that and nonstop just went with the bankers , new developers , the city officials get the conversation going again for it to become the goal , to bring them back to life. And I saw this going on. And what usually happens , um , it's like , why bother with that ? Is like it just always been like that and there's always been there always going to be like that. Now , as an artist with this new language in which I take on architecture to tell stories , I wanted to create a cultural registry of these revival of this rebirth that is going on in our coast. Hence the name quarantine. Nacimiento translates to a sort of renaissance or coming back to life again. I found it to be very important because , you know , for years , you know , not just architecturally , but the reality is stories coming out of our corner of the world tend to be negative , whether it be crime or prices or homelessness. So now we have a good story. Now we have a story about resilience coming back to life. And I think it's just as important to highlight it and celebrate it so that the buildings are not just monuments to abandonment , but if they do come back to life that they show our own resiliency , you know , as a community , as a cross-border community.
S24: I love that you talk about how these buildings have souls. Can you talk about how you're anchoring this exhibit with the Muertos event.
S23: For me , day of the dead was very important because it sort of put on this project , these 46 buildings on the same plane as something as as heavy as Los. As much as we discuss this as a rebirth , as a celebration. A lot of people suffer financial loss on this. And it's a and it's a difficult part of our history. But the point is to accept it as a starting point , just as we accept someone's passing. Right. If we normalize abandoned buildings , then then how can we move on ? Right ? We have to accept it as something difficult that happened to our history , but also take pride in that we get a chance to come back from it ourselves. You know , this is a regional effort. This is a community effort , you know , local builders and developers and organizations and governments wanting this to happen. Right ? So for me , David becomes the perfect stage to share it with.
S24: So these buildings are getting a new life. They are going to be finished and turned into housing or what have you.
S23: Thanks for asking because that's precisely what I wanted , that the location gets marked in which we came back from life. It sounds dramatic , but fortunately it's happening. You know , maybe this rebirth was going to happen even without the paintings and the sculptures. But to me , it's very special , and I feel very fortunate and blessed that I , that I get a chance to be a part of this moment in history and this registry. I think that when we create this sort of cultural documentation , if you will , of what happens around this are built environments , especially , you know , speaking as an architect to it enriches us. It enriches us as a community. We're celebrating World Design Capital this whole year , and this is an endorsed project by them. So it empowers our growth , our resiliency to and our identity. And it lets us grow from perhaps difficult parts of our past , but we can still have hope for for life.
S24:
S23: I'm doing this , this show for the buildings. I love to share it. I love it when people become interested , whether it be in the real estate angle of it , in the cross border side of it , and the sustainability of the materials or spirituality. But for me , I wanted to show these buildings some respect for them to finally have a moment to breathe and to rest , which is really what this is for , for their souls to rest. I would do this show even if , you know , no one would show up , because I know there would be at least 46 spirits , right ? When people join us on Saturday , November 2nd , they're going to be a part of this moment , too , and they're going to take it with them as a memory. And next time they see an abandoned building , they too can wonder if if it should be accepted or if new life can also come from it.
S1: That was architectural artist Alvaro Alvarez , speaking with KPBS arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans , who joins me now. Julia , welcome.
S24: Hey , Jay. Thanks for having me.
S1: Great to have you here , as always. So that sounds fascinating. Tell us more about what these artworks look like.
S24: So first of all , they're all in grayscale. So he works in black and white. But it's really hard to kind of understate how much color he still has in there. It's just a lot of different shades. And the way that he works with texture and shadows just really makes them feel rich , despite being grayscale. So he starts with like a reclaimed wooden panel that serves as his canvas , and then he builds up what Alvaro describes as the topography of the building on the panel. So he uses like he'll bolt things into place or attach a foam , and then he will layer on top of that , the tissue paper mesh. He'll add black gesso and paint and and then he he turns these into renderings , kind of of of the buildings. Some of them are like abstract architectural models and others are more in relief. Some of them are kind of conceptual. There's one with just a bunch of posts sticking up. Others are like a bird's eye view , and some even have the ocean in there. And the gray scale adds this , this layer of eeriness to it all.
S1:
S24: They're not hanging on a wall. And so that also sort of makes them feel more like architectural models. And there's 46 of these big panels , and he'll be peppering amongst them photographs of the building marigolds , sugar skull style art. And yeah , the whole thing is free. There's going to be music and food and drink there as well to celebrate.
S1: All right. And you can check out Alvarez's exhibit at Black Box Gallery in San Isidro from noon to five on Saturday. Let's take a look at a few other art events this weekend. San Diego Opera kicks off their 60th season. Is that.
S24: Right ? Right. And they're performing La Boheme , which is one of their most beloved operas. It's actually the first one they ever produced , and also the first one that they performed in 2015 after the Save the San Diego Opera campaign when they kicked off their 50th season. So this is by Puccini. It's considered one of his masterpieces and one of the most popular operas ever. It's a story about some Parisian artists who are struggling to survive. They are navigating money , friendship , illness , love and , you know , both Rent and Moulin Rouge are considered adaptations of La Boheme.
UU: Here are the 30. I mean.
S24: And yeah , they're gonna project English and Spanish language translations above the stage so that you can follow along. And it'll be at the Civic Theatre shows , our 730 Friday and Saturday nights and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
S1: Oh , well , there's also some contemporary dance to check out.
S24: Three of them are by their relatively new artistic director. His name is Christopher K Morgan. One of them's a world premiere. It's called The Dulling Effect , and it's based on the study from 1934. So 90 years ago that observed the impact of technology on our mental capacity. So back then the technology was the radio. And of course our technology based dulling effect has definitely snowballed from there. There's another piece in the show that Christopher K Morgan collaborated on with founding director John Marshak. This was actually a commission from the San Diego Museum of Art , and it's inspired by abstract expressionist painter Arshile Gorky , and performances are at the Civil Theater at City College. It's Saturday night at 730 and 4 p.m. on Sunday.
S1: Sounds very interesting. And there's a family friendly San Diego Symphony concert this weekend inspired by children's literature. It's called because a Symphony of Serendipity , and it's actually based on the book by Mo Willems and Amber Rinne.
S24: Yeah , this is basically going to feel like a symphonic version of the book. It's narrated. They're going to have projections of the illustrations and the music was written for the book. It's all about how a little girl becomes a conductor , and the book's written by Mo Willems. He's famous for Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus , and my kid's favorite was NFL Bunny or Canal Bunny , and the illustrations are by Amber Wren , the compositions by Jessie Montgomery. She is a Grammy winner , and it's just this really prolific and interesting contemporary composer. And to round out the show , they're going to be performing a couple more pieces from Latin American composers like Gabriela Ortiz or some Latin American dance pieces by composer Aaron Copland. And this is an 11 a.m. concert. Love that for families. So yeah , it's designed for kids aged 6 to 12 , but people of all ages are welcome , and kids under three even are free as long as they don't need their own seat. Tickets are $29 and up.
S1:
S24: Micro Brass is playing two free shows at Lulu's Jungle Room and there this local jazz alternative brass band. They have super high energy performances. We're listening to their single saboteur.
UU: Never Heard of me , I Am Your Sabotage , down Bells factory.
S24: Both shows tonight are 21 and up. One is at seven and one is at nine. There's no reservation required , but seating is first come , first serve. But I imagine people will probably be on their feet for this one. And then on Saturday , Venezuelan guitarist Felix Martin and his trio will play at Brick by Brick. They're kind of an eclectic metal sound with a little bit of Latin fusion in there , and they're playing with this band from Orange County called Stereo City. It's kind of a math rock band , and this is their latest release called sprout.
UU: How's it all ? What are. Plays are spiders.
S24: And then on Sunday 80s and 90s punk and noise band Steel Pole Bathtub , they're playing at the Casbah with I'll Be Damned in white and steel. Paul bathtub just put out a new single this month. It's called seen , not Heard.
UU: Just to warn. You for way. Too long.
S1: All right , well , you can find details or sign up for Julia's weekly arts newsletter at KPBS Mortgage Arts. I've been speaking with KPBS arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , thanks.
S24: Thank you , Jade , and happy Halloween.
UU: Happy Halloween. Love you too.
S1: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
