S1: It's time for Midday Edition on KPBS. Today we are checking in on San Diego's arts and culture scene. I'm Jade Hindman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired , and engaged. We'll look back on an interview about how memory work helps people learn about themselves and the world around them.
S2: It's the labor of looking back in order to understand your present and have more direction in how to move into your future.
S1: Hear more about that. Then we'll switch gears to talk about the movie career and the history behind the title. Plus , your weekend preview. That's ahead on Midday Edition. Have you ever thought about the stories that make you who you are ? While the practice of memory work empowers communities to trace their lineage , learning about themselves and the world around them. That's the focus of Natalia Venter's work. She is the resident artist at the San Diego Maid Factory , which is a creative event space. This Saturday , Natalia is hosting a final exhibition of her work along with other creatives from San Diego. Midday edition producer Andrew Brackin spoke with Natalia last month. Here's that interview.
S3: So before we dig into your personal work , I want to talk about this idea of memory work. Can you can you define that for us ? Yeah.
S2: So the definition that I like to use is it's the labor of looking back in order to understand your present and have more direction and how to move into your future. So it's all about learning the stories of your family , of your community , where you come from , your lineage. And that's a process of sort of grasping onto the remnants that you have or the the things that have been passed on to you in this present moment to really understand the context of where you come from , searching for wisdom , searching for the roots of where you come from , basically to understand the context of where you are now and that wisdom helping you move forward into the future that you want to build.
S3:
S2: We have archivists , historians , people working in museums. For me , as an artist , that looks like using passed down family objects to dig into my family's stories , and I use these objects to create sculptures and other multimedia pieces that really tell the story of my internal experiences and my identity in this current context. And I also it's like a manipulation of materials that have been passed down to me. And with that , I can rebuild , rebuild what I've been given and use it to create something new and sort of bring to life my visions for the future that I dream of.
S3: And in this work you call the act of remembering a radical act.
S2: And so to dig into your own past in a way that really your understanding where your ancestors played a role in that , whether they were like on whichever side of history. I think that's a radical act , because what you're really doing is searching for truth and creating a different narrative than the one that is dominant , the one that we're taught. And it rewrites history in a way that is rooted in truth. And that's not something that we're really trained to do. And so that's why I consider it radical , because we we are rewriting history , and we're telling a story that is more authentic to us in a way that deconstructs norms and is taking a new direction for the future.
S3:
S2: And it's like a unique experience to take care of someone who took care of you as a child. And I just feel such a strong connection to sort of the matriarchal lineage on my mom's side of the family , because my great grandmother passed away the day after I was born. Um , and I wanted to tell this story of the way that we take care of her and just the , like , matriarchal care and love that has been passed down through all the women in my family. So I documented our process of how we take care of her , and I made sure to use a lot of objects that we have inherited from her side of the family. So we have these , like big portraits of my great grandfather and great grandmother. And I have shots in the documentary that where she's sitting below them and sort of showing this ancestral lineage imagery , um , as being like a foundational part of where I am now and the love that I've been taught to give to my family.
S3: And as you described there , I mean , even your grandmother suffering from dementia , I mean , that plays a role into this project. I imagine just the importance of memory and capturing that across generations.
S2: Because it's often when our elders are at that age where they're forgetting things , that we realize. There's so much I haven't learned from them. There's so many stories that I never heard. And it's usually in those , like late moments that we start to think about memory and passing on our roots. And it's it can be too late at that point sometimes. Um , so that's why I , I'm so passionate about this work and like , empowering myself and others to begin to do memory work in their lives. Um , with the elders that are still with us. But there's also like a process of tapping into the elders that have passed on. And our ancestors and I really , like , operate in a way that's I believe that my ancestors are guiding me through life and are like , present around me. And I can communicate with them even if it's not like a tangible process.
S3: And I imagine doing this work can be , you know , emotionally draining.
S2: And I think that's why it's also considered a radical act. You know , in more indigenous communities or times before colonization or communities that have , you know , not been touched by colonization. Emotion is often what rules decision making in a community , and we completely don't operate that way anymore. And so even just the process of tapping into emotion , opening up to listening to stories or learning stories that maybe are really difficult to grapple with , there's so much grief sometimes that we suppress when it comes to thinking about our lineage and our ancestors. And so there is so much emotion that can come up through that process. But part of the memory work , I think , is also being in community with others and holding each other , um , through those emotional points. For example , like on my dad's side of the family , they're coming from Cuba , and there's so much Political violence that they experienced that was never really addressed. And what happens then is that pain doesn't go away. It just gets suppressed and it gets passed on. And , you know , we talk about generational trauma and things like this. And it's the silence that allows that trauma to pass on. When I was like reaching my 20s , I realized that I completely , like , had lost connection with my Cuban identity. And growing up here in San Diego and being a border crosser , I was very in tune with , like , my identity as a Mexican woman and a border crosser. Um , and I pretty much would just tell people that I was Mexican and I would ignore the fact that I was Cuban because it's.
S3: Much easier , probably for you it.
S2: Was easier. And I like after a certain age , like my grandparents got divorced and I , I lost like a space to experience my Cuban heritage , and that divorce is also like a result of the trauma. And and I started to realize like that I had felt this disconnect. So then I started asking questions of my father and my grandparents about Cuba , like they never told me in my childhood , other than maybe the positive things like the food , the culture , the music. They never told me stories really , of like life in Cuba. And I started to ask questions about why we left and how we left. Like , what did my grandpa have to endure in order to , like , get asylum ? And , and I start finding out all these stories that I never knew about my grandfather being a political prisoner and being in labor camps , and all this suffering that he experienced as a result of political violence. And it started to click for me that like , there's this silence and there's this generational trauma that has caused me to become disconnected from my culture.
S3: I mean , I think what you just shared , though , about , you know , about your grandfather's experience and this generational trauma , a lot of times , maybe our elders are hesitant to talk to us about , you know , the past , right ? Do you have any , I don't know , suggestions or tips for folks who may want to explore these conversations ? Because I think this is , you know , what you kind of tapped into. These are really elemental , important conversations. You know , families could be having more of. Right.
S2: The first thing I would say is it's going to be uncomfortable and you just have to accept that. And sometimes you have to ask the questions multiple times to really get to the answer. And it's also about really listening so carefully because these things are often communicated in metaphor and symbolism. And when I hear the story , when I hear my grandfather tell me a story , like I look at his body language and I , I look at the way that he tells the story , the progression , because it can jump from like , chronologically , like moments in time , like the way we remember things , you know ? Right. So you really have to start to develop this new language of like how to understand and piece apart the things that you are told. Like what B , what lies beyond the things that you've been told. And it becomes kind of this language that's very metaphorical and like it becomes poetic because there is just symbolism and it's not always like a flat out. This is what happened to me. So it's inherently like a poetic , creative things , so making art out of it is just so natural to me , because it's actually how I'm able to tell the story more fully in a way that reflects my inner world and my inner consciousness around the story.
S1: That was Natalia Ventura , resident artist at San Diego , made speaking with Midday Edition producer Andrew Bracken. Natalia's final exhibit of her memory work at San Diego Made will be this Saturday in Barrio Logan. You can find details at KPBS. Org. Coming up , the movie queer is currently in theaters. We dig into the etymology behind the word queer and how it's changed.
S4: For some folks , queer is this umbrella term that might be used to describe their sexuality. But I truly believe , and I'm not alone in this , that the word queer is much more politically Slanted.
S1: Hear more when KPBS Midday Edition returns. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. The movie queer just received a Golden Globe nomination for its lead actor , Daniel Craig. The film , which is based on William S Burroughs book of the same title , follows an American expat who falls for a younger man in 1950s Mexico City. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando wanted to dig in to the title to explore the etymology of the word queer and how it's changed. Then she caught up with actor Drew Droege about the film itself. Take a listen.
S5: I think he's queer. I can't tell.
S6: You could always just ask. No no no no no no.
S7: Well , they must be queer if he's talking to him.
S8: When William S Burroughs wrote the partial sequel to his book junky in the early 1950s , he boldly called it queer and.
S9: Queer at that time was considered the last word that gay men heard before their heads hit the pavement. You know , it was a hostile term.
S8: Lillian Federman is an author and historian who describes herself as an LGBT scholar.
S9: I don't think he was saying , this is a word that is friendly in the gay community , and you need to use it for us because we like it. But I think it was purposely shocking and too shocking , apparently , for his publisher. His publisher told him that he could go to jail with a novel like that. In the early 1950s. He was really pushing the envelope. Uh , and I think that's what he was doing with the word as well.
S4: What I know about Burroughs , my heart and my mind tells me that he used it as kind of like flipping the bird at the time.
S8: Nicole Verdi's is the managing director of Lambda Archives in San Diego.
S4: It waits , you know , almost 30 years until 1985 to get published for the very first time , when the word starts to become something that's being reclaimed and used in a positive light. We're here. We're we're we're. Fabulous.
S8: Fabulous. At Lambda archives for Des helps collect , preserve , and share the history of LGBTQ people looking to history. Federman notes the founding of Queer Nation in 1990 as marking a change in the use of the word.
S9: And I thought it was wonderful because it was so defiant and so angry.
S4: They circulated an anonymous flyer at the New York City Pride parade in June of 1990 , titled Queers read this and really using that word , kind of adopting it as their own. We're here. We're here.
S10: We're fabulous. Get used to it.
S9: But there was a defiance to it. It was. Queer nation was , uh , you know , very much like black militants in the 1960s and , and 70s. They were angry. They wanted to fight back against injustices , and they didn't want to pull any punches. And queer was sort of a sock in the face of straight people who discriminated against them , but discriminated as such a placid word compared to how queer people felt in the late 1980s early 1990s.
S8: Words says the origin of the word queer is uncertain.
S4: It definitely had entered the English language by the early 16th century , when it was primarily used to mean strange , odd , peculiar , eccentric. 1894 the term queer is thought to have been used in relation to a person's identity for the first time in a very public way. During the 1895 trial of Oscar Wilde , there was a letter written by the Marquis Marquess of Queensberry , detailing his disgust at Wilde's relationship with his son , Lord Alfred Douglas. It was read aloud in court , in which he referred to Wilde and other homosexual men of the time as snob queers.
S9: Queer has become an umbrella term for young LGBTQ people , but it was gay. That was the umbrella term. I came out as a teenager in 1956 , and what I learned was the term gay to describe me , to describe all of us in the community.
S4: To me and to a lot of other people. The word queer is intertwined with not only my sexual preference. I'm a lesbian , but I do identify as queer and my gender identity. I do identify as non-binary. But there's also a political element that rejects the gender binary by using the word queer.
S9: It's generational. Young people use the term about themselves. People of my generation find the term an insult still.
S4: But it's been a journey. I've seen it go from like , no , we don't even need to talk about that. We don't want to ruffle any feathers to being like , wait a minute , this is absolutely a legit word. People are using it more often. You see more organizations that are sprouting up. Now , instead of calling themselves an LGBT organization that are calling themselves queer and trans , I can think of a cisgender gay man , a lesbian , a bisexual person , a trans person , a two spirit person , a non-binary person. I can give you multiple examples that fall into each of those categories where those people identify as queer. Not only this rejection of the gender binary , but also , yeah , we're queer. We should be fighting these same fights and fighting for the liberation of all of us. And in that we are a queer community.
S9: Because I'm a historian , and what I recognize is that every generation is entitled to their own terms. But the younger people would often they would not say lesbian , they would not say gay , they would say queer. And when I questioned people about the term lesbian , they would say , well , that's a term from the 1970s , radical feminists , and we don't identify with them. And they discriminated against trans people. And queer incorporates all of us , including trans people. We don't discriminate. Although I never call myself queer , it doesn't bother me to hear young people call themselves queer.
S4: You know , you still have folks that just can't and never will get down with the word. For sure. This word carries a lot more weight than just who I'm hopping into bed with , or what gender expression I am. This is actually this is my word because this is who I am and I'm a fighter. And there's so much fight in this word , whatever it has meant this whole time to what it has currently started to begin to mean at this moment. Like , I love the word because of that weightiness to it. And I think a lot of people that use it feel the same. But , you.
S9: Know , language is constantly evolving , but within minority communities , it's a very emotional subject between the generations.
S8: That was author and historian Lillian Federman. I also spoke with Lambda Archives Nicole Valdes. Next , I speak with actor Drew Droege , who co-stars in Luca Guadagnino's adaptation of William S Burroughs Queer. The film stars Daniel Craig as Lee , a character that draws considerable inspiration from Burroughs own life.
S11: It's a wise old queen who taught me that I had a duty to live , you know , to conquer hate with knowledge and Sincerity and love. The difficulty is to convince someone else he is really part of you.
UU: What else should I be ? All apologies. True.
S8: True. You were recently in San Diego in a production of Dracula , a Comedy of Terrors , at the Old Globe Theatre. And now you are in the film queer , which is currently in cinemas. And I wanted to find out.
S12: That was that was really my association with it before. I was familiar with the title queer , but I had not read it before I got the job.
S13: What else should I say ? Everyone is gay , and.
S8:
S12: So not only with his sexuality , but also with just feeling out of his body , feeling disconnected from the world. He was shaking off , sweating out a heroin addiction that he was battling throughout the whole thing. And then how he's , you know , he says , I want to talk to you without speaking like how he sort of feels like he's just not in the present world. So he feels out of order and feels different in that sense of what it means to be queer.
S8:
S12: So he was really , you know , fascinated with ruffling feathers and sort of being alternative. And it's one of those books like , I think , you know , people would walk by in the store and see that and kind of hide and sort of maybe steal and run out of there. And I think he'd want people to steal it. So , yeah , I mean , I think he very much knew that what he was doing with the , with it , with a title like that and my association with the word , I mean , it was something that , you know , I hated being called growing up. It was a slur. But I've come to love it. I've come to really embrace it , and I've come to sort of identify as a queer person as well as a gay person , because it's more encompassing in conversation. It's hard to say LGBTQIA+ , and it's just easier , I think , to say queer , but it also covers straight people who have alternative ways of going through the world. And so I know lots of straight people who say , I also feel queer , and I welcome that. And I think it's a catchall for , um , you just don't care much about binary quote unquote normal ways of doing things. And you make your own rules and you live in a different reality.
S8: Well , also , I feel like since Queer Nation. It also has taken on a bit of a political and kind of rebellious or , you know , challenging sort of tone to it. Absolutely.
S12: Absolutely. There is something about it that does feel political , that does feel like , um , you know , I don't know. I mean , I think when you say gay , it has a different vibe to it. And gay is associated with happy and , and and it's specifically talking about men. I mean , women sometimes identify as it will say , I'm gay , but there's also , you know , as opposed to lesbian. But I think we're the me I associate it with , like act up and sort of 90 political , you know , associations that felt very like that was queer. And all of us were in that together. It didn't have any sort of association with gender or sexuality necessarily.
S8: Now for the film queer. It's a period film in one sense , but it's also kind of lives in this hyper real other world. So what was it like actually shooting it and kind of working on creating that unique world.
S14: Well , I.
S12: You know , I was so honored to get to be a part of it. But also , when you're doing something that's based on a book , you want to get it right. And I'm sure for Daniel Craig , it was even it was even more that way to be like , I'm playing William Burroughs in this adaptation. So I think we just all wanted to make sure we were accurate in the world of Mexico. 1950 Jonathan Anderson did an incredible job with all the clothes. Um , we shot it in Rome. But the Mexico of 1950 apparently is very hard to find in Mexico. So we we were on a soundstage and we built the whole thing to sort of try reenact the feeling. And I think because we wanted to feel claustrophobic and sweaty , they made us all , like , look really uncomfortable and sweaty. And we had wigs on and some people had crazy teeth. We were denizens who were like , sort of like , never really went outside. And , um , while other people were enjoying beautiful , sunny Mexico , we were like , living this much sadder , underground , weird , queer existence.
S8: Now , I don't remember exactly what you were wearing in the first scene you were in. But I do remember you absolutely drew everyone's eye in that scene. Oh.
S12: Oh. Thank you. It was really fun. I mean , Luca Guadagnino just always said to me , he said , your character is very shy and very mean , which I loved playing those two things like that. So especially whenever anyone's back was turned to me , I knew exactly how to do that because I was like , if I can just be that judge , that awful barfly who's always kind of propping up the bar , a few old fashions in and just sort of being like , I know everybody's number in this bar. Yes.
S8: Yes. That sense of judgment came through very clearly.
S14:
S12: I've been such a fan of his for so long. He knows exactly what each frame is going to look like and should look like. So when he gets what he wants on one take , you would move on if he didn't get it. You're there all day till he had it , so he was very confident in that way , but he was really lovely. He was very collaborative. He's also a director who really enjoys messiness and like human interaction. So he's sort of almost shoots a documentary style where he wants it to kind of feel like it's just happening. It also parallels the book. The book feels that way as well. It's a trip. The whole thing is one giant long ayahuasca trip.
S8: Well , you say documentary style , but it also has this very you mentioned sweaty , but it has this very kind of sensual , very physical kind of feel to it.
S14: Oh , yes.
S12: For sure , for sure. And , you know , we were shooting at Cinecitta in Rome , where Fellini made the film like it's this legendary film studio. So you're sort of reminded , like we're doing this really revered book , working with this , like , auteur filmmaker , with this giant movie star. We wanted to get it right. Yet it was also a really fun set. I mean , that was the thing we were talking about. Like , we laughed so much. We had such a good time making this very sad , lonely , sort of trippy movie like we were we really had. It was , um , the spirit was really high the whole time we were making it.
S8: And when you saw the final film , how did it strike you ? Because , you know , while you're shooting a film , sometimes it's hard to tell how it's coming together. Yeah.
S12: Yeah. I had no idea. Like when we were shooting at , like , what the whole thing was going to look like. And it wasn't until I saw it that I realized that it was really about these two men and their struggle to just love each other and understand themselves in each other. And I realized , like I have been both of these men in my life. I don't want to admit it , but I feel like I've definitely been both of them. I was blown away by the film and I was , I love it , I'm so proud to be a part of it. So it was very cool.
S8: So currently there's a lot of discussion about who gets to play what roles. And you have Daniel Craig , a big star playing the lead in this film. It's an alter ego to William S Burroughs.
S12: My feeling is like proof in the pudding. Like , is the performance authentic ? Does the performance feel , you know , in a queer role ? Does it feel like this person is really queer ? And I think that Danyel does an incredible job with that. I don't think there's any sense of , oh , this actor is being brave or really going for it , or making fun of making light of any of it as well. I think he played it very honestly. Also , William Burroughs himself was married to a woman , uh , who , uh , became obsessed with men , later lived openly as a gay man later in his life , but had but had a complicated relationship with sexuality , I think was absolutely bisexual. So , you know , I mean , I think it's like it depends on the project , depends on the role. And , um , because I do support hiring queer actors for queer roles , I think that's I think it's very important. But I also think it's about what does the story need , how can the movie get made ? It is a business. And there's also there's all kinds of , you know , complicated feelings with that. I'm just really grateful that I got to play the , you know , the preening , bitchy queen. I think that would have maybe been a problem had there been a straight person in that role , you know ? So I was glad to be to be that gay for that part.
S8: All right. Well , I want to thank you very much for taking some time to talk to me.
S12: Thank you. Beth , thanks so much , I appreciate it.
S1: That was actor Drew Draghi speaking with KPBS , Beth Accomando , about the film queer , which is currently in cinemas. The movie is set for a wide release tomorrow. Still to come , a festival to build community among poets and celebrate Jason Perez.
S15: This event is kind of like a closing ceremony for his two year term as Poet Laureate of San Diego.
S1: Hear more about that when KPBS Midday Edition returns. You're listening to KPBS Midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. This weekend , Jason Perez , our San Diego poet laureate , is hosting a festival with dozens of poets , workshops and community readings , all of this to officially celebrate and wrap up his two year term. And speaking of wrapping up , there's also a farewell exhibition for a long running art space in Oceanside , plus some holiday performances. Now joining me with the weekend preview is KPBS arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , welcome.
S15: Hey , Jade , thanks for having me.
S1: Glad to have you on , as always. So let's start with the San Diego Poetry Futures Festival this weekend.
S15: He's our poet laureate , and that's one of the things that he told me is so surprising about his time as poet laureate , like just how strong and diverse and steadfast our poetry scene is here. But there just aren't that many opportunities to really bring everyone together to celebrate it. So this event is kind of like a closing ceremony for his two year term as Poet laureate of San Diego. And I don't know if you remember this , but he kicked off his term with a reading at the state of the city address. This was in 2023 and he read his poem. We draft work songs for the city , which is actually kind of the epilogue. For his latest book called , I ask About What Falls Away. And so this week I asked him if he would read a little excerpt from it again , just kind of like bookending this term.
S16: Here is a parable , a prayer , perhaps for those unmapped , here are new students Considering new lives , new interrogations , new footnotes. But no new friendships. No news. None. Still , the problem of rent. Still the problem of loans. Still the problem of property. This alley off university is a gallery of abandoned mattresses stacked against limp wire fencing that leans against wood panels that shade the driveway where the unmapped fall asleep. Ancestral spirits are no less spectacle than principled remembrance. The craft of this tissue we often call ourselves. Wow.
S1: Wow. I mean , it's such a powerful poem.
S15: It runs from 11 to 5 on Saturday. It's at UC San Diego's Cross-Cultural center , which is right in the middle of campus. It's pretty close to the trolley stop too. There are so many poets involved there doing readings and panels and workshops. There's also a book fair and a zine making lab , and I asked Perez about what this event means to him , and he said that it's kind of representative of how his term has been as a whole , kind of experimental.
S16: I was thinking with , with my team at the city of a reading of a long form reading with a bunch of poets. I was thinking of all these things , but I also threw out the last two years have been trying to work with people and say , we need to do a poetry festival. There's so many of us , we can do this , and so we're doing it. We're going to have 30 poets , I think 30 , maybe more than that. The California Poet Laureate lyric will be here. We're going to have some breakout sessions. The spirit is is one of collaboration. Yes. It's about spotlighting and giving poets love and supporting our local artists , but I'm hoping it it's just another space where we convene and we dream and plant more seeds and think , oh , we can do this on this scale , or we can continue to do this right.
S15: So Saturday's festival will kick off with opening remarks. Then that zine making lab and some of the poets doing readings and panel discussions are Gil. So to Carla Cordero , Ron Salisbury , who was the former poet laureate , and Black , Kelsey Daniels , Humsafar and so many more. They're also having a conversations with poets rap party , which is one of the initiatives of the Poet Laureate and a Poets Underground award ceremony. And finally , there'll be a closing plenary session , which is this conversation between Lee Herrick , who is the California Poet laureate , and Janice Lobo Serpico , who was the Santa Clara County poet laureate. That was in 2020 and 2021 , and of course , Jason McGarvey Perez. That will close things up at 345 to 5 p.m. and this is all free.
S1: What a gift to San Diego he's leaving behind. Hopefully this is something they can , uh , keep going this poetry festival. And , you know , of course , we'll look forward to the announcement of the next San Diego Poet laureate in the coming months. And , Julia , you also have some other events on your radar this weekend. Let's start with a bittersweet exhibition opening in Oceanside. Right.
S15: Right. This is going to be the final exhibition at the Hill Street Country Club as it stands as an art space and gallery in Oceanside , and this has been a really special place for Oceanside and the entire region for the last 14 years. And while they're going to continue work and eventually will reopen , it's still such a loss to see it go. They were evicted from the space. They've been there for so long , and it's something that the gallery organizers say is reflective of something that's disproportionately happening in communities like Oceanside. So they're treating this new exhibition. It's called What Goes Up Must Come Down by artist Marissa DeLuca. They're treating it as as , like a memorial sendoff. They're even calling the opening a funeral for the Oceanside we knew. And it opens on Saturday. They're having a reception or an awake service , and it's going to stay up until escrow on the sale of the building. And that will officially close the space. They have more programming planned beginning in January , and then they'll reveal more about their future plans , including more work and programming and space in both Oceanside and also Barrio Logan. So lots to wait for and watch for. And this yeah , this opening reception will be a way to kind of say farewell to this space. Wow.
S1: Wow. They are having an entire homegoing celebration. Celebration of life , if you will.
S15: And so that makes her this really thoughtful choice , I think , for this final exhibit. She's a painter , mixed media artist , and I really love the way she paints the mundane like fencing piles of wood in a backyard , close ups of like , dirty grout on the walls. So most of her subjects are homes and buildings or like architectural details in Oceanside. And I was reading this interview that she did with here in journals , the local contemporary art magazine , and she talked about how she sees architecture as a backdrop and the story is what's been happening in front of that , that architecture. She intentionally chooses places that are , quote , on their way out , either demolished or deteriorated and about to be demolished. It's kind of a way to leave the viewer with this communal memory , is how she put it. So this reception and visiting the gallery is free and the event is from 5 to 7 on Saturday.
S1: Very interesting. So , you know , there's a special holiday concert in Balboa Park this weekend too. How can we check that out ? Right.
S15: So this is a Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park , and you can consider this kind of like a make up session of December nights if you weren't quite able to make it out or you didn't want to brave the crowds so you can get that festive concert experience. It's the San Diego Opera Chorus , soprano Elisa Jordan and the civic organist Raul Prieto Ramirez. They're going to be performing some carols and then some famous opera pieces. And this is free. Everything is always Free at the Organ Pavilion , and it starts at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday night.
S1: Oh , sounds like a lot of fun. And there are a few events affiliated with the Welcome to Las California's festival this weekend.
S15: And the first show was last weekend in Tijuana , and they're finishing it off with a sister event , if you will , in San Diego this Saturday night. It's at Corazon del barrio from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. there's a bunch of performers , including Tunga Sunsets and then Obed Padilla. He is local and he just put out a new EP last month. This is the moon that we're listening to right now from that new EP.
UU: While We Howl at the moon. And what do we have to lose ? To make your dreams come true.
S15: And they're also doing an art show with Charles Roberts. He is a visual artist and a graphic novelist who lives in Taiwan , and his work is really interesting. He has a series of graphic novels called Starseed , and he also designed one of the commemorative library cards that the San Diego Public Library puts out every comic con. But this show is a collection of his Happy Flowers series , which are these incredibly detailed sketches of flowers are kind of comic inspired , but the flowers are definitely happy. I don't know how to explain it.
S1: Okay , this is good.
S15: Yes , and it's all at Granada House , which is an art space in North Park , and it's just around the corner from the observatory. So right in the thick of it. And this is tonight , Thursday from 6 to 9. And it's a free event.
S1: A free is always great. Uh , the old globe is putting on A Christmas Carol.
S15: A ghost story told by Jefferson Mays. And so one actor production , it's starring Jefferson Mays , who is a Tony winner , really experienced , an extremely versatile character actor. He's going to play all of the characters in the Dickens story , and there are over 50 characters , so this is going to be quite a feat of performance and endurance , but it's also like a great spin on this holiday tradition of A Christmas Carol. I mean , I personally sometimes resist going to see it because it's old and it's done every single year by so many theaters. But every time I do go see it , it always reminds me why it's so enduring , because it's ultimately this great social critique with a ghost story mixed into it. And yeah , this is going to be a great example. And it's directed by Barry Edelstein and opens Friday night and will be on stage at the globe through December 22nd.
S1: All right. Something else on your radar is the San Diego Symphony's annual holiday production. Noel. Noel. Happening this weekend. Right.
S15: Right. So this is a collaboration from the San Diego Symphony , San Diego Master Chorale and the San Diego Children's Choir. It's going to be a mix of theater , storytelling and holiday music. They'll play hits like Silent Night or I'll Be Home for Christmas , and it's now back inside the Jacobs Music Center after a few years at The Rady Shell. The script of the production is by Maybelle Reynoso , and it's conducted once again by Christopher Dragon. This is totally family friendly and it has some sing alongs as well. There are concerts all weekend. There's evening shows and then matinees on Saturday and Sunday.
S1: And finally , before we go , we have time for a live music recommendation.
S15: It's Tall Heights , performing with Lao Noah. She is this incredible Spanish songwriter and musician. So she did a beautiful set on NPR , Tiny Desk , a few years ago , and then came out with an album of new music and a lot of collaborations this year. This is her track Ode to Darkness , The Lighthouse song. It's a beautiful piece of music.
S13: And you say it's rather odd that in all this world of good , I'd much rather live. Where songs don't come to shine through. See , I've learned in her ways that when someone knows your face. They no longer see the soul. The truth offends you.
S1: And you can find more arts events. Or sign up for Julia's weekly newsletter at pbs.org. Smarts. I've been speaking with KPBS arts reporter Julia Dixon Evans. Julia , thanks.
S15: Thank you. Jade.
S13: So is no slave. And the shackles are all gone. And the shackles are all gone.
S1: That's our show for today. If you missed anything , you can download KPBS Midday Edition on all podcast apps. Don't forget to watch KPBS Evening Edition tonight at five for in-depth reporting on San Diego issues. Catch the roundtable here tomorrow at noon. Before we go , I'd really like to thank our Midday Edition team producers Ashley Rush , Giuliana Domingo and Andrew Bracken with the help of Lainie Alfaro , senior producer Brooke Ruth , art segment contributors Julia Dixon Evans and Beth Accomando , technical producers Ben Read , Lorsque and Brandon Truitt for the midday edition. Theme music is from San Diego's own surefire soul ensemble. I'm Jade Hindman. Thanks for listening and make it a great day , everyone.
