The 10th annual FulaBula Fest, the Thanksgiving weekend music festival that has raised thousands of dollars for North County school music programs, will have a new beneficiary this year. Organizer Semisi Ma'u said that he decided to donate all of the proceeds this year to North County blues musician Steve White, who has been battling cancer and has no health insurance. Admission to the festival is free, but donations on behalf of White will be gratefully accepted.
This year's FulaBula Fest will feature nearly two dozen bands performing from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 28 and 29 at Le Papagayo in Leucadia, and also from 5 to 9 p.m. Nov. 29 at Bar Leucadian in Leucadia. This year's participants are from all musical genres, including rock, pop, blues, jazz, country and Hawaiian music. Performers include Semisi Ma'u and FulaBula with Ruby Presnell, John Collias, Frank Leong, Roy Bruder, Earl Flores, John Bennett, Keli Ma'u and his steel drum band students, Billy Watson, Jimmy Patton, Jerry McCann, Vladimir and Steve Mendosa, the Flounders, Miki Maga, Adrienne Nims, Doug Mar Del, Stefani Stevens, the Steamers, the Andy Flores Trio, Tim Atkins and Baja Blues, and the Talls. Visit fulabula.com.
If you haven't already purchased your passes for the Comic-Con convention next summer, you better hurry. The four-day convention at San Diego Convention Center July 22-25 has already sold out all of its four-day, full-festival passes. Single-day tickets go on sale Dec. 15. The popular event drew 126,000 conventioneers last year. Single-day tickets, priced from $20 to $35, can be ordered online after Dec. 15 at www.comic-con.org.
The new art exhibit at MiraCosta College's Kruglak Gallery, "Backward and Forward," is aptly named. It will feature the work of former faculty at the college as well as former art students.
Artists Howard Ganz, a pioneer in computer art who has since retired, and Christopher Vena, who works mostly in oil, were MiraCosta's first full-time art faculty members back in the 1960s. Their work will be shown with work by former faculty members Dan Camp, Erik Gronborg, Kristina Nugent and Michael Portera, as well as work by MiraCosta alumni Eric Blackhurst, Thomas Johnson, and Melissa Stager.
The artists will gather for an opening reception from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday. The artists will talk about their work at 1 p.m. Kruglak Gallery is on campus at 1 Barnard Drive, Oceanside. Call 760-795-6657.
Fundraising has been difficult for arts organizations since last year's stock market crash, but San Diego Opera announced a $1 million donation last week from Erna and Andrew Viterbi of San Diego.
Half of the donation will be used to help underwite the 2010 production of Verdi's first great Italian opera success, "Nabucco," along with a citywide lecture series to educate the public about the opera. The opera's subject matter --- its Italian heritage and its story about oppressed Hebrew slaves in ancient Egypt ---- has a special significance to the couple.
Andrew Viterbi was 4 years old when his family fled Italy in the days before World War II. He earned degrees at MIT and USC, taught at UCLA and co-founded Linkabit Corp. and Qualcomm, where his Viterbi Algorithm and other inventions were the building blocks for today's cellular phone technology. Erna Viterbi was a Sephardic Jew from Sarajevo whose family was narrowly saved from the German concentration camps when villagers in the Italian city where they were interned helped them escape to Switzerland.
Looking for something a little different for pre-Thanksgiving entertainment next week?
Then you may want to consider UC San Diego Arts Library's "Annual Turkey Calling Show," a goofy holiday tradition that is anything but serious in its celebration of Thanksgiving.
At 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, UCSD performance artist Lazaro Rabago will recite an Aztec poem about the native turkey, sound effects artist Scott Paulson will present a slapstick tone poem with old-timey radio sounds, and storyteller Melanie Treco will read a family-friendly turkey story. The show is designed for all ages and best of all: It's free.
For information on the show, call 858-822-5728.
The Theatre School at North Coast Rep will present an all-new adaptation of Linda Sherry's short story "Beatrice the Butterfly" featuring a youth cast at 12:30 and 5 p.m. Friday, and at 2 and 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 987D Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach. The new stage adaptation was written by Matt Thompson, who directs the education program at North Coast. Tickets to the show are $9 to $12. Call 858-481-1055 or northcoastrep.org.
Still wondering what the "Twilight" fuss is all about? Filmgoers who aren't familiar with the story of teen vampire Edward and his teen love Bella can catch up on the film series on Thursday evening when UltraStar Cinemas in San Diego County screen the original "Twilight" movie from 2008. The original "Twilight" will be shown at 9 p.m. Thusday, followed by the new sequel, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," at midnight. Tickets to the original "Twilight" screening are $5.50. The double feature will be shown at UltraStar locations in La Costa, Del Mar Highliands, Poway, Oceanside, Bonsall, Chula Vista and Mission Valley. For more, visit www.ulstrastarmovies.com.
Ever since "The Amazing Race" and "Survivor" debuted on television, adventure challenges have become all the rage.
Teams of San Diegans have competed in zany athletic and skill challenges for bragging rights in the annual High Trek Adventure, City Chase and the Great Urban Race series. Now comes GO Urban Adventure Race, a fledgling team challenge race series that debuted in August in Washington, D.C., and arrives in San Diego on Saturday for the fifth stop on its 13-city tour.
GO Urban was developed by the Vallon Institute, a nonprofit organization that focuses its efforts on sustainability and health. Race organizers say the created the event to get people outdoors and to learn more about their city's recreational and cultural offerings. The event is a fundraiser for Project LIVE, an educational program designed to combat obesity in the United States. GO Urban cofounder Matt Lewis said he expects 150 to 200 competitors for the inaugural San Diego race.
GO Urban is billed as a technology-based citywide scavenger hunt where teams of two will be given a series of eight clues via text message that they can use to track down the locations around the city where they compete in challenges of physical and mental skill, take pictures at each stop, and then race to the finish line. Contestants can only their legs or public transportation to get around on race day. The top three teams will receive cash prizes ($100 to $400) and entry into the championship round, which is scheduled for next July in an unnamed city.
Registration begins at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Marston Point in San Diego's Balboa Park. The race begins at noon and awards will be handed out at 5 p.m. Team entry fees are $70 per team by Nov. 20; $100 in cash on Saturday.
To learn more about the event and to register, visit gourban.org.
Pam Kragen is the entertainment editor of the North County Times.
