Creative Endeavors

Thursday, June 30, 2005 | FEATURED VENUE

Love potion. Start with a cup of Bullwinkle, Sticky Nicky, Funky Monkey or plain old Jo. Add mismatched sofas, crimson wall paint, logo panties and a stuffed monkey in a rabbit suit. Bring in a modest mike and stage for local flavor. Name it after a repressed fantasy (or your son’s rock band) and voila! The Hot Monkey Love Café is a recipe for unconditional, unconventional love.

Open for two years, the café spreads its special brand of love with a diverse entertainment line-up of local bands, blues jams and poetry slams. The crowd challenges its feet with Afro-Brazilian dance on Tuesday, goth/industrial sounds on Saturday and salsa on Sundays, as well as soothes its mind with regular reggae, comedy, jazz and open-mic nights.

This Friday features local rockers Acadience, Hocky, The Vision of a Dying, and Little World from 7 p.m. until late, with the café’s namesake band making its weekly appearance at 8 p.m. Fridays have a $6 cover. The Hot Monkey Love café is located at 5960 El Cajon Blvd., near San Diego State University. For a full events schedule, visit www.hotmonkeylovecafe.com.

THEATER

Vampires revamped. Immortality not withstanding, crusty Nosferatu in his crumbling Transylvanian tower has become a dated story. Charles Busch’s long-running 1984 production of “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom” is the bloodsucking saga made-over in the image of a pair of hot lesbian vampiresses in Vegas, who have a very peculiar taste in buffets.

As the campy comedy goes, vampire vixens La Dondesa and Madeleine Astarte begin a rivalry in ancient Sodom, which persists for the standard 2,000 years, peaking in 1920s Hollywood when their actress careers collide. Upon their third encounter in Vegas, the famed and fanged divas finally bond over a mutual thirst for chaste, young blood.

The play runs July 1-24, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m., at Adams Avenue Studio of the Arts, 2804 Adams Ave. in Normal Heights. For more information, call (619) 584-3593.

MUSIC AND MORE

Deeply rooted beats. Roots reggae group Bambu Station will perform Saturday at The Box in Tijuana and on Sunday, as part of the Frederick Douglas Day celebration at the WorldBeat Cultural Center in Balboa Park. Hailing from the Virgin Islands, the quintet recently received the award for “Best Reggae Band” at the Washington, D.C. 8th Annual Reggae Music Awards.

Both shows start at 8 p.m. Tickets for Sunday’s show can be purchased online or at the door for $12. The WorldBeat Cultural Center is located at 2100 Park Blvd. in Balboa Park. The Box is located next to the Jai Alai, El Foro, in Tijuana. For more information, call (619) 230-1190 or visit http://www.worldbeatcenter.org/index.html.

Red, yellow and blue. As San Diego’s beaches teem with flag-bearing families over the Fourth of July weekend, a very different sort of gathering will be taking place out east, in Temecula. The 10th annual Pechanga Pow Wow, hosted by the Luiseno Indians of the Pechanga tribe, is expected to draw more than 20,000 people, including competitive dancers and drummers from Native American tribes all over the country and Canada.

Opening ceremonies occur this Friday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. The gathering continues 11 a.m. to midnight July 2 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 3, at the Pechanga Resort and Casino, 45000 Pechanga Parkway, in Temecula. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (877) 711-2946.

VISUAL ARTS

Girls, girls, girls! More than a dozen women artists from throughout the county will have work on display at the all-female art exhibition, “Grrrrrl Power 3: Young Americans,” which opens Saturday at the Music Trader in Kensington at 4072 Adams Ave. from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Founded by local art promoter Bill Pierce, the Grrrrrl Power collective seeks to provide a space outside of mainstream galleries for “celebrating art by women” with future plans for regular monthly shows. This is the group’s third show since May. For more information, including a list of featured artists, visit http://www.grrrrrlpower.com.

– JESSICA L. HORTON, Voice Contributing Writer and CLAIRE CARASKA, Voice Staff Writer

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