The developer of a controversial proposed project in Carmel Valley is hoping a dramatic potential tenant will placate the plan’s critics. The developer, Kilroy Realty, wants to include a new theater for North Coast Repertory Theatre in the project.
The acclaimed theater is currently in the Lomas Santa Fe shopping center in Solana Beach, an unassuming location that drew a mention from a Wall Street Journal critic in town to review a play there last year.
You’re reading the Culture Report, our weekly compilation of the region’s arts and culture news.
Time and Travel
• Have you seen this guy? I heard this morning he’s been at the Civic Center trolley stop for a couple of days, playing his horn. A San Francisco Chronicle story about his recent stint in the Bay Area describes the itinerant trumpeter’s performance philosophies:
It is the first rule of street corner musicianship — know when to blow town.
“I’ve been here three months,” he says. “They’ve heard me, they’ve supported me, and now they are saying: We need to miss you. I don’t want to be that bum with a horn.”
• A local chef is relearning his memories, his life and his wife as he suffers from amnesia. The U-T’s John Wilkens describes Kurt Metzger’s rediscovery of his art:
Before the accident, he’d been compiling recipes for a cookbook, and he turned to those, relearning what he used to make, and how. His staff explained the different flavor combinations he liked, and he devoured those, reloading his arsenal of taste and texture.
• A musical that started at La Jolla Playhouse last year, “Hands on a Hardbody,” opened on Broadway last week with a few changes, like swapping the play’s centerpiece truck from blue to red. (KPBS)
• San Diego State film grad (and pal of mine) Destin Daniel Cretton got a big win at the South by Southwest festival a couple of weeks ago. His feature film, “Short Term 12,” won the festival’s Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for best narrative feature. (CityBeat)
Zooming In
• To make his black-and-white artwork, painter James Chronister sequesters himself behind a curtain at Lux Art Institute in Encinitas, painting in the dark so he can see a guiding image projected on the canvas. Chronister is the latest artist-in-residence at Lux, where visitors can ask him questions while he works. (KPBS)
• A group organizing a series of events pegged to Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” asks what book you would save from a fire. As part of “The Big Read” effort, Voice of San Diego will be featuring commentaries tied to themes from the book over the next month.
• Balboa Park launches a collaborative map to upload historical documents and photographs from the park’s history.
• Trumpet master Gilbert Castellanos put together a score for a new musical exploring San Diego’s jazz history opening next week at San Diego Repertory Theatre. (San Diego Magazine)
• A new art piece that incorporates photography, video and text was installed earlier this month at the La Maestra Community Health Center in City Heights. The city of San Diego commissioned the piece using funds from the late French artist Niki de St. Phaelle, who made many sculptures around San Diego and Escondido in the 1990s.
“Witnessing the geographical and social bifurcation of the City Heights neighborhood during the construction of Interstate 15, de St. Phalle developed a particular concern about the wellbeing of the community in this area of San Diego,” according to the city’s website. Lynn Susholtz, who spoke at one of our “Meeting of the Minds” events last year, was chosen to create the artwork.
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I’m Kelly Bennett, reporter for Voice of San Diego. You can reach me directly at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0531.
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