Culture Report: A Farewell to the Ché Café

The 34-year-old student-run arts and music venue known as the Ché Café has the fierce support of its loyal fans, who are fighting hard to keep the UC San Diego institution alive.

The venue was served a 30-day notice of eviction on June 13 by UC San Diego Vice Chancellor Gary Matthews. The notice cited safety issues and a need for substantial renovations. Students voted against paying toward those repairs.

Still, the Ché’s biggest supporters won’t give up without a fight, the U-T reports. The collective hired an attorney and requested a dispute resolution. They’re encouraging people to write to Matthews to pipe up. The Ché is definitely up against a major Goliath.

If this is the end, and it looks kind of grim, fans are doing their best to make the last show at the venue as awesome as possible, including reaching out to rock star/party-hard ambassador Andrew W.K.

@slddngwthtgrs @thechecafe I’m so happy to be invited and we are now working on trying to make it happen! #PartyPrayToThsTravelGods

— ANDREW W.K. (@AndrewWK) June 24, 2014

You’re reading the Culture Report, Voice of San Diego’s weekly collection of the region’s cultural news.

Can’t Feel an Art Pulse, HB Punto Experimental and More Visual Art News

• Art Pulse is officially over. CityBeat reports that the arts nonprofit lost its main investor and has struggled to pay contributors for the work they’ve completed.

• With every loss comes a new gain: HB Punto Experimental opens up shop in Barrio Logan. (CityBeat)

• The Mingei International Museum tips its hat to surf culture and the amazing craftsmanship of beautifully built surfboards. (La Jolla Light)

• Zamorano Fine Arts Academy is hosting a celebration of art on Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. Check out student art and take part in artsy activities. Sales and raffles will benefit their arts programs.

• If you’ve had a chance to catch the San Diego County Fair photography exhibition, you might have seen the “Best in Show” winning photo by Kim Signoret-Paar. This Week @ UC San Diego profiled the photog and talked about her win.

• Disclosed unLocation Gallery in South Park will host an exhibition of pen and ink drawings by Yerrie Choo on Friday. The theme is loneliness and internal disconnection, so probably not a lot of LOLs there, but very beautiful work nonetheless.

• Space 4 Art tackles the experience of living with dwarfism and being a female with a disability in its double-header photographic exhibition, Composing Dwarfism and Performing Crip Time, featuring images by nine photographers. Check it out Friday.

• Don’t miss Figment San Diego, an awesome arts event happening this Saturday.

Folk Arts Records, Mainly Mozart and More Music and Performance Paraphernalia

• It’s theater review roundup time! “El Henry” is non-theater theater in a cool way (KPBS), and woof! “Dog and Pony” has a great cast and songs (La Jolla Light).

• The San Diego Opera adds another thing to its to-do list: producing the world premiere of “Great Scott” for the Dallas Opera. (KPBS)

• Folk Arts Records closes its North Park doors after 47 years of business. (U-T)

• The PGK Projects dances into summer on Friday.

• The U-T asks if the newly revamped North Park Theatre can truly rock. Thanks to its lineup of awesome shows and some booking help from the Casbah’s Tim Mays, we think it can.

• The Old Globe Theatre kicks off its Shakespeare Festival with “Othello,” starring the talented and hummina-hummina-hummina-inducing Blair Underwood. (La Jolla Light)

• The Mainly Mozart Festival is kicking ass and taking names. (Reader)

• Want to replicate the visions and sensations of the gnarliest acid trip you’ve ever had? Of course you do! Make sure to check out “Seduced by the Imaginarium Circus,” a performance art show featuring sideshow acts, burlesque, acrobats, contortionists and all kinds of other awesomely weird stuff, this weekend at the Irenic.

• The San Diego Symphony’s Summer Pops series kicks off this week with “Elvis: A Tribute to the King.” The series lasts all through the sweaty months. Among the highlights: a symphony perfromance of music from Tim Burton’s films; a screening of the 2009 Star Trek reboot featuring live orchestral accompaniment; a tribute to Johnny Cash and much more. Good (summer) times, man!

Too Much Popcorn, Eight Arms to Hold You and More Culture Candies

• The San Diego Film Festival returns for its 13th year with more than 100 film screenings. That’s a lot of popcorn. Better pack some antacids. (San Diego Red)

• Squeeze some literary goodness into your brain biscuits on Friday during Eight Arms to Hold You. The evening at Gym Standard will feature readings by Aaron Burch, Dylan Nice, Juliet Escoria and Julia Evans.

• Get to know San Diego’s seedy and salacious past while slurping up craft beer, cocktails and MIHO Gastrotruck nibbles at the San Diego History Center’s Sins of the Stingaree event. Bonus: You won’t leave with the strange burning sensation sailors caught after visiting a vice house.

• OMG!!! A cat video festival this Saturday! You’re doing God’s work, Drive By Cinema.