Josh Board - San Diego Weekend Happenings and The Movies
A look at the weekend of November 8-10 in San Diego:
On November 8th, RUBEN STUDDARD is playing at Sycuan Casino. Remember him? He won the second season of "American Idol", got some Grammy nominations, and ended up losing a lot of weight on "Biggest Loser" (although that didn't keep him from getting the gig on Broadway playing Fats Waller in "Ain't Misbehavin'.)" He may have lost weight, but he hasn't lost that voice. He recently did an album of all Luther Vandross covers, some of which you'll hear at the show.
If you'd rather laugh on Friday night, comedian WHITNEY CUMMINGS will be at the Magnolia in El Cajon. She wrote and starred in the shows "2 Broke Girls" and "Whitney" – but I like her best when she gets raunchy in those Comedy Central roasts.
If you want a few glasses of wine with your entertainment, head to Orfila Vineyards & Winery in Escondido where you can see local talent REBECCA JADE. She plays funk, soul, jazz, and rock. She's won numerous San Diego Music Awards, sings at the Dave Koz Christmas Shows, with Sheila E, and she was Elton John's back-up singer at the Grammy salute to Prince. She was the San Diego Gulls official singer for two years, where you could see her belt out the National Anthems before games.
On Saturday, November 9th, the legendary FRANKIE VALLI and the Four Seasons will be at Pechanga Arena. I've seen him live twice, and of course I've seen the two versions of his life, with the production of "Jersey Boys" on stage and the movie version. He's 90-years-old, and he's calling this his farewell tour. Reports a few weeks ago were saying this was elder abuse, when he was having trouble with his vocals on stage, and how his family is making him still tour. I don't know about all that. I just know that hearing those 40 different Top 40 hits he's had, with that Frankie falsetto, is always worth checking out.
I was disappointed with the movie version of "Jersey Boys" but something that never disappoints – film festivals. The started a few days ago, but will be going all weekend long. Maybe you can't afford to fly to France for the Cannes Film Festival, or it's too cold for you to go to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, but this is right here in your backyard. Lots of films being shown, and some big names in person, including Jane Seymour.
And on the subject of movies, the film opening this weekend, you won't have to go to the theaters to see. If you have Prime Video, the Aubrey Plaza film MY OLD ASS is being released. Here's my review:
Megan Park (The Fallout) has given us a lighter film for her sophomore effort, and it's with good results. This sci-fi/time travel/romance/coming-of-age story, could be edgy at times, and romantic and sweet at others.
The story has Elliott (Maisy Stella), getting ready to leave home for college. She's spending the lakeside summer sleeping with a female barista at the marina, and doing lots of drugs with her friends. On a bad trip they all have, she sees the future version of herself (played by Aubrey Plaza).
Elliott can be a bit of a jerk with her family, and that makes her feel more like a real person (especially since this movie sometimes gets in its own way when it becomes like a YA flick, complete with cheesy songs).
It didn't bother me that the older version of Elliott doesn't look much like her; and it didn't bother me that we don't really understand how these two people are able to meet each other. The film is so witty and enjoyable, you just go with it, and don't question too much.
The advice given to her younger self is odd. I wanted her to say which stocks she should invest in (but hey, if it were me, I'd probably just tell my younger self that I shouldn't have drafted Dan Marino instead of Emmitt Smith in the second year of our fantasy football draft in 1995, but I digress). It would be a spoiler alert to tell you what advice is given, except to say she's warned about staying far away from anybody named Chad. Surprise: a boy named Chad just started working at the family cranberry farm.
I've seen other movies do similar premises better (Peggy Sue Got Married); and at times, this was clunky and a bit underwritten. But my wife and I enjoyed spending an hour and a half with these characters, and you will too.
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