Entertainment/Arts

Mrs. Walker Texas Ranger comes to town

Starting in a few weeks, The Grapevine will be rolling out several methods by which you can support the truest form of community journalism in San Diego County. Actual on-the-ground running, non-corporate, non regurgitated and press-release journalism, the Grapevine aims to connect on a personal basis with community interests, concerns and aspirations. To that end, one of the features for enthusiastic sponsors will be membership…


Say it ain’t so! 2020 SD County Fair a no-go

With coronavirus ravaging the land from sea to shining sea and then some, and the need to socially isolate and avoid crowds, was there any doubt the San Diego County Fair would happen. Nope, and it became official this week as the 2020 San Diego County Fair website magically transformed into the 2021 San Diego County Fair page proclaiming in large white letters: “We’ll see…


Coronavirus culture: ‘Walden’ and fashion

Seeking to bend the coronavirus curve, governors and mayors have told millions of Americans to stay home. If you’re pondering what to read, it’s easy to find lists featuring books about disease outbreaks, solitude and living a simpler life. But it’s much harder to find a book that combines these themes. As the author of three books about essayist, poet and philosopher Henry David Thoreau,…


Three-dot lounge visits fowl, fish and features

There was a method to the madness of presenting San Francisco legend Herb Caen’s three-dot lounge history along with its various re-interpretations. That was to set up Escondido Grapevine’s own three-dot lounge approach to local news. For more about the concept, visit our story here. For more local three-dot news, keep on trucking below… Lake Hodges Wildlife gets down to business First came the mating of…


Zombies, vampires, witches and #MeToo

Cal State San Marcos professor Natalie Wilson wants us to look at zombies, vampires and witches as warriors for social justice. Wilson, who teaches primarily for the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department and who has written extensively about horror in popular culture, has released a new book, “Willful Monstrosity: Gender and Race in 21st Century Horror,” examining characters in the current horror renaissance as…


Sergio Gutierrez going out with a big bash

Turn out the lights, the party is over for Sergio Gutierrez, a San Diego local musician and acrylic artist. Gutierrez has been painting playing music in his studio on the grounds of Forgotten Barrel Winery at 1120 West 15th Ave Escondido, CA 92025 for over a year now. He intends to bring it all to an end with an art-and-music bash there from noon to 6 p.m….


CSUSM: Students dancing for the community

Karen Schaffman has been drawn by the allure of dance since she was a young child growing up in Bloomfield, Connecticut. When Schaffman was a toddler, her mother enrolled her in a summer creative dance class at the playground down the street from their home. “That was the beginning of knowing that I loved dancing in a community setting,” said Schaffman, who has been teaching…


CSUSM Democracy in Action touts public art

When San Marcos city officials were looking for guidance on how to proceed with their plan to install public art in the emerging North City neighborhood, they knew just where to turn.  They went to their trusted community partner in Cal State San Marcos and tapped into the collective brainpower of 25 Art, Media and Design majors. Last month, members of the upper-division class Art and…


Yes, Mayor Pete, Pala has a wine cave, too

Dateline Los Angles Democratic Party Presidential Debate: A fund-raiser for Pete Buttigieg held in a wine cellar in Napa Valley elicited the most strident clash between the Democratic candidates at a debate Thursday night after a mostly staid discussion of policy platforms and impeachment, leading to a round of criticism of the mayor that continued into a later exchange about his previous criticisms of Washington…


Appreciating Escondido City Hall public art

As I walked around Escondido on Saturday, I happened upon some beautiful public art near City Hall. My first photos show an installation called Circle of Music. The four sculptures, fitted with speakers that play soft music, are part of the larger Monuments to Time in the Corridor of Life, Art and Culture, a series of interactive pieces created in 1998 that extend from the…