San Diego's hottest arrivals in shopping, nightlife, dining, entertainment, attractions, museums, theater, culture, sports and recreation. MAPS of San Diego

MUSIC
Solo Flyer
After years of performing with backing bands like The Attractions and The Imposters, as well as collaborators like Burt Bacharach, songwriter Elvis Costello steps out on his own with a rare solo show in San Diego on April 11 at the historic Balboa Theatre, where he’ll be performing tracks from his latest album, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. It’s all part of the spring musical lineup at ArtPower!, the eclectic arts and entertainment program put together by the University of California, San Diego. Other highlights from the season include performances by alt-classical group Calder Quartet (April 15-16) and jazz chanteuse Gretchen Parlato (April 7) and a selection of movies from the Cannes and Sundance film festivals.

GALLERY
HIGH-TECH WONDERLAND
After rereading Lewis Carroll’s classic story about a curious young girl named Alice, digital artist Maggie Taylor was inspired to create her own Photoshop-enabled Wonderland using a flatbed scanner, vintage photographs and other found objects unearthed from flea markets. Taylor begins with antique photos of unknown, Victorian-era subjects and scans them into her computer, layering the images against her own drawn elements to create Almost Alice, a series meant to illuminate the original text. By using a variety of 19th- century girls as stand-ins for Alice, Taylor makes Alice an everywoman, and transforms the world around us into a Wonderland all our own. Through April 3 at Joseph Bellows Gallery, 7661 Girard Ave., La Jolla, 858.456.5620.

DINING
Mexi-Kitsch
El Camino Super Cocina is a kitschy Mexican fiesta in the heart of Little Italy. The design, a collaboration between local artist Tocayo and graffiti writer Exist 1981, includes wall-sized murals that mash up Mexican iconography—check out the skeletal Día de los Muertos mariachis. Meanwhile, TVs mounted on either side of the back bar loop classic films and photo montages of golden-era Tijuana. Try a michelada—light beer on ice with lemon juice and salt, served in a boot-shaped glass—and an order of the sweet potato flautas, then take a seat on the open-air back patio. The bar’s located in the flight path of the nearby airport, and the whoosh of low-flying planes is unreal. 2400 India St., Little Italy, 619.685.3881

SHOPPING
Carving a Niche
We love these platters made from reclaimed local wood by San Diego Urban Timber. The green- minded woodshop harvests only trees felled by nature or for safety reasons and uses a non-toxic, hand-rubbed oil finish. Each piece is one of a kind and crafted from local woods ranging from eucalyptus, coastal oak and black acacia to avocado, laurel, olive and more. Find them at Mixture, 2210 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy, 619.239.4788.

bicentennial
¡Viva MExico!
The year 2010 marks not only the 200th anniversary of Mexican independence but also the 100th anniversary of its revolution, and celebrations are taking place throughout San Diego—which was, after all, a Mexican territory for a time in the 1820s, when the Mexican flag flew over Old Town. Get in on the action at one of these related fiestas:

• Skirts twirl, colors fly and theatricality reigns when Mexico City’s Ballet Folklórico de México appears as part of San Diego Symphony’s Winter Pops series, March 21.

• Local trumpeter/composer Jeff Nevin and members of his mariachi band offer Música Mexicana, a bilingual, kid-friendly program with the Classics Philharmonic, April 25 at the Balboa Theatre.

• Collaborating with Centro Cultural de Tijuana, the Mingei International Museum’s ¡Viva México! exhibition showcases the federal government’s collection of Mexican folk art in Balboa Park. Among the 150 loaned objects are yarn paintings made by the Huichols of the Sierra Madre mountains and a monumental painted Tree of Life sculpture.

• Also in Balboa Park, the Museum of Photographic Arts screens Mexican film classics in its on-site theater March 11, April 8 and May 6.

• And of course, the grandaddy of them all is Fiesta Old Town Cinco de Mayo, a weekend filled with Mexican cuisine, mariachi music and dancing. The free event happens May 1-2.

MUSIC
Classical but not conventional
No arts group needs to be reminded of the obvious: While their core audiences get grayer, the younger generation is far more interested in playing Rock Band than learning about classical music. But you won’t catch San Diego’s classical groups sitting around and bemoaning “kids these days.” Instead, they’re innovating, through education and unusual yet inspired programming.

• After 26 years as the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Nova got a new image along with its new moniker and now presents programs with names like CSI: Beethoven: Inside Ludwig’s Head, offering a “forensic” perspective that makes ol’ Ludwig Van seem anything but stodgy. Investigate for yourself May 7, 8 and 10.

• Another chamber group, Art of Elan, is reaching out to new audiences through a partnership with the San Diego Museum of Art, featuring short, one-hour performances of compositions inspired by paintings in the museum’s collection. March 23’s Storytelling is inspired by William Bouguereau’s “The Young Shepherdess”.

• Finally, San Diego Symphony’s Symphony Exposed packs an entire symphony and its behind-the-scenes story into one theatrical hour of entertainment featuring historical photos and costumed actors; a March 25 event paints a portrait of Gershwin, while Tchaikovsky’s Ninth is in the spotlight May 20.

art
FLOAT ON
Worth a look at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego this spring is a new two-part video installation from Danish artist Lærke Lauta. The museum will show a pair of works from Lauta, the commissioned Floating Female and The Accident, both vaguely ominous pieces featuring a female character traveling through an austere Scandinavian landscape. The simple, striking visuals of Female and open-ended narrative of Accident are totally absorbing. See it March 26–June 20 at MCASD downtown.