Ray at Night Art Walk & Street Fair, Free for Everyone

On the second Saturday of every month, the streets of North Park populate with hipsters, emos and art lovers alike for Ray at Night. The event is one of those things you've probably heard a lot about, in passing conversations, but never took the time to follow up on. I remember a time when Ray at Night was confined to Ray Street alone. These days, however, Ray at Night is beginning to resemble the Borg more and more, little by little assimilating all of North Park and expanding beyond just the arts; beyond what its founder, Gustaf Rooth ever imagined. Whether this is a positive or negative, I'll leave up to you to decide.

Politics aside, Ray at Night is a whole lot of fun and costs nothing to attend. You grab a map and hit every open house (which includes galleries, dance studios and more) or you can freestyle it and see where the crowds take you. There is live music on the street, booths set up with great local artisans showing off their goods and, my personal favorite, the art gallery exhibitions. If you're like me, you loose patience with one tiny gallery which only has 10 pieces displayed. Ray at Night is a great opportunity to take in a lot of art from a lot of different open houses in one big gulp. My personal funny memory from my last attendance was my mom exploring The Rubber Rose (with me using "work calls" as an excuse to wait outside), something she was emboldened to do only because the atmosphere of the event was fun and exploratory.

Definitely do check out featured artist, Eric Wixon at the September 12th Ray at Night, which also happens to be the fair's 8th birthday. Eric's work is funky, colorful and thought provoking while still aesthetically attractive enough to hang in your living room; a feat many contemporary artist seem unable to achieve.

Ray at Night

3811 Ray St (corner of Ray St. and University... and all around it)

San Diego, CA 92104

www.rayatnight.com

Photo courtacy of northparkmainstreet.com

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-22272-San-Diego-Starving-Artist-Examiner~y2009m9d10-Ray-at-Night-Art-Walk--Street-Fair-Free-for-Everyone

Free Nights, Great Music and Cheap Drinks @ The Casbah

The Casbah in Middle Town San Diego (yes, they actually do call that area Middle Town but you can call it Little Italy if you want) has a 4.5 star rating on Yelp. It's an unassuming building on a great little piece of urban San Diego stretch and the high rating probably has something to do with the fact that the audience who frequents the Casbah are very dedicated to the formula: A live music venue focused on Music and not flashy downtown promoters.

The atmosphere casual, grungy and metal; this is real local music venue like you see in the movies. Casbah, indeed, 'keeps it real.' If you're looking for pretty plush couches and frilly chandlers, you're in the wrong joint. You go to The Casbah to hear music and see starving artists give their all to their dreams on that little stage. Cover charge ranges from $10-$20 depending on the show but this Monday night, you can go catch a show for free!

The headlining band is one of my personal favorites: The Republic of Letters. They have a great U2 influenced arena-rock style with an edge. Take a listen for yourself at www.myspace.com/republicofletters.

Drinks cost around $5 and they're usually dive-bar strength. This is, after all, a place frequented almost exclusively by starving artists and their fans. So for about $12, you can go catch a great show and a great band this Monday night. I have a feeling that the Republic of Letters are going to be very big stars in the near future; I can sense it. They're great looking, talented and marketable. If you're a San Diego local, you've known guys that talk about having seen Smashing Pumpkins or Nirvana at the Casbah before they were famous. This is your chance to someday say "I saw Republic of Letters at the Casbah and I was three inches away from them!"

Don't worry if you miss this Monday's show, The Casbah does have many free nights. Check out the schedule (www.casbahmusic.com/schedule.php) and plan a night out. The crowd tends to be a lot of,well, starving artists, actually! Every time I go there, I end up meeting a writer, or a photographer, or a poet or a (duh) a musician. It's a really great place to make like minded friends.

The Break Down: Monday, 9/7/2009, 8:00 PM at Casbah - Free show- at Casbah - The Republic of Letters and The Nervous Wreckords. Check out the Casbah's website for more free shows. Cool crowd, cheap drinks, live music.

Casbah
www.casbahmusic.com

2501 Kettner Blvd
San Diego, CA 92101-1217
(619) 232-4355

ART SHOW OPENING RECEPTION - AUG 22

Sex & Violence

DJs, live performances, no cover.

7pm - 11pm

http://thumbprintgallery.wordpress.com/future-2/

3925 Ohio St
San Diego, CA 92104

SATURDAY, AUG 15 - $5 for 1 hour of Hosted Vodka & Champagne!

Join [A Productions] Saturday at Sway for a $5 Cover 9:30pm to 10:30pm with hosted Vodka and Champagne.

Buy one bottle of Belvedere @ $325 and get one free before 11pm

Email to get on guestlist@aproduction.net to get on the guest list!

So... For the Staving Artists that means $5 for an hour of hosted Vodka. ;p

Sway is at the Keating Hotel in Downtown...

The Keating Hotel by Pininfarina www.thekeating.com 432 F Street San Diego, CA 92101 (619) 814-5700 Get directions

EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT - One hour of Free Champagne @ BarWest in PB

The Friday Standard

Hosted champagne from 9 -10pm (must RSVP to gary@barwestsd.com)

$5 Russian Standard vodka cocktails and $200 Russian Standard bottles, DJ T-Fresh.

Bar West

www.barwestsd.com

959 Hornblend St.
San Diego, CA 92109
(619) 544-1847

EVERY MONDAY - $0.50 Hot Dogs and Salsa Lessons

HAPPY HOUR Mondays @ Mo's in Hillcrest

50 Cent Hot Dogs in the Patio

$2 Grape Kamikazi Shots 2-11pm

Free Salsa Dance Lessons at 7pm

Urban Mo's

www.urbanmos.com

308 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 491-0400

SUNDAY, AUG 23 - Free Pizza and Condoms

Planned Parenthood of San Diego & Riverside Counties

Winston's in Ocean Beach for "Sex on Sunday: Pizza and Protection...for Free."

Sunday, August 23rd from 2-5pm. Yes, there really will be free pizza and free condoms!

Winston's Beach Club www.winstonsob.com 1921 Bacon St San Diego, CA 92107-2805 (619) 222-6822 Get directions