Some big names make up the lineup for the Del Mar racetrack’sSummer Concert Series (formerly known as the 4 O’Clock Fridaysseries).
The seven-week series features free concerts after the finalhorse race of the day on various evenings (six Fridays, twoSaturdays, one Sunday and one Wednesday) from July 24 through Sept.9. Most concerts take place at the Del Mar Fairgrounds’ Plaza deMexico, with a few larger bands playing in the track infield andthe season-closing concert in the fairgrounds’ Paddock. Concertadmission is free with paid racetrack admission.
The series is G. Love & Special Sauce, July 24; The Wailers,July 31; The Airborne Toxic Event, Aug. 7; Common Sense, Aug. 14;the Flaming Lips, Aug. 15; Pinback, Aug. 21; Steel Pulse, Aug. 22;Super Diamond, Aug. 28; Reggae Festival, Sept. 6; and a closing-dayparty on Sept. 9.
Call 858-755-1141 or visitdelmarscene.com.
Sheryl Lee Ralph has replaced Adriane Lenox in the Old Globe’spre-Broadway tryout of the musical “The First Wives Club,” whichwill open in previews next month.
Lenox (who won the Tony Award for her performance in “Doubt”)left the production during the rehearsal process because of healthconcerns, according to a statement by the Old Globe.
Ralph earned a Tony Award for originating the role of Deena in”Dreamgirls” and originated the role of Muzzy in the La JollaPlayhouse’s original production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Shewas also a series regular on the television shows “Moesha” and”Designing Women.”
“The First Wives Club” will run July 17 through Aug. 23.
San Diego County Fair is a great place to see a showcase ofaward-winning work by local artists, but on Thursday, fairgoers cansee artists in action. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the fair will hostthe 2009 Plein Air Contest. More than 200 artists will set up theireasels around the fairgrounds to capture fair scenes in oil,acrylic, watermedia, drawing, pastels and other media. Judges willannounce the winners at 5 p.m. Visitsdfair.com.
Meanwhile, if you visit the fair on Thursday, there’s much moreto see.
Five North County singers and bands made it through thepreliminary round of the San Diego County Fair’s Musicpaloozacontest last weekend. Eight bands and eight singers will competeThursday in the semifinal rounds. Bands hit the Grandstand stage at11 a.m., and singers compete at 7 p.m. on the Showcase stage. Thefield will be narrowed to five semifinalists in each category for afinal showdown July 3.
North County bands still in the running are Talk Like June ofEscondido, the New Archaic of Encinitas and Endoxi of Carlsbad; andthe North County singers who remain are Danielle Tucker of Ramonaand Kate Fuller of Del Mar.
A free concert by the Marshall Tucker Band, scheduled for nextTuesday on the Paddock stage at the San Diego County Fair, has beencanceled. Fair officials said the wife of the band’s lead singer,Doug Gray, recently passed away and the band has canceled allengagements through July 1.
The Southern rock band the Outlaws will perform in itsplace.
Fans of North County-raised singing sensation Adam Lambert won’thave to wait very long for the first album from the “American Idol”runner-up.
Before he went on the Fox television show this year, Lambertrecorded more than two albums’ worth of material with an L.A.record label, which is now planning to put 11 of the best trackstogether for an album it will release this summer called “On Withthe Show.” In a published statement this week, Lambert acknowledgedthat he did record some songs in 2005 when he was a strugglingartist, but that these songs do not reflect the style and sound ofthe music he is creating today.
Nonetheless, Hi Fi and Wilshire Records will go ahead with therelease and fans can listen to the album’s debut single, “Want,” atwww.hifirecordings.com.
Meanwhile, Lambert is in the midst of recording a new CD with 19Recordings/RCA, the label associated with “American Idol,” and thatCD should be out in November. He will visit his hometown of SanDiego with the “American Idols” Live! tour on July 18 at the SanDiego Sports Arena.
To promote its musical “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” CygnetTheatre in San Diego will offer half-price admission to allticket-buyers who show up dressed in drag for a late-nightperformance on Saturday.
“Hedwig” is a rock musical about a frustrated rock singerstruggling to overcome the emotional and physical distress of abotched sex-change operation. Customers are encouraged to dress asHedwig or as Hedwig’s bandmate Yitzhak for the performance at 10p.m. at 6663 El Cajon Blvd., Suite N, in San Diego. They’ll gethalf-off the regular ticket prices of $32 to $36. Call619-337-1525.
Five years after it was born at La Jolla Playhouse and settledinto a Tony-winning run on Broadway, the musical “Jersey Boys” isstill one of the hardest-to-get tickets in town. Tickets for theBroadway show are sold out several months in advance, so buyershave to either plan way ahead or buy tickets at a steep premiumthrough ticket agencies.
Now, StubHub is launching an online marketplace where “JerseyBoys” fans can buy and sell tickets between each other or buytickets that aren’t available at the box office. It’s the firstsuch marketing technique for a Broadway show, and the StubHub sitewill offer tickets not only to the Broadway production of “JerseyBoys” but also the resident productions now playing in New York,Chicago and Las Vegas.
“Jersey Boys” tell the rags-to-riches musical story of FrankieValli and the Four Seasons.
The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center announced this week that itsIMAX dome theater will be renamed to honor the request of majordonors. On Monday, a ceremony was held to rename the theater inhonor of Eugene Heikoff and Marilyn Jacobs Heikoff, the late sisterand brother-in-law of local philanthropists Irwin Jacobs and hiswife, Joan Jacobs.
Pam Kragen is the arts editor of the North County Times.
