Hello, San Diego!

We're thrilled to offer our readers another discount for a Center for World Music concert! Grammy Award-winning musicians Martha Gonzalez and Tylana Enomoto will perform at the Mingei next Friday night. Participant Observer readers can get a generous discount on general admission or VIP tickets using the code "WVP10". Don't miss out - see you there!

Throughout the weekend, the Ticitozaa Folklorico Dance Festival will take place at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido. The 34th Annual San Diego International Jewish Film Festival continues at the JCC.

Friday, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival will begin at MOPA at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park. Mozart's opera Don Giovanni will be performed at the Civic Theatre. Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo will perform at Balboa Theatre. The play Chapatti will begin performances at Scripps Ranch Theatre. The film Occupied City will be screened at the Digital Gym with additional showings next Monday and Thursday. There will be a French Film Club & Crepes event at the San Diego French American School. They will be screening the French-language Swiss film Presque. Charlie Chavez y Afrotruko will perform at Dizzy's.

Saturday and Sunday, Black Com!x Day will take place at the Worldbeat Center.

Saturday, at the Japanese Friendship Garden, there will be a day-long Setsubun Mask Making demonstration and workshop along with performances and Japanese food. The San Diego Central Library will hold a Korean American Celebration. The exhibition New Histories - Where Present Meets Past will open at the Photographer's Eye Gallery. There will be a Lunar New Year Lion Dance performance at Olive Grove Park. At North University Community Library, there will be a discussion on the One Book One San Diego selection of The Sum of Us sponsored by the City and County of San Diego Filipino American Employees' Associations. There will be a Lunar New Year Lion Dancing Celebration at the Mission Valley Library. The film Unsung Heroes, A Black Veteran's Story will be screened and discussed at the Valencia Park/Malcolm X Library. Si Pudiera Quedarme (If I Could Stay) will be shown at MOPA. Waltz & Such and the SD Vintage Dance Society will host their annual Viennese Grand Victorian Ball at the Balboa Park Club. Camarada will perform Argentinian tango music at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center. There will be a Traditions Alive Iranian Music and Dance Concert at Joan B. Kroc Theatre. You can learn the fundamentals of Chinese pipa at the My First Pipa Class at the Chinese Historical Museum. At the San Diego City College Gymnasium, the Our Time - Sixty Years of Triumph event will celebrate and honor the accomplishments of Black women leaders.

Sunday, at the Balboa Park Club Ballroom, the February Folk Festival will be held featuring many different styles of folk dancing. The extraordinary bluegrass and Americana band A.J. Lee and Blue Summit will perform at the Casbah. We are going! At Mic Drop Comedy Club, there will be a Lunar New Year Comedy Event. Diego Amador Jr. will perform at the Turquoise. Iraqi superstar Sufyan will perform at the Pure Lounge.

Monday, multilingual vocalist Coral MacFarland Thuet will perform at the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library as part of their ongoing noontime short concert series.

Tuesday, at the San Diego Civic Theatre, Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance will perform. Warwick's will host Seth Lerer as he discusses and signs his new book, Introducing the History of the English Language.

Next Thursday, at UCSD, there will be a talk on Jazz Religion, 2nd Line & Black New Orleans. The San Diego Italian Film Festival will screen the film Perfect Strangers (Perfetti Sconosciuti) at La Paloma Theatre. Trio de Janeiro will perform at The Jazz Lounge.

Next Friday and Saturday, the Gaslamp Mardi Gras will go down with an additional day on the following Tuesday.

Next Friday, UCSD's CARTA will present an online talk on Body Modification: Anatomy, Alteration, and Art in Anthropogeny. At the Linda Vista Library, there will be a Lunar New Year Lion Dance performance. At Hall of Nations (International Cottages), A Year in Italia News will be a discussion of current events in Italy. There will be a Blacktronica, Back to the Source concert at UCSD. At the Mingei, the Center for World Music will present a concert with Grammy-winner Martha Gonzalez along with Tylana Enomoto. There will be a Midnight Lion Dance Show at Chua Ba Thien Hau.

Next Saturday, the annual San Diego Lunar New Year Festival at Henwood Memorial Park will happen. At the Taiwanese American Community Center, there will be a Lunar New Year Dumpling Party. The San Diego First United Methodist Church will host a Lunar New Year Celebration & Concert. Filipino rock band Parokya ni Edgar will perform at the DoubleTree. The Opposites Art Show Opening will take place at Distinction Gallery. At the California Center for the Arts, there will be a Mardi Gras Mambo performance. Baile De San Valentin at The Sound at the Del Mar Racetrack will feature performances by five different Mexican bands. 

Next Sunday, Asian Story Theater will present Two Dragons at the Serra Mesa-Kearny Mesa Library. The San Diego Chinese Historical Museum will host an online talk entitled: Treasures in the Ancient Poem.

Local theatrical productions include The Crucible at Lamplighters Community Theatre in La Mesa (ends Sunday), English at the Old Globe, Intimate Apparel at the North Coast Rep. (ends Sunday), Outside Mullingar at Lamb's Players in Coronado, and Chapatti at Scripps Ranch Theatre.

Please note that after two weeks in the main calendar section, ongoing events (such as exhibitions and plays) can be found in Ongoing and Extended Events.

French Canadian Poutine