Our picks of this week's events

SPECIAL EVENTS

Take a ride

Carla Concha and her partner want to ride their bikes from San Francisco to Los Angeles. And no, it’s not for fun—the really, really long ride is for AIDS LifeCycle, an event that raises money for the fight against HIV/AIDS. Before they bike off into the sunset, the pair will be throwing a do-it-yourself craft fair called Craft and Destroy: A Craft Fair to End AIDS, from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 24, in the parking lot of The Rubber Rose, 3812 Ray St. in North Park. In addition to the handmade arts and crafts and performances by MC Flow and Lauren DeRose, you’ll have the opportunity to play cornhole—you know, the game where you toss corn-filled bags into holes cut into a wooden platform—and win a “Master Cornholer” T-shirt designed by local artist Gina Grossini. www.aidslifecycle.org.

FILM

Screen scene

The end of the school year is approaching, and for most students, that means a sigh of relief. On the other hand, for us non-college-age folks, it also means the conclusion of UCSD’s acclaimed ArtPower! program, which puts on some of the city’s more interesting arts-related events. Finishing the 2007-08 ArtPower! season is the inaugural Up & Coming film festival at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 22. The event gives UCSD students a chance to screen their short films for a panel of local experts, including KPBS film critic Beth Accomando, filmmaker/actress Kate Dollenmayer and festival curator Rebecca Webb. The show will be preceded by an experimental-music performance by Matt Swagler & The Dirty Birds, and the theme for the evening is “Do-It-Yourself.” Lucky for those short on cash, admission is pay-what-you-can, but do try to scrounge up some cash to support local artists, would ya? The screenings will be at the Price Center Theatre on UCSD Campus. www.artpower.ucsd.edu.

ART

Why click?

The photo “Camel Man with Cell Phone” has a story behind it. “What stopped me,” says the photographer, William Huber, “was the casual grace of the Dishdash-wearing veterinarian chatting on the cell phone to Paris in the 114-degree heat of the noonday summer sun.” The statements and stories behind the 102 photos in this year’s Art of Photography Show, a big juried annual exhibition at the Lyceum Theater Gallery in Horton Plaza, Downtown, will be explored and discussed from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 22, at the Gallery Walkthrough with the Producer event, a casual stroll through the multi-leveled gallery with Steven Churchill, the driving force behind the Art of Photography Show. www.artofphotographyshow.com.

Heavy words: Artist Bruce Nauman is a jack of many trades, but he’s truly a master of one in particular. Nauman’s neon sculptures and light-room installations are the focus of the Elusive Signs exhibition opening Sunday, May 25, at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s La Jolla Location, 700 Prospect St. Created early in his career, the works in the show range from heavy and contemplative plays on words to downright crude and hilarious images with text that will surely offend at least a few museum guests. The show will be on view through Aug. 31. www.mcasd.org.

MUSIC

Get jazzed

It’s safe to say that virtually every jazz musician alive has been influenced by Miles Davis in one way or another. Because the deceased musical pioneer’s birthday conveniently falls on a national holiday this year, the hard-bop lovers over at Dizzy’s are throwing the Miles on Memorial Day festival from 2 to 8 p.m. Monday, May 26. The fest features performances by local jazz groups The Jazz Ensemble (a 20-piece band made up of talented emerging musicians as young as 14), The ESP Quintet and the Gilbert Castellanos Quartet, with guests Daniel Jackson and Gary LeFebvre. There’ll be beer, wine and a barbecue, so you won’t be missing out on the more traditional holiday activities. Dizzy’s is located at the San Diego Wine & Culinary Center, Harbor Towers at Second Avenue and J Street, Downtown. Free. 858-270-7467 or www.dizzyssandiego.com.

BALBOA PARK

The new search

Most artists struggle their whole lives to come up with something truly original, and many die without ever succeeding. Hungarian artist Joseph Domjan is one of the lucky few who took two of his talents—printmaking and painting—and put them together to create something simple that had never really been done before. Thirty of Domjan’s oil-painted woodcuts are just a small part of Hungarian Folk Magic, an exhibition of his work currently showing at Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park. At noon Thursday, May 22, Lilla Szabo, curator at the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest, will stop by the Mingei to talk about Domjan’s contributions to the art world. She’ll also acknowledge other Hungarian expatriate artists from the 19th century through the present. www.mingei.org. $15.

DANCE

The stomp

The Worldbeat Cultural Center is probably the most overlooked cultural institution in San Diego. Sure, it’s small and located on the outskirts of Balboa Park in a refashioned water tank, but that doesn’t stop the organization from acting big and bringing in some interesting acts. The center’s latest endeavor is bringing us the Kusun Ensemble, an African dance-and-drum group that combines traditional dances and rhythms with contemporary twists. The group will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 22, at the City Heights Performance Annex, 3795 Fairmont Ave., and at 8 p.m. Friday, May 23, at the center, 2100 Park Blvd. The group will also host drum-and-dance workshops at the center throughout the weekend. The performances cost $10. Call 619-230-1190 or visit www.worldbeatcenter.org for details about the workshops.

NIGHTLIFE

Trashing tradition

In Japan, sumo wrestling is an ancient and respected sport that involves all kinds of interesting rituals and rules. In the United States, however, we like to throw on hilarious blow-up sumo suits, get drunk on sake and ram into each other until we fall down and pee ourselves laughing. At 8 p.m. Friday, May 23, the fun and fitness-loving people at VAVi, a sports and social club that organizes things like beach volleyball and adult kickball, hosts Sake and Sumo night at Aubergine, 500 Fourth Ave., Downtown. If you RSVP, you’ll get an hour of free sake. Everyone who attends is invited to throw on a sumo suit. E-mail Emily@govavi.com to get on the official list, and visit www.govavi.com for details.