Celebrate October as “National Arts and Humanities” Month with the annual Oceanside Music Festival. OMFest runs Oct. 12 through Oct. 24 with a wide variety of concerts including jazz, big band, light opera, steel drum scheduled in a variety of venues throughout the Oceanside area including: Oceanside Museum of Art, Sunshine Brooks Theatre, MiraCosta College, Mission San Luis Rey, and St Mary’s Star of the Sea Church. All of the performances have a youth component, and are geared for the entire family. OMFest is hoping to encourage young musicians to further the exploration of their arts. For more information on individual concerts, performers, times, ticket prices go to web site www.ocaf.info/OMF or call Message Center 760-433-3632

 OMFest 2010 scheduled line-up is as follows:

–Tues., Oct 12, 6:00 pm Oceanside Museum of Art, John Steiger Memorial Performing Arts Scholarship Gala

–Thurs., Oct 14, 7:00 pm, MiraCosta Music Concert Hall, High School Showcase

–Sat., Oct 16, 7:00 pm, Sunshine Brooks Theatre, “World Rhythms” multicultural concert

–Sun., Oct 17, 2:00 pm, St Mary Star of the Sea Church, “Global Spirit” concert of liturgical music

–Fri., Oct 22, 7:30 pm, MiraCosta Concert Hall, “Opera, Aria Coming?” an evening of scenes from favorite light operas

–Sun., Oct 24, 2:00 pm Peryi Lawn, Mission San Luis Rey, “Big Band” concert with Tom Morrow and the Oceanside Society Orchestra

Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA) announces A Season of Chagall, an exciting series of programs celebrating Jewish art and culture inspired by the art and life of Marc Chagall (1887-1985), the iconic modernist and foremost Jewish artist of the 20^th century.  A Season of Chagall features two performances of Chagall: A Dance/Musical by Yale Strom and John Malashock, performed by Malashock Dance and HOT PSTROMI, an illustrated lecture on Chagall’s art and life, and Roots of Chagall: The Sights and Sounds of Vitebsk, a concert  featuring music and archival images from Chagall’s birthplace in Belarus. A Season of Chagall is an extraordinary collaboration between OMA, MiraCosta College, Malashock Dance, Yale Strom and HOT PSTROMI, and San Diego Repertory Theater. These programs are made possible by the generous support of The Leichtag Family Foundation.

 On October 20 and 21 OMA will present the North County premiere of a special expanded workshop production of Chagall: A Dance Musical by Yale Strom & John Malashock , in collaboration with Malashock Dance, Yale Strom and Hot PStromi, San Diego Repertory Theater and MiraCosta College. This dynamic and engaging work further elaborates the original production that opened earlier this year at the Lipinsky Family San Diego Jewish Arts Festival in a smaller three act version to sold out audiences. It explores the sources of Chagall’s artistic inspiration and his important relationships with the women in his life, through original music by Yale Strom and choreography by John Malashock. The stage production tells its story through music, dance and song— all related to the various styles and times of Chagall’s life in Vitebsk, St. Petersburg, Paris, New York and the South of France. The expanded production in October will explore new aspects of Chagall’s life and work in additional scenes and include participation by selected MiraCosta dance and music students. The performance on October 21 at 7:30 pm at the MiraCosta College Theater is a fundraiser for OMA. It includes a catered pre performance reception and post performance reception with the artists, co-sponsored by the MiraCosta College Foundation. Tickets are $75 and reservations are required.  Tickets for both performances are available through the MiraCosta College Box Office, 760.795.6815, or www.miracosta.edu/events.

 On November 14, at 2 pm OMA will present an illustrated lecture on the art and life of Chagall in the Groves Auditorium. The lecture will explore the artist’s universal appeal, his unparalleled use of color and the influences on his whimsical imagery, including Yiddish and Russian folklore. It also will explore the challenges Chagall faced as an artist in pre Revolution Russia, such as the anti-Semitic regulations that prohibited Jews from attending art schools. The speaker for this program will be announced at a later date. Admission is $25, $20 for OMA members, and $10 for students; reservations are recommended and seating is open. Tickets are available at the museum, 760.435.3720.

 The final program in the series will be Roots of Chagall: The Sights and Sounds of Vitebsk, by Yale Strom and HOT PSTROMI on Wednesday, December 8 at 7 pm in the Groves Auditorium. The concert will feature music, ethnomusicology and images of Vitebsk, Chagall’s birthplace, and the surrounding region, from the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The program will include klezmer dance tunes and Yiddish folk songs. Many of these tunes and images will be from Yale Strom’s sound and photo archives based upon his ethnographic research done in Eastern Europe over the last 25 years. Admission is $25, $20 for OMA members, and $10 for students; reservations are recommended and seating is open. Tickets are available at the museum, 760.435.3720.

 Oceanside Museum of Art is located at 704 Pier View Way in downtown Oceanside within walking distance from the Oceanside transit center with Amtrak and NCTD Coaster stops. For questions call 760.435.3720 or visit the museum’s website at www.oma-online.org

 Image credits:

Marc Chagall, Detail of Tribe of Benjamin, lithograph, ca. 1962, courtesy of Rudy and Elizabeth Van Hunnick.

The public is invited to celebrate Mexican culture and independence in Oceanside on Wednesday, September 15, from 4:00 to 9:00 pm at the Civic Center Library and Plaza area, located at 330 N. Coast Highway.  The annual fiesta, called “Noche Mexicana,” is free and open to the public.  It will be particularly special this year as neighboring Mexico celebrates its bicentennial—two hundred years of independence.

The event, whose program this year features the theme “Así se lleva México en la Piel” (“That’s the Feeling You Get from Mexico”) will begin at 4:00 pm with a welcome from “Charro” singer Jorge Estrada, who like all performers donates his time to this event.  Traditional Mexican dance will be offered Calpulli Omeyocan, directed by Sandra Carmona, and two Ballet Folklorico troupes: Tapatío, directed by Luis Oceguera; and Tierra Caliente, directed by Jose Jaimes.

Mariachi Juvenil de San Diego will perform music of Mexico, and this group of student musicians, directed by Serafín S. Paredes, will help conclude the evening by accompanying the traditional reenactment of “El Grito de Dolores” (the “Call for Independence”), Father Miguel Hidalgo’s inspiring speech which became the rallying cry of Mexican Independence Day.

A number of booths that offer information on community services and a variety of typical Mexican food, arts and crafts will add to the liveliness of the event, as will free activities for children, including making their own crafts and listening to Mexican folktales.  The library will feature a display of books that highlight Mexican independence, art and culture, that will run throughout Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 – October 15.

The Noche Mexicana event is organized by a small group of dedicated community leaders from Oceanside, Library staff, and many wonderful volunteers, working together to offer a satisfying and enjoyable experience for everyone.  If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of future “Noche Mexicana” events in Oceanside, contact Pamela Avellan at (619) 279-0454.  For more information about this community event and about the Library’s programs and services, call (760) 435-5560 or visit www.oceansidepubliclibrary.org .

The Sunshine Brooks Theatre proudly presents pianist Eric Marchese in an exciting evening of ragtime solo piano on Saturday night, August 28, 2010.

Ragtime pianist and composer Eric Marchese returns to the Sunshine Brooks Theatre in Oceanside for the fifth consecutive year, presenting an evening of solo piano chock-full of information on the music and composers of the vintage ragtime era. The performance, held annually, is a fund-raiser for the theater, which produces plays and various musical events throughout the year.

Marchese performs a variety of classic, folk, popular, Tin Pan Alley and advanced rags as well as contemporary ragtime pieces. In addition to his piano performance, he shares his broad knowledge of ragtime’s history with his audiences – something he’s done at a wide variety of Southern California venues.

Marchese’s program will include pieces from the vintage ragtime era (1896 to 1918) both well-known and obscure, including pieces by ragtime greats George Cobb, Charles L. Johnson, Julia Lee Niebergall and Charley Straight; early rags and cakewalks such as “At a Georgia Camp Meeting” and “A Warm Reception”; and obscurities like the 1918 foxtrot “Blue Moon” and 1904’s “Lazy Luke.”

The evening also includes several great 1910 pieces such as “Grizzly Bear Rag”; a medley of Scott Joplin pieces published between 1899 and 1910; and a sample of Marchese’s own original piano rags.

Orange County audiences know Marchese as the co-founder of RagFest, the Fullerton-based annual ragtime festival which he coordinates and emcees each year, and as the founder and coordinator of the Fullerton-based Orange County Ragtime Society (OCRS), now in its ninth year.

The concert is at 8 p.m. at Sunshine Brooks Theatre, 217 N. Coast Hwy. in Oceanside. Tickets are $15 per person, $12 for seniors, and can be obtained at the box office, by phoning the box office at 760-529-9140, or via online ticketing at www.nvtheatre.com. Fans can find Marchese on Facebook and email him at emarchesewriter@gmail.com.

Bike the Coast – Taste the Coast,  Oceanside’s annual signature event, will cater to both the experienced and beginner riders. This wonderful new event will be held on November 6, 2010,  to promote bicycling and offer a festival at the Oceanside Pier with food, drink, music and fun.

 Sharing the Oceanside Pier with the start and finish of the bicycling event, the Taste The Coast exposition will feature attractions and activities for both riders and spectators.  Main Street Oceanside, producers of the very popular weekly Farmers and Sunset Markets, will provide food and music at the Taste The Coast.  Taste the Coast offers a chance to experience the food and fun that Oceanside has to offer.  

 Bike The Coast offers a choice of 7, 15, 25 or 50-mile bicycle ride starting and finishing with food, fun and music at the Oceanside Pier. The cycling courses include the San Luis Rey Bike Trail and San Diego’s North County beach towns of Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach and Del Mar. Beginners and experienced cyclists are welcome.  Kids are welcome with parents, and the Bike Trail routes are perfect for visitors with beach cruisers as well as riders with mountain bikes, road bikes and BMX bikes. Proceeds from the ride support the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, a non-profit organization dedicated to making bicycling better in greater San Diego.

 For more information about Bike The Coast including registration and sponsorship and exhibition packets go to www.Bike-the-Coast.com or call us at 760/632-6843.   http://www.bike-the-coast.com

If you would be interested in volunteering for this event please call 760/632-6843.

Experience the feeling of being underwater in a new installation by Richard Gleaves titled Liquid. Gleaves will fill the Parker Gallery with a floating 8-foot cube constructed from 19,000 feet of monofilament fishing line. The cube creates what the artist calls “a tactile field of simulated liquid” which abstractly represents both the visual and tactile properties of water. Viewers are encouraged to not just look at the artwork, but also to walk through it and under it to experience the sensation of liquid. Liquid will be on view in the OMA Parker Gallery August 21 through November 21, 2010. Meet the artist Richard Gleaves on Saturday, September 25 at 2:00 p.m. and hear him discuss the concept behind his new installation. The talk is free with admission and free for OMA members. Refreshments will be provided

The concept for Liquid relates to the artist’s childhood growing up on the seashore. His family had a beach house on the sand in Sunset Beach, California (in Orange County), so every summer was spent being a beach kid. His older brothers were active fishermen, so fishing poles and lots of fishing line were always around the house. As a result, fishing line is something he feels very comfortable with, having grown up playing with it. Beanclam.com is a personal memorial site he maintains for his family home, because it and the surrounding community had a deep effect on forming him as a person and an artist.

 Gleaves is no stranger to the San Diego art scene. His work has been featured at the San Diego Museum of Art, The New Children’s Museum, California Center for the Arts, Escondido, Sushi Performing Art and many local galleries. Born in Los Angeles, Gleaves moved to San Diego to study at University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University. He received a M.A. in Educational Technology from SDSU after a year of studying visual arts at UCSD. Gleaves currently lives and works in La Jolla, California.

The Parker Gallery is located on the 2nd level of Oceanside Museum of Art and is designed for special projects. For more information about “Meet the Artist” or other museum programs call the museum at 760.435.3720. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sunday 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. General admission is $8, $5 for seniors and free for students, military and their dependants. The museum is located at 704 Pier View Way in downtown Oceanside, 92054, within walking distance from the Oceanside Transit Center with Amtrak, Coaster, Sprinter and Metrolink stops. The museum Web site offers photo galleries of recent exhibitions as well as a calendar of coming events, www.oma-online.org.

WAM-FEST is a premier 1 day Wine, Art, and Music Festival at the Oceanside Pier Amphitheater on Saturday, August 28. The competition-like line up will feature over 30 different estate wines from South Africa,Germany, Austria, Spain, France and Argentina. 4,000 wine enthusiasts will be treated to refreshing summer whites, soft and bold reds, unique sparklers as well as world renowned dessert wines. Our experienced and professional staff is looking forward to guiding the novice to the enthusiast to “Our World of Wines” at WAM-FEST 2010. Also featured at WAM-FEST will be original fine art and crafts for viewing and purchase, food samplings from San Diego restaurants, a live performance stage, and an eclectic line up of music including soca, blues, and classic rock on the main stage. Included in the ticket price is a wine tasting and souvenier glass. This is an all age event.

Public Information Number: (760) 473-4516

If the words “Quad Sport,” “Deuce Coupe,” and “Chopper” bring back memories of freedom, fun, and carefree days of youth, then Wheel Fun’s 6 locations in San Diego County may be just what you’re looking for.

Wheel Fun Rentals offers a chance to rediscover the joys of having some old-fashioned fun.  “Somewhere along the line most of us got off our bikes and into automobiles,” says McInerney, Wheel Fun Rentals founder and executive vice president.  “Our purpose is to help you rediscover what you knew by heart as a kid – that once you climbed on your beloved bike and headed through the mud puddles, you were really free and headed for fun.”

Mud puddles and beloved bikes notwithstanding, Wheel Fun Rentals delivers a menu of strictly 21^st century specialty bicycles that satisfy the whims of even the most amused-challenged among us.  Unabashedly nostalgic, Wheel Fun sports a logo that is reminiscent of a 1950s family taking a ride and having fun.  “How many of us remember that we used to ride bikes just to have fun?” says McInerney.  If your memory fails, here’s a refresher course:

Deuce Coupe  This is a two-seater and both people get to pedal.  Adults or children can sit and pedal and there’s a jump seat in the back to carry kids 6 years and younger.  Neat fun.  Good fun for ages 2 to 80.

 Quad Sport  A four-wheel ride down the memory lane of Go-carts.  Formula One steering lets the single rider turn on a dime.  Good for ages 6 to 60. *Available at Oceanside location only

The Chopper  A single seater designed for laid back cruising and sightseeing.  The handlebars and seat are designed for comfort, just like a motorcycle chopper.  Ideal for ages 6 to 60. *Available at Oceanside location only

 Surrey  This family four wheeled cycle seats from three to nine adults (up to six get to pedal) plus two children.  Rack and pinion steering, drum brakes, and multiple independent chain drive pedaling systems.  Great for ages 1 to 99.

 Wheel Fun appeals to both locals and vacationing families as an amusement diversion and is usually an impulse buy.  ”Families will be walking down the boardwalk, through the park, or along the beach and see our Surreys and one of the kids will pull the parents in and say, ‘Hey we’ve got to try this,’” says Wheel Fun president Al Stonehouse.  An important underlying aspect of the business is that it “invites involvement in the activity instead of just having an external distraction that is offered by so many amusement venues,” says Stonehouse.  Hourly rentals range from $10 to $30, depending on the vehicle.

Currently 94 Wheel Fun Rentals locations operate in 13 states and more are planned.  Wheel Fun Rentals is a business that invites you to take a step backward and forward at the same time – to rekindle the memories of childhood freedom and create memories of family fun.  You’ll know you’ve arrived when you can say “Yes!” to the question, “Have you ever pedaled a Quad Sport?”

 Wheel Fun Rentals has contributed over two million dollars to Park and Recreation departments across the country over the last five years.  The company welcomes people with disabilities and provides free rentals to all Big Brothers Big Sisters matches.

Bring the family and enjoy an evening of free music in the park! 

The City of Oceanside’s Neighborhood Services Department/Parks & Recreation Division and the Arts Commission will present a free evening of music at Rancho del Oro Park, 4700 Mesa Drive.  The event will be on Friday, August 13, from 5:15 – 8:00 pm.  Food and beverages will be sold at the event.

Bring a beach blanket or a beach chair and plan to stay for the duration.  Bring your family and friends to this fun event.  Carpooling is encouraged, parking is limited.  Arts Commissioner Karen Williams-Graham says “this event is not to be missed, come and enjoy music in the park”.  The entertainment line up will be:  5:15 – 6:00 pm “The Damsels in Dis-Dress” this band will perform popular hits for all to enjoy!  The headliner will perform from 6:00  – 8:00 pm, it will be Ms. Patricia Livingston and Mr. Clarence Webb, who will sing/perform Motown favorites and music from the all the past 40 years!! 

For more information call (760) 435-5041.

I had heard that there was a waterfall in Oceanside but I had not seen it. So off I went in search of this mysterious waterfall that few seemed to even know existed.

To the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians, this waterfall is considered a sacred site.  According to news reports, the waterfall was a popular recreation spot a century ago.

I was pleased when I parked the car and got out. I could hear it before I saw it. Sitting directly on the border of Carlsbad and Oceanside, the 40-foot El Salto Falls is a pretty waterfall, accessible by coming into the quarry from Haymar Drive, running along Highway 78.

The waterfall can also be seen from atop the embankment behind the Kohl’s Department Store in the Quarry Creek shopping center on Marron Road.

This is a pretty waterfall.