July 18: Yellow Dogs at Bar Pink.

^{Courtesy photo}

Want to find out what a bunch of rockers in exile are doing in our fine city? Or maybe you’re a quiet young poet who would rather go to a reading. If you’re a loud woman screaming as you go through menopause; or a beach combing beer drinker bent on a morning of destruction; or an aging hippie wanting to enjoy the eve of destruction with 1960s rockers – this is your week!

July 15: Poetry reading

Where: Art Center Lofts, The Ink Spot (downtown)

Tickets: Free

San Diego Writers, Ink is the group here in the literary community, helping nurture writers and poets, and putting on various fun events for word enthusiasts. They have a “Room to Write” a few Sundays each month, and for the folks that have written poems they want to share, there’s a poetry reading. You won’t find a more intellectual group that is also very encouraging for a poet reading their prose for the first time. (more info: 619-696-0363)

July 14 – 18^th: Menopause – The Musical

Where: Balboa Theatre

Tickets: $47.50/$52.50 (no one under 6-years-old)

If you missed all the clever risqué songs in Avenue Q last weekend, here’s your chance at another humorous musical parody. This one is billed as a “hilarious celebration of women and The Change.” This deals with four women at a lingerie sale, and they break out into '60s, '70s, and '80s songs (with a comedic twist, of course). Who wouldn’t laugh hearing “Puff, My God I’m Draggin’”? (more info: SDBalboa.org)

July 17: Over the Line

Where: Fiesta Island

Tickets: Free

This is the Old Mission Beach Athletic Club’s biggest event of the year. The tournament started last weekend, but many people don’t realize they have a second weekend of play. And if watching three-man softball style games aren’t your idea of fun, what about the idea of drinking on the beach? There are three different areas to do that, with lots of food set-ups. Sure, the crowds aren’t as big as the first weekend, but you’ll still get a lot of good people watching in, Ms. Emerson will be running around, and you get to giggle at all the raunchy sounding names you hear announced over the PA system. It starts in the morning, and that gives you time to hit some live shows at night. (more info: ombac.org)

July 17: Barry McGuire/John York

Where: AMSD Concerts, Normal Heights

Tickets: $20 -- $45 (discounts for children)

The church on Adams Avenue that hosts concerts is a wonderful venue. The acoustics are perfect, and it caters to folks who want to see the artist, not talk or text on their cell phones. There are goodies sold in the lobby, as well as many artists appearing afterwards to sign albums and CDs. I’ve seen Janis Ian, J.D. Souther, Al Kooper and a few others here. Always a great time. John York appeared on many Byrds albums, and Barry McGuire is the former New Christy Minstrel (remember the tune Green Green?), who had a huge '60s hit with Eve of Destruction. Where better to hear that song than a huge church? (more info: 619-303-8176)

July 18: Yellow Dogs & Hypernova

Where: Bar Pink, North Park

Tickets: Free

The best reviewed documentary of last year was No One Knows About Persian Cats, about the music scene in Iran (and how underground it has to be, otherwise you might be lashed, jailed, or both). Some people hate country. Some hate rap. In Iran, they hate anyone performing Western style tunes of any genre. The band Yellow Dogs was featured prominently in that film and this is your chance to catch them in an intimate setting (without the risk of being arrested)... Hypernova left Iran before the film was shot, but some of the former band members formed Yellow Dogs. These guys are all living in an apartment in New York (where’s MTV for a Real World Tehran?) Both bands are in exile. Do you need more reason to see them than that? Isn’t rock ‘n roll all about rebellion, and going against authority? There’s a difference between bands in America playing too loudly in their garage versus bands in Iran that have to make sure neighbors don’t have them arrested merely for playing at any volume. If you need a description of the sound: think New Order meets Franz Ferdinand. Bar Pink usually has cheap drinks, and I’m guessing on the night of their three-year anniversary, they’ll have some other fun stuff up their sleeves. (more info: 619-564-7194)