IT IS SHAPING UP TO BE A VERY BUSY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SUMMER
With VIDEOS! Car shows, monster trucks, movies, live theater, fireworks and San Diego Comic-Con
There is much to see and do here in San Diego County.
CAR SHOWS & MONSTER TRUCKS
A tradition at the San Diego County Fair is “Car Shows @ The Fair.” This year I drove my 2011 Mustang GT onto the Fairgrounds with the Mustang Club of San Diego.
Motorsports played a prominent role in the last couple of weeks of the Fair, culminating on the Fourth of July with exciting Jr. Outlaw Sprints races, monster trucks competing for style points and, of course, fireworks.
21-year-old Rosalee Ramer is a professional monster truck racing veteran of seven years, following in the footsteps of her dad, fellow competitor Kelvin Ramer, driver of “Time Flys.”
At the age of five, Rosalee began in motorsports in a go-kart. Five years later she moved into a trophy kart.
“My dad’s a gearhead, so anything with a motor – you know, four wheels – he’s into, and I was always out either in the shop or at shows, trying to get my hands dirty and helping out, learning as much as I could. I helped build my truck when I was 13.”
That truck is a 1,500 horsepower, 10,000-pound behemoth named “Wild Flower.” She wowed the judges and the audience when she took a jump and landed precariously balanced on a massive front tire in a difficult maneuver called a “stoppie,” after which she masterfully brought it back down on all four tires and continued her run.
After signing some autographs she told me: “We’re trying to put on a show, and part of that is those ‘WOW’ moments, things that kids really remember – and a few come up to you after the show and say ‘hey, I loved when you did THIS’ – and you know that’s the best feeling for me.”
“I get to compete against my dad every weekend I’m out. It’s pretty fun. More recently I started beating him, but that’s definitely thanks to him.”
Rosalee is studying Mechanical Engineering. This summer she is living in Michigan and doing an internship at General Motors.
“GREAT BARRIER REEF”
In the new IMAX film showing in the Dome Theater at The Fleet Science Center in San Diego’s beautiful Balboa Park, explore the Great Barrier Reef, which spans more than 1,400 miles off the coast of Australia. It is home to 411 different known types of living corals.
You will visit with Green Sea Turtles, giant manta rays and other magnificent creatures (see www.rhfleet.org/shows/great-barrier-reef) as you travel along with Queensland-based Jemma Craig. She grew up on a small island where she was – among other things – crocodile handler at her family’s zoo, a dive instructor and an underwater photographer (see islandjems.com).
“A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM”
Stephen Sondheim’s hilarious musical “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” was first performed as a stage play. It has won six Tony awards. My first time seeing “Forum” was in the 1966 film starring Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers and Buster Keaton. It instantly became one of my favorites. Now, through August 12th, it returns to the stage of the North Coast Repertory Theater in Solana Beach, California, in what may well be its most entertaining production to date.
The story is set in Roman times, in front of three houses. The central character is Pseudolus, an enterprising, happy-go-lucky, household slave (endearingly played by Omri Schein), who sings and dances his way along in an effort to seal a deal to bring two lovers together and earn his freedom. To have any hope of actually accomplishing that goal, he ends up weaving the most complex, convoluted, implausible, laugh-a-minute tale imaginable, and he gets other people to back him up, adding to the hilarity. That it will ever be resolved favorably looks more and more unlikely.
The cast is an absolute delight. With each rousing refrain of “Comedy Tonight,” we long to hear yet another and another.
One of my favorite characters is the Roman Captain, who reminds me of Gaston from “Beauty and the Beast.”For more information, go to northcoastrep.org.
SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON
San Diego Comic-Con takes place July 19 – 22 (www.comic-con.org/cci). Check back here for coverage.
COPYRIGHT © 2018 BY JAN WAGNER – AUTOMATTERS & MORE #549r4
