The Coronado Film Festival’s “Beatles Special Engagement”
So far as I know, The Beatles never visited Coronado before, during, or after its only San Diego concert at Balboa Stadium in 1965.
But the fabled band will be in the spotlight Saturday at the Coronado Film Festival for an event being billed as both “Beatles Special Engagement” and “Beatlemania Comes to Coronado!” Under any name, the three-hour presentation will explore the legacy that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr created as The Beatles.
While Lennon was assassinated in 1980 and Harrison died of cancer in 2001, Starr, 85, concluded his latest concert trek last month and McCartney, 83, is on his current U.S. tour through Nov. 23.
Paul McCartney sizzles in Palm Desert as he kicks off 2025 ‘Got Back’ tour
Saturday’s program will begin with a 12:30 p.m. screening of “From the Cavern to Coronado,” which showcases key performances by The Beatles shot between 1963 and 1965.
Renowned film authority Leonard Maltin will then conduct an interview with San Diego native Chuck Gunderson, the author of the comprehensive, two-volume book, “Some Fun Tonight! The Backstage Story of How The Beatles Rocked America: The Historic Tours of 1964-1966.”
This will be followed by Maltin interviewing New Orleans resident Bruce Spizer, who has written more than a dozen authoritative books chronicling The Beatles. The conversation with Spizer will focus on the band’s two feature films, “Help!” and “A Hard Day’s Night.”
Then comes a screening of “Tug of War at 40: A Retrospective,” a 2023 Sirius XM Radio interview with McCartney conducted by Tom Frangione, set to a visual presentation by Natalie Palumbo. She and Frangione will be interviewed by Maltin.
Attendees can also check out Gunderson’s Beatles memorabilia exhibit and listen to Timothy LaRoque perform Fab Four favorites in the lobby.
12:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8. Coronado Performing Arts Center, 650 D Ave., Coronado. (619) 821-9924. festival.coronadofilmfest.com/2025/10/20/beatles-special-engagement-2/
The Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles band Ozomatli is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. (Belly Up)
Ozomatli, with SeaPoodle
Now celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Grammy Award-winning Ozomatli is notable beyond its dance-happy mix of funk, rock, hip-hop, ska, cumbia, son jarocho, samba and salsa.
This brassy, seven-man Los Angeles ensemble is surely the only band whose credits include U.S. State Department-sponsored concert tours of the Middle East, Africa, Asia and India in 2007 and 2008 — and performing during a riotous protest outside the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.
In 2023, Ozomatli played during the halftime show for the Los Angeles Chargers/Las Vegas Raiders game at SoFi Stadium. That was more than two decades after this uncompromising band turned down the NFL’s lucrative offer to license its buoyant 1999 song, “Super Bowl Sundae.”
The group’s other credits range from a 2011 concert with the San Diego Symphony and a 2012 children’s music album, “OzoKids,” to on-stage jam sessions with Stevie Wonder, Prince and former Tijuana guitar-slinger Carlos Santana.
8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13. Belly Up, 143 South Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. $37-$65 (must be 21 or older to attend). bellyup.com
Guitar great Anthony Wilson will perform Sunday in La Jolla with his nonet, which features top San Diego trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos. (Ira Glitter)
Anthony Wilson Nonet, featuring Gilbert Castellanos
Anthony Wilson has performed in San Diego numerous times as a band leader and as the ace guitarist in the bands of Charles Lloyd and Diana Krall.
His talent-packed nonet earned a Grammy nomination for its 1997 debut album. Wilson has since made four more nonet albums with revolving lineups of musicians, including this year’s superb “House of the Singing Blossoms.”
Combining big-band textures and small group intimacy, he and his latest group shine on his original compositions and on their inspired versions of gems by Joe Zawinul, The Beatles and others.
7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 9. Scripps Research Auditorium, 10620 John Jay Hopkins Drive, La Jolla. $50-$55. ljathenaeum.org
ArtPower at UCSD will present Bang on a Can All-Stars Thursday, Nov. 13 at Mandeville Auditorium on the La Jolla campus. (Peter Serling)
Bang on a Can All-Stars play Ryuichi Sakamoto, 1996
Founded in New York in 1992, the genre-blurring Bang on a Can All-Stars counts Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and former San Diego composer George Lewis among its esteemed collaborators.
Bang’s current tour features the music of Oscar-winning Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died in 2023. The repertoire for their concert here at UC San Diego will include selections from “The Last Emperor,” “The Sheltering Sky,” the David Bowie-starring “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,” and more.
7:30 p.m. Thursday. Mandeville Auditorium, 9390 Mandeville Lane, UC San Diego. $47. 858-534-2230. artpower.ucsd.edu