Let’s hope that Mother Nature has some romance in her heart.
After a couple of days of heavy rain in San Jose, clear skies — or at least dry skies — would be a welcome sight for “Sonic Loveway,” a Valentine’s Day event set for Friday evening at the Sonic Runway art installation in front of City Hall.
I hope the rain does stay away because it sounds like a fun — and free — way to spend part of the evening. From 5 to 8 p.m., Opera San Jose singers, including soprano Melissa Sondhi and tenor Nicolas Vasquez-Gerst, will perform along with members of the Symphony San Jose Chorale, young performers from School of Rock-San Jose and the Silicon Valley Youth Harp Ensemble. You can pose for a free Valentine’s Day photo or stroll through a makers’ market that will be set up at City Hall plaza.
DIFFERENT BEATS: Restaurants usually bring in a nice crowd for the date-night holiday, and it’s totally fine if that’s your thing. But how about taking your sweetie to Hathor’s Festival of Love? That’s what the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose’s Rose Garden neighborhood is doing. Hathor, of course, was the deity of love, beauty, and joy and the evening celebration includes tours through Sekhmet’s temple — an ancient perfume making lab and music in Rosicrucian Park. Tickets are available for $20 in advance at egyptianmuseum.org/valentines-day-events.
Even the famed Winchester Mystery House got into the spirit of Valentine’s Day, offering an exclusive dinner at the mansion with cocktail and wine pairings, a private tour and live entertainment. The price tag? Ten grand. I haven’t heard if there were any takers, but it would be a Valentine’s Day to remember.
HERE’S TO LOVE: And for everyone who doesn’t do Valentine’s Day but still wants to do Valentine’s Day, there’s the San Jose Love Fest, a six-hour bar crawl through 10 hotspots around San Pedro Square on Sunday, starting at noon.
Pretty much all of the places are whipping up something special for V-Day (think red/pink sake bombs at Sushi Confidential and a vodka cocktail called the Lovebird at O’Flaherty’s). Costumes or love-themed attire is encouraged, and I’ll applaud anyone who shows up as Cupid in this weather. Tickets are less than $20, and the wristband gets you good discounts on drinks. A link for tickets can be found at www.sanjose.org/events/san-jose-love-fest.
A LITTLE ROMANTIC MUSIC: Michael “Tiny” Lindsey, a versatile bassist and vocalist, will play a romantic concert at the SJZ Break Room on South First Street on Friday night. And couples can get into the mood with a free glass of prosecco (or lemonade or sparking water) before the 7 p.m. show. Going as a single? Take the free prosecco, I say, and enjoy the tunes. Tickets are at www.sanjosejazz.org.
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And there are still a few seats left for the benefit show Friday night at City Lights Theater Company featuring singers from several of the company’s recent musicals and the jazzy big band, Nineteen. Head to www.cltc.org to grab ’em before they’re gone.
LOST LOVES: All this talk of Valentine’s Day has me wistful for a couple of events that used to mark the occasion. Remember the Feathers of Fury pillow fights that took place Valentine’s Day weekend for nine years? The location would be kept a secret until usually the morning of the event and then all heck would break loose (and was dutifully cleaned up by the participants). The last of those was in 2019.
San Jose Giants mascot Gigante, with Spider Gwen, Kirsten Manesa, take part in a pillow fight during the annual Feather’s of Fury 9: The Annual Valentine’s Weekend Pillow Fight of San Jose, at the Paseo de San Antonio in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, February 10, 2019. (Josie Lepe/ Special to the BANG)
And many people no doubt remember the annual Valentine’s Day Revel, an evening (or afternoon) of poetry and music hosted by Poetry Center San Jose and featuring Nils Peterson, often accompanied by Sally Ashton, and the For This Hour singers. That enchanting tradition took its last bow in 2018.
Who knows? Maybe a decade from now couples will be talking about spending their first Valentine’s Day together at Sonic Loveway, Hathor’s Festival of Love or the San Jose Love Fest.
