YOU GOTTA WANT IT: Play any game, from Monopoly to tag to baseball to hopscotch, and you'll hear a coach or a friend or even a competitor say the famous words we've so often heard when the concept of pure passion needs to be summoned: "you gotta want it." You get what the meaning is here, of course, but if no one has thrown you a "you gotta want it" recently, here's the upshot: The road to your goal may have its challenges, but reaching the summit will be amazing and worthwhile, so bring your full fiery commitment." The same can be said for certain types of foods. Cupcakes? Those are pretty easy to devour, as are potato chips and bananas and ice cream bars. True, bananas have to be peeled, and chip bags opened, but not too many hurdles stand in your way. But a briny, slippery jewel of the ocean, one that arrives in its own knobby, ridge-laden house, a house that has to be pried open, often while wearing gloves, if a whole lot of prying is going down? Yep: You gotta want it, and oyster aficionados do, in droves. In fact, the prying and slurping is part of the scene, not a hurdle, and that scene shall shine, brinily, in San Diego on Saturday, June 13.
SAN DIEGO OYSTER & MUSIC FESTIVAL: There shall be many prime tunes a-flowin' at Marina Embarcadero North -- Thievery Corporation, Little Hurricane, The Young Wild, and more musicmakers will be making lots of music -- and there shall be slurpage of the squeeze-of-lemon, taste-of-the-sea sort. "There will be oysters from a wide variety of oyster farms throughout California and Baja, The Pacific Northwest and The Atlantic Northeast," says the site. The spotlight for the party is on "healthy, local, sustainably farmed product." So if simply heading to a restaurant for a half dozen has never quite filled your need, and you'd like to spend a few hours casting a wider net -- or slurping around a few states, perhaps -- this could be your bash. If you like the bands on the bill, well then, oyster buffs, you don't gotta want it, because you're clearly already in the "want it" zone (an excellent place to be).
