San Diego Music Encyclopedia & Database Online Now

NEW COMPREHENSIVE LOCAL MUSIC DATABASE IS LAUNCHED

IT'S DONE!!!! And growing every hour....

If you wanna see a list of over 1,5000 San Diego bands, with links to full profiles, photos, discographies, articles, MP3s, etc, checkout http://www.sandiegoreader.com/bands/search/

Believe it or not, you can click on ANY LOCAL MUSICIAN'S NAME (around 4,500 musicos listed!) and bring up bios of every notable band they've ever been in! Try it here with Rob Crow ---

AND, if that wasn't cool 'nuff, click on an instrument, say like this here link to "Drums" - BAM, a list of EVERY DRUMMER IN SAN DIEGO!!!

We've been working on this massively cross-linked Local Music Database for over two years now, covering a century of San Diego history --- if you're a local performer who wants to add or edit a page, go to http://www.sandiegoreader.com/band/edit/

More anon!!!! JAS

HERE'S THIS WEEK'S NEW Overheard in San Diego

AND THE NEW Famous Former Neighbors

DIVE BOMBER AT DREAM STREET 4-25

Our freelance photog-on-the-spot Sage Robinson (www.myspace.com/yourmoneylady) attended the Dive Bomber show last night at Dream Street, turning in this report and below pics (click to enlarge) ----

  

 

Dive Bomber kicked ASS!! They are very expressive and intensely into the music which makes the live show even better!

 

 

Catfish (lead guitar) is currently working on a solo acoustic album, which I cannot wait to hear. They are true musicians. Of course Sunday Girl Rocked as well, I was a fan to begin with.

  I had the best time at the show because of the fantastic vibe at the venue. The owner is an absolute sweetheart!! I have been friends with the manager Drew McDaniel for some time and had the pleasure of meeting the owner, Billy Savino, tonight. He is truly a man with a heart of gold, I was told by Catfish that the owner hooked them up with Saturday shows well before they deserved them and now they are loyal and come back regularly.

 

 The venue has been recently remodeled. There is a beautiful lifelike painting of Paulette Valenzuela (the lead singer of Abuse) on the back wall (painted by Chris Reynolds). Tragically, she lost her life a few years back. She is a legend for her music as well as her huge heart. She was loved by all and her memory lives on at <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Dream Street. She was like a daughter to Billy and is definitely missed.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> 

 All and all one of the best nights I have had in a while. I will definitely patronize more regularly.

 Dive Bomber was formed in 2006 when Chris Gutierrez (Toad) and Ray Comstock (Catfish) left their band of 10 years, DAMA, to start a new musical project. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to find a bass player that could create the raw energy that is the backbone of the Dive Bomber sound, Catfish was reunited with an old friend, Dwight Frejia (Doc), with whom he worked in the late '90s at the local Music Power store.

After playing an instrumental band for over a year, the band finally met J.D. Campos, a singer who could deliver the kind of powerful, melodic vocal performance that perfectly complimented the band's hard driving, rhythmic sound.

 In August 2008, Dive Bomber rocked the HyperFestival in New Mexico and met producer John Kurzweg (Puddle of Mudd, Creed, etc.), who agreed to mix and produce the summer 2009 Dive Bomber CD Pinups in Parachutes.

MORE NEW MUSIC STORIES THIS WEEK

	Underground Freakout by Barnaby Monk Thursday - Belly Up will be serving "electric" Hot Tuna tonight. Mmm. Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen formed Tuna in 1969, during their tenure with San Fran band Jefferson Airplane, as an outlet for their inner ... More
	Dynamite Walls by Dave Good Dynamite Walls first crossed my radar in 2007, after the band, while on tour, unknowingly spent a night in a rented home that had once been the site of a mass murder. That same year ... More
	Willard Grant Conspiracy by William Crain Robert Fisher, the man behind the Willard Grant Conspiracy, has a deep voice and a talent for dark but sophisticated lyrics. His music is usually categorized as Americana, but it can just as easily slip ... More
	More Ink for Psychedlic Horse(expletive) by Jay Allen Sanford Wavves -- the local duo brainstormed by former Music Trader manager Nathan Williams -- are being called lo-fi poseurs by Columbus, Ohio, garage band Psychedelic Horsesh-t, which manufactured "Wavves Suxx" T-shirts ... More
	Train of Thought by Ken Leighton Eric Woodard, aka Dizzy Order, has been rapping locally for 15 years. He used to freestyle at underground shows based in Encanto in the mid '90s and frequented a short-lived rap collective in 2000 in ... More
	Modern Rifles by Barnaby Monk Beneath the wet-blanket production and shout-along choruses of I Was Young, It Was Dark lies a listenable disc. You have to weed through the modern-rawk, Jimmy Eat Cheez to get to the post-core center ... More
	Record Release Roundup by Jay Allen Sanford Irradio will play a free release party for their album I Am the Horn on Sunday, April 26, at the Casbah. "All attendees can expect a night full of magic, free food, good spirits, and ... More
	Hulu Knows Who I Am by Dorian Hargrove When independent filmmaker Tray White contacted Matt Resovich last year through MySpace to do the score for Impaler (a documentary on self-proclaimed satanic vampire Jonathon "the Impaler" Sharkey, who ran for Minnesota's governorship in 2006) ... More

WHAT I DRINK AND WHERE I DRINK IT

I missed the deadline for this week's cover story, but here 'tis -----

What I Drink: Kahlúa White Russian

2 parts Kahlúa, 1 part vodka, 2 splashes of cream

Where I Drink It: Winstons, Ocean Beach

 Okay, let’s get one thing straight --- I don’t like hippies. Never had any use for them.

They don’t particularly offend me, other than maybe the ones who tend to reek of patchouli, bongwater, and Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap (“It makes my balls tingle”), but that’s usually just my nose taking offense. I simply find hippies naïve, annoying, unproductive, grandiose, simpleminded, undereducated, overmedicated, out of touch with reality, and just generally useless.

 That’s not even factoring in counterculture couture reminiscent of Sid and Marty Krofft after taking the brown acid at Woodstock.

So you can imagine how annoying it is to be mistaken for a hippie.

 Yeah, I haven’t cut my hair since the Carter administration. And my sideburns are probably older than you. But my reasons for cultivating a full-body beard  – unrelated to the matter at hand – have nothing to do with Granola, hemp, blacklights, flower power, Geodesic domes, biodiesel fuel, tree hugging, the I Ching, the Strawberry Alarm Clock, making a statement, waving a freak flag, giving it to “the Man,” or Jerry Garcia’s effin half-finger.

 So why do I keep finding my ass polishing the Pabst-soaked seats at Winstons in OB, surrounded by the very tie-dyed and squinty-eyed I nearly despise, a pair of Italian loafers lost in a sea of Birkenstocks, an Izod amidst pajama tops?

It’s Winstons’ killer White Russians, with ‘tenders who almost always pour a stiff two-parts Kahlúa. A lot of places will plop a weak-ass chocolate milk down in front of you, mildly stirred with some dollar-store Kahlúa copycat like Kamora, Kapali, or some other Krap. Winstons uses the real deal, and with real cream, mind you, not that gawdawful two percent, half-and-half, or (gag) skim milk they dump on you at airports and in Hell (and at airports IN Hell, which seem a near-certainly if one believes in eternal damnation).

Yeah, it’s kind of a foofoo drink. What can I say – I acquired a taste for it over the course of countless Tijuana trawls, stumbling through stygian underground infernos like El Pato, where one had to leap a sewage moat to use the restroom and the walls seemed to bleed urine.

(I once brought a visiting friend from rural New Hampshire to El Pato; as we made our way down the damp and uneven steps, past the doorman with one leg and two teeth, my friend asked me “Dude, am I on Scare Tactics?”)

 Winstons is surely a far safer - and more hygienic - place to whet my furry whistle. In addition, I’ve picked up enough patron chatter at Winstons for at least two dozen Overheard in San Diego comics, and I’ve jotted down dozens more I never got around to drawing. Fer instance: 

“My dad thinks I stole his bong.”

“I want to invest in incense.”

“The only thing that matters is mind over matter.”

“Your poncho smells like lentils.”

“My other bike has a banana seat.”

“I only use organic douche.”

“It makes my balls tingle”

And the immortal “Dude! Trails!”

Plus, great bands play at Winstons, most every night. Well, as long as you avoid the Deadheads who live up to that deceptively descriptive term to a nearly forensic degree (is any head deader than a Deadhead’s?). 

  So that’s where – for now – you can usually find me, marinating in Kahlúa and avoiding some looming eleventh hour Reader deadline.  

At least until the lure of TJ draws me back once again to the Zona Norte, to some gawdforsaken dungeon of the damned where I can almost guarantee my spent, abused, astonishingly scarred but nonetheless enviable corpse will someday be found ----

Related links

"Where Have All The Deadheads Gone?" Local flower children, after the head Deadhead was dead.

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/aug/31/rock-operas-leaving-town-plus-playing-with-michael/

 Our Favorite Drinks and Where We Drink Them

There are times, sometimes in the midst of otherwise polite conversation, when it comes out that I make my living writing for the Reader.... More 

 GETCHER FIX OF UPCOMING LOCAL-CENTRIC COMPILATION ALBUMS (hey, they can't all have catchy column titles.....)

 Local Taang Records is releasing compilations collecting the music of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Oakland hardcore band Attitude Adjustment and ‘80s horror-rockers Kilslug. “We have deals with Fontana Records, which sells a lot of our releases in stores, and we have European [distribution] deals as well,” says Davit Buck at the long-lived label, which has put out around 200 releases since 1984. ‘Vinyl is the big thing for us right now…we sell a lot of limited edition collector’s records.”<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 Buck (who also plays with The Homeless Sexuals) says there are many untold Tales of Taang waiting to be told. “Shane MacGowan [of the Pogues] was doing rehab at the Mission Beach Taang,” says Buck, who also alleges that the 2000 movie High Fidelity was modeled after Taang’s retail record shop. “They came into the L.A. store for weeks, and I’m sure they based the movie’s top ten stuff on Curtis [Casella, owner]. That’s how he interviews employees, he makes them list their top ten movies and albums and then decides whether to hire them from that.”

Taang act Blowfly appears at Radio Room on May 2.

 Chuck Schiele’s compilation of Ocean Beach-based performers, Waves, is set for a June release. “Everybody knows the jam band thing has a pretty strong foothold here,” says the Grams frontman and operator of StudiOB. “I work counter to that. We have more music energy in OB than any other neighborhood [in San Diego]. My role here has been to encourage every kind of music, and this compilation will be emblematic of that, with something for everybody.” A record release party will be held in conjunction with summer’s Ocean Beach Street Fair.

 Local Blindspot Records just released Do You Want to Be in the Show: A Tribute to the Jetset, the second in their series of compilation albums co-produced with Twist Records in the UK. “The Jetset was an excellent British band in the mid-eighties, with great pop songwriting that really shifted gears in their five album run,” says label honcho Bart Mendoza.

The Jetset has several connections to San Diego. “Key members had multiple extended visits to our city during the mid eighties, playing New Sounds and other local gigs, as well as using San Diego as a base for a few gigs up north.” Locals on the album include Mendoza’s band The Shambles, as well as the Spring Collection.

Blindspot’s upcoming 20/20 tribute album will also include The Shambles, as well as locals Sven-Erik Seaholm, Marie Haddad, Mark DeCerbo & Four Eyes, and the Spring Collection.

 TAANG! Records --- Blindspot Records

www.myspace.com/chuckschiele

BLAME ONE'S INDIE ALBUM MAKES THE HIP-HOP CHARTS (AND NOBODY'S MORE SURPRISED THAN HIM!)

 “Most indie artists don’t even make the chart,” says Blame One, whose self-released Days Chasing Days charted at number 39 on iTunes’ Best Selling Hip-Hop Albums in early April. At the time, nobody seemed more surprised than the 34 year-old Carlsbad advertising executive.

“I rap about living a normal life, raising two children and being a husband,” says Blame One, aka Jahson Rutkowki. “The challenge is trying to balance my home and 9-to 5-life with my music. Most younger artists don’t need to worry about raising a family at the same time.”

 Though no gangsta rapper, Rutkowki bristles at being lumped in with so-called whole-hop (wholesome hip-hop) or whitebread rap. “Not everything I say is something I would want my son and daughter to hear, because they’re not at an appropriate age to soak it all in, for what it is. I listen to underground and gangsta hip-hop music…most cats can relate to a person that is truthful, regardless of what genre they’re placed in.”

Asked about the local hip-hop scene, he says “The biggest problem is lack of understanding. When people hear ‘hip-hop,’ it’s always linked with negativity and violence. [Instead], we put our skills to the test. We focus on art, turntable tactics, dance, and microphone mastery, as opposed to violence. But most of San Diego has no idea of the difference between the two. Especially in the media.”

 Blame One moved to Vista in 1987 and formed the rock band Mystery's Extinction a few years later; that band split in 1999.

In late March of 2008, he was a MySpace featured artist, as well as being named Chairman’s Choice in XXL, one of the most widely distributed hip-hop magazines in the U.S. 

 Days Chasing Days was executive produced by DJ Exile, who has collaborated with and championed Rutkowki for years.

 

Blame One appears May 24 at the North County Beer and Music Festival.

http://www.myspace.com/rudebwoyblame

 

 

 

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  TAKES IT FROM THE STREETS TO THE INTERNET

“We’re looking for local bands to play the Bondi Bar every other Wednesday night, where Shindy.TV will shoot its internet TV show,” says production manager Brad Hurvitz. Though performers aren’t paid, “We provide them with professional video footage in exchange for their performance,” according to Hurvitz. “The price that bands normally get paid to perform is significantly less than the cost of making these videos.”

 

 

Launched in 2007, Shindy.TV hired Hurvitz around 8 months ago. “Running this event is the extent of my local music background,” he says, “though I’ve had some excellent guidance from a few friends, and I feel very much a part of the local music scene.”

 

How will Hurvitz find locals willing to swap sets for footage? “I find the majority of bands on MySpace. I start off at a random band’s page, give them a listen, decide whether they would be the right type of band to play…and either contact them or move on. I find the next band through their friends [list].”

 

As for “the right type of band,” that’s apparently not punk. “San Diego has been known as a punk-style city. Granted, we do have a lot of punk here, but we should not be labeled as a punk-only city.”

 

Performers are also being sought for last minute fill-ins. “If a band backs out last minute, on the off chance that the guitarist breaks his hand by tripping over a box of Cheez-its on the way to get a midnight snack, [we’ll need] a couple bands that would be interested in a last minute switcheroo.”

 

 The next Shindy.TV taping happens May 6 at the Bondi Bar.

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LOCALS ON YOUTUBE - RARE AND AWESOME FOOTAGE, courtesy Bart Mendoza

1)     The Penetrators on News 8 –TV with Jesse Macias, interviews and “clips of Nervous Fingers” and recording  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRmqKdlTt2o

 

2)     A cool new clip from Echo Revolution awesome song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYo9_2Ddzd8

 

3)     Umm, “Groovy” is the only description that can be applied to this great clip of Gary Puckett and Nancy Sinatra performing “Beggar/Spinnin Wheel” on a late sixties TV show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jIyXV7i8EE

 

4)     A great live video of Anya Marina performing “Move You” at SXSW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCf2_rxr2yo

 

5)     The Kingston Trio – two commercials for 7-up – Great Nick Reynolds part!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysC80N9WEzc

 

6)     The Rice Brothers and their terrific country gospel group Brush Arbor on CBS-TV’s Johnny Cash Show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrqsvZLiSkU

 

7)     Steve Poltz & Gregory Page singing the National Anthem before a Padres game – terrific! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSb_05EbHC8

 

8)     Not sure why Tristan Prettyman’s “Madly” was ignored (except in Japan) but she made a nice video for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANFZpOMUXFE

 

9)     Switchfoot performing Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8Rw4jNCSDE

 

10) Ratt’s Warren DiMartini trading licks with Micheal Shenker. A little goes a long way, but that’s some pretty good speed… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U__vtSWMGvk

 

11) Anyone wondering exactly how popular As I Lay Dying is should check out this really cool video of a “Meet & Greet” autograph signing with fans in Bangkok http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euuAMa5qi-E

 

12) She’s an opera singer of note, an occasional singer-songwriter and Miss U.S.O – here’s one of Victoria Robertson’s PSA’s for Selective Service: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ6RT_EdRSA

ALSO, courtesy Wayne Riker:

Local band Stone's Throw being introduced as the opening act at the 1984 Oylympic Village concert series in Los Angeles, playing the Cats & The Fiddle's "We Cats Will Swing For You":

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew8-3Tob9mE

Stone's Throw was a San Diego treasure for more than a decade between the mid '70s to '80s. They were a perennial winner of the "Best Vintage Jazz" category in The Reader's annual music awards. "With the other category winners, we got to play a composite concert each year at the La Paloma Theatre," says guitarist Wayne Riker. "The most recent Entertainer's Awards Concert I have listed in my little red book was on April 21st,1985, hosted by Larry Himmel at the La Paloma."

 

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 LOST LOCAL SUPERGROUPS Part 1

 

 If ever a group was destined to have a volatile line-up, it was Mission: To Mars. The concept was to bring together front-men of several different local groups to see what the musical collaboration might yield. In the end the group lasted less than a year, but still recorded an album and a handful of outtakes, as well as several rehearsal tapes and films.

 

 Though the band had many line-up changes, only the core trio of Mike Kamoo(The Stereotypes, The Loons, The Melanies), Dylan Martinez (Static Halo, Rookie Card, Broken Dial Radio) and Bart Mendoza (Manual Scan, The Shambles, True Stories) made it to the recording stage.

 

The first line-up consisted of that trio, plus bassist Billy Lovcki (The Cables), though other commitments saw him exit after only a few weeks.

 

 Troubadour Gregory Page soon took his place (switching to guitar for his own tunes) and the group spent several evenings in December 2000 rehearsing for their live debut: opening for Superdrag on January 1, 2001, at Brick by Brick.

 

Page left  a few weeks after the show to concentrate on The Hatchet Brothers, with Hector Penalosa (The Zeros, Flying Colour) taking his place and Robert Boynton (If Tomorrow) joining on keyboards. This line up performed at the 2001 Adams Avenue Street Fair, but the group soon split.

 

Mission: to Mars was always planned to be a side project, which almost surely proved the main reason behind its speedy demise.

 

 The Rarities were a project that grew out of acoustic collaborations between Derek Duplessie (Desert Poets), Bart Mendoza (Manual Scan, The Shambles, True Stories) and Dylan Martinez (Static Halo, Rookie Card, Broken Dial Radio).Though still a high school student, Duplessie was a music veteran with several albums to his credit, as well as a 2000 appearance on television’s To Tell The Truth. His 12-string guitar was the key element to the bands sound, a mix of rock and folk influences.

With the addition of Danny Cress (The Coyote Problem, Citizen Band, True Stories), the group played numerous shows, both electric and unplugged and recorded an unreleased album, Year of Ashes, produced by Gregory Page.  Notable guests on the album include violinist Ray Suen (The Exfriends, Louis XIV) and keyboardist Martin Greaves (Mad Dogs & Englishmen).

The Rarities can be briefly seen rehearsing outside of San Diego nightclub, Dizzy’s, in the documentary, Why We Listen. A full concert set was filmed at Lestat's  for a proposed KPBS-TV program. The band split when Duplessie left for college.

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LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, CBS

Fr 4/24: Michael Keaton, Lily Allen

Mo 4/27: Matthew Fox, the All-American Rejects
Tu 4/28: Dolly Parton, Zachary Quinto
We 4/29: Jennifer Garner, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, Manchester Orchestra
Th 4/30: Regis Philbin, a performance by the Broadway cast of "Hair"

THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO, NBC

Fr 4/24: Anderson Cooper, Kathleen Madigan, Brad Paisley

Mo 4/27: Eric Bana
Tu 4/28: Michael Douglas, Chelsea Handler, Country Bones
We 4/29: Jimmy Fallon, Chris Matthews
Th 4/30: Matthew McConaughey, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Starsailor
Fr 5/1: Arsenio Hall, Ziggy Marley

LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON, CBS

Fr 4/24: Bob Barker, P.W. Singer
Mo 4/27: Cheryl Hines
Tu 4/28: John McEnroe, Peter Travers
We 4/29: Kenneth Branagh, Antony and the Johnsons
Th 4/30: Michael Douglas, Carrie Ann Inaba

LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON, NBC

Fr 4/24: Neil Patrick Harris, Emily Deschanel

LAST CALL WITH CARSON DALY, NBC

Fr 4/24: TBA

Mo 4/27: Sprague Grayden, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart (R 4/3/09)
Tu 4/28: Masi Oka, the Duke Spirit (R 3/20/09)
We 4/29: Jack & Kelly Osbourne, Ben Harper & Relentless7 (R 3/27/09)
Th 4/30: Cameron Richardson, Eric Price, Adele (R 4/14/09)
Fr 5/1: Mr. Brainwash, the Duke Spirit (R 4/15/09)

Mo 5/4: Liz Hatch, Kevin Hart, Lykke Li (R 4/16/09)
Tu 5/5: Lily Allen

JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE, ABC

Fr 4/24: Jamie Foxx, Elizabeth Mitchell

Mo 4/27: Rerun TBA
Tu 4/28: Michael J. Fox, the latest castoff from "Dancing With the Stars", Asher Roth
We 4/29: Dominic Monaghan, J.J. Abrams, Bang Camaro
Th 4/30: Brooke Shields, Balthazar Getty, Kumail Nanjiani
Fr 5/1: Matthew McConaughey, Kara DioGuardi, Jason Aldean

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 CATHRYN BEEKS’ WEEKLY LISTEN LOCAL HOTSHEET

 Speaking of great shows, The Christopher Dale Trio plays a house concert you will not want to miss on May 9th.  Contact Carol for info or reservations. 

  http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/dec/29/15-years-ago-today---nirvana-at-sports-arena-plus-/

 THE DAY NIRVANA PLAYED OFF THE RECORD: 10-24-91 - Detailed feature on Nirvana playing a tiny local record store, just as their first album was hitting the charts, featuring interviews with OTR staffers, rare video footage of the event, and more... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/03/the-day-nirvana-played-at-off-the-record

THE DAY JIMI HENDRIX CAME TO TOWN - 5-24-69: From my extensive interviews with Hendrix bassist Noel Redding, here's the inside scoop on a legendary (and highly bootlegeed) local concert... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/03/the-day-jimi-hendrix-came-to-town

THE DAY BEACH BOY BRIAN WILSON GOT BUSTED IN BALBOA PARK: In June 1978, Brian Wilson - without telling his wife or fellow bandmembers - decided (inexplicably) to escape his life entirely and hitchhike to Mexico. He wound up in San Diego a few days later, mentally fogged, barefoot, and unwashed. “He was on a binge," according to Stephen Love, brother of Beach Boy Mike Love and sometime-band manager..... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/18/the-day-beach-boy-brian-wilson-got-busted

THE DAY THE MONKEES TURNED DEL MAR INTO CLARKSVILLE: 9-11-66 - Del Mar was renamed “Clarksville” for the day, as part of a promotion for the Monkees TV show, which would debut the following night. The Sunday event marked the first time the foursome ever performed music in public.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/16/day-the-monkees-turned-del-mar-into-clarksville

WHY MEXICANS HATED ELVIS: May 1959: While Elvis Presley’s popularity in the U.S. was arguably at its all-time peak, Mexico was in the midst of a huge anti-Elvis backlash. Tijuana tabloids called him a racist and homosexual, after the singer reportedly told gossip columnist Federico de León "I'd rather kiss three black girls than a Mexican." A Mexican woman in the same column was quoted saying "I'd rather kiss three dogs than one Elvis Presley”..... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/13/why-mexicans-hated-elvis-plus-celeb-sighting/

Gary Wilson Interview  -  Exclusive chat with a mysterious local legend, who's in the midst of the most unexpected and unlikely comeback ever... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/22/return-of-a-local-cult-hero-gary-wilson

   50 Best Band Names of 2008  - and the stories behind them! 50 locals reveal the story of how they chose their band's name... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/22/birth-of-a-bandname-50-locals-reveal

"...And San Diego Doesn't Think Much of Britney, Either" - Britney's history with our fine city is as troubled as it is funny.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/10/why-britney-spears-hates-san-diego

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"30 Celebs Reveal 'What I Like (or Hate) About San Diego" When interviewing celebs, I almost always ask what they know about San Diego. Here are a bunch of excerpted replies.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/06/30-celebrities-reveal-what-i-like-or-hate/

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           Secrets Behind Famous Former Neighbors And Overheard in San Diego  - Cartoonist confessions... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/07/cartoonist-confessions-secrets-behind-overheard

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"Boy Shakira Is All My Fault"  - Didja know this famed America's Got Talent contestant was discovered by the Reader, and that we even named him Boy Shakira? You're welcome.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/07/cartoonist-confessions-secrets-behind-overheard

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 The Midnight Rambler - Life Between Deadlines  - Nearly every single night, at around 2AM, someone skateboards slowly past my house, always to the tune of an external music player (IE no ‘phones).... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/07/cartoonist-confessions-secrets-behind-overheard

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   That Old House - Reflections on a Childhood Home  - This place still kind of haunts me... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/dec/07/cartoonist-confessions-secrets-behind-overheard

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"Before It Was The Gaslamp: Balboa's Last Stand" - Cover story 6-21-07: In the late 70s/early 80s, I worked at downtown San Diego's grindhouse all-night movie theaters, for the owner of the Pussycat Theatre chain, Vince Miranda - this detailed feature recalls those dayz, the death of the Balboa Theatre, etc.

More Before It Was the Gaslamp

 

"Battle Of The Peeps" - feature article about a weird gig I had in the mid-'80s, running a strip club called Jolar, for the nation's second biggest pornographer, Harry Mohney (Deja Vu Showgirls founder).

More Battle of the Peeps - An Insider History of San Diego Porn Shops

"Field Of Screens" - Cover story 7-6-06: Complete theater-by-theater history of San Diego drive-ins thru the years, including a few which screened X-rated fare for awhile.

More Drive-In Theaters in San Diego: Complete Illustrated History 1947 thru 2008

  

"Pussycat Theaters - When 'Cathouses Ruled California" -- for the first time, the detailed inside story of the west coast Pussycat Theater chain of adult moviehouses, which peaked in the '70s but later died out. Told by those who actually ran the theaters!

More Pussycat Theater History: When Cathouses Ruled CA

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Today's Top MP3 Downloads

• Bill Travis - 4 Hands
• (760) - (760)
• Causing Problems - A Box, and in it Your Picture
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Like this blog? Here are some related links:

OVERHEARD IN SAN DIEGO - Several years' worth of this comic strip, which debuted in the Reader in 1996: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/overheard-san-diego/

FAMOUS FORMER NEIGHBORS - Over 100 comic strips online, with mini-bios of famous San Diegans: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/famous-former-neighbors/

SAN DIEGO READER MUSIC MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sandiegoreadermusic

JAY ALLEN SANFORD MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jayallensanford