I didn't recognize where I was. "Things have changed a lot," said Jorge Rodríguez, leading me out of the rain, into his two-story cinder-block house. "I came to Los Arenales looking for new horizons," he …
June 23, 2005
News & Stories
Tijuana : Arenales, Guerrero Park, Real del Mar, Gaspar Rivera's home
Beloved
“It’s been around for a while — you can pretty much guess what they have on the menu.”
June 23, 2005
Joy Yell
'For the most part, this stuff is high energy and high emotion. This is not lullaby," says director of the Chula Vista International Mariachi Conference Mark Fogelquist. The conference includes three days of workshops at …
June 23, 2005
Sam in Mississippi
Rice and Gravy Days bright with heat, afternoons merciful with rain. When I think of summer, I think of Mississippi. As a military brat, I spent portions of all my summers around the South of …
June 23, 2005
With the End of Humans, What Will Happen to the Gorilla?
Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday. — Albert Camus, The Stranger …
June 23, 2005
The Reader's Eye on Television
Mary had a little lamb. Mary's ovine pet propelled her, not just to stardom, but to galactic fame. It was the TV show featuring Mary and her adolescent sheep where her acclaim started. It was …
June 23, 2005
Traverse the San Gabriel Mountains from Angeles Crest to desert bottom on the rugged Burkhart Trail.
Far from sight and sound of the city, the Burkhart Trail blazes a lonely path over the desert bordering range of the San Gabriel Mountains and down into the upper margins of the Mojave Desert. …
June 23, 2005
Altruistic Love Animal
Word on the street was that Jose Sinatra and the Troy Dante Inferno were about to take to the road again. The performer and sidemen haven't toured since April of 2001. That was the "bizarre" …
June 23, 2005
Harder to Cross the Border
Harder to Cross the Border for Eek-A-Mouse. "Rumor has it he can't get back in this country," says Coach House Records CEO John Bullard about his label's dancehall-reggae star. For the past 15 summers, you …
June 23, 2005
Belly Up vs. House of Blues?
"They need to understand they can't make a living on what the Belly Up did," says Belly Up Tavern talent buyer Jeff Gaulton. What the House of Blues did was snag Neil Diamond tribute band …
June 23, 2005
Zeiger’s Follies
When my brother and I were in high school, he was in some boring Shakespeare play that I got dragged to see. It was fun hearing him talk about the cast party, though. Larry Zeiger, …
June 23, 2005
Not So Stoopid
"What do indie musicians and Tupperware have in common?" That's what an article in the June 20 issue of Newsweek ponders as it suggests local O.B. reggae-rockers Slightly Stoopid have tapped into a hipper version …
June 23, 2005
Kingdom-sized junkets
Who is Ziyad Abduljawad and why is he giving all those travel freebies to GOP congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the embattled old Navy fighter ace from the Vietnam War? According to congressional gift records, Cunningham …
June 23, 2005
End Times (cont'd)
"The days are over when a single local independent promoter will dominate the local scene," says longtime promoter Harlan Schiffman (Fineline Entertainment). Schiffman reflects on the life of Jim Pagni, San Diego's first major rock …
June 23, 2005
The Deadheads' Holy Grail
The Deadheads' Holy Grail -- tapes of every concert the band has ever played -- is within grasp, thanks to a phone call from the former wife of onetime Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux. Official Dead …
June 23, 2005
We So Hungry
When the Neville Brothers appear at Humphrey's on June 24, in the tuning room, they want a bottle of V-8 juice, a bag each of "individually packed cookies" and "individually wrapped candy" as well as …
June 23, 2005
Sandy Literacy
Katherine Jackson takes the toothbrush out of her mouth. "In an old house in Paris all covered in vines lived 12 little girls in two straight lines..." This is Jackson's way of telling me what …
June 23, 2005
The Letters of Robert Lowell
FROM THE DUST JACKET: Over the course of his life, Robert Lowell impressed those who knew him by his "refusal to be boring on paper" (Christopher Benfey). One of the most influential poets of the …
June 23, 2005
Women's Shoes
My niece Bridget is fashion-conscious. Though she lives in a small town in rural New Mexico, she is, thanks to catalogs and the Internet, always bedecked in the latest fabulous must-haves. But there is still …
June 23, 2005
Maritime Manna
"Pacifica Del Mar, seafood is our passion! How can I help you?" are the first words you hear when you phone this restaurant. And phone you must. This place is a-hoppin' -- especially now that …
June 23, 2005
Hobo Sports
I mistype a Web address that results in a visit to the Sports Authority website. Their opening ad reads, "Lionel Riding the Rails Hobo Train Set. Our Price: $259.97. During the Great Depression, many men …
June 23, 2005
Sempra Board Flees Bad News
This January, Stephen L. Baum will retire as Sempra Energy's chief executive in fine shape (rich as Croesus) and at a fine time (as the company faces a jury in a potentially backbreaking lawsuit). Maybe …
June 23, 2005
Lucky Quitter
“Once people understand it, they feel cool. They’re in with the clique.”
June 23, 2005
No Nicer Witch
Movies reviewed this week: Après Vous, Bewitched, Heights, Land of the Dead, and My Summer of Love
June 23, 2005
The Resolved, Pacific Beach
"Beer is one of our core values. We enjoy it and like to drink it. Drinking is part of our culture and a great way to spend time with others," said Pastor Justin Bragg of …
June 23, 2005
Quicksand nostalgia
Hey Matt: What's the deal with quicksand? As a child I saw movies where people died in the stuff. Cartoon characters sank in it. Yet in all my years of reading the newspaper and hearing …
June 23, 2005
Breakfast Laundry
“They’re growing up soft, less healthy, because they eat burgers and tacos and fries.”
June 23, 2005