Over the past 50 years, Mission Valley, once home to dairy farms and truck gardens, has grown into one of the most developed and congested parts of the city. The commercial direction of the valley …
October 6, 2005
News & Stories
Will San Diego voters turn over 60 acres to the Alex Spanos and the Chargers?
The Reader's Eye on Television
"I've heard you're God," the reporter said. The old man whom the reporter was talking to continued to chomp on his chocolate chip chocolate muffin. When the hoary fellow finished he croaked out, "Who told …
October 6, 2005
Late People Suck
The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it. -- Franklin P. Jones 'This is unfuckingbelievable. Who shows up to a dinner party an hour late?" I had been making an effort …
October 6, 2005
The Restless Sleep: Inside New York City’s Cold Case Squad
The Restless Sleep: Inside New York City's Cold Case Squad by Stacy Horn. Viking/Penguin, 2005; $24.95; 320 pages. FROM THE DUST JACKET: Between 1985 and 2004, 8,894 unsolved homicides were committed in New York City. …
Institute for Biblical Counseling and Discipleship
"Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked," begins the Psalms. George C. Scipione, director of the Institute for Biblical Counseling and Discipleship (IBCD), is an advocate for this …
October 6, 2005
The Lowest Form Of Literature
I bought three for nearly $30. One was Spin because I’d read it and it had survived.
October 6, 2005
Pizza, Side of Chaldean Slang
“You’ve got to stop eating all that bad stuff, dude. You’ve got to get tested.”
October 6, 2005
As the Anza-Borrego Desert cools from torrid to merely warm, try a refreshing hike to the viewful summit of Mine Peak.
Mine Peak, elevation 1850 feet above sea level, stands atop the west end of the Coyote Mountains in far-southern Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. On a clear fall or winter day atop Mine Peak, the view …
October 6, 2005
Costume Makeup
My family's costume shows were renowned in my small hometown. The neighbors would call our house Halloween morning to make sure my family would show up on their steps trick-or-treating. Every year we had a …
October 6, 2005
Detroit. Detroit.
The Box would like to offer a big, "Welcome home," to the San Diego Chargers team who won last year's AFC West Division with a record of 12 and 4 and showed up Sunday to …
October 6, 2005
The Plot Softens?
The boutique record label Art Fag recently released its debut album, a three-track collaboration between Kill Me Tomorrow and Long Beach's Dance Disaster Movement. But local DJ Mario Orduno has higher ambitions for his new …
October 6, 2005
No Honor
Brenda Spencer was the first disturbed teen in modern history to snap and shoot up a school. Last Tuesday she was denied parole again. It was the third time she had been denied parole since …
October 6, 2005
Thanks, Internet
Chris Henry, a talent buyer at the Zombie Lounge on El Cajon Boulevard, says the club books bands found on myspace.com almost exclusively. "That's how we hooked up with the Angry Amputees and the Mojo …
October 6, 2005
Hurricanes Blow
The Che Café, Kill Me Tomorrow, and www.auralminority.com will put on a show tomorrow night for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Half of the proceeds will go to New Orleans musicians Quintron and Miss Pussycat, whose …
October 6, 2005
Rise to Power
If you attended the Presidents of the United States of America show at the House of Blues on September 24, you may have noticed a man onstage playing three-string guitar who bore no resemblance to …
October 6, 2005
Cook's Night Out
As Bob Dylan never wrote and George Harrison never sang: Well, that railroad gate, you know I just can't jump it. I'll have my chauffeur do it for me. I'm sitting here, buttering my toasted …
October 6, 2005
Desperate Moviegoers
'On one level I'm frustrated. If [movie theaters] were serving my needs, I wouldn't have to do this," says Shane Flores, founder and facilitator of the Secret Cinema Salon. Flores has lived in San Diego …
October 6, 2005
Leaving Lefty
For the past two years (and until recently), Santee singer/songwriter Mike Press was Willie Nelson's tour merchandise manager. "After each [Nelson] show, I'd head out to the best local bar in town and I'd get …
October 6, 2005
Are You Passionate?
After six years, KUSI will curtail the showcasing of live local bands on its weekend news shows. "We are primarily a news organization, not a music channel," says KUSI news director Steve Cohen. Last week, …
October 6, 2005
Moon Rolled a Fat One
Twenty-nine years ago tomorrow (10/7/76), the Who made their third appearance in San Diego at the Sports Arena. Beneath Keith Moon's drum kit that evening was a Persian rug that the day before had graced …
October 6, 2005
Organic Sense Of Nature
“I told them, ‘I want to do the worst jobs imaginable — nothing glamorous.’”
October 6, 2005
Sniff, sniff, bowwow
How bad is the festering drug problem among students at La Jolla High, arguably San Diego's toniest public school? Judging by a recent note to parents from principal Dana Shelburne, things might be better. "I …
October 6, 2005
One Tank Of Gas Away
San Diego hates being considered a satellite of Los Angeles -- until there is a crisis. You see, Los Angeles and environs are San Diego's crisis cushion. When the U.S. economy is weak, and large …
October 6, 2005
Katrina Haunts Mission Valley
Never say never, but a hurricane like the one that hit New Orleans is unlikely to flood San Diego anytime soon. The San Diego River, however, is another story. After a rainstorm last winter, the …
October 6, 2005
Impure Pleasure
Movies reviewed this week: In Her Shoes, Oliver Twist, and Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
October 6, 2005
Grandma cleans out the fridge
Heymatt: I've always wondered how come liquor doesn't freeze in the freezer, how come? - Drunk and confused in Santee Matt: I'm only eight, but I've noticed that ice cubes have little peaks in them. …
October 6, 2005
A trip to vagus
Dear Matthew Alice: Why on earth do I get hiccups immediately after eating starchy foods? Bread, pasta, potatoes, tortilla chips... anything with lots of starch will do it! I have friends who report the same …
October 6, 2005
Dancing Bike
I got invited to a biker party and imagined characters from the Clint Eastwood movies that I grew up watching -- fat bellies, black widow tattoos, facial hair.As I approached the party in Imperial Beach, …
October 6, 2005
Michael Barry, University of Limerick, Ireland
The Great Unwashed I blog for my friends. After the company I worked for in Dublin closed, everyone scattered, some on extended holidays, others to different jobs at home and abroad. I came home to …
October 6, 2005