I was about to participate in a seminar where women spend two days learning about men. I mentioned my upcoming appointment to a few friends and acquaintances and asked them what they thought. Woman One: …
July 27, 2006
News & Stories
Women Think That Men Are Hairy Women
Full Stomach, Empty Wallet
'I call it Chuck E. Cheese for adults. I have to squeeze myself sometimes, business is so good.'
July 27, 2006
Of Sharks and Tsunamis
'If there were a remote tsunami in Japan or off the coast of Chile, it would be two to three hours or longer before it would impact the San Diego coast," says senior emergency services …
July 27, 2006
St. Paul’s Cathedral, Hillcrest
St. Paul's Cathedral displays a kind of unadorned majesty. Long green banners, tiny stations of the cross, and a couple of Madonna-and-child paintings are all that break up the great expanses of smooth, gray-green concrete …
July 27, 2006
Gavelmania
Dear Matthew Alice: Any time you see judges on TV they're always whamming away on their desks with gavels. I've never ever seen a real judge use one. Do real judges ever use their gavels? …
July 27, 2006
Sidewalk Bullets
Hey Matt: Who has been shooting bullets into our sidewalks? Everywhere I go downtown I see these round metal things embedded in the sidewalk that look like bullet casings. What are they? -- Matt Too, …
July 27, 2006
Two Fruits in One
Matt: I have to know where those "Siamese twin" cherries come from-- you know, two fruits, one stem? -- Judith, San Diego We've meddled with cherry genetics enough that some of the resulting cultivars exhibit …
July 27, 2006
The Reader's Eye on Television
July 20, 1969, is the date that the moon landing was faked. It says so, here in black ink on the yellowing label that's peeling back from the metal canister on my desk. You see, …
July 27, 2006
How To Own A Thoroughbred
Turns out last week's screed on gambling (emphasis on legal gambling in California) was incomplete. I assure you staff will be disciplined, but in the meantime, let's shout out the good news about mule racing! …
July 27, 2006
Poke around the rustic Franklin Canyon Ranch, an open-space park adjoining Beverly Hills.
Franklin Canyon Ranch, a patch of open space north of Beverly Hills, belongs to a sprawling assemblage of interconnected parklands called the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Without the benefit of administrative protection, much …
July 27, 2006
Standing Eight: The Inspiring Story of Jesus "El Matador" Chavez, Who Became Lightweight Champion of the World
Standing Eight: The Inspiring Story of Jesus "El Matador" Chavez, Who Became Lightweight Champion of the World by Adam Pitluk. Da Capo, 2006, $24.95, 248 pages. FROM THE DUST JACKET: Standing Eight is a riveting …
July 27, 2006
I’ll Miss You
Several musicians I know have had their CD release parties this past month. Steph Johnson and Greg Laswell played at different venues on Kettner. Cathryn Beeks hosted a picnic. But CD release parties aren't parties; …
July 27, 2006
"Sicko Records Runs San Diego"
"Sicko Records Runs San Diego," says Sicc Made of the label founded by Southeast San Diego rapper Lil Uno. "We are all over the radio. We perform at car shows in front of 2000 people. …
July 27, 2006
Get a Better Agent, Mikey
Rock 105.3's Mikey Esparza once called members of a local Hispanic band "beaners" on the air and was once suspended after making a joke about the murder of a young girl ("...that's why I don't …
July 27, 2006
Shhh...
"We are being 'hush hush' because if word gets out, this could muster competition and that would be bad," says Todd Urick of his hope to launch "a local community radio station. Not a pirate …
July 27, 2006
Viking on the Mountaintop
"Viking on the Mountaintop petitioning the gods" is how Frank Melendez describes the sound of Riververb, his one-man experimental noise band. After watching him set up and suit up, his seven-word description makes sense. He …
July 27, 2006
Third Degree Rock 'n' Roll
Brian Barrabee, bassist for the Long and Short of It, is paralyzed from the chest down. He's been in a wheelchair since May 2004, the victim of a hotel-room accident. He explains how he was …
July 27, 2006
Not-So-Cool Beans
The all-age Bean Bar venue (and coffeehouse) on Rosecrans Street recently stopped booking local bands. Rick Dieterle, who manages the place, says, "We just didn't have the capacity for it. I wanted to do things …
July 27, 2006
Fabulously Grotesque
'I haven't gotten any heat from the Gabor estate yet," says one-man band Zsa Zsa Gabor, who doubts anyone will mistake him for the Hungarian-born socialite whose name he co-opted. "What I do is perform …
July 27, 2006
The Key to Distress
To suffering there is a limit; to fearing, none. -- Francis Bacon 'This is taking a really long time. We should have given our ticket to our waitress and stayed inside," David complained. "She offered," …
July 27, 2006
San Diego Shindig
Switchblades, rolled-up Levis, and greased-back hair...rockabilly is what the Buzzbombs are all about. Track 5, "Pintail," is an instrumental in the fashion of the old tune "Tequila." The song features a guitar riff inherited from …
July 27, 2006
Meg B. in San Quentin Village
Birdland and the Banana Belt I worked for 16 hours at San Francisco General Hospital yesterday. The final 8 hours was spent on 6B, where I worked with Trent. Trent is an erstwhile Marinite-turned-realtor who …
July 27, 2006
Outside Lawyers Filing Requirements
Outside lawyers and consultants hired by City departments are supposed to file Statements of Economic Interests listing their income and gifts from city sources, as well as stock, bond, and local real estate holdings that …
July 27, 2006
Hey Buddy, Can You Spare a Book?
'I love to read," says Beverly Griffin, with a glance up from the bedding she is arranging against a chain-link fence behind the sidewalk on Front Street. As many as 40 homeless people will sleep …
July 27, 2006
Ready for Towing
For most people, charity begins at home. For William Robert Bradley, a cofounder of Metabolife International and onetime tow-truck operator, charity begins in the tax and secrecy haven Switzerland and winds through another hot-money haven, …
July 27, 2006
Splitsville
Divorce is seldom a happy event, and UCSD has been especially hard-hit this year. Campus counsel Ann Parode has split with her husband of 16 years, R.B. "Buzz" Woolley, the wealthy La Jolla financier and …
July 27, 2006
Let Them Eat Dogs
Among the expenses of the Brian Bilbray congressional campaign is a payment of $1137.75 to Dogs R Us of Richmond, Virginia, for "food for fundraising event" on June 30. But don't worry, the Washington lobbyists …
July 27, 2006
From a Prince to a King
"A cat may look at a king," wrote Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland -- and a scuffling writer could look at the Prince of Wales. That's what I told myself when, some years ago, …
July 27, 2006