I've got this friend back in New York City, Suzi Winson, who flies regularly on the trapeze, and she's counseled me for years that I should take it up. "There's nothing like the trapeze," Winson …
March 16, 2006
News & Stories
Trapeze High in Escondido
The Shoes and Gloves Come Off
My friend Sally threw a birthday party for her sister Julie at the Old Town Saloon. When I arrived, Julie was showing off a ring that she received as a gift. I didn't know Julie …
Fresh Pie
Some fans at the recent Cult show at House of Blues left with a live recording of the band's performance. A table manned by a Live Nation employee took $25 from patrons during the sold-out …
March 16, 2006
Skinheads Can't Read
No San Diego bands played the British Invasion concert in San Bernardino on March 4. Veteran SD punker Mike Virus (of the band Cheap Sex) was in the audience at around 7:30 when the music …
March 16, 2006
Subverts
One of the people who campaigned for the cancellation of Seattle's Summer Nights concerts this year is Mike Silva, brother of longtime local concert promoter Bill Silva. Mike lives near Gas Works Park, where the …
March 16, 2006
We're an All-Vegan Band
"I wouldn't eat a dog or cat, a seagull or parrot, and I wouldn't eat a horse," says singer Christopher Greenslate of the all-vegan band Tamora, "so why would I eat a pig, chicken, fish, …
March 16, 2006
Super Open-Minded
"Some of the songs [I wrote] for Fuel TV are on my new CD," says Superunloader drummer Chad Farran about his recently released second solo album, Another Ride. "Fuel TV is one of Fox Network's …
March 16, 2006
George and Jack
At the Coaster Saloon at 1:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning, Mike Tyler drank Jack and Cokes and checked out the small jukebox mounted on the wall. I asked him what song he was looking …
March 16, 2006
Pitch In
'The bulk of our trails were laid out by the CCC [Civilian Conservation Corps] during the late 1930s, when they tended to install trails similar to how you would put in a roadway," says Michael …
March 16, 2006
My record speaks for itself.
The acronym for Thank God It's Friday is so universally recognized (I only had to explain it once to a swami who was actually from Long Beach, and I swear she was pretending ignorance) that …
March 16, 2006
Explore the flowering slopes of Agua Tibia Wilderness, east of Temecula, at its seasonal best.
The Agua Tibia Wilderness covers an obscure section of Cleveland National Forest, just east of Temecula, straddling the San Diego-Riverside County line. Agua Tibia's pillowy, steeply plunging, chaparral-clad slopes look austere from a distance — …
March 16, 2006
Hedge Funds, "Shorts," Deny Collusion
In the not-so-divine comedy of investing, short sellers (often simply called "shorts") usually get the short end of the shtick. Whether they are right or wrong, they are reviled because they bet stocks will go …
March 16, 2006
Free Barry Bonds
On the phone with Randy Grossman, San Diego criminal defense attorney, Major League Baseball agent, former KNSD 7/39 TV sports reporter, and member of the adjunct faculty (teaching sports law) at Thomas Jefferson School of …
March 16, 2006
Breaking Stories
Crooks like them What did the feds know and when did they know it? That Nixon-era catchphrase might also apply to the ongoing intrigue enveloping the end stage of the Randy "Duke" Cunningham bribery scandal. …
March 16, 2006
Hairstyles: No Mercy
A wild tangle of curls ran all over my head like jungle vines. I looked in the mirror and realized what I'd been depriving myself of for so long. Since that day, I have become …
March 16, 2006
Dingbat Eyesores, Loving Eye
On a recent Saturday afternoon, Phil Chart and his girlfriend Janice Morten went out to -- what else? -- sketch an old house. "What I like about San Diego is the variety of its neighborhoods," …
March 16, 2006
Roller Babe
Kellie Davis lives in Normal Heights in a studio apartment with her boyfriend Tom and their dog Phoenix. Kellie is a recent UCSD graduate with a film degree and works as a production assistant for …
March 16, 2006
Grace Lutheran Church, North Park
The Christ depicted on the wall behind the raised, carved-wood pulpit at Grace Lutheran is Christus Rex: crucified, but clad in priestly robes; glorified, but still hung upon the cross that won his glory. But …
March 16, 2006
High-seas Homicide
Dear Matt: If my wife bumps me off here in San Diego, it's homicide and the county D.A. will prosecute. But what if we're off shore in her private dinghy? Who has jurisdiction? Suppose we're …
March 16, 2006
Where It's @
Matt: Where did the @ symbol come from? -- Lance, Chula Vista We have some late-breaking news on the "at" symbol, or "commercial a" symbol, whichever you choose to call it. Time was that linguists …
March 16, 2006
A Head on the Freeway
Heymatt: Alongside the 5 freeway heading north somewhere around the airport there is a pink building with a huge white rendition of Michelangelo's "David" painted on the side. I want to know why. -- Susie …
March 16, 2006
The Reader's Eye on Television
Drawn across the top of my Soundgarden CD case are parallel lines of dusty, crushed-rock powder. I suck at one with a straw and rub my nose because of the raw scratching and chemical burn. …
March 16, 2006
A Primitive Heart: Stories
A Primitive Heart: Stories by David Rabe. Grove Press, 2005; $24; 287 pages FROM THE DUST JACKET: David Rabe is one of the finest playwrights in America, possessed of a muscular voice, singular gift for …
March 16, 2006
Rosa Jurjevics in Boston
Bad with Girls One evening in Brooklyn, feeling enterprising, I wandered into the kitchen and sat down on the chaise lounge opposite my father, who was parked in his favorite reading chair. "Dad?" I said. …
March 16, 2006
Tour de Park
Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live. -- Mark Twain This was a bad idea, I thought, guiding the two wheels beneath me in a wobbling maneuver to avoid the cement …
March 16, 2006
Cat Declawing
My husband Patrick's Aunt Azelda isn't given to indulgences like leather furniture sets, but she just bought one. "I've had pudding that was stiffer than this leather," she cooed, quoting Niles from Frasier . The …
March 16, 2006