It is New Year's Eve, 2005. A cold rain lashes skid row at the corner of 16th and G Streets. David Ross, aged 71, pulls to the stoplight and hears a voice from the darkness …
October 5, 2006
News & Stories
Water Man David Ross carries water to San Diego's homeless
“Obese families feeding each other dripping nachos...” “This is living, eh, Bob? You, me, and three honeys. How’s that soup treating you?”
The Café Noir on Ninth Avenue near Island Avenue is painted a flat charcoal so that it disappears after sunset, leaving only the small, red-neon rubric, "Café Noir," unblinking, a cyclopean Cheshire cat's bloodshot eye. …
October 5, 2006
The Reader's Eye on Television
There are these milk crates I have. I found 'em in an alley and when I spotted 'em I slammed on my brakes and rushed from my truck to nab 'em before anyone else could. …
October 5, 2006
All Football
As of noon today, San Diego Chargers HQ is in lockdown and a dusk-to-dawn curfew remains in effect for the coaching staff and all players. The latest news bulletin quotes an anonymous source as saying …
October 5, 2006
Lighthouse Bible Church
Pastor John Kim was finishing up the hour of Sunday school that preceded the service: "Why do people turn to drugs and other things? They need something to help them deal with the realities of …
October 5, 2006
Liebre Mountain swells to a mile-high altitude north of Los Angeles.
The cool, forested north slopes of Liebre Mountain rear up in stark contrast to the wide, brown Antelope Valley (westernmost Mojave Desert) at their feet. The San Andreas Fault, which lies along the mountain's north …
October 5, 2006
Alien encounter
I met an alien last Wednesday. Don't get up on your political soapbox yet; it wasn't an alien who'd hopped any fences or walked across borders, but the kind that cruises around looking for country …
October 5, 2006
San Diego, Thy Name Is Wall Street
There'll be no new day dawning if the city keeps walking on the dark side. Mayor Jerry Sanders pledges transparency, open government, public participation, and accountability, and then bows and scrapes before Wall Street, whose …
October 5, 2006
New Suits For Nude Dancers
If nothing else, the Kearny Mesa strip joint called Cheetahs has had a colorful family history. For 12 years, according to police records, it was owned by Jack and Michael Galardi. Jack was a hardened …
October 5, 2006
Case Closed
The tow-truck magnate reputed to be the business brains behind Metabolife International, the diet-drug outfit that made hundreds of millions of dollars before its financial collapse, has finally been sentenced. William Robert Bradley, who pled …
October 5, 2006
Red-light Timing
High-dollar political consultant Tom Shepard, who is currently working on the campaign by San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders to privatize city services, has a lucrative side business as a county lobbyist. Among his most recent …
October 5, 2006
The King's Things
'It's a Budweiser and badminton bash," Brandon said when he invited me to his son's birthday party at Balboa Park. I had plans that day but had to know what people called a "shuttlecock" after …
October 5, 2006
Derma Drama
It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept. -- Bill Watterson I had noticed it before, but I wasn't worried. Not until David brought it to my attention one night as I …
October 5, 2006
Iowa Ostrich Burgers
“It has about 3 grams of fat in it. A regular beef patty has 29.”
October 5, 2006
Air Mattresses
"Feels like another $35 for the chiropractor," said my husband Patrick, rubbing his back. He'd spent the weekend in L.A. on business, stayed at his sister's, and slept on an air mattress. "I'd have been …
October 5, 2006
Simone in Belize
Jungle Love "So why did you move to Belize?" It's the question that everybody asks when they come to our jungle lodge. The strange thing is that we haven't got a straight answer to that. …
October 5, 2006
Studio Project Goes Live
'My Next Dilemma started as a studio project, and three albums later we find we are starting to do shows," says San Diego--based guitar player and vocalist Todd Miramon. "The songs come from mostly experiences …
October 5, 2006
SoundScam?
Last week's free Saosin show in the parking lot of Lou's Records in Encinitas did not sit well with a local who sells concert tickets for a living. "How do they get away with it?" …
October 5, 2006
O.B. Sand Blast
This summer, Don Ho (not his real name) held a series of live-music events at the end of Brighton Avenue in Ocean Beach. Dubbed "Sounds on the Sand" and held under the auspices of Ho's …
October 5, 2006
Restless Natives
Local performers have posted the following content on their MySpace sites: The Death Squad's page header reads, "I Will Slaughter Your Family," and graphics feature photos of Hitler and swastikas. At this writing, tracks such …
October 5, 2006
Trumans Remains Undefeated
Back home in France after a West Coast tour, Trumans Water's Kevin Branstetter chuckles about a blurb anticipating the band's Casbah appearance last month. In an August 30 item, CityBeat's Scoop Stevens noted that "...the …
October 5, 2006
Not-So-Serious Bigfellas
Charlie Recksieck of the Bigfellas says being known for their bawdy tune "I Wish That I Were Gay" has its plusses and minuses. "The good side is it gives people something to remember you by, …
October 5, 2006
Air It Out
'San Diego is somewhat noted for contributing greatly to offensive theory," says author and historian Todd Tobias. "In the 1960s, [Chargers coach] Sid Gillman started throwing the ball more than anybody -- most folks were …
October 5, 2006
Buyer First, Salesman Second
'I'm representing wineries that make only 200 cases for the world, [maybe] 50 for Southern California.'
October 5, 2006
Dog Spit as First Aid
I would assume that most people know that a dog's mouth isn't very clean, considering where its tongue is most of the time. Still, my friend argues that if you were to injure yourself and …
October 5, 2006
Bad Bridge Housekeeping
Matthew: Why has the paint job on the San Diego-Coronado bridge been allowed to look like hell for so many years? For a while they were doing the retrofitting, so I understood that was the …
October 5, 2006