"I don't think I've ever met an alcoholic I didn't like." Thomas Clarence Kennedy was born and raised in San Diego. A product of Saint Augustine High School in North Park and the United States …
May 3, 2007
News & Stories
Tom Kennedy, drug counselor for Volunteers of America, can see right through you
James Brown At The Sports Arena, 1967
James Brown (May 3, 1933-December 25, 2006) at the Sports Arena, February 18, 1967. From the photo assignment sheet written up at our local daily: "Want some pix of Brown and audience as show winds …
May 3, 2007
Vino Veritas
An old wine-bibber having been smashed in a railway collision, some wine was poured on his lips to revive him. "Pauillac, 1873," he murmured and died. -- Ambrose Bierce I t was the first time …
May 3, 2007
Music to Match My Mood
In December of last year, new Web celeb Rex Hermogino won $50,000 and his own Internet show in the Yahoo! Talent Show, an online video contest. Hermogino's homemade pilot landed him among five finalists, and …
May 3, 2007
Their Own Paradise
“It’s one of those sleepy areas where you can still somewhat afford a piece of land.”
May 3, 2007
Music-sheet Stands
My friend Bernice's ten-year-old son is pleading for guitar lessons. He's decided to be the next great rock guitarist. "I'm not sure where he came up with the idea," she said, "because we don't listen …
May 3, 2007
Ad Blog: News and Views about Advertising, Branding, Marketing, and Copywriting
Title: Ad Blog: News and Views about Advertising, Branding, Marketing, and Copywriting Address: www.kuraoka.com/adblog/ Author: John Kuraoka From: San Carlos Blogging since: 1997 Post Date: April 18, 2007 Well, here again is someone making a …
May 3, 2007
Those Wastrels from Hoover High...
The day after the release of Led Zeppelin's first album, the band made its S.D. debut at the Fox Theatre on January 13, 1969. Later that year, less than a week before Woodstock, the Brits …
May 3, 2007
Unsavory Scene
"The bands always get paid up front because that's how they do business," says a business owner who provided support for last year's Street Scene. Eight months after the event, more than one vendor of …
May 3, 2007
We Need a New Dance Diva
Douglas Foxworthy cowrote "His Other Woman," the B-side of "This Girl Is a Woman Now," which was a top-ten hit in 1969 by locals Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. "My first check was for …
May 3, 2007
Tour Notes
Tour Notes ...from the Screamin Yeehaws, a local self-described "HonkyTonkPunkRawk" band that claims its 2006 outings were exceptionally bizarre. "We traveled this country many times over," says singer Nick-Bone Hollerin. "There's been stuff done in …
May 3, 2007
KPMG reports that the City's internal controls stink
Mayor Jerry Sanders would like San Diegans to believe that the City's sins will soon be in the past. He inherited a mess and proclaims he is fixing it. His predecessors practiced "delay, deny, or …
May 3, 2007
Truckers who must use the Otay Mesa port have Tijuana border crossing worst
Short southbound and long northbound waits are not always the norm at la frontera internacional. During the weekday evening rush hour, the southbound wait at San Ysidro is often more than an hour. This nightly …
May 3, 2007
U-T's daily circulation is 296,331, down 6.6 percent
Union-Tribune circulation continues to plummet. The collapse may not simply reflect demographic and industry factors affecting other metro dailies. The downfall may in part reflect San Diegans' disgust with the continued mixing of news and …
May 3, 2007
The Reader's Eye on Television
My hometown, Sonora, had a big shakeup this week. Traffic on Mono Way came to a standstill several times. Ranchers on their way to Jim's Feed and Tack store, construction workers driving to their job …
May 3, 2007
Breathing Room
Lee's home-style diner's at 1621 Wylie Avenue, in Pittsburgh's Hill District. Across the street, the Prophet Samuel, bejeweled with rings, lies in an open casket at West's funeral parlor. A block-long queue of mourners wants …
May 3, 2007
Richard T. Silberman tapped Paul Erdman for offshore activity
Former Swiss banker Paul Erdman, an all-time great financial writer, died April 23 at age 74, in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco. Not far away in Marin County, at last report, is former San …
May 3, 2007
Don't Dis My Bra by Amber Chafin
A few years ago I got back from a birthday weekend in Vegas feeling pretty lucky, so I gave this guy I knew a call. We didn't know each other too well -- I'd only …
May 3, 2007
Sisters in Crime
'In the book I'm working on right now, someone makes a joke about something unlikely and says, 'The day that happens is the day we'll have full trust in our mayoral department,'" says author Morgan …
May 3, 2007
Dimitrios Kyranas in Athens, Greece
The Fake Greek It all began in late 1994: I realized that my English was superior to that of my schoolmates, all of whom had more or less the same exposure to English that I …
May 3, 2007
Spottswoode Matures
"They paid about $300 a ton... The more sugar, the better. Flavor was not a question."
May 3, 2007
Nothing In Particular
Occasionally, life provides a moment when two people take to the dance floor; it's just another dance for them, but this time, this dance, they reveal who they are. On Sunday, Jeff Gordon won the …
May 3, 2007
Nothing Fancy
Two of my favorite comics, Adam Carolla and David Alan Grier, came to town as part of a radio promotion for a 103.7 "Free FM" party at the Wavehouse in Mission Beach. Carolla's morning show …
May 3, 2007
Broasted in Lakeside
"They remember when it took three days to get up here from Mission Beach. Three days!"
May 3, 2007
An early memory of Paul is his weeping while listening to Harry Belafonte sing "Take My Mother Home."
I just got off the phone with the Specialist; on the job, she's the Specialist; off the job, she's Bugspray: full name Rocker Nutley Bugspray. I've written about her before. We were talking about music …
May 3, 2007
I do. Didn't I?
Matt: I went through a wedding ceremony with witnesses to the vows in California, but no marriage license was ever filed. So there is no record of my marriage anywhere in the county or Sacramento. …
May 3, 2007
Why is Moses so horny?
Hey, Matt: Why does Michelangelo's Moses (appear to) have horns? -- A Renaissance Fan, Golden Hill Oh, it's all a big, big misunderstanding. Poor Moses has horns in hundreds of years' worth of paintings and …
May 3, 2007
Wanted: Travel Tips
Hello, Matt: My wife and I reside on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. We are planning a road trip south sometime around the middle of May to Lake Havasu City, AZ. After years of driving …
May 3, 2007
Stop the World
To impose perspective is an important part of a critic's job, but it's a tricky part.
May 3, 2007
Jim & Casper Go to Church
"Jesus came to start a movement, not an institution," says Jim Henderson, coauthor of Jim & Casper Go to Church: Frank Conversations about Faith, Churches, and Well-Meaning Christians . "As far as I can see, …
May 3, 2007
Circus Freaks Welcome
Circus Freaks Welcome Amanda Schendel, 25, says she and her college buddy Heather Adams, 23, throw "sweaty, dark, raging parties that last far beyond 2 a.m." at their underground party palace in Banker's Hill. "We …
May 3, 2007
Visit East Mesa in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, and see how Nature has recovered after the 2003 Cedar Fire.
This past rainy season delivered only a small share of moisture to grassy East Mesa in the Cuyamaca Mountains. So don't wait long if you want to enjoy spring-green rather than summer-yellow meadow vistas. Outlined …
May 3, 2007