March 6 started out pretty much like any other day. Work was busy. I got off a little late, went home, got in the shower, and when I got out, my son Marshal told me …
June 4, 2008
Blog Entries
- Federal Judge Says Blackwater Can Go Ahead with Shooting Range; City Attorney Protests Decision
15 comments
- Hey Bo Diddley
- Ocean Temps to Desert Annuals
News & Stories
A rollover truck on Pamo Road in Ramona
White Asparagus Soup
Recipe by Stéphane Voitzwinkler, executive chef, Bertrand at Mister A’s I am from Alsace-Lorraine, which is east of Paris, so I am a country boy. I am very simple and live a simple life. I …
June 4, 2008
Chefs Call Him "Awesome"
Nearly every week, I pour myself a glass of Japanese fizzy-water (Nigori sake), take a deep breath, and call up some rank stranger — the chef of the restaurant I’m currently reviewing. Between the serious …
June 4, 2008
Sunless Tans
‘I need a tan — now,” said Tara, flopping on my couch and gazing out at the cool, cloudy afternoon. “No, I need it yesterday. I just found out Jay will be at the wedding …
June 4, 2008
Errant Knaves
I remember going to an Alice in Wonderland party in costume. When my old girlfriend and I saw the crowd in the living room, we thought we were the only ones dressed up. Luckily, there …
June 4, 2008
Tea High
Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors. — Alice Walker Mom had been exercising her pinkie for three days. She told me the exhaustive sets of pinkie-extensions were in preparation for her first …
June 4, 2008
Chimp People
Some people look like chimpanzees, and that’s the truth of it. I’m not being mean or hurtful. You’ve seen that person who looks like a chimpanzee. And you’ve caught yourself thinking of that person in …
June 4, 2008
Local Films, Local Responsibility
“Cottonwood Creek is the watershed in Encinitas that flows out into Moonlight Beach,” says Carris Rhodes, program assistant for the Cottonwood Creek Environmental Film Festival. “It used to be really smelly and dirty. Then [approximately …
June 4, 2008
The Counter of Monte Cristo
‘The problem with La Jolla,” says Siamak, “is that its people are not experienced in sociability. It is a wonderful town, but it is very conservative. The locals don’t socialize.” Derissi strokes his beard and …
Jagged Conversation
Caryl Churchill’s play A Number unfolds like a hall of slowly warping mirrors. The play opens with Salter, in his early 60s, talking to his 35-year-old son Bernard. Their conversation’s jagged. Each interrupts the other, …
June 4, 2008
Rock On and On
You may not be familiar with guitarist Greg Douglass, but you’ve probably heard him play — he cowrote and played on the Steve Miller Band hit “Jungle Love” (1977), performed on Greg Kihn’s single “Jeopardy” …
June 4, 2008
Turkish Barbers
There are two barbershops on Camp Fallujah, about a ten-minute walk apart. One — run by a Jordanian — is located inside the post exchange complex while the other — a shop owned by an …
June 4, 2008
Uneasy Lies the Head...
Bottom line, David Stern got the finals he needed — Lakers vs. Celtics — and people are watching. Mediaweek reports fat times in NBA World, Playoffs Subcontinent. ESPN ratings are up 35 percent, TNT ratings …
June 4, 2008
Porky Piggin' It
You know how sometimes you’re just kickin’ it at home, wearing a shirt but no pants? That’s called Porky Piggin’ it. If you’ve seen the cartoon Porky Pig, you know he wore a top but …
June 4, 2008
Bite-Sized
The men behind You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, who would include director Dennis Dugan and producer-writer-star Adam Sandler, must be holding their collective breath in hopes that, before or during its opening weekend, no …
June 4, 2008
Not in the lobby
An engineer from Burlingame, California, has been told by the City of San Diego’s Ethics Commission that he doesn’t have to register as a lobbyist if he provides only “technical data” to city officials. “If …
June 4, 2008
Les Sans Culottes
Please bear with me for a brief history lesson: In the French Revolution, the sans-culottes were a dangerous element of the Third Estate. They were poor, and they wore long work pants instead of the …
June 4, 2008
Pacific Beach Bible Church
The backlit wooden cross hanging on the wall above the stage was bare, but Christ crucified was a prominent feature of Sunday’s service at Pacific Beach Bible Church. I say prominent, not exclusive; the mentions …
June 4, 2008
Backbone Trail
The easternmost Backbone Trail, part of a “hikers highway in the making” through the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, skims across spacious Topanga State Park above Santa Monica and executes a final swan dive …
June 4, 2008
Name This Place
Clue: Crown this our smallest park? Describe this location, name the nearest cross-streets, and win a Reader T-shirt. Enter by completing the form below. Last week's place: (clue: Regal entrance to Winnie's place?) The jeweled …
June 4, 2008
Comfortable Creeps
Album: Paycheck to Paycheck (2007) Artist: Comfortable Creeps Label: FTB Recordings Where available/price: All Music Trader record shops for $8. Online at accesshiphop.com for $7 or iTunes for 99 cents a song. Songs: 1) Kerri’s …
June 4, 2008
The Swordsmen
This is being written amid days in a row of May Gray. It may be a safe bet that you are reading it in the early part of June Gloom. Possibly not, but it doesn’t …
June 4, 2008
Tickets to Slide?
Although tickets for the August 27 Radiohead show at Cricket Amphitheatre are selling well, local concert promoters may be facing a tough summer. “AEG is hurting with George Michael,” says one insider about how AEG …
June 4, 2008
Disrespected
Local hip-hop artist Young Mass says he “… can’t take this disrespect from none of them stick-up-the-ass Aftermath niggas.” He’s talking about onetime collaborators Dr. Dre and Dre’s studio staff at Aftermath Entertainment. “Karma swings …
June 4, 2008
Uncle Ted's Victuals
When Ted Nugent appears at the House of Blues on June 10, his catering contract states, “Absolutely no takeout meals will be deemed acceptable, i.e. McDonald’s, Fish and Chips, Weinerworld, Chinese, etc.” His dressing room …
June 4, 2008
Listen to Ruthey
Name: Ruthey Travis Age: 58 Lives In: Rancho Bernardo Surfing: Black’s Beach Pre-Surf Music: Sam Cooke Post-Surf Food: Scrambled eggs “I should have known better. It was a foolish mistake. I was just paddling out, …
June 4, 2008
Collagen, Helium, and Butt Boozin'
Hey, Matthew: Before I have collagen injections in my lips, I have to know where they get the collagen. Is it human? Does it come from some animal? — Lip Sink, via email Cow lips. …
June 4, 2008
In the lobby
With election results now in hand, members of the city’s lobbying corps can adjust their strategies as needed. And despite the threatened economic recession and housing crash, there’s plenty of business, judging from recent disclosure …
June 4, 2008
A Californian Song and New Grunge
Artist: The Paddle Boat Song: “A Little Time” (from myspace.com/thepaddleboat) Heard By: Michael Dunford, Mission Hills I thought it was good. I think it’s a very appropriate song. What I mean by that is the …
June 4, 2008
Who Charted?
Though overall music sales have been in a death spiral for several years, San Diego artists have been having their best year ever on Billboard’s Top 200 chart. But does it mean as much as …
June 4, 2008
The Kid, Public Enemy, Sunset Boulevard
Scott PaulsonPit director of the Teeny-Tiny Pit Orchestra for Silent Films, UCSD’s ArtPower The finest screen adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the 1920 silent. The Kino DVD has beautiful tinting effects that …
June 4, 2008
Scene Stir
“I moved to San Diego in the 1980s and intended to earn a living as a musician,” says author R.J. McDonnell, whose just-released Rock & Roll Homicide novel is set amidst the local music scene. …
June 4, 2008
JROTC popular in San Diego, but critics abound
Eduardo Ochoa teaches social justice at Lincoln High School in Chollas View. Ochoa is also a coordinator for the Advancement Via Individual Determination program, or AVID, as everyone calls it, a high school elective designed …
June 4, 2008
The gentle decline of golf in San Diego
“Golf is a good walk spoiled,” growled Mark Twain, and in recent years, more and more Americans have been agreeing with him. The industry hopes that the U.S. Open, played June 9 through 15 at …
June 4, 2008