Old men with money decorate our world.
March 19, 2008
Blog Entries
- Where Have All the Deadheads Gone?
- Don’t Fear the Funnies; Comics & Censorship
- SR-54 Shooting Leaves Two Teens Dead
- Kind Gestures?
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News & Stories
Will SDPD target the Rocket Pop Street Artist?
Hey, Hey…Hey-Hey-Hey…
“I’m pretty anti-karaoke, so we encourage people to pick really bad songs, to sing as badly as they like,” says Rookie Card front man Adam Gimble. His “Too Cool for Karaoke” event debuts this week …
March 19, 2008
Ordinary Mortals
‘When you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.” That line, from the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, serves as part of the epigraph for Peter May’s crime novel The Critic. The novel …
Competitive Country
A February 22 4th&B appearance by country artist Blake Shelton was sponsored by KSON, which means its competing station, U.S. 95.7, had no connection with the show. The day before the concert, U.S. 95.7 DJ …
March 19, 2008
America's Sweatiest Fatties
This is true. I know my reputation for oddball fiction and addled fantasy damages my credibility, but I swear, this is true. A spider and I encountered each other in an unpleasant way. Last week, …
March 19, 2008
Couldn't Be Better
“We never had speed down here,” Verne Dodds remarked. I nodded, agreeing with my former JV basketball coach, going back 40 years and more to our shared town of Imperial Beach. Mostly sons of Navy …
March 19, 2008
Angel-A, Parenthood, The World's Fastest Indian
Thomas PierceLibrary technician, Encinitas Pink Floyd The Wall has a dark, evocative story by Roger Waters and brilliant animation by Gerald Scarfe. It’s essentially a feature-length music video directed by Alan Parker. Parker also directed …
March 19, 2008
Why is Chula Vista’s mayor dealing with the San Diego Chargers?
The Port of San Diego calls the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan “one of the largest waterfront planning efforts in the nation.” For more than seven years, competing interests have negotiated and compromised on parks, …
March 19, 2008
Follow the money
EdVoice, a controversial Sacramento lobbying and political action group closely aligned with Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad and other wealthy advocates of public school privatization and charter schools, has placed a high-stakes bet on the …
March 19, 2008
Name This Place
Clue: Exotic auto zone. 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: One giant aloha) World's largest Hawaiian shirt, according to …
March 19, 2008
Cat Condos
“Mom, do you call Mrs. Phelan a cat lady because she looks like a cat?” Smart kid. Mrs. Phelan, who works as an aide at my boy’s school, does have a feline aspect to her. …
March 19, 2008
Alcohol Abuse
Post Date: August 8, 2007Post Title: A Simple Request to My Friends Prelude: One year ago, early morning in Las Vegas. I woke up on the floor of our friends’ hotel room with a brain …
March 19, 2008
La Mesa United Methodist Church
The 8:30 a.m. is the more contemplative of the Sunday services at La Mesa United Methodist. Throughout Lent, elements of Taizé spirituality have been incorporated into the service. The worship bulletin (church motto: “Open hearts. …
March 19, 2008
March Madness for Newbies
This column is for once-a-year college-basketball consumers. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is going to run for the next 18 days, and it’s possible to enjoy it this time around. Here’s a suggestion: give yourself …
March 19, 2008
North and South
Two Mondays ago I saw two films. In the morning was the advance screening of the American indie, Snow Angels, scheduled to open locally a week from Friday. I should probably, by custom, wait till …
March 19, 2008
Psycho Analysis
I envy paranoids; they actually feel people are paying attention to them. — Susan Sontag I didn’t want to see the doctor. I never do. But my options were running out — pills made me …
March 19, 2008
Be My Thumper
I was talking to a musician at a club and he said, “Have you ever been to a pole party? I know about one next weekend.” A few things entered my mind: with the primaries …
March 19, 2008
Barney to the Rescue!
Since forming 18 years ago, the Bay Area—based Tommy Castro Band has played over 30 gigs in San Diego. Last Friday’s Belly Up show was in peril because guitarist Tommy Castro had his 1966 Fender …
March 19, 2008
Quit the Day Job, Already
“For so long, people have told us that we were just a novelty,” says Matt Hensley, accordion player with Flogging Molly. “They didn’t give us any credit. They told our manager that what we did …
March 19, 2008
Bad Winters
Friday, today, I took a taxi to the office. The driver looked familiar, though I had forgotten his name. He told me but wishes to remain anonymous. I’ll call him Mel, and he reads this …
March 19, 2008
Delivered Chef Dinners
Sometimes, the second-to-last thing you want to do is dress up, get in the car, and go to a restaurant. The only alternative that’s worse? Shopping and cooking. Of course, this may apply more to …
March 19, 2008
Dank and Shivery
This restaurant is closed. “We’re opportunivores,” says Brian. “No,” says Jake. “We’re freegans. Like vegans, but only when it’s free.” Everybody’s sitting around two tables here inside Roots, chatting to stop the teeth from chattering. …
March 19, 2008
Odious, but Inevitable
Stephen Sondheim was so proud to have a musical on Broadway — West Side Story, for which he wrote the lyrics — he went back the night after it opened and stood in the aisle. …
March 19, 2008
No go
District Eight San Diego city councilman Ben Hueso has been told by the general counsel of the City’s Ethics Commission that he can’t vote on anything concerning the Dells Imperial redevelopment project area, which includes …
March 19, 2008
Cheryl Wheeler
Cheryl Wheeler’s voice runs the table in terms of emotion. A singer/songwriter in the new-folk tradition, she teeters on the edge of a full-throated country sound but misses no opportunity to accent or put an …
March 19, 2008
Built to Spill
As the millennium turned, Built to Spill was one of the bigger names in indie rock, even if the band wasn’t actually on an indie label anymore. Singer and songwriter Doug Martsch had gone from …
March 19, 2008
Sound Deviants
Samuel Lopez says tomorrow night’s show with noise artist Justice Yeldham and the San Diego Noise Crew promises to be a unique evening. “What can you say about a guy who plays a sheet of …
March 19, 2008
Society's Demise
Late last month, Kite Flying Society, the indie-pop band that took home the 2006 San Diego Music Award for “Best New Band,” split, leaving the recording of their second album, The Aviary, unfinished. The quintet, …
March 19, 2008
Not Just a Frivolous Kind of Thing
Artist: Writer Song: “I Think She Died” (from the Don’t Wake the Sun EP) Heard By: Mike Kong, Golden Hill I think it was kind of a love song, a memoir. She was singing to …
March 19, 2008
Maybe SD's Best
Album: Say What You Wanted to Say (2007) Artist: The Frantic Romantic Label: Self-released Where available/price: Music Trader in Pacific Beach or at live shows for $5. Online at franticromanticband.com and myspace.com/thefranticromantic for $7 ($5 …
March 19, 2008
Candlebox Rocker
One of my favorite memories takes me back to my years on the high school varsity tennis team and turning our school’s losing record into one of the best for the girls’ tennis team. Believe …
March 19, 2008
The Art of Voice Acting
What is the title of your book? “The Art of Voice Acting, Third Edition: The Craft and Business of Performing for Voice-Over.” Tell me about it. “The book is really a guide. The first thing …
March 19, 2008
The 8000 B.C. Deerhunter
“Only one other fluted point has ever been found in San Diego,” says George Kline, graduate student in archaeology at San Diego State University. Kline describes a fluted point as an arrowhead with a “channel …
March 19, 2008
Crazy Enough
There’s been a buzz about Grand Ole Party for a while now. The band recently released their first CD, Humanimals. The artwork was done by local artist Kelsey Brookes. The band’s previous EP also featured …
March 19, 2008
Teen Tamer
Beth Bennett, manager of local Department of Motor Vehicles, 1965. She began working at the DMV in 1946. Bennett left San Diego in 1961, when Governor Pat Brown made her deputy director of the state …
March 19, 2008
How Quickly It Can Be Taken Away
Name: Aaron Age: 21 Surfing: P.B. Drive Post-Surf Food: Organic “My grandfather was a pro in the ’60s and ’70s. He really inspired me to start competing when I was 14. I’d been surfing since …
March 19, 2008
Black Canyon
In Black Canyon, water amply illustrates its mindless yet artistic ability to sculpt stone. Every once in a great while, a gush of sediment-laden storm runoff tears through the canyon bottom, carving and polishing the …
March 19, 2008
Why plummeting dollar hurts you
The United States is behaving like a drug addict groping for another fix or an alcoholic reaching shakily for a hair of the dog. Our central bank, the Federal Reserve, keeps lowering interest rates and …
March 19, 2008