Being in the Navy seems like the perfect time to be single. Sailors are young, many just out of high school. They’re always traveling the world. Reaching a foreign port is one of the craziest …
May 7, 2008
Blog Entries
- Union-Tribune Lays Off Three Who Spearheaded Electronic News, Radio Efforts
52 comments
- Excessive Labor Costs Force Vallejo to Vote for Bankruptcy
27 comments
- I Fought the Law Pt. 4 – more music related lawsuits, busts & celebs in trouble in San Diego
- Movie Complaints
News & Stories
Will and I got married for the extra $1452 Navy pay
White Crane Spreads Its Wings Four Years Later
I began tai chi lessons in February 2004. Since there is nothing in my past that would foreshadow an interest in tai chi as opposed to, say, an interest in small-town bars, I decided this …
May 7, 2008
Reds
Call me an ingrate, but I cannot suppress the comment that Landmark Theatres have finally found a slot for Hou Hsiao-hsien only after the Taiwanese filmmaker made a film in France and in French, and …
May 7, 2008
I Could Have Just Screamed
Thirty Years AgoWhen Weird Marvin screams, he means business. He says he once screamed from the top of Mount Helix and a friend over on Mount Miguel heard him. Now Marvin is screaming off Hawley …
May 7, 2008
Knife Sharpeners
Pride goeth... My best gal pal Bernice has a niece, newly engaged and eager to learn the secrets of domestic bliss. Bernice sent her to me for an introduction to the kitchen. I was pleased …
May 7, 2008
The Border
The paved road stops at Al Qaim, a military base in northwestern Al Anbar province. Another 40 kilometers further along muddy and half-formed paths is a small combat outpost near the Syrian border. Surrounded by …
May 7, 2008
Jingle Hit
What San Diego musician can claim the title of Most Local Airplay? Pinback? P.O.D.? Jewel? The honor goes to Leonard Tucker. You many not recognize the name, but odds are you know the voice. Here’s …
May 7, 2008
We're Not in Kansas Anymore
I usually dress up for theme parties, but when I hit The Wizard of Oz theme party in North Park, I didn’t have anything to wear. I wasn’t about to make myself look like a …
May 7, 2008
Father's House Church International
Things I took away from Sunday’s service at Father’s House Church International: Israel and the Jews are important. An Israeli flag stood on one side of the stage. One of the hymns, in the midst …
May 7, 2008
Rock and rip
EdVoice, that controversial Sacramento lobbying organization, has already rolled out at least two mailers on behalf of 78th District Democratic assembly candidate Marty Block, chairman of the board of the San Diego Community College District. …
May 7, 2008
The Little One
Families with babies and families without babies are sorry for each other. — Ed Howe The gestation period had only been three months — from the date I conceived my little one to the moment …
May 7, 2008
The Underpants Tablecloth-Caped Avenger
Hold on to your butts, kids! Here comes another installment of...The Underpants Tablecloth-Caped Avenger! Disguised as my nebbish alter ego, Johan Awesome, I patrolled an enclave of Kensington. Ol’ Black Betty, the Six-Speed Bicycle of …
May 7, 2008
San Diego's Urban Explorers
DOWN IN THE DRAINS: It’s on the first sunny day after a string of rainstorms when Robert R. slides his blue SUV to the side of the road somewhere in UTC. In the passenger seat …
May 7, 2008
Craptacular
I worked with special-education kids for a very long time, and you have to be really careful what you say around them. You can’t cuss or say anything dirty because they will pick it up …
May 7, 2008
Beethoven and the Ladies
“He had become a public figure, as no composer had done before. Unlike composers of the preceding generation, he had never been a purveyor of music to the nobility he had lived into the age …
May 7, 2008
Less Dense, Fewer Homeless, More Sky
Having lived in San Diego since 1980, one would think that I would have long ago gravitated to residence in the northern portion of the county. It seems, by consensus, to be more generally livable …
May 7, 2008
The Tao of Dough
Over the door is the “dough” — the Chinese ideogram for the Tao (pronounced “doe”), meaning “the way” in general, and in Taoism, the way of the universe. (George Lucas calls it “The Force,” and …
May 7, 2008
Zydeco Is Like Oysters
“The word ‘zydeco’ comes from the Cajun-French song ‘Les haricots san pa sale,’” says Peter Oliver, musician and co-promoter of the Gator by the Bay Festival. “In French that means ‘the snap beans aren’t salty,’ …
May 7, 2008
Stanton Moore
New Orleans drummer Stanton Moore’s jazz has more to do with the rowdiness of rock than with free-form intellectual explorations of melody. That’s not to say that Moore is a failed rocker turned jazzman or …
May 7, 2008
23 Roommates by Jane Hanson
I was scraping by as a line cook in San Francisco in the mid-’80s when my landlord offered me the job of managing a 24-unit apartment building on Pine Street. It sounded like easy money: …
May 7, 2008
He Would Steal from a King?
The Four Kings played a local battle-of-the-bands show at the House of Blues last August. “At the end of the show the four of us were taking different trips up and down the loading elevator,” …
May 7, 2008
Two Songs
Single: Don’t Wake the Sun (2008) Artist: Writer Label: self-released Where available/price: At live shows, Lou’s Records (Encinitas), Off the Record (North Park), M Theory (Mission Hills), and Spin Records (Carlsbad) for $5. Online at …
May 7, 2008
Neptune’s Harvest
When an abandoned 18-foot boat loaded with marijuana washed ashore April 21 at Sunset Cliffs, a KUSI News reporter interviewed one damp, long-haired, shirtless witness who called the huge stash “the harvest of Neptune.” The …
May 7, 2008
Name This Place
Clue: Son of a beach. 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: Christa and crew, remembered) Graffiti tribute to the …
May 7, 2008
Band Bar
Last month, Disco Pimps front man Eric Alexander opened the Stage Saloon downtown. Formerly the Heat Supper Club, the 300-seat room at 762 Fifth Avenue becomes one more county nightspot at least partially owned by …
May 7, 2008
Pop Feel, Indie Feel
Artist: Archways Song: “Jinx” (from the CD Lest We Forget) Heard By: Dan Watman, Stockton I liked it a lot. The guitar riff was catchy and original. I liked the style of music — it …
May 7, 2008
On His Own
Although a March 25 San Diego Union-Tribune article announced that “Street Scene is poised to reclaim the streets that inspired its name,” founder Rob Hagey has taken out a special-events permit to hold it in …
May 7, 2008
Pimps and Farm Tools
“Chasers is the new Scolari’s,” singer Vv Morgue says of the North Park bar. “Scolari’s no longer has bands, so their crew all moved on over to Chasers to pick up the pieces.” Last year, …
May 7, 2008
Spreckels Theatre, c. 1908
Excavation of the Spreckels Theatre building at 121 Broadway, c. 1908. Sugar millionaire John D. Spreckels is said to have had it constructed to coincide with the Panama Canal’s opening. (San Diego vied to be …
May 7, 2008
Kathleen Edwards
There’s a song called “Oil Man’s War” on Canadian alt-country singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards’s new album Asking for Flowers, but it’s not about you-know-who or you-know-where. No, it’s the story of a young American couple, Bobby …
May 7, 2008
Second Skin
Name: Frank Age: 35 Lives In: Mission Beach Surfing: Mission Beach Pre-Surf Music: Band of Horses Post-Surf Food: Anything healthy Frank had a nasty collision one evening at La Jolla Shores. “As I was starting …
May 7, 2008
Indian givers
The long-running dispute between the Barona Indians and their neighbors over pumping water for the tribe’s golf course apparently demanded a recent firsthand inspection by county supervisor Ron Roberts. On February 20, according to recently …
May 7, 2008
Mystery meat
Some San Diego city hall insiders are expecting the investigation announced this week by Mayor Jerry Sanders of that controversial Otay Mesa Blackwater training facility to be a whitewash. Exhibit number one, they argue, is …
May 7, 2008
Kwaaymii Trail
The Laguna Mountain range, just east (and squarely in the “rain shadow”) of the nearby Cuyamaca Mountains, snags just enough moisture from passing Pacific storms to support a forest of scattered live oaks, black oaks, …
May 7, 2008
Bangs, Piggy Banks, Flies
Dear Matt: When I was a little girl, my mother always cut my hair in bangs, straight across my forehead. I was looking at some old pictures lately and suddenly wondered why that hairstyle is …
May 7, 2008
They Loved Him in Basra
Najem Al Ekabi sits beneath the forest of red, white, and black Iraqi flags. He’s intent on a video on his laptop. “Look, see?” he says. “The one on the left. That’s me. Winning the …
San Diego City Council accused of over-sized pay raise
On April 21, local attorney Bob Ottilie went to the city council meeting with a Personnel Department list of salaries made by city employees last year. That day the council would reverse a decision it …
May 7, 2008
Will Angelenos, Zonies stay away from San Diego this year?
It’s always said that San Diego tourism, the county’s third-largest industry, is insulated from — if not immune to — recessions and high gas prices. When the economy sags and/or gas prices zoom, Angelenos and …
May 7, 2008