Over 50 residents of Hillcrest, Mission Hills, and Banker's Hill attended the July 8 San Diego City Council meeting. They waved five-inch, fluorescent green signs that on one side read "IHO," the other, "YES." Their …
July 9, 2008
Blog Entries
- King of Documentaries
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- The Spirit of OB
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News & Stories
Hillcrest VS High Rises — Judgement Day
Scarlet Symphony
With the exception of their personal career choices, as musicians I don’t think that Scarlet Symphony makes many mistakes. That’s a large statement, but listen to “Perfect Cover Up.” It’s a perfect rock and roll …
July 9, 2008
The Dancing Stormtrooper
I went to lunch with former quarterbacks Dan Fouts and Brian Sipe, coaching legend Don Coryell, and player-turned-actor Fred Dryer, star of the show Hunter. It was an event at the Hall of Champions in …
July 9, 2008
Name This Place
Last week's place: (clue: The oldest sidewalk?) Sidewalk on First Avenue, between Ash and Beech downtown. The pavement, laid and stamped in December 1895 by concrete contractor O. E. Winders, may be the oldest to …
July 9, 2008
The Bigger Family
One of the biggest differences I find in raising a family in Japan is that the concept of family is different from what I am used to. In Canada, the nuclear family reigns supreme, but …
July 9, 2008
Vest-ment
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one. — Bill Gates David’s brother Dana and I stood side by side, surveying the items arranged on his mother’s kitchen table. At one …
July 9, 2008
Go Away, History!
“Que mas?” the girl said, swishing her black hair over her ear. "Que mas?" She turned from me, held her arms above her head, and rocked her hips. She pulled her hair up off her …
July 9, 2008
San Diego ad agencies – a brief history
TV audiences are mad about Mad Men, a show about a Madison Avenue advertising agency in 1960. The second season on the AMC cable network begins July 27, and you can buy designer fashions, calendars, …
July 9, 2008
Shrunken Heads, Smoker History
Heymatt: I’ve always wondered about shrunken heads. How do they shrink the skull? That’s bone, and I can’t figure out how anybody could shrink bone. I’m not planning to do any shrinking myself. I’m just …
July 9, 2008
Big Pines Nature Trail
On the eastern extremity of the San Gabriel Mountains, seemingly far from L.A.’s smoggy blanket of air, lies the Big Pines Recreation Area, designated as an all-season recreational area within Angeles National Forest. During the …
July 9, 2008
The Muzak Experience
At the beginning of June, Greg Laswell’s songs were picked up by the Muzak canned-music firm, which is developing what it calls the “audio architecture” for Courtyard Hotel lobbies. In addition, two tracks from Laswell’s …
July 9, 2008
Poseidon adventures
“Jerry Brown 2010,” the campaign committee expected to fund the likely gubernatorial bid of the Democratic state attorney general, collected $5000 from Stamford, Connecticut–based Poseidon Resources on June 18. That was just two weeks after …
July 9, 2008
Saint Patrick’s in July
Is San Diego due for a wave of undocumented Irish immigrants? With increasingly hard economic times on the Emerald Isle, officials there are predicting that 20,000 undocumented Irish will try to get into America during …
July 9, 2008
Tough Times for Mexican Musicians
According to Tijuana’s La Prensa newspaper, on June 21, Mexican federal agents raided the Little Devil social hall in Tijuana. They reported seizing thousands of rounds of ammunition, 19 high-caliber weapons, and a pound of …
July 9, 2008
Unforgettable: The Jamul Incident
THE JAMUL INCIDENT: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF APOLINARIA LORENZANA (Part Three) In the spring of 1837, Apolinaria Lorenzana left her duties at the mission for a few days, to break in a new foreman …
July 9, 2008
Bitter Past
Shakespeare’s always up to something. Even in plays that feel written in haste, like All’s Well That Ends Well, the Bard’s twisting conventions and turning tables. Most of Shakespeare’s romantic comedies begin with an arranged …
July 9, 2008
Peek at a Penguin
“For the full-moon paddle, sometimes there’s phosphorescence in the water,” says Julie Hocking, office manager of the education department for the San Diego Natural History Museum. “It’s like a neon green. When I paddle I …
July 9, 2008
Wake-Up Pizza
Pizza for breakfast? Gimme a break. And yet…here it sits, before my very eyes. I stand gawping, Sunday mawnin’, bleary-eyed, even now, around 11. I’ve gotten off the Blue Line trolley at this new stop …
July 9, 2008
Harry and the Potters
Earlier this year the Harry and the Potters duo announced on their website that they had broken up: The two members could not agree on how to continue as a band now that J.K. Rowling …
July 9, 2008
Cashing In
It’s been a busy sports morning, checking the Internet for news about A-Rod and Madonna, Cynthia (Mrs. A-Rod), and Lenny (Mrs. A-Rod’s special friend). Inevitably one is drawn into the topic of cashing in. Cynthia …
July 9, 2008
Shin Splints
“If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon.” — Emil Zatopek Hubby Patrick is heading down the road to experiencing a different life as …
July 9, 2008
Recession Radio
One radio veteran says the recession may be good news for people who want to hear more music on the radio. “Radio advertising was down last year,” says the local deejay. “Then the recession hit. …
July 9, 2008
Bad Luck o’ the Irish
“I bought it from an old hippie in Washington the summer Jerry Garcia died,” says Bleeding Irish fiddle player Rhy Thornton of the 1964 school bus his band took on the Warped Tour. “Willie Nelson …
July 9, 2008
Girls on Deck
Back in the early ’90s my roommate and I spent hours in my apartment near Balboa Park watching and listening as our British friend Eugene (a.k.a. Skinnyribz) did things to records we had never heard …
July 9, 2008
How to Break Up a Band
Dynamite Hack was a late-’90s, Austin-based alternative rock band that is best remembered for their tongue-in-cheek acoustic cover of Eazy-E’s “Boyz-n-the-Hood.” The song can still be heard occasionally on local FM94/9 and even more often …
July 9, 2008
Backlash on Localism
Name: Nathan Kruger Age: 26 Lives In: La Mesa Surfing: Scripps Pre-Surf Music: The Get Up Kids Girls in the Water? “Definite yay!” “I just have to say that I’m really tired of the ‘locals …
July 9, 2008
Ready for War
Artist: Nature of the Beast Song: “Ready for War” (from the CD Homeland Security) Heard By: Robert Bagaygay, Mission Valley I was really liking the beat. It went back to the old school with the …
July 9, 2008
Parkhouse Benedict
Recipe by Gilberto Villareal, Chef, Parkhouse Eatery. I like cooking meat with crazy sauces. Sometimes rib-eyes. Sometimes ribs or pork tenderloins with pomegranate balsamic vinaigrette. But I like breakfast too. The Parkhouse Benedict is a …
July 9, 2008
Metropolitan Correctional Center: the best jail in town
Thirty Years Ago Neddy Massaro’s jail is the best in San Diego. She lives on the tenth floor of the sleek Metropolitan Correctional Center, the federal highrise at F and Union streets in downtown San …
July 9, 2008
Peanuts, 1963
In 1963, District 5 county supervisor candidate Al Hogan posed with peanuts. Walnuts, celery, and carnations have all had their high-production years in San Diego County, but peanuts… In 1878, a Captain Porter “made a …
July 9, 2008
Streaming Larry Smarr
UCSD’s California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, which spends a tidy chunk of its taxpayer-furnished budget on public relations, has recently outdone itself, coming up with what it calls an “experiment in institutional lifecasting.” …
July 9, 2008
United Church of Christ
“Never place a period where God has put a comma.” — Gracie Allen, quoted in UCC pamphlet. "God is Still Speaking” read the caption on the name-tag the greeter gave me on my way into …
July 9, 2008
Certain San Diegans feel their missing limbs
Most stories begin with a person or an event. This one begins with a book. Last summer I read The Brain That Changes Itself by research psychiatrist and psychologist Norman Doidge, M.D., which discusses developments …
July 9, 2008
Summer Break on Steak
My pal Samurai Jim is in some ways a paragon of the classic Bachelorus americanus species. He loves good Scotch, good red meat, a brisk six-mile run in the morning, and smart, pretty blondes. When …
July 9, 2008
San Diego's GOP central committee in turmoil
Two days before the June 3 election, MaryRose Consiglio and Tom Sherman emailed a group of candidates running for membership on the San Diego County Republican Party’s Central Committee. “We are sure you have noticed,” …
July 9, 2008