You’re standing on a street corner in San Diego. It is summer in, say, North Park: the corner of 30th and University. Actually, you’re a good light-year away; you have to be; it’s brutally hot, …
October 15, 2008
Blog Entries
- Will SEDC Board Members Testify on Smith Raises?... and other issues
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- Beer - Making People Do Stupid Things since 1878!
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News & Stories
Professional dancers in San Diego twirl signs
A Trillion Peaces
It's 6:30 in the morning. Loan ("Lo-Ann"), the beautiful, solemn-faced Vietnamese girl in the green smock, hands me the note. It's from my lifeguard buddy. "Ed: Time and tide wait for no man. Off to …
October 15, 2008
Time to Walk the Goat
Both Scott Carhart and Helen Flaster are undoubtedly animal people. Their family pets number 26: seven dogs, seven cats, three horses, two goats, two tortoises, two turtles, two birds, a miniature horse, and a few …
October 15, 2008
S.D. O.G.
“I’ve been a musician since I found out what musicians do for a living,” says guitarist Joey Harris. “I tried being a salesman once, and it sucked just as bad as I sucked at it. …
October 15, 2008
Democratic Process
The reason there are so few female politicians is that it is too much trouble to put makeup on two faces. — Maureen Murphy "Okay, here’s the deal,” I said, as Amy set her purse …
October 15, 2008
What to Watch During an Economic Meltdown!
Like a donkey on a tilt-a-whirl, I have no business being in a kitchen. With that in mind, I’m going to share some of my cost-cutting-cooking and home-organizing tips. First, what you want to do …
October 15, 2008
Sync Those Lips
“Those who look like the artists they are portraying will probably go far,” says producer Randy Wood. “A Michael Jackson impersonator — with all the dancers and everything — went to Mexico last year and …
October 15, 2008
Cheese Doodles
“Sometimes a man gets a hankering,” my husband Patrick said last week, “a hankering for food of a color rarely found in nature, a hunger for crunchy snacks that leave greasy, gritty residue along your …
October 15, 2008
Rich and famous play chicken
The battle over Prop 2, the Humane Society–sponsored measure to limit allegedly cruel confinement of chickens and other animals on California farms, is heating up, and a bevy of well-heeled San Diego–area denizens are choosing …
October 15, 2008
Train Electrocution, Ripe Bananas
Dear Matthew Alice: What would happen if lightning hit railroad tracks? Would everybody on the train be electrocuted if lightning hit the cars? — William, via email Where do you people get these questions? We …
October 15, 2008
The Anti-Midas Touch
Randy Fontaine and the Swingers celebrate their 20th anniversary this year, but the ultra-lounge combo’s venues keep disappearing. “It seems like we have the anti-Midas touch,” says Fontaine. “It’s happened, like, four times to us: …
October 15, 2008
Alpine-Dehesa Bike Ride
In the 1970s, the once tiny and now thoroughly suburbanized community of Alpine displayed a sign along its main highway boasting “Best Climate in the USA by Government Report.” The town’s boosters eventually got what …
October 15, 2008
Black Kids
It was a comment that my girlfriend made that initially sparked my interest in Black Kids. “They sound…derivative,” she said, searching for the right word. I wondered, after so much rock heritage, is it still …
October 15, 2008
Brightblack Morning Light
Brightblack Morning Light is one of the leading players in the music scene that’s sometimes called freak folk, sometimes called the new, weird Americana, but is probably more accurately called the new hippie. And I’m …
October 15, 2008
Wasting Away, Redux
Before Jimmy Buffett takes the spotlight at Cricket Amphitheatre tonight, October 16, “purchaser, at its sole cost and expense, shall provide Artist with five limousines or four 15-person passenger vans.” When dinner is served for …
October 15, 2008
Secrets
Strange, what you take away from a baseball game. I watched the Tampa Bay/Boston contest into Saturday night (Sunday morning on the East Coast). It was a five-hour, 27-minute, 11-inning heart-clutching duel. The Rays won …
October 15, 2008
Buck Up, for Cripe's Sake
I am, I guess you could say, a bit of a cutup. It’s true. I’m known for my wry sense of humor in certain circles, and more than once, believe me, I have left fans …
October 15, 2008
Deeper Mystery
The preponderance of Claude Chabrol’s fifty-some films fit under the umbrella of “thriller,” and no matter how tepid the temperature of his more recent ones — The Bridesmaid, Flower of Evil, and presumably the one …
October 15, 2008
Salmonella Salsa
I received word about a few parties down south on a Friday that I was to drive up to L.A. I decided that I’d hit them both before the long drive. The first was for …
October 15, 2008
More On Moron
Thirty Years AgoI would like to reply to the letter “A Moron Lovely As A Tree,” October 5. First of all, you should pay no attention to such low-grade and unintelligent criticism. I think your …
October 15, 2008
Indian giving
On another ballot front, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, proprietors of a big East County casino, gave $175,000 on September 16 to the campaign against Proposition 5, which would expand state drug-treatment programs …
October 15, 2008
September's Most Downloaded
“Drive America,” by the Cathryn Beeks Ordeal, was the most-downloaded MP3 from SDReader.com during September. Below is an interview with songwriter Cathryn Beeks. What was the best road trip you’ve taken, and how did the …
October 15, 2008
“I Get to Keep My Minivan.”
“I get to keep my minivan,” says MP3tunes owner Michael Robertson, who is claiming a victory in the copyright-infringement lawsuit filed by EMI last year. The record company accused Robertson and his Sideload.com of illegally …
October 15, 2008
When the Wheels Came Off
According to an insider who was at REO Speedwagon’s Harrah’s Rincon’s Pavilion show on October 2, hard-of-hearing band members torpedoed their performance. “The guys are so fucking deaf,” says the insider, “they demanded that the …
October 15, 2008
National Stage
On October 4, Ray Suen appeared on Saturday Night Live, playing instrumental backup with the Killers. Though he wasn’t seen on the band-photo cards preceding each of the band’s two songs, he was prominently featured …
October 15, 2008
That’s showbiz
North County GOP congressman Darrell Issa became a hero to those opposed to the $700 billion bad-mortgage bailout that was muscled through Congress two weeks ago by the Bush administration and establishment politicians from both …
October 15, 2008
Short on Green? Go Green
"Why did you choose this restaurant?" asked my friend Mark en route to Tender Greens. A fair question, to be sure, since I'm scarcely one of those Hollywood/Park Avenue size-two types who lunch on a …
October 15, 2008
Blood and Fire and War
PROGRAM NOTES: Moxie Theatre invited me to dramaturge its latest production. My notes for the program grew beyond its confines, so I decided to present them here. Kate Walat’s Bleeding Kansas begins in 1855, the …
October 15, 2008
Page to Quit Recording
The music of Brad Paisley, Roy Orbison, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and local troubadour Gregory Page is included on the soundtrack of the new Billy Graham biopic Billy: The Early Years, released on October …
October 15, 2008
Fiffin Market, Nathan James, XIV
Artist: Fiffin Market Song: “The Wild Rover” (from the CD Lost at Sea) Heard By: Chase Edwards, North Park I liked it. It made me want to drink beer. It reminds me of the Dropkick …
October 15, 2008
Olive fruit fly invades San Diego orchards
At Bernardo Winery, one of the oldest olive oil producers in California, oil flow has come to a standstill. While the Rancho Bernardo company has historically produced 300 to 400 gallons of olive oil per …
October 15, 2008
Tifereth Israel
Two armed security guards stood at the ticket-check tent outside the synagogue before the Yom Kippur evening service. Inside, things were more jovial: a man assigned to keep things reverently hushed had fashioned a title …
October 15, 2008
Shark Fighter
Name: Neil Salunga Age: 29 Occupation: Firefighter Lives in: San Ysidro Pre-surf music: N.W.A. Girls in the water?: “Total distraction.” Neil Salunga recounts the experience of getting attacked by a shark: “A year ago, I …
October 15, 2008
Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson prepare for bank bailout
‘I don’t think the American taxpayer needs to be stepping in,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson assured the citizenry on February 27 of this year. Half a month later, the Federal Reserve bailed out Wall Street …
October 15, 2008
Mission Hills' Million Dollar Mini Park
A small group of Mission Hills residents are so adamant about scoring parkland for their neighborhood, they are willing to spend over a million dollars to hardscape a third of an acre of environmentally sensitive …
October 15, 2008