The Hell’s Angel takes me aside. It’s 10:00, Saturday night. A bunch of them stand around outside their headquarters by a row of angle-parked Harleys, here where Palm meets El Cajon Boulevard. ”Look, we’ve had …
March 11, 2009
Blog Entries
- Relax
- CIF Southern California Regional Semifinals Matchups
- Stupid is as Stupid Does -- Facebook rants, Poisonous mushrooms, and more
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- More Betrayal By Todd Gloria
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- Mr. Mcshagintosh
- Baseball
News & Stories
El Cajon: We're no more redneck than Chula Vista, Oceanside, or Escondido
Tough Lit Guys
Author Max Miller (left) and Colonel Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, a Marine fighter ace who shot down 26 planes. In this 1952 photo, Miller prepares for the annual La Jolla Rough Water Swim with what appears …
March 11, 2009
Everyone Should Juggle
Spitting fire and juggling has helped Bushwalla get 6 European tours and some 15 U.S. tours. The singer-songwriter-guitarist says mixing magic, comedy, and circus tricks has allowed him to take his “freestyle-funk-acoustic-hip-hop-vaudeville” act on the …
March 11, 2009
Watch Out
How high can the escalation go? Watchmen is just another step on the stairs, one or two above The Dark Knight, nothing to get worked up about one way or the other. Adapted from “the …
March 11, 2009
Space Chimps Travesty
I love movies — watching them and discussing them. I’ve gone to the Sundance Film Festival a few times and recently started going to some local festivals. I went to the Fallbrook Film Festival last …
March 11, 2009
Icon Church
Say Lula Salon occupies the ground floor of a resuscitated Art Deco box in the East Village; on Sunday mornings, Icon Church occupies Say Lula. It’s a neat fit. The space was crammed with eclectic …
March 11, 2009
Walls for Climbers, Bulls for Riders
‘I hate being the go-to guy at school,” griped my husband Patrick. It seems he missed a meeting and got himself “volunteered” by some of his fellow teachers to run the activities at this year’s …
March 11, 2009
Marbles
Former marbles champion Zang Duong, 34, stands in a recessed area of cement, where white pop-up tents shade five round tables covered in felt. The space is nestled in the middle of the Del Mar …
March 11, 2009
Most Downloaded, February
“Long Way Home,” by the Coyote Problem, was the most-downloaded MP3 from SDReader.com during February. Below is an interview with songwriter Peter Bolland. Has it been easier or harder to write songs during tough times? …
March 11, 2009
Water Bees, Toes
Dear Matthew Alice: Are bees suicidal? I swim in an outdoor pool, and practically every time there is a poor bee straining to stay afloat. I offer it a lifesaver (a twig or a leaf) …
March 11, 2009
Cheap Steak Serenade
What is Golden Hill’s edgy Turf Supper Club, along with its tattooed waitresses, doing out in the wilds of La Mesa? Same as it ever was: serving cook-it-yourself steaks. And now, beyond the basic green …
March 11, 2009
Peruvian Currency
Friday again. Payday again. You’ve been down to Ramen noodle soup since Wednesday. You’re in North County, but you are far from retiring, much less retiring rich. Vons is on the bus route along Rancho …
March 11, 2009
Less Agro
Solo musician Derek Papa is a nostalgic fellow. “I would like to see those stage guitar holders come back,” he says, “the ones that don’t require a strap, they just suspend in midair. They were …
March 11, 2009
Give and Take
The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work. — Émile Zola I wrenched myself from the espresso-machine demo and joined David by the cookbooks. “You sure about this?” I …
March 11, 2009
Michael Ellis As Angel
Psst. Wanna read a well-written, entertaining book? It’s filled with amazingly detailed descriptions of surroundings and dialogue from exciting events going back many years. It reads like zippy fiction. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that’s what this …
March 11, 2009
Photographer of Ectoplasmic Auras
Henry Louis Grin (1847–1921) was a jack of many trades: a footman for the famous actress Fanny Kemble, a Swiss banker’s servant, an inventor, and a photographer who took pictures of ectoplasmic auras for psychics. …
March 11, 2009
No Robots!
Local hip-hop internet radio station JellyRadio.com broadcasts around a dozen live programs each week, including Royal Jelly Reggae Show and Fried Chicken and Hip Hop, claiming 1.5 million listeners. The site is now launching JellyFish, …
March 11, 2009
Meanbuggin', Weeble, and Wolf Tickets
Meanbuggin’ is when you start starin’ at someone and you’re lookin’ at ’em bad. Another one is weeble. A weeble is, like, someone who’s comin’ up, but they’re not officially made yet. Like, you introduce …
March 11, 2009
Amy’s Grandmother’s Gnocchi
Recipe from Amy Dibiase, former executive chef, Roseville. I have been cooking since a very young age. A lot of pasta and gnocchi. Soups and stews. I grew up in a very large Italian family, …
March 11, 2009
High and dry
Yet another local recession victim: the San Diego office of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, producer of the annual San Diego Boat Show, is being shuttered, and future shows may be canceled. “The recreational boating …
March 11, 2009
Cashing in
With Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrats in the state legislature asking voters to raise their own taxes in a series of measures set for a May special election, legislative salaries are becoming a subject of …
March 11, 2009
Spangers and Puppy Pimps
“I’m a residentially challenged entertainment engineer,” says one-man-band Ran Diego, who has been busking the Gaslamp for around two years. Usually seen performing on Fourth or Fifth Avenue between E and K streets, Diego says, …
March 11, 2009
Ballooning the federal deficit
Arizona’s GOP senator John McCain has been fuming over the $7.7 billion worth of earmarks hidden in the nooks and crannies of a $410 billion spending bill that started in the House and was making …
March 11, 2009
Donkeys to the Rescue
After a nationwide tour last September and a two-week, ten-show tour through the chilly Midwest in January, ’70s-style jam band the Donkeys apparently haven’t had enough of the road. On March 12, the band will …
March 11, 2009
Asobi Seksu
Listen to the online-only live album that Brooklyn band Asobi Seksu released in October 2006, and the first thing you hear is a loud burst of guitar feedback. Guitarist James Hanna bends his notes, tweaking …
March 11, 2009
Lower Willows
Soggy Lower Willows, along with its primary source of water — Santa Catarina Spring — together comprise Anza-Borrego’s richest riparian habitat. An easy-going hike through here is all that’s needed to acquaint you with this …
March 11, 2009
Be There!
The Box takes next week off, so regard this column as your March Madness early-bird primer. Clip and save. The 2009 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament goes off on March 17 with games scheduled …
March 11, 2009
Little Brazil
There are days that I O.D. on indie rock, especially when the newer bands put out stuff that seems headed toward ’80s import, meaning the dark days of synth and ugly haircuts. But then some …
John Vietor, Mike Doyle, the Jesters, STP, Bompensiero, and the RNC
Thirty Years AgoTuesday, October 31, 1978In speaking to people who have known John Vietor, I am told that he is “the Jell-O heir,” “the founder of San Diego Magazine,” “a world traveler who dines with …
March 11, 2009
Fifth Avenue Landing welcomes mega-yachts to San Diego
The stock market is crashing. The city budget is crumbling. The state unemployment rate has hit 10 percent. Maybe it’s not the best time to be spending $1.27 million to subsidize a marina for superyachts. …
March 11, 2009
Nest in Peace
Workers have been busy cutting down trees and clearing brush from a narrow zone between the Sweetwater River and Jamacha Road in Rancho San Diego. They began near the intersection of Jamacha and Cuyamaca College …
March 11, 2009
Pay More for Less
It's probable that local mass-transit service will be reduced in June while the cost of fares and passes will increase. Proposed changes to routes and fares were developed by Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) staff and …
March 11, 2009