A proposed change from Kate Sessions Park’s 12-hour alcohol ban to a 24-hour alcohol ban was on the Santa Clara/Pacific Beach Recreation Council’s agenda on Tuesday, January 19. Some of the reasons given for the …
January 20, 2010
Blog Entries
News & Stories
Would Kate Turn in Her Grave?
Citifyin'
The downtown area of El Cajon will continue its transformation with the approval of the Prescott Promenade project plans by the El Cajon City Council during their January 12 meeting. The promenade is a small …
January 20, 2010
Vital Link Trail
The practically straight-up Vital Link Trail connects popular Wildwood Canyon Park in the Verdugo foothills with the Verdugo Mountains crestline. Almost every step on the trail yields a higher vantage for the panoramic view of …
January 20, 2010
Tierrasanta Baptist Church
I don’t usually talk theology while I’m working. But last Sunday, as I took in the broad, airy, blue-tinged church interior before the service, executive pastor Lance Stratton approached me. “I’m doing the hardest thing …
January 20, 2010
Big Hair and Big Hearts
Thursday 21Sezio, a local not-for-profit artist’s collective, provides a platform for San Diego artists and musicians. They’ll be hosting a benefit for that cause at Casbah tonight with a remix set by IDM band Jamuel …
January 20, 2010
Pizza High
Omygod. She’s eating her pizza with her knife and fork. Then again, she’s English. “What do you think, Robin?” She takes a sip of her English breakfast tea. My old buddy Robin looks up from …
January 20, 2010
Thanks, Girlfriend
Members of Dynamite Walls write and record radio-ready pop-rock from their Encinitas home base. But if Tom Pritchard had not broken up with his girlfriend five years ago, there might not be a band today. …
January 20, 2010
Yonder Lies It
Crime, of Course As a native tijuanense, I always tend to have my city on my mind even though I find myself in the northernmost part of Europe: Sweden. The internet age has made it …
January 20, 2010
Who Are the Hi-Five?
Winning their fourth straight AFC West championship, the San Diego Chargers ended their regular season as a possible Super Bowl team. As their postseason commenced last Sunday, one could imagine hopeful Bolts faithful singing along …
January 20, 2010
Radiation & Roaches, Shortening & Oil
Hey, Matt: I have a question about cockroaches. You always hear that after we bomb everything else off the earth, all that will be left are cockroaches. Is this true? If it is true, how …
January 20, 2010
One-Night Stands
Long-gone locals reuniting to play the Casbah this week include the Dave and Deke Combo (January 22), the Dragons (January 23), and a triple-reunion bill on Saturday, January 30, with new-wave pioneers the Unknowns (1979–1982), …
January 20, 2010
Looking into Outsiders
Thirty Years AgoYou are floating weightless in a warm, still place where only now and then do feathery tendrils of sensation tickle your naked body. But your eyes are wide open and nothing covers them …
January 20, 2010
Mania with Meaning
David Rabe set Hurlyburly, a three-hour emotional maelstrom, in the Hollywood Hills, early ’80s. As I watched Ion Theatre’s snappy, polished, visceral production, I had a nagging sense of déjà vu. Then it dawned: I …
January 20, 2010
Coq au Vin
Recipe by Matt Richman, executive chef, Market Street Café. I like the colors and freshness of food. The simplicity of it. That’s really where it’s at, I think. In a perfect world, I would love …
January 20, 2010
Finding Fergal
There is an Irish way of paying compliments as though they were irresistible truths which makes what would otherwise be an impertinence delightful. — Katherine Tynan Hinkson "‘Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,' as Father Neil would …
January 20, 2010
Waiting on a Storyline
The United States Mass Media Directorate is housed in a Washington D.C. secret facility often rumored to exist but never acknowledged by our government. This is where journalists, magazine editors, filmmakers, television producers, cable-news executives, …
January 20, 2010
Black Lips
Black Lips came out of Atlanta in the early part of the 21st Century as one of the more promising garage-rock-psychedelic-revivalist bands in years. (The band prefers the term “flower-punk.”) If you were one of …
January 20, 2010
Dracula's Music Cabinet
Alan Garth’s record collection is too big to fit into his North Park row house. For now, he keeps his 2000 or so discs in storage. Garth’s living room is without television and instead is …
January 20, 2010
Incredible shrinking foundation
La Jolla’s Helen K. and James S. Copley Foundation still has $3 million left to pay on its $6 million 2008 pledge to the UCLA Foundation, endowing the David C. Copley Chair for the Study …
January 20, 2010
Stanley Clarke Band
The Stanley Clarke Band plays the Belly Up Tavern on Sunday, January 24. I was first exposed to Stanley Clarke from my dad’s [records] when I was about six or seven. One particular album cover …
January 20, 2010
Back to Where You Once Belonged
“The ball is in our court, and we have to totally kick ass,” writes Kevin Martin, pianist and vocalist for San Diego indie-pop band Get Back Loretta. On January 28, the band will play a …
January 20, 2010
Claire Daly
Claire Daly blows the biggest of big saxes, the baritone sax. It is a monster, maybe twice the size of its cousin, the tenor sax. It takes big air to make sound come out of …
January 20, 2010
Free and easy
The 22nd District Agricultural Association, which runs the Del Mar Fair, has been kind to local politicians, giving them free passes to various events, according to state disclosure forms. Del Mar city councilman Mark Filanc …
January 20, 2010
Downward spiral
A tough economy, along with program budget cutbacks, has hit KPBS, the public broadcast operation run by San Diego State University, particularly hard over the past year, raising questions about the long-term viability of its …
January 20, 2010
Every Tuesday...
After it all happened, she said, “When the dog started barking, I knew there was something wrong.” It was a beautiful day in October, and we had left San Diego in the early morning, trying …
January 20, 2010
Burgundies on the Block
I have no idea if it’s any kind of leading economic indicator, but according to Amanda Keston, director of client services for the newly formed Spectrum Wine Auctions, “The wine-auction market has turned the corner. …
Apple rejects FreedomVoice, an Encinitas company
Suppose colleagues often call the house, even in the early hours. This morning you’re half dressed and still sipping coffee when the phone rings. It’s an important business call, but your ride to a sales …
January 20, 2010
Where a University of San Diego degree leads
I’ve been restraining an emotionally disturbed teenager for an hour. It’s midnight and I’m sore. All I can hear are feral screams. According to the usual platitudes, college should be the gateway to more money …
January 20, 2010
Stella!
Pechanga Casino's concert theater isn't exactly where you'd expect rock-music veterans like Aaron Lewis to entertain beer-swigging fans. Its plush carpeting, luxurious seats, and blazer-clad ushers make it better suited for something more cultured, say …
January 20, 2010
Watch Your Butts
The San Diego chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has been trying to reduce cigarette litter for over ten years, just about the time it takes for a butt to biodegrade and release its hundred plus …
January 20, 2010
Idyllwild, California
There’s nothing to do in Idyllwild! Exactly – it’s not Big Bear or Mammoth. Like my family and I, that’s why visitors to the “mile high” town return year after year. There’s not one traffic …