In November of last year, many San Diegans were disappointed when most of the popular Pat & Oscar's restaurants closed their doors and the chain filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. But on May 22, the …

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros deliver their second album, Here, with a gentle treatment of spiritual and festive cult-folk. Their debut, Up From Below, struck gold from the deep-blue nowhere. It was an unexpected …

Over the Memorial Day weekend, park visitors to the hillside section of Sunset Cliffs Natural Park found one of trails closed, with yellow caution tape and signs that indicated a sewage leak had occurred. The …

When the Dandy Warhols played the Belly Up in December of 2010, local reviewers dissed the band for their “aloof” attitude. The foursome from Portland seemed, then, to hide in the shadows of the stage …

“That’s eet, then?” With that summation, the last total eclipse of the millennium ended after 40 seconds under an overcast sky on Dartmoor for a young Manchester woman with two cranky kids. “I kood ‘ave …

Farmers regulate the markets in San Bernardino. In San Diego it's a free-for-all.

Freeride Famosa, the group behind the effort to create a bicycle park in Ocean Beach is gaining momentum, according to an article published last month in the Peninsula Beacon. The organization has asked the San …

All that clunking and banging, that’s not normal,” Dad said. “Yeah, it sounds like my car when I try to gun it in neutral,” I said. “We’re a little too close to that pier for …

What a wasted opportunity. Somebody — presumably writers Oren Peli and Carey and Shane Van Dyke — had the fine idea of capitalizing on the current anxieties surrounding nuclear power in a post-Fukushima world (hello, …

Kelly Formaldehyde Facebooked that Ruby Room personnel were rude rude to her. OMG! There went that relationship.

Summer promises a bumper crop of new local band launches, as well several notable reunions. Eighties garage band Mystery Machine reunited in early May to record four tunes with Carl Rusk, Ray Brandes, Mark Zadarnowski, …

Tom Karlo, the general manager of public broadcasting operation KPBS, owned and operated by San Diego State University, makes $215,262 a year, according to state salary records obtained by the Sacramento Bee under the California …

I wish there were more films like I Wish: films that capture the wise foolishness and foolish wisdom of children without making them into miniature adults. Films that take seriously the efforts of children to …

In days of yore, the best way for San Diego cops to keep track of intelligence picked up on the street was to take it down in their little white notebooks. Clearly those days are …

Your Mattness: Why are opera singers fat? Maybe they’re not all fat, but some of the old school ones were whales, though they do sound better than whales. Is there some advantage to all that …

Tiger! Tiger! Yeah, yeah, craft beer…and mushroom-lentil sandwiches?

There’s a uke craze in the Kelly home. The ukulele comes everywhere: in the car, to school, to the beach. Our oldest son begged for one for months. “It’s so convenient and portable,” he pleaded. …

It’s been only a few months since controversial South Bay water board president Jaime Bonilla stepped down from the Otay Water District, but it’s easy to see that his former position is just a speck …

I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I always ask, “Why animate?” when I run into an animated feature. But good or bad, I do it. Jean-Loup Felicioli and …

You think the Tour De France is crazy? Try the Tour Divide.

At the Free Speech Fight of 1912, soapboxes were kicked out from under speakers.

Interview with J.D. Boucharde, music teacher and no fan of American Idol.

Development of Borrego Springs still hinges on water supply.

In his book Democracy in America, French sociologist Alexis de Tocqueville claimed that in our fair country, religion had a greater influence on women than it did on men. This was well and good, he …

Leopard-print pool table and a temporarily dismembered mannequin at the Go Lounge in La Mesa, a part of the dive-bar scene.

The bar manager at Brazen BBQ, Grey Lockwood also moonlights as a commercial advertising photographer. So, naturally, when he develops a drink, he’s looking for that Kodachrome moment — say, turning a regular old sunrise …

Be amazed by a rock formation that really looks like an eagle!

I’ve always been a fan of really fresh food. I grew up in Ohio and went hunting and fishing with my dad. Nothing tastes fresher than catching a fish and cooking it over an open …

Address: nachomamasblog.com Author: Margo Porras From: Hillcrest Blogging since: 2010 Post Title: “Trigger” Foods — I can’t prove they’re laced with crack.... Post Date: May 13, 2011 So...tomorrow is my Weight Watchers meeting. Which means …

“It’s actually ‘Bron-cho.’” Right off the bat, I’ve mispronounced the band’s name. The ch, it turns out, is soft. “A lot of people make that mistake,” says Jonathon Ford, the band’s bassist. He’s on the …

Grad school meant hours and hours of reading by myself. Music kept me company, but it had to be a certain kind of music. Lyrics would distract me from my studies, so almost anything with …

Disgust Discussed I just finished reading the article on Nathan Fletcher (“Untold Stories,” Cover Story, May 24), and I’m absolutely shocked that anyone would be so petty as to go back in his background and …

Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me; Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings And …

Washington might be the most beautiful place on earth. I've been fortunate enough to visit the state twice in the last year (and am going again in the fall), and each time I have left …

Three hundred seventy-eight years ago, the state of Maryland was founded in St. Mary’s County. Leonard Calvert, representing his brother – the second Lord Baltimore – started a colony that would be hospitable to Catholics …

Memorial Day 2012 will be memorable for a motorcyclist who was hit by a car at around 11:00 a.m. in the 2200 block of Catalina Boulevard near Whittier Street. Dave Stephens was "headed to the …

Located in the Indian Ocean between the Arabian peninsula and India, the Maldive Islands are as romantically isolated as any island chain known to travelers. It's not impossible to get here, however. A three-hour flight …

About a dozen “iPirates” assembled in front of the Apple store in Carlsbad on the morning of May 26 to protest what they said are the computer company’s tax-avoidance schemes. The iPirates were also there …

For an entire year I practiced yoga consistently, taking two to four classes per week. But summer tends to be a time of low income for writers, lecturers, students, and fresh graduates. “It’s expensive,” a …

A pickup-truck driver that was set to travel into the U.S. from Mexico at the San Ysidro border station on May 23 was found to have 15 Velveeta-cheese-block-sized packets of marijuana attached to his vehicle. …

For that man doeth pray always, either by himself, or else by his alms and charitable deeds, which supplieth all the want that appeareth in his own prayer. In this wise then, may the words …

So, I took the little missus up to Los Angeles for the day. Left the sunshine and the safety of San Diego and ventured into that gloom and doom to the north. She’d never seen …

Dunkin' Donuts, the well-established donut-and-coffee chain on the East Coast and in the Midwest — with 6700 store locations in the U.S. and 30 other countries — didn’t have a California location until earlier this …

Every year about this time, I get kind of a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. It’s the time of the year that tens of thousands of young people will be looking for …

If you are returning home as a former soldier or Marine, you might be fighting for a job with the other 12.5 million people out of work. But hold on, Mickey’s got your back! That’s …

Amaroq Weiss and Erin Hunt of the California Wolf Center say it’s possible to volunteer your way to the job of your dreams. Let’s start with some specific examples of people who have begun as …

Trying to change the negative reputation that the Slabs had acquired over the years as a melting pot for drug addicts, hippies and psych ward releases, Builder Bill created the Range, just southeast of the …

The province of Zeeland, in the Netherlands’ southwest, is made up largely of islands and peninsulas. Crossing over the many dams, you encounter one island after another, each with its own special character. Traveling through …

Mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher’s somewhat tumultuous upbringing.

Gamer Girl at Nerdcore night says, “We all grew up on Nintendo and Star Wars.”

Alerting the media on their upcoming media.

That’s what they call breakfast, right? But, honestly, most weekdays, I’m not very good at getting my day started off right. Our household does enjoy breakfast on weekends, and we always take note of what …

Guitarist Jeffrey Joe Morin describes his performances as “Generally genre non-specific. I archive, treasure, and exhibit 20th-century American-standard songs of love, romance, and dramatic introspection.”

What’s with this “Urban” thing? There’s “Urbn,” the bar-eatery in North Park, “Urban Eats” on Fifth Avenue in Hillcrest, and now “Urban India,” near the Gaslamp. I noticed it walking down Fourth toward Broadway the …

Over 100 people turned out for Encinitas' 101 Artist Colony's banner auction on May 20. The annual art sale invited 97 local artists to submit original paintings, on white vinyl banners, that were then hung …

It’s Original OMG! How could writer Scott Marks miss Encinitas’s iconic La Paloma Theatre in his top ten picks of local theaters (“Our 10 Best Movie Theaters,” Cover Story, May 17)? His number one pick, …

Let’s be honest: Battleship is Bullship. That honor is soon justified, when Lieutenant Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) steals a burrito to impress the va-voom daughter (Brooklyn Decker) of an admiral (Liam Neeson). A boozing screw-up …

About a hundred years ago, the Wobblies labor movement boiled over in San Diego.

Jack Black, a likeable actor, simply had to play the most likeable man in Carthage, Texas. He is Bernhardt Tiede II, currently in prison yet still loved in Carthage for having been a funeral director …

A big hole in your television sports experience is about to be filled.

Did you see the headline from China? They teleported photons over 60 miles,” I said. When David shook his head in the affirmative, I felt a sense of pride in my worldliness. “Yeah, it was …

San Diego public defender Tim Riley on the gee-tar.

What’s the price of war with your yard rats?

It was a sad day for clowns when, last July, antiquated zoning regulations forced Technomania Circus to shut down their backyard performance space in Barrio Logan after seven years in business. Determined to continue juggling …

In what must be a final run at the bank, Men in Black III arrives a decade after the last installment. The first two MiB shows grossed over a billion worldwide, providing rich justification for …

Ex–San Diego city councilman Jim Madaffer, who fought for years with then–San Diego State president Steve Weber over redevelopment plans for the school’s sprawling campus just off Interstate 8, has put the full weight of …

"I am thinking about becoming the Duke of Jacumba,” Dave Landman jokes. We are sitting in the dining room at his DeAnza Springs Nudist Resort, a property in Jacumba that Landman has owned for 15 …

Desert Hot Springs offered an unexpectedly cool alternative to Coachella’s music fest.

Hands on a Hardbody at La Jolla Playhouse.

“I was semi-detached from the world, but not from myself,” says Ian Astbury. The Cult lyricist and singer is on the phone from Los Angeles. He explains where his head was at during the writing …

Early reviews have argued that director Mary Harron has fallen below her previous level (American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page) with The Moth Diaries. They might better have emphasized the intelligent skill that Harron, who …

It’s not just family patriarch Irwin Jacobs, billionaire founder of Qualcomm, who is handing out the big political money this campaign season. Son Harlan, who has signed on as a backer of mayoral candidate Nathan …

See several native San Diego habitat types on a leisurely stroll.

Yacht is sometimes spelled like the boat, sometimes all in capital letters, sometimes as Y.A.C.H.T., and sometimes with a triangle in place of the “A.” And Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans invariably describe their venture …

A Match.com customer speaks of her experiences.

Always three in red and six in black; always at least one lined face; always a few on display; usually a headache, and absolutely always a hangover; 2 or 3 God-struck ones. 2 blond kids …

Pastor Miles McPherson of the Rock Church in Liberty Station went to lengths to reassure his flock on May 20. Apparently, the high-profile mega-church leader faced criticism for being too busy being all over the …

Telecommuting is the great work innovation that never took hold. For more than a quarter century, study after study has reported that many American workers would prefer to work from home at least part of …

"We have relatives in L.A., and they are amazed at how different our way of life is here than what they are used to." My Servas host elicited a chuckle out of me as we …

Older employees outperform younger workers. So why aren’t they hired more often?

Are you a teacher who can’t find a class to teach? Are you a gardener or builder without a job? Are you employed but hate your job selling widgets to the masses? Well the Peace …

Asking some South Bay voters to approve a school bond measure is a risky proposition. Bond-related corruption charges for Southwestern College and Sweetwater Union High School District have muddied the waters, but the Chula Vista …

The first thing that comes to mind when Taiwan's brought up is the FOOD. Its amazingly cheap street food is fresh and made to order. You can find anything from sushi to pancakes to dim …

Do you ever dream of opening your own bakery while you’re processing insurance claims at work? Do you feel you should be doing something more fulfilling in your life than taking orders for cheeseburgers and …

Once about every two weeks, around sunset, Oceanside's José Vasquez dons his tie-dyed, peace-sign T-shirt, parks along the busy Coast Highway in Carlsbad, climbs on top of his signage-laden truck, and meditates for unconditional love …

Technique, writes pianist Kenny Werner in his liner notes, "clears all the brush, so to speak, between the player and his instrument." And I read that at first as "clears off the brush," but I …

Once you have seen enough live rock and roll, you learn that the best part of a set is the spontaneous moment all the players onstage click on something completely unplanned. Roger Waters's touring production …

Pamela M. Christian, Ph.D., of Azusa Pacific University, says yes, college is worth it. In your article “Is College Worth It?” you mention the three most obvious advantages that a college degree can provide. Can …

For us San Diegans heading north, it’s those rolling, stress-releasing mountains inland of Temecula that we cruise through on the way to Palm Springs. But instead of darting right on Highway 74, hang a left. …

Invisible Children, Inc., is the San Diego nonprofit company that created a video on Joseph Kony's rebel war in Central Africa. The video has reportedly garnered over 100 million views, but the organization may have …

There’s nothing like a tough economy to get employers to remember that their employees are people, too. That’s the underlying theme that emerges from a new study of the nation’s employers by the Families and …

Students graduate feeling ready for their new careers, and they hit the ground running once they’re employed.

Movie theaters still maintain the magic of moviegoing and, boy, do we need it now. In this issue, we present San Diego's 10 best theaters to get lost in.

Last month, the San Diego Art Institute’s Museum of the Living Artist received a grant from the City of San Diego and San Diego Gas and Electric via the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership. The Energy …

After the name-tag squinting and the quick refills of Chablis, after the introductions, the recognitions — eighteen-year-old faces peering out from behind time’s compromises in the flesh — after the big- bosomed hugs, the handshakes, …

Maren Parusel’s revamped synth-driven sound is revealed on her new album, Tightrope Walker.

Cheap bastards and bottom-feeders.

When they make wings out of pork parts and call it bar food, our cheap-eats guy is there to scarf it.

Author W.S. Di Piero stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Randy Quaid when the actor was on the lam. This was in Marfa, TX, where Di Piero stuck around to check out the work of Donald Judd.

Songwriter Paul Kamanski goes way back with Country Dick Montana and that whole Beat Farmers scene.

“A friend of mine, Ray Suen, he’s a local musician. He called me and said that Trey Anastasio [the leader of the band Phish] was looking for musicians and did I want him to submit …

You’ve probably seen Wong’s neon towers glowing along the University Avenue corridor through La Mesa. You probably mistook the place for a drug front or maybe the entrance to a theme park. The truth is …

The nine served time on death row — and heard the electric chair screech when in use.

Sacha Baron Cohen, finding his face too familiar now (even in disguise) for the hijinks of movies such as Borat and Bruno, assembles a ragtag narrative, pilfered from the headlines of international news. He plays …

I have issues with time. Not the laid-back, “I’ll get there when I get there” variety that seems to afflict so many here in San Diego. My time issues are more Swiss-German. I was standing …

A great hike in spring to early summer to catch blooming chaparral and annual wildflowers while bagging a peak with an inspiring view.

Oceanside hard-rockers Red Wizard find that "it’s hard for a band to get any exposure now unless they’re paying for it."

Filmmakers follow the lives of several aspiring ballet dancers from around the globe (ages 9 to 19) as they train for the Youth America Grand Prix, a prestigious dance competition in New York City that …

After nearly seven years of curating the monthly Fashion Whore (largely at the Ruby Room), Club Pop, and other club parties, promoter May Star is dropping her usual dance nights to initiate a new monthly …

Director and co-writer Nanni Moretti presents us with a “what if” meditation on the passing of the papal torch. Following the death of the old Pope, the conclave of Cardinals elects Father Melville (played with …

Former San Diego County Regional Airport Authority boardmember Xema Jacobson, once business manager for the San Diego County Building Trades Council and an ex–chief of staff to Democratic city councilwoman Marti Emerald, is now in …

What better way to defeat a grassroots movement than to create an astroturf campaign? That’s what residents of Carmel Valley believe Kilroy Realty is doing to gain approval for its massive mixed-use project, One Paseo. …

Did Sempra Energy pass bribes to officials in Mexico to grease construction projects there? Then, when a whistle-blower complaint was filed, did the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation permit Sempra …

One very busy city hall lobbyist is Richard Ledford, the former aide to GOP ex-mayor Susan Golding. According to his most recent disclosure filing, covering the first three months of this year, Ledford got $8000 …

Gross: Do chickens get breast cancer tumors? Grosser: Can you catch cancer from eating chicken breast tumors? New subject: how about that phantom electricity?

San Diego County sheriff Bill Gore is back shopping for riot gear. This time the FBI veteran is in the market for nineteen 40mm pump-action “multi-launchers.” Made by Penn Arms of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the town …

Learn to make — or buy — detergent for sensitive, rash-prone skin.

A blogger says her Faithbook of Jesus could not have been written without inspiration from a lousy roommate.

Pastor Steven Myatt intended to become a businessman. But he thought there had to be more to life.

“Make a tricky record,” Warren Spicer once said, “and then spend the next year learning how to play it live.” He co-founded Plants and Animals, a Montreal indie trio, and, yes, their music is tricky. …

When the Spiritualized song “Hey Jane” began streaming online a few months ago, a friend of mine said it was really good...and then it went off the rails. I told him I thought it didn’t …

About 1.5 miles south of the border near Tierra del Sol, at 5 p.m. on May 15, a wildfire ignited and began burning eastbound. Cal Fire monitored the situation and was ready to move in, …

I picked the wrong year to stop sniffing glue – but of that, later. The following post makes me vulnerable A) because I'm not given to beauty salons anywhere, and B) you'd never find it …

The so-called “White City” in central Tel Aviv, Israel, is home to the largest concentration of Bauhaus buildings and a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. The Bauhaus style (also referred to as Modern or International …

Roanoke, Virginia, is a mountain city in the South, but it’s not quiet and it’s by no means sleepy. The city has a culture of fine arts and music that permeates all of downtown. It’s …

The May 14 U-T editorial titled “A Circus In Sweetwater” — referring to the ongoing turmoil within the Sweetwater Union High School District — makes some incorrect and undemocratic assertions. The editorial acknowledges that the …

Very Un-Ferret The title of your article “Ferrets Eat Babies. They Shred Human Tissue. They Drink Blood” (Cover Story, May 10) is appalling. The article itself is good, but it is titles and headlines like …

On the afternoon of Thursday, May 10, two Amtrak police officers arrived on a bluff overlooking the Batiquitos Lagoon and railroad tracks near the corner of Carlsbad Boulevard and La Costa Avenue. Amtrak officers Robert …

“So when do you think you’ll be in Portland?” Aaron asked, as we drove through forested mountains. “Give us an hour.” When Aaron called, we were on Highway 26 heading toward Portland. My friend had …

For weeks, activist Stewart Payne has had headlines written that pertain to him: “Violent Threats By Occupy Sweetwater Result in Restraining Order” (San Diego Rostra), “Keep Payne Away” (The Star News), and “Court Protects Sweetwater …

It is written by Saint Paul in an epistle that he sent to the Corinthians in the fifth Chapter that the eye of man that not seen nor the ear heard nor heart can think …

It's funny how traveling somewhere foreign changes our tolerance for things. For a month-long sojourn to Paris, my family of three rented a cramped one-bedroom apartment in Montmartre. We – who are oozing at the …

For the record: I’m not a fancy, gotta-have-posh type of woman; I’m OK with “rough around the edges.” I’m instinctively drawn to character, whether quaint and endearing or quirky and eclectic. I like spice, color …

On Wednesday, May 9, between midnight and 1:00 a.m., a large melee was broken up by police in the Gaslamp Quarter. At and around the entrances to Belo nightclub at Fourth Avenue and E Street, …

After a repetitive electric organ intro, it's a relief when Jack White's voice chimes in on opening track "Missing Pieces." White knows that you can't stand the anticipation and it's a solace. The White Stripes …

I can't imagine John Gurley — the often stage-frightened frontman of Portugal. The Man — knew what he was getting into headlining the Jägermeister Music Tour. Strings of garden lights draped the stage in carnival …

The healing aspect of the ocean was on display during the paddle-out for Junior Seau on Sunday, May 6. Heavy hearts, fond memories, and unanswered questions were carried into the shorebreak in front of Junior’s …

The hush-hush life of forbidden pet ownership.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey is a documentary on the life and career of Kevin Clash, the magic behind Elmo. The film chronicles his career from schoolboy to executive of Sesame Street. Watching a piece …

Gaithersburg, Maryland At Scot Gas, Darnestown Road, the high school boys pumping gas would snicker at the rednecks. Every Saturday night there was Earl, puckering his liquor-smashed face to announce that he was driving across …

Afghan-inspired pizza at Zia — there will be eggplant and yogurt.

Barkeep Marc Canzoneri’s Whiskey Rose — an Old Fashioned for the 21st Century.

I sat on a plush sofa in a room dimly lit with electric candles and fussed over the gap in my robe with one hand while balancing a mango-papaya mimosa in the other. “I can’t …

San Diego flatlanders open a brewery in the local mountains.

Sax master Charles McPherson began his career in 1959 with Charles Mingus. Inspired him to go get a job with the IRS.

“New Justice Records in Australia will be putting out our debut album.” That’s ex–Zombie Cartel member Jono LaNasa. He’s speaking about a record deal for his new band, Prevailer. New Justice will distribute hard copies …

“I’ve written songs that metaphorically address what happened to my dad,” says Retox mainman Justin Pearson, who was 12 when his father was assaulted, robbed, and died during a 1987 altercation with patrons he’d met …

The Third World is somewhere in almost every great city. It fills much of the Brooklyn of Restless City. This movie has a zip chance in the big market but will still be worth viewing …

For the past year and a half, electronic music collective Liquid Geometry has been cultivating San Diego’s beat scene with a monthly showcase at the Kava Lounge, curating local and out-of-town genre luminaries, including Free …

Super Troopers is a zany satire about small-town highway-patrol officers. Hatched from the minds of famed comedy group Broken Lizard, Super Troopers follows the adventures of the fun-loving patrolmen as they deal with the banality …

Director Tim Burton might never equal his early pinnacle Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, with its tight budget and its design in splendid sync with weird little Pee-wee Herman. Burton came close with Beetlejuice and Ed Wood, …

Where roller derby and rock and roll collide in San Diego.

The pieces of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel fit together enjoyably. Here is something for those who love Downton Abbey (and Upstairs Downstairs) and something for those who love Slumdog Millionaire. Add elements of Merchant …

Paris, 1999: Camille is besotted by Sullivan. He besots back, but she cannot understand why he wants to go to South America with two pals, minus her, on a long adventure. Maybe from fear of …

When a band of SoCal punk veterans calls itself OFF! you know what you’re going to get, but that doesn’t mean you will be prepared for it. OFF! takes its name from a brand of …

Before The Hunger Games there was Battle Royale, director Kinji Fukasaku’s dystopian fantasy about students forced by the government to kill each other. Being a horror and fantasy film buff, I looked forward to the …

“The reason why Dontaye has not cut his hair is because he is trying to portray a persona of a wild man to the guys in jail.” Dontaye Henderson’s mother wrote these words in 2003, …

Bridgepoint Education stock drops. The San Diego company’s relationship with Wall Street becomes more apparent.

California Strategies & Advocacy, the Sacramento-based lobbying firm founded and run by Bob White, former top aide to ex–San Diego mayor and onetime GOP governor Pete Wilson, had a busy time of it in San …

When your telephone rings at 3:30 a.m., it’s the phone company. They won’t say so, but it’s true.

JDS Exclusive Security Services was contracted by the Sweetwater Union High School District to provide guards for the May 7 board meeting. The company also provided guards for the April 16 meeting, after which John …

San Diego–based United Domestic Workers of America, a labor union representing so-called home-care workers who are paid by state and federal funds, kicked in with a whopping $400,000 to Governor Jerry Brown’s campaign to raise …

Beneath the high-domed ceiling of the Joan Kroc Peace and Justice Theatre, an opulent facility at the University of San Diego, a crowd of perhaps 80 convened on Monday, April 9, for what the hosts …

Hike to Daley Ranch’s highest peak while delighting in the sights and smells of chaparral and coastal sage plant communities.

Magician shopping for the next party.

WNBA president Laurel J. Richie made her career in advertising.

He was a friend of Andy Kaufman’s; I was a young woman in a miniskirt.

Got You Covered As an avid reader of the Reader, I was a little disappointed in the fact that the May 3 cover photo is a picture right off the internet that anyone can access. …

During the mid-2000s, the music industry produced a rash of bands that embraced roots. Dobros were heard, percussion sounded DIY, and arcane instruments such as toy piano were embraced. Standouts included Cage the Elephant, the …

This story begins while I was watching a game at Tilted Kilt here in San Diego. A friend hears of my plans to visit the Philippines and immediately, without pausing, utters two fateful words (that …

Three hours from San Diego, east of the Anza-Borrego desert, lies the Salton Sea. When stopped by border patrol on our first drive out to the sea, the officer seemed surprised by our destination. “You …

Chicken drumettes with chimichurri, from the kitchen of chef Reese Hay.

Over 250 surfers joined the memorial paddle-out to honor Junior Seau on Sunday, May 6. The Oceanside beach, in front of the former San Diego Charger linebacker’s home, was packed with two to three thousand …

A 34-year-old man was arrested at the Walgreens store located at 3005 Midway Drive early Saturday, May 5, after he allegedly stabbed another person in the head at a nearby apartment complex. The suspect also …

Dingle, the northernmost of three peninsulas along the southwest coast of Ireland, was annointed “the most beautiful place in the world” by National Geographic Traveler a few years ago. It had been recommended to me …

On Saturday, May 5, the parking lot behind Patagonia Cardiff was flanked with surfboards of all shapes and ages and surfers of all shapes and ages: a “board swap.” Auctioneer and store manager Roy Coffman …

Presidential candidate Ron Paul paid a visit to the UCSD campus on the evening of May 4, attracting an estimated 3500 supporters, mostly students. UCSD’s Youth for Ron Paul group invited the Texas Republican to …

The eastern coastline of northern Baja California is situated on the Sea of Cortez, and supports an entirely different type of habitat and marine life profile than does the Pacific side. Volcanic outcroppings and occasional …

During their meeting on May 2, San Diego Unified School District boardmembers endorsed Prop 29, which, if passed, will tax cigarettes an additional one dollar per pack. The board’s endorsement of the so-called California Cancer …

When Leo Lambert first discovered Ruby Falls, he described it as being “like discovering God. At first it is very dark, scary, and uncertain. You don’t know what lies ahead.” Venturing through caverns nearly a …

Tijuana newspapers reported this week that a former state policeman, Óscar Rubén Rodríguez Gómez, 54, was arrested on April 26 for running a casa de citas (“house of appointments”; i.e., a brothel) in a quiet …

With their seventh studio album, Spiritualized continue their legacy of ecstatic mourning, something divine and destructive, chaotic and focused. The album begins with lush string arrangements and then takes a sharp shift to lead single …

Our 2012 Activities Issue, wherein Reader writers explore the elements of America's Finest — water, air, fire, land.

Some weeks ago in the murky AM hours of a drizzle infested day, I fled through a yellow/red light, accidently, in an undisclosed intersection found in North San Diego County. I knew I had committed …

A gas leak snarled lunchtime traffic in the Midway District on May 1. As police and fire department personnel blocked the area off, safety officials ordered brief evacuations of the Sports Arena Home Depot store …

Score one for the old school: Prima Donna, a five-piece from Los Angeles, may be the best garage band of all time, albeit 40 years after the fact. They started in 2003. What we call …

Reader writers explore the elements of America’s Finest — water, air, fire, land. Urban Irving If it’s true that San Diego is America’s Biggest Small Town, then it is certainly fitting that our most famous …

‘I was inspired to write the song after seeing Ron Paul’s appearance on the Jay Leno show earlier this year,” says singer/songwriter Randy Lane, aka Ran Diego, of his recently recorded tune “Ode to Ron …

Reader writers explore the elements of America’s Finest — water, air, fire, land. Up close with birds of prey Let’s face it, the closest most of us will ever get to a true bird of …

Reader writers explore the elements of America’s Finest — water, air, fire, land. Underwater hockey Underwater hockey (sometimes called Octopush), has been around since 1954; it’s played in a couple of dozen countries. It involves, …

“Forget hipsters, let’s all hate on twee for a while,” read a recent headline on the website Brokelyn. The accompanying article was about Brooklyn’s “artisanal” food makers and the complicated emotions they evoke. (Sure, they …

Reader writers explore the elements of America’s Finest — water, air, fire, land. Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School At Dr. Sketchy’s (held the third Saturday of every month at the Ruby Room in Hillcrest, 1271 University …

As Maggie, leader of an obscure cult in Sound of My Voice, Brit Marling has the radiant, unlined purity of a dream angel. Her beauty is so sexy but virginal, she could become a New …

Loads of cannoli for Guido.

San Diego is a unique and exciting city for many reasons, and the remarkably rare Torrey pine is near the top of that list. Most San Diego residents can probably tell you where to find …

“The Elvis video was a surprise to me and everyone,” says 20-year-old Sean Patrick Malone, whose YouTube cover of “Jailhouse Rock” has already racked up 1.8 million views since he uploaded it in mid-March. “Once …

I lifted my head and looked over my laptop to glare directly at the inharmonious cacophony of sniffling and snuffling. Jane wiped at her nose with the heel of her hand for the umpteenth time …

Tristan Prettyman and Jason Mraz were going to get married. And then he came up with a righteous reason not to. She’s laughing now, though.

Bicyclist Floyd Landis retires in shame and Lance Armstrong rides rich into the sunset? Is that fair?

Chad Deal went looking for a drink (not a fight!) in SD’s second-oldest bar.

No doubt it is better to be a young, pretty prostitute for moneyed Parisians than, say, an aging gutter slut in Tampico. But the human complications are not much reduced. Facing those complications in Elles, …

Birds, bees, cave-babies in the Stone Age. Also, answers pertaining to left-handedness and the so-called average American.

Necessary Meds I feel compelled to comment on a recent column, "Classic Barb Guy" (Diary of a Diva), and a subsequent entry in the letters column by Name Withheld, April 26, praising living without psychiatric …

When pastor Greg West talks about disciples, he’s not talking about “pew potatoes.”

I used to go the two miles with my aunt and a couple of her friends from church when they visited a small town graveyard The ladies would always wear stiff black shoes and I …

Last November, taxicab driver Joe Ciprian, 50, took a call from his dispatcher to pick up a passenger at UCSD hospital in Hillcrest. “I got there to find the security guard waving me down,” wrote …

The public relations team on the La Jolla campus of the University of California San Diego is widely regarded in the world of academic flackery as one of the best in the taxpayer-financed business. Every …

The trailer for The Raven made me fear that it would relate to Edgar Allan Poe about as much as a cement mixer does to Michelangelo. But the film is entertaining as author Poe (John …

Downtown potentates want taxpayers to provide a massive subsidy for a new Chargers stadium. If it ever happens (here’s hoping it doesn’t), the team and whatever governments are involved will draw up a contract. If …

La Jolla billionaire Irwin Jacobs has contributed $10,000 to Taxpayers for Public Safety, a group that wants to abolish the death penalty, replacing it with life in prison without the possibility of parole. The politically …

Unshackled by the name “Oasis” and the tacky label “Britpop,” Gallagher senior hits the road to promote his first solo outing. At a surprisingly less than full house, Gallagher opens with a lithe, acoustic-y version …

Emily Blunt is so sanely appealing that her honest touches rescue parts of The Five-Year Engagement, but not the movie. What could? Director Nicholas Stoller wrote it with actor Jason Segel, who gave himself a …

Southern California airplane buffs and planespotters flock to Imperial Hill in El Segundo – a picturesque spot overlooking Los Angeles Int'l Airport. This windy overlook at the corner of E. Imperial Ave. and Sheldon St. …

If they ask, do you tell your kid Peter Pan isn’t real?

When the Art Institute of San Diego needed a guest with pro music experience to speak to one of their audio production classes on the subject of freelancing in the music business, they tapped Bill …

On Saturday afternoon, April 28, 12-year-old Jenna Blevens attended the Fallbrook Flower Show with her 74-year-old grandmother Eva Raines. “It’s a tradition,” said Raines, who has brought her granddaughter to the event for the past …

On a recent trip to Bali, Indonesia, to visit my cousin, I had quite the adventure on a 50cc scooter that I had borrowed for the day. Exploring small alleyways, I soon found myself heading …