The correlation between good works and big smiles.
May 28, 2014
News & Stories
Manchester wins a Navy Broadway battle
U-T San Diego publisher Douglas Manchester's long battle to build a giant commercial and office complex on Navy property at the foot of Broadway downtown appears to be a legal step closer to reality with …
May 28, 2014
Take the back roads: Vermont’s historic Route 100
In an era where places rarely or barely live up to their reputations, Vermont’s Route 100 looks and really feels like old-fashioned Christmas cards depicting the New England state. I visited in winter, when buildings …
May 28, 2014
Waiting for Rain
Finally morning. This loneliness feels more ordinary in the light, more like my face in the mirror. My daughter in the ER again. Something she ate? Some freshener someone spritzed in the air? They’re trying …
May 28, 2014
Firebug caught?
A man who Oceanside police said was seen feeding a fire during the conflagrations two weeks ago had a hearing this morning in San Diego Superior Court. According to police, Alberto Beltran Serrato, 57, was …
May 28, 2014
To Berlin, with politics
Termed-out GOP state senator Mark Wyland long ago threw in the towel on a planned bid for the Board of Equalization, passing San Diego’s torch to ex–Chula Vista mayor and former Republican assemblywoman Shirley Horton. …
May 28, 2014
Rocking Rachmaninoff
Dave Mustaine’s appearance with the San Diego Symphony was an ambitious collaboration of rock and classical. San Diego’s Mosaic Quartet is all about mixing rock and Rachmaninoff. Three members have studied at a conservatory. They …
May 28, 2014
Almost Famous redux
“Today, we’re going to talk to Ronny Jones.” Jones, of Rancho Bernardo, was recently interviewed by a Canadian rock journalist named Brian Sword for the Double Stop podcast. “You may not have heard of him, …
May 28, 2014
Run toward danger
The cynic inside me has grudgingly accepted the fool notion of young men and women enlisting to kill in the name of peace, but why would a civilian war correspondent risk life and limb to …
May 28, 2014
It’s worth dipping into
"’ll meet you at the Galley,” says Joe into his cell phone. This was during one of the heat waves. He lives way east of El Cajon, so I knew he was pitching for the …
May 28, 2014
Donkified in Bizarro San Diego
The Donkeys started in 2004 with Timothy DeNardo, Jessie Gulati, Anthony Lukens, and Sam Sprague. DeNardo explains that the band shared a small Mission Gorge rehearsal space with three other bands that eventually went away. …
May 28, 2014
Abounding mercies
There’s “sadness after intimate sexual intercourse,” Winnie tells Willie in Happy Days. “You would concur with Aristotle there, I fancy.” Samuel Beckett’s been accused of being so bleak he’s the Dracula of world theater. What …
May 28, 2014
Amazing and super stupendous
A friend emails a link, says I must needs watch the video. Ever the obedient householder, I click and behold Tara the Hero Cat. You’ve seen it, a four-year-old boy is playing on his bicycle …
May 28, 2014
Record-release roundup
Kids’ rock duo Hullabaloo will debut their Shy Kid Blues CD in Solana Beach on May 31 at the North Coast Repertory Theatre. “Shawn Rohlf of the 7th Day Buskers produced the album,” says Steve …
May 28, 2014
Gruff, ironic façade
Dear Hipster: So…hipster girls: slender, cute, creative, feminine, pretty. Hipster guys: kind of the same. If it weren’t for the beards I’d have a hard time telling the men from women in the hip community. …
May 28, 2014
Toxic tarpaper
Special interests lined up for sponsorship rights to this month’s unveiling of the packed new water park around the county administration building downtown. So-called behest disclosure filings required by state law show that the Viejas …
May 28, 2014
El Camino breakdown
Last year, Camper Van Beethoven released the first of a pair of California concept albums. La Costa Perdida set its sights on Northern California and is, overall, the brighter collection of songs. In a twist …
May 28, 2014
Tour de Borrego
Take a bicycle ride to view Borrego Valley’s spectacular northern Sky Art metal sculptures.
May 28, 2014
What is the one thing in life I was created for?
Membership: 700 Affiliation: Association of Related Churches (ARC) Pastor: Aaron Jayne Age: 38 Born: Wichita, KS Formation: Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ; planted Dream Center, Los Angeles Years Ordained: 10 San Diego Reader: What’s your …
May 28, 2014
Trails of Tierrasanta are paved with good intentions
On weekends, in the canyons surrounding San Diego’s community of Tierrasanta, urban guerrillas hack through chapparal with picks and other tools, transforming once-narrow coyote paths into smooth, broad hiking trails. The urban vigilantes have carved …
May 28, 2014
In other words, leave me alone
Why am I never content? Why do little things bother me? Why do I complain so much? Why can’t I be normal? Okay, first of all, stop being so hard on yourself. I’m a Highly …
May 28, 2014
Boarding cash
Mayor Kevin Faulconer continues to hand out city appointments to some of his biggest campaign givers. One of the more conspicuous is Guy Asaro, president of McMillin Homes, who has become a member of the …
May 28, 2014