"Your favorite band sucks" — T-shirt Oh, Lord, has it come to this? We’re quoting T-shirts now? Well, yes — if only to illustrate a point about how good things can come from anywhere. Which …
April 16, 2014
News & Stories
San Diego Reader's 2014 Music issue
To My Dear and Loving Husband
If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee; If ever wife were happy in a man, Compare with me, ye women, if you can. I prize …
April 16, 2014
The Men go from punk to Huey Lewis
The Men is a five-piece Brooklyn guitar-rock band, somewhat new, and in touch with their inner Huey Lewis. Not the same band as the Men, a ’90s era Santa Monica group with two women as …
April 16, 2014
Mix CDs passé?
Dear Hipster: I was thinking of making my girlfriend a custom mix CD for her birthday. Good idea or bad idea? — Jamie Yeah. Sure. Great idea. If you guys still listen to CDs, which …
April 16, 2014
Sarah tells us about bad beer
Post Title: Bad Beer Post Date: October 28, 2013 Have you ever had a craft beer that didn’t taste right? Maybe it’s all the years I worked in a lab with bacteria and yeast, but …
April 16, 2014
Rothko is extremes
When courting his second wife-to-be, Mark Rothko gave her a copy of The Trial. In Franz Kafka’s uncompleted novel, an unnamed accuser arrests Josef K for an unnamed crime. According to his biographer, James E.B. …
April 16, 2014
Jude Law luxuriates in role of Dom Hemingway
Dom Hemingway opens with an extended (snicker) shot of a bare-chested and beefy Jude Law delivering an equally extended (snicker) panegyric on his penis. An encomium for his erection. A tribute to his tallywacker. On …
April 16, 2014
Hot, cool, beautifully squishy at La Fachada
Sherman Heights. Around seven in the evening. I’m standing over the grilled onions, breathing in their fumes. And the blackened green jalapeños. Man. You cannot beat this. With most Mexican food trucks, the health authorities …
April 16, 2014
Plastic Bag People
Fate and fortune turn quickly in San Diego politics, for none more so than Kimberly Hale Miller and Phil Rath, influence-peddlers once employed by a lobbying firm owned by Tom Shepard, political consultant to fallen …
April 16, 2014
Exploring a rare commodity in Anza-Borrego
Make your way through a lush riparian area and loop back to an overview of a historic spring.
April 16, 2014
Racism is not cool
Dear Hipster: My sister’s boyfriend let fly a few racist remarks at a recent family gathering, and I’m pretty sure his bigotry runs deeper than that. Am I out of line if I just hit …
April 16, 2014
Smoking, not pot
Smoking giant R.J. Reynolds of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been handing out some big money lately to California politicos, including $1500 each to Democratic state senator Ben Hueso and Republican assemblyman Brian Maienschein. GOP senator …
April 16, 2014
Diazepam dandelions
The first thing you notice is the whistling: this sprightly ditty that feels familiar at first, but you can’t put your finger on it. Then he rounds the corner, a willowy, relaxed figure with a …
April 16, 2014
Del Mar's North Torrey Pines Bridge retrofitted
A ceremonial ribbon-cutting on Tuesday morning, April 15, marked the completion of the lengthy restoration process for a historic bridge between San Diego and Del Mar. The North Torrey Pines Bridge, named in 1996 at …
April 16, 2014
Spanish shipwreck from 1600s in Imperial Valley?
The Spanish ship was loaded with pearls when it ran aground in the spring of 1615. The shipwreck lies six miles northwest of present-day El Centro inside an active U.S. naval bombing range. The ship …
April 16, 2014
Country conundrum
Country music makes KSON San Diego’s second-most-popular radio station. So, why are there are so few venues for live country music? Sure, country superstars such as Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, and Tim McGraw can be …
April 16, 2014
The Falconer: Part 3
Finishing with Kate Marden, master falconer and owner of West Coast Falconry, an establishment that provides falconry classes and services. Marden says, “If you have a bird of prey, and you’re not hunting with that …
April 16, 2014
All things head-banger
Hard rock and heavy metal are not the same. They are often joined at the hip by outsiders, but to the true fan they are as different as Pantera and Britney Spears. Not to mention …
April 16, 2014
Jazz came knocking
“He’s like a breath of fresh air to our community. I don’t have to worry at all about the direction the music is taking because when you play with Joshua, he’s going to bring it. …
April 16, 2014
Syncopated space rockers
Progressive rock occasionally goes overboard with showy virtuosity and enough time-signature changes to induce epileptic fits. But contemporary Rush-loving, concept album-inclined bands are gaining popularity once again. One instrument endemic to the genre is the …
April 16, 2014
The Chapel at Grossmont in La Mesa
To be absent from the body is to be present to the Lord.
April 16, 2014
Those people are like rats. You'll never get rid of them.
New Moon = No Moon Re: “Naked and Alone in the Ocean at Night,” April 10 cover story. Near the end of the story it says that she entered the water “sometime around midnight.” Two …
April 16, 2014
Local cops have a soft spot for pop-punk?
San Diego may never get the national recognition of being a trendy musical hotbed alongside the likes of Seattle, Austin, and Brooklyn, but for the adventurous fan seeking quality indie and garage rock, the city …
April 16, 2014