To hear it from Bill Richardson — aka crooner Jose Sinatra — his destiny was decided by a chance highway encounter. “The Beatles passed my family in a limo as we were returning to San …
December 9, 2015
News & Stories
Red-hot Jose
Tony Young lobbies on
Ex-Democratic city councilman Tony Young continues to grow his lucrative city hall lobbying business. Already flush with a bevy of well-heeled clients, including SDG&E, shopping-mall developer Westfield Corporation, and San Francisco’s Zirx, a start-up specializing …
December 9, 2015
Queen Bee TV
When the Reader ran a story on October 22 about a death at a Burning Man event on Palomar Mountain, many readers reacted negatively over news accounts of deaths at EDM events. Alma Rodriguez was …
December 9, 2015
There would be no Nervous Wreckords without the Killers
It’s been a busy three months for Brian Karscig and his brainchild, the Nervous Wreckords. In that short time span, his band performed at the KAABOO festival, he joined friends the Killers at their North …
December 9, 2015
Church of God's mission: Win. Build. Send.
Something pure and holy about downtown’s streets.
December 9, 2015
White Buffalo roams in the shadowy parts of life
The White Buffalo and Jake Smith are one. It’s not an alter ego so much as a nickname that stuck. When he calls the Reader from his home in Los Angeles, I ask him about …
December 9, 2015
Hike or four-wheel-drive on the desert’s edge
Hike the transition from high to low desert on this historic cattleman’s trail.
December 9, 2015
More golf courses are closing than opening
Last April I wrote a column about taking up the game of golf. My previous golfing experience occurred many frog lives ago, having to do with a road trip, two women, two guys, the usual …
December 9, 2015
The sewn-plank canoe was their greatest asset
Among the endemic peoples in Southern California were the Mohavae, Yuma, Kamia, Diegueño, Miwok, and Chumash. These early settlers of the region had access to wild vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Wildlife was abundant, and they …
December 9, 2015
The holy grail of Christmas presents
The Internal Revenue Service is on fire! Red-and-blue emergency flashers scat about the structure, but this is a fire that will never, ever be put out. “As you can see,” Nick Pecoraro offers, “the firemen …
December 9, 2015
Hitchcock/Truffaut is pure cinema
Once upon a time, a guy named Tony L. headed up the film department at Chicago’s Columbia College, an institution of higher learning where I would spend 11 years of my life teaching. I thought …
December 9, 2015
Upper lot full at Sunset Cliffs
On November 19th, Second District councilwoman Lorie Zapf presented a city-council proclamation celebrating the 100th anniversary of Sunset Cliffs. On this anniversary, many San Diegans and visitors are not able to access Sunset Cliffs Natural …
December 9, 2015
Police kill Angel Lopez next to San Diego State
“The inequity here is that a civilian goes to jail and is presumed guilty, whereas an officer is given a leave with pay.”
December 9, 2015
Chargers’ coach nearly lynched
With the departure of the Chargers for Los Angeles looking likelier than ever, according to many accounts, do rowdy fans pose a real danger to what could be the team’s last days in Mission Valley? …
December 9, 2015
Sex and psychedelia at the intersection of sight and sound
San Diego Museum of Art’s Art of Music exhibit welcomes visitors with a giant ceramic auricle and protruding ear trumpet that, upon detecting the voices of passersby, proceeds to emit Beethoven’s “Grosse Fuge.” It’s a …
December 9, 2015
Sequester yourself in the Secret Ranch
Current Owner: El Secreto LLC (William & Kathryn Scripps) Bedrooms: 8 Baths: 13 Price: $23,000,000 Welcome to “The Secret Ranch,” a 12-acre estate with more than 12,400 square feet of living space under roof located …
December 9, 2015
"Bodiless" and "Permanent Address: 1956"
Bodiless You leave your signature like the atom whose footprint is its only proof, the pencil’s sharp point indenting the paper next to my poems’ lines. With what voice you have uncovered my concealed intentions, …
December 9, 2015
Musicians making movies
What do Stewardess bassist Grant Reinero, Vinyl Junkies record-swap founder Eric Howarth, No Knife’s Brian Desjean and Mitch Wilson, Rebecca and Demetrius Antuna from art-metal band Kata, and Ghetto Blaster guitarist John Cota have in …
December 9, 2015
Qualcomm stadium is still in diapers
Blame the Astrodome for the Chargers’ supposed stadium crisis.
December 9, 2015
Fish oddity sold harborside
The Tuna Harbor Dockside Market has the freedom to test new markets for fish that most high-volume wholesalers are unwilling to consider. For example, this monchong (aka pomfret), which was line-caught off San Diego’s deep …
December 9, 2015
All she wanted for Christmas was a hippopotamus — and she got one!
Gayla Peevey can’t avoid hippos, even if she wanted to. “People assume I collect them, so they give them to me,” she tells me from her home near Mt. Helix. “I have figurines and a …
December 9, 2015
Better than all the ads containing boobs/butts
Puzzled Fourteen people were just slaughtered in San Bernardino, and Barbarella writes a fucking column about a puzzle room (Diary of a Diva: “A Room with a Clue,” December 3). Are you kidding me? Michael …
December 9, 2015