Pete Wilson's statue on politics? Shamu on SeaWorld! Bill Kolender on law enforcement! Karl Strauss on craft beer! And Jack Murphy on the stadium!
December 30, 2015
News & Stories
RIP 2015 in San Diego: Bill Kolender, Jack Murphy, Karl Strauss, Pete Wilson, Shamu
Three Poems by Alfred Nicol
A Bother Here’s Rocco now, sprawling across the keys; whatever I may try to write, he’s there in black and white, purring, rolling on his back to bite my fingers if he disagrees, minding my …
December 30, 2015
Deaths in the San Diego music family in 2015
As 2015 comes to a close, we look back at the local musicians who have passed away over the past 12 months. January 12, Garrett Smythe, aka drummer Tank Johnson of Deadbolt. February 5, Professor …
December 30, 2015
Post holiday politico gifts
Each new year heralds the distribution of extracurricular appointments to members of the San Diego City Council, for which they have the opportunity to accrue extra money from the taxpayers, in addition to their salaries. …
December 30, 2015
Disgustingly good
“Let’s stop right here, take it all home. Then fry it all up for breakfast tomorrow. Yes?”
December 30, 2015
A slosh through Tijuana’s afterparty epicenter
“Remember one thing: la city is not a utopia or a dystopia, it’s the afterparty where you hear the last call.” The words of the late Rafa Saavedra, a culture writer and champion of Tijuana …
December 30, 2015
San Diego’s coffee scene on par with Portland’s?
San Diego’s coffee community has come on strong the past three years, and it did not stop growing one bit in 2015. The number of roasters producing beans countywide grew to at least 26, while …
December 30, 2015
City decks NFL proposal with lots of folly
The San Diego Chargers today (December 30) submitted its stadium subsidy plan to the National Football League. It is almost the same as the earlier plan put forward for a Mission Valley stadium. The stadium's …
December 30, 2015
Book 'em, Brandes
“These are people who didn’t get into music for fame, money, or to sleep with beautiful women,” Brandes says. “These bands weren’t interested in cutting corners or changing their sound in order to get a record deal.”
December 30, 2015
Tecolote Canyon’s history writ in stone and sediment
Tecolote Canyon, featured on area maps for almost 200 years, is designated a natural park 6 miles in length, .25 to .5-mile wide, with a 2-mile tributary totaling just over 900 acres. Elevations range from …
December 30, 2015
Immigrants on ICE
Strip searches have been declining at the San Diego County–owned U.S. Immigration Service’s 1040-bed contract detention facility on Otay Mesa, run by Corrections Corporation of America. According to a federal audit covering fiscal year 2015, …
December 30, 2015
Fancy flights over San Diego
"New Year, new perspective,” I told Patrick. “You’ve never seen your city from above, except through some scratched-up plastic window in coach. What about a hot-air balloon? No windows, scratched or otherwise. Just a balloon, …
December 30, 2015
The man who inspired the health and fitness movement in the United States
Founded in 1903 by health enthusiast Bernarr Macfadden, the Coney Island Polar Bear Club is the oldest organization in the country. Macfadden is credited with inspiring the health and fitness movement in the United States. …
December 30, 2015
Nerdy New Year!
One of the breakout entertainment success stories of 2015 was a one-day geek-rock festival called NerdCon. Think low-budget Comic-Con with live bands. The first-ever NerdCon, held in August at Escondido’s Center for Performing Arts, drew …
December 30, 2015
Public mastication
At some point, we became accustomed to framing our discussion around food choices in moral terms. It’s stupid, and we need to stop.
December 30, 2015
Was Captain Beefheart a hipster?
An all-points bulletin to the Hipster Congressional Fact Finding Committee.
December 30, 2015
Gimme babies or gimme death
When Garfield Kwan was an undergraduate student in marine biology at UC San Diego, he began to notice a trend: the internet was full of funny stuff, but science was not included. Furthermore, materials available …
December 30, 2015
My sister is gay
I remember how she came out. I was hung over as hell. It was the last time I visited Michigan, July 2013. I’d gone out with some friends the night before. We’d consumed every drink …
December 30, 2015
The odious 8.25
Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight is being billed as the director’s eighth film. It appears as though QT, like most devoted cinephiles, has forgotten about his segment in Four Rooms. The addition brings the tally …
December 30, 2015
San Diego theater year in review
Back in September I remarked that “2015 may be one of the gutsiest years ever in San Diego theater. I can’t remember so many world premieres.” The final three months kept pace. Call it the …
December 30, 2015
What did you get?
’Tis the season for giving and receiving. No matter what your holiday is — Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Festivus — gifts are bound to be exchanged, though levels of merriment may vary. Often gifts will be …
December 30, 2015
Did the City of San Diego kill Epic Pest Control?
Eleanor and Claude Thedford, owners of Epic Pest Control and Landscape Services, believe employees in San Diego’s Purchasing and Contracting Department are trying to shut down their business. The reason for the vendetta, says Eleanor …
December 30, 2015
Los Lobos survives
Alas, once again Los Lobos got snubbed by the nominating committee that oversees who does and who does not enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Fans have expressed indignation via social media, but …
December 30, 2015
Bad decisions and good ideas
Nailed It Neal Obermeyer, Mary, Joseph, and the NFL. Reader, you finally got it right. Merry Christmas. Name withheld via voicemail Things Were Different in ’66 Concerning Roam-O-Rama, December 24, that picture there of the …
December 30, 2015
Trash man cometh not
The yearlong legal battle over the status of Chula Vista city councilman Steve Miesen, who also happens to be a top executive with the city’s trash-pickup provider, Republic Services, shows no signs of abating soon. …
December 30, 2015