I have a dog in this fight. Or, rather, I had a cat. Mr. Whiskers was my buddy for 12 years. He sat by my computer while I worked, came with me on walks under …
April 22, 2015
News & Stories
San Diego pit bull owners and their detractors
Baby whale bites dust
Mexican environmental authorities recently buried a juvenile gray whale that died after becoming trapped on the shoreline near the border of Playas de Tijuana and Rosarito Beach. The young whale, about 42 feet long and …
April 22, 2015
Dirge in Woods
A wind sways the pines, And below Not a breath of wild air; Still as the mosses that glow On the flooring and over the lines Of the roots here and there. The pine-tree drops …
April 22, 2015
Szikla’s new baby, Cloudside
Scott Szikla did what most singer/songwriter/guitarists do — he started a band. First it was the Shattered Hope, then Silent Lune. But it was because of his entrepreneurial spirit and outgoing personality that he got …
April 22, 2015
Follow what is of God, but leave alone what is not of God
Abu Bakr al-Kalabadhi I have heard Abu l-Hasan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Farisi say: “The elements of Sufism are ten in number. The first is the isolation of unification; the second is the understanding of audition; …
April 22, 2015
The history of the world is written in food
So good to be back. I first came here two years ago. Then popped in earlier this winter when I discovered their happy hour. Devoured a totally delicious $3 eggplant roll. Promised more in this …
April 22, 2015
We roast to sweetness
Experienced third-wavers the Bonner family have been quietly building their business in Golden Hill and Sherman Heights.
April 22, 2015
Digital tip jar
Like many music fans, Jeff Storm loves the selection he gets from streaming music services such as Spotify and Pandora. Unlike most of them, he feels guilty that the artists he loves are getting streamed …
April 22, 2015
They Might Be Giants rocks science
“The frightening afterbirth of grunge lives on with bouncers enforcing photo policies with the death penalty.”
April 22, 2015
Vista’s Belching Beaver to construct second brewery in Oceanside
Few brewing companies have shown such a burning desire to grow — and grow now — as Vista-based Belching Beaver Brewery. Less than a year after their early 2012 debut, they became one of the …
April 22, 2015
Enter Shikari has no bad reviews
Enter Shikari brings the full menu to the stage: post hardcore, alt metal, metal core, electronica, trance, industrial, and that sound that is death to most subwoofers, dubstep. They’re from Hertfordshire, a city that is …
April 22, 2015
Ex Machina belongs in the success column of AI movies
Artificial intelligence — the notion of a sentient machine — has had a bit of a run at the movies of late, with some entries (Her) more successful than others (Chappie). I’m putting Ex Machina …
April 22, 2015
Betty turns 21
In 1992, New York–based alt-metal band Helmet released its major-label debut, Meantime, which featured the single “Unsung.” The song’s video was in heavy rotation on MTV. The following year, Helmet released Betty, an album that …
April 22, 2015
The 100th anniversary of Anzac Day approaches
On April 25, 1915, Allied assault troops, mostly from Australia and New Zealand, landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in western Turkey. Their fighting force was 16,000 men against an entrenched 12,000 mostly Turkish fighters. Put …
April 22, 2015
Photogenic fun at the Truckhaven Rocks outside Borrego Springs
These wind-eroded sandstone blocks are fun to explore.
April 22, 2015
Instead of dying, they just go to Live Wire
Look past the uniform and into the youthful soul of the ones who won't let go.
April 22, 2015
Mayoral aides turned lobbyists
During the eight-year reign of Republican San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders, his chief media gatekeeper Darren Pudgil was famous for tightly controlling access to the higher reaches of city hall. At the mayor’s news conferences, …
April 22, 2015
Meet the men (and woman) from Man from Reno
With a title like Man from Reno, one would half expect it to end on a dissolve of Glenn Ford riding off into a Columbia Pictures sunset. Instead, we get a departure in form from …
April 22, 2015
Shake Before Europe
San Diego’s space-rock–inspired Shake Before Us will play the Cosmic Trip Festival in France next month. “We will be playing ten shows in five different countries,” singer/keyboardist Will Lerner tells the Reader. “We were approached …
April 22, 2015
Resurrected
“Obviously, as kids we didn’t know the story, and if you don’t know the story, you don’t know how extraordinary, how incredible, how...horrible it is.”
April 22, 2015
But, but — what about the Boomers?
Just Asking: Are hipsters really so endlessly fascinating that they need an entire column devoted to answering questions about them every week? How about a weekly column called Ask a Baby Boomer? That would be …
April 22, 2015
Nature Boy makes a solid case
For many people, the life of a person who loves the outdoors seems foreign. They ask, “Why subjugate yourself to the harshness of the outdoors when life can be so comfortable?” This question is often …
April 22, 2015
Las Colinas is something to Yelp about
“For the only jail I’ve been to, I guess it’s okay. I slept well and wasn’t disturbed. The holding cell I was confined to had a phone and I was able to make unlimited phone …
April 22, 2015
Mission Bay? Eww
Long known as False Bay, the former marshlands were dredged between the 1940s and 1960s to create Mission Bay, the nation’s largest man-made aquatic park, much of it islands and peninsulas. While not scarred by …
April 22, 2015
Travel freebies for politicos include water tours and $4600 airfare
County supervisor Ron Roberts spent some quality time on the road last year, thanks to an arm of the Chinese government. According to his annual personal financial disclosure statement, filed March 20, Roberts was part …
April 22, 2015
What's in the in-box
RIYL Great selection for last week’s Rhyme and Verse, Rudyard Kipling’s “If” (April 16). Because of San Diego’s military presence, I strongly recommend one of his other poems, “The Thousandth Man.” I did not know …
April 22, 2015
Barely enough passengers to pay for the fuel
April 21 dock totals A cloudy and cool day seemed to have kept a lot of anglers at home... We know work days and school days aren't much of a hurdle when the fishing bug …
April 22, 2015