Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Isbelle's thrill for life

Local rock-roller Toni Isbelle dies when her car is hit by an airplane on a Fallbrook roadway

Sulo King, pictured at top, says Toni Isbelle (left) was a vital part of San Diego’s hard-rock scene.
Sulo King, pictured at top, says Toni Isbelle (left) was a vital part of San Diego’s hard-rock scene.

Shane Zelm was one of the couple hundred friends who paid tribute to Toni Isbelle last Monday at Skateworld in Linda Vista. Tears were flowing as fellow members of the Starlettes roller-derby team paid tribute to their teammate known as “Rockalishous” who had died two days earlier when a plane slammed into the car she was in on I-15 near Fallbrook.

“After we heard about the accident we were on the phone all day trying to get information,” says Zelm. “I went to Palomar [Hospital]. Her family went to Sharp. They found out later she was never brought to a hospital.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Zelm says Isbelle was a vital part of San Diego’s hard-rock/metal scene.

“I’ve known her for 17 years,” says Zelm, who sang lead in a number of bands in the late ’90s/early 2000s hard-rock scene, including Ghoulspoon and Life Hates Me. “[Isbelle] poached me from a band called Estabrook’s Hurt to join Ring Underground.”

Zelm tells the Reader that Isbelle, 38, was en route to a roller-derby meet up north.

“All her friends saw her make a positive transformation,” says Zelm. “Roller derby really turned her life around.”

Sulo King, frontman for Authentic Sellout, agrees. “Roller derby was a big transformation for her. She looked the best I had ever seen her. She had a very strong personality. She was great at cheering people up.”

King says Isbelle was part of the metal scene that coalesced around Brick by Brick, which he booked for eight years.

Place

Brick by Brick

1130 Buenos Avenue, San Diego

“Everyone in the scene was like a tight-knit family who would hang out at the Brick or Dream Street. Toni was part of that group. While we may have gone our separate ways, there are certain shows we still come back together for.”

“I think roller-derby people and hard-rock people come from the same walk of life,” says Zelm. “Neither group may fit into mainstream scenes. [Isbelle] related to both, I think, because they both have an aggressiveness, a tenacity, and a thrill for life.”

The accompanying photo was taken February 18 at King’s birthday party show at Winston's in O.B. A memorial show for Toni Isbelle is planned at Brick by Brick April 23.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Born & Raised offers a less decadent Holiday Punch

Cognac serves to lighten the mood
Next Article

Reader writer Chris Ahrens tells the story of Windansea

The shack is a landmark declaring, “The best break in the area is out there.”
Sulo King, pictured at top, says Toni Isbelle (left) was a vital part of San Diego’s hard-rock scene.
Sulo King, pictured at top, says Toni Isbelle (left) was a vital part of San Diego’s hard-rock scene.

Shane Zelm was one of the couple hundred friends who paid tribute to Toni Isbelle last Monday at Skateworld in Linda Vista. Tears were flowing as fellow members of the Starlettes roller-derby team paid tribute to their teammate known as “Rockalishous” who had died two days earlier when a plane slammed into the car she was in on I-15 near Fallbrook.

“After we heard about the accident we were on the phone all day trying to get information,” says Zelm. “I went to Palomar [Hospital]. Her family went to Sharp. They found out later she was never brought to a hospital.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

Zelm says Isbelle was a vital part of San Diego’s hard-rock/metal scene.

“I’ve known her for 17 years,” says Zelm, who sang lead in a number of bands in the late ’90s/early 2000s hard-rock scene, including Ghoulspoon and Life Hates Me. “[Isbelle] poached me from a band called Estabrook’s Hurt to join Ring Underground.”

Zelm tells the Reader that Isbelle, 38, was en route to a roller-derby meet up north.

“All her friends saw her make a positive transformation,” says Zelm. “Roller derby really turned her life around.”

Sulo King, frontman for Authentic Sellout, agrees. “Roller derby was a big transformation for her. She looked the best I had ever seen her. She had a very strong personality. She was great at cheering people up.”

King says Isbelle was part of the metal scene that coalesced around Brick by Brick, which he booked for eight years.

Place

Brick by Brick

1130 Buenos Avenue, San Diego

“Everyone in the scene was like a tight-knit family who would hang out at the Brick or Dream Street. Toni was part of that group. While we may have gone our separate ways, there are certain shows we still come back together for.”

“I think roller-derby people and hard-rock people come from the same walk of life,” says Zelm. “Neither group may fit into mainstream scenes. [Isbelle] related to both, I think, because they both have an aggressiveness, a tenacity, and a thrill for life.”

The accompanying photo was taken February 18 at King’s birthday party show at Winston's in O.B. A memorial show for Toni Isbelle is planned at Brick by Brick April 23.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village
Next Article

Big kited bluefin on the Red Rooster III

Lake fishing heating up as the weather cools
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader