It’s 11:40 p.m. on a Thursday night in Ocean Beach. I’m wolfing down a burrito from Roberto’s while padding across Dog Beach to the river. Salsa and greasy frijoles ooze between my fingers into the …
July 5, 2017
News & Stories
I'm in a rush. It's Ocean Beach. The grunion are running.
So bizarre yet you can’t look away
3 Women is truly avant-garde. It concerns the socially awkward Millie as she incessantly narrates her every thought and action to an adoring and naïve Pinky, and Willie, an eerie mute pregnant woman who paints …
July 5, 2017
Mission Valley money
They’ve already dumped a total of at least $2,891,599 into a contentious bid to privatize the city’s Qualcomm Stadium and surrounding property with a campaign committee called “GOAL: San Diegans for a River Park, School …
July 5, 2017
Piano-tuner blues
Bud Fisher has been tuning pianos on the professional level since 1984, when he made the transition from full-time musician to keyboard technician. “I still play, but not as well as when it was my …
July 5, 2017
There’s always a full moon over the Caliph
One day in 1957, Philadelphia disc jockey Hy Lit fell asleep listening to a stack of new releases. The last single played repeatedly until Lit awoke, leading him to include it in his rotation at …
July 5, 2017
Director Nick Hamm on his Journey
The historical understructure of Nick Hamm’s The Journey came as news to me. Your humble correspondent Mr. Ugly American must have been at the movies the week Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley (Timothy Spall) …
July 5, 2017
Daniel Holden after his release from death row
Rectify is a wonderfully slow-paced four-season drama. I’m impressed when a show successfully portrays a variety of perspectives that you might not agree with but you grow to understand. Set in Paulie, Georgia, it explores …
July 5, 2017
On the water, planning taco brasserie on Champs Elysées
"Elvis? He stole Roy Orbison’s thunder.” John’s serious. “Roy was the bigger talent. Just because Elvis had the looks, all the girls went for him. But Roy was the great one.” John is kinda qualified …
July 5, 2017
The Roots' inventory of sounds
Hip-hop, yes, but with a tuba player. Not many acts working the genre use live instruments like the Roots do, but then again, I love bands that focus more on groove than form. The main …
July 5, 2017
We are forming teams of Paracletes to help homeless
Living Water Church of the Nazarene Contact: 403 13th St #100, downtown San Diego; 619-942-3692; livingwaternazarene.com Membership: 45 Pastor: Chris Nafis Age: 33 Born: Santa Monica Formation: Azusa Pacific University, Azusa; Duke Divinity School, Durham, …
July 5, 2017
Zucchini is the poké restaurant of the vegetable world
Dear Hipster: What should I do with all this zucchini that grew in my garden? I don’t think I can eat any more. — Diane Oh, man, it’s totes that time of year, isn’t it? …
July 5, 2017
City hall’s mystery fraud
The odds of discovering who is committing crimes against the taxpayers at San Diego’s city hall often seem tilted against the citizenry, as demonstrated by a June 26 fraud-hotline report by city auditor Eduardo Luna. …
July 5, 2017
Maintenance assessment fee fight flares up in Del Cerro
After 15 years of trying, residents of San Diego’s Del Cerro neighborhood may finally have a maintenance assessment district to call their own. Maintenance assessment districts are mechanisms wherein property owners within a certain area …
July 5, 2017
Music publishers' police on duty
Called scum suckers and worse. In January it was announced that ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) had sued Jolt’n Joes in La Mesa and the Ramona Mainstage because they hosted musicians without …
July 5, 2017
Stuff for summer that will last
It seems like every year, I buy a new round of beach equipment: flip-flops, bags for carrying stuff, folding chairs — even new covers for the collapsible awning. This year, I’m looking for stuff that …
July 5, 2017
Peña Spring — a cool spot in Anza-Borrego
If your route into Anza-Borrego Desert State Park takes you on S-22, sometimes known as Montezuma Grade, and past the hamlet of Ranchita, then you are well aware of the inspiring vistas as you wind …
July 5, 2017
Space Time to poke hole in San Diego bubble?
There’s a time and a space for everything. At least, that’s the idea behind art-and-music collective Space Time, which held its first of many events at Barrio Logan’s Bread & Salt in July of 2016. …
July 5, 2017
Famous Greek speakers sell Bird Rock cliff home
Villa de Fuego y Agua, or “the house of fire and water,” is the moniker bestowed upon a blufftop estate in southern La Jolla’s Bird Rock neighborhood. “Soaring high above the sea and sailing into …
July 5, 2017
Why we hate the '70s
Dear Hipster: Why do hipsters like the ’60s and the ’80s but not the ’70s? — Lance Because nobody likes the ’70s. Even if people like stuff from the ’70s — such as Blondie, “Stairway …
July 5, 2017
Melvins' walk with love and death
Here comes Buzz Osborne, leader of the Melvins, back with drummer Dale Crover and Redd Kross’ Steven McDonald on bass. On July 5th they hit the Casbah, far enough from the beach for Osborne, who …
July 5, 2017
Another David Ross (Waterman) story
David Ross is full of stories. Gaunt yet sprightly at 82, Ross, known to his many friends on the streets of downtown San Diego as “Water Man Dave” or “Water Man,” has spent more than …
July 5, 2017
Local musicians could've done better at San Diego County Fair
There’s good news and not-so-good news for local musicians regarding talent shows. Local alt-rockers Creature Canyon say they will use the $2000 second-place prize they won in the San Diego County Fair’s June 16 battle-of-the …
July 5, 2017
La Jolla’s unsaintly mogul
He had nothing to do with the surprise Oscar-winning Manchester by the Sea, but ex–Union-Tribune owner and San Diego Republican kingpin Douglas Manchester, awaiting senate confirmation as Donald Trump’s ambassador to the Bahamas, has long …
July 5, 2017
Shocked and amused by a young paparazzi
The documentary Teenage Paparazzo starts with Adrian Grenier of Entourage being shocked and amused by a young paparazzi who is terrifying good at his job. Their awkward friendship springboards into an exploration of the young …
July 5, 2017