It is a big ocean. Until you’ve been far into it, it’s really hard to appreciate how big it is. Bringing a ship back from Japan to Hawaii, I once went ten days without seeing …
July 12, 2017
News & Stories
How Navy culture may have caused the Fitzgerald disaster
Immortality in the Rg Veda
The Man has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. He pervades the earth everywhere and extends beyond for ten fingers’ breadth. The Man himself is all this, whatever has been and whatever …
July 12, 2017
Engaging fake news
An opening for “Political Digital Account Coordinator” is being advertised online by downtown San Diego’s Bask Digital Media. “You will work with our Campaign Directors and Account Managers to brainstorm engaging content, write copy for …
July 12, 2017
Brothers Gow road stories
“We’ve already played 65 shows this year from coast to coast,” says Matt Collier of O.B. rockers Brothers Gow. Originally from Flagstaff, Arizona, the band relocated to San Diego in 2012 and built up a …
July 12, 2017
Chase Morrin in pursuit
Pianist Chase Morrin is back in town, headlining a fundraising concert in Carlsbad on July 15 to benefit jazz education. Education is a topic he’s pretty familiar with: a graduate of Canyon Crest Academy in …
July 12, 2017
BLVD's small plates and the blues
La Mesa on a Sunday night? Looks deader than a dodo on downers. Okay, a couple of bars send out lights like lonely lighthouses. Chances for eats? Ha! But then, someone’s just put this sandwich …
A bleat from a critical scapegoat
Pity the critic. Once, he bestrode the gulf between artist and audience like a colossus (no, not the big metal guy from Deadpool), raising up and casting down the creators, guiding and shaping a lively …
July 12, 2017
Faulconer’s blowout
It took more than five months, but the identity of a major city-hall special interest that provided some of the scratch to help pay for San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer’s January 12 State of the …
July 12, 2017
Nonmainstream places to go in August heat
Dear Hipster: I know for a fact it’s gonna be hot as balls here in August. I can’t say why. I just have a feeling. What are your top three getaways for scorching-hot hell month, …
July 12, 2017
A chaparral oasis — Crestridge Ecological Reserve
This is a relatively short out-and-back hike for those who want to find a trail with few people and that is easy to reach. The trail’s filled with many different chaparral flora and animals — …
July 12, 2017
A comparison of mosquito repellants, from homemade to DEET
Our son heads off into the Wind River Range of Wyoming on a three-week backpacking trek this August, the beginning of his school year at a liberal arts college with an outdoor leadership program. My …
July 12, 2017
Wanted Noise: second generation pop-punk spawn
“It’s hard to be a band that has the punk-style influence and exist in Hawaii,” says Jin Salamack, singer/bassist of Wanted Noise. “I got island fever. I love it to death, but if you’re a …
July 12, 2017
Damn hurty Apes
The 20th Century Fox fanfare (with CinemaScope addendum) that opened War for the Planet of the Apes was performed on jungle drums and didgeridoo. Sometimes a film earns points even before the opening credits hit …
July 12, 2017
Barefoot Hockey Goalie injects the humor
“The band is stretched out, due to life, work, and families, so we don’t get to gig much anymore,” says Barefoot Hockey Goalie bassist Matthew Pray. “I currently reside in Chino and run a martial …
July 12, 2017
I’m going to have to shoot you
The La Mesa Police Department’s Citizens Academy is, in the words of training sergeant Kate Lynch, “a great way to share the unfortunate realities of the job without putting citizens in harm’s way. It helps …
July 12, 2017
Guys and Dolls — high-brow and low-brow
Frank Loesser (1910–1969) grew up in such a refined household, he had to rebel. His family spoke elegant sentences, and his older brother was a classical pianist. So Loesser chose the wilder side. He cultivated …
July 12, 2017
Don't pout about going business casual
Dear Hipster:I just got a great job, and I can’t complain, but I hate having to go in business-casual. Let’s just say my office is not one of those hipster offices where everybody works around …
July 12, 2017
Cowsills still happy together
“It’s the quintessential classic-rock tour.” Paul Cowsill checks in by phone from his home in Oregon. He and the band are on a little break from the Happy Together tour, a road show that travels …
July 12, 2017
The sun has an orgasm across the valley
California Love Poem The sun has an orgasm across the valley as Pasadena opens up in front of me, the Suicide Bridge pushing an arm out of green sleeves, orange blossoms keening after a mid-spring …
July 12, 2017
Shakespeare's Juliet would be jailbait
Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is 13 years old. Shakespeare doesn’t tell us how old Romeo is, but my high school English teacher said he was 28. If she was right, and you put …
July 12, 2017
Who's the handball king of Chicano Park?
King David is holding court today, even after suffering the bites of at least nine King Cobras. The court is the one used for handball in Chicano Park; the King Cobras are malt liquors. His …
July 12, 2017
Ed Fletcher III spends the Fourth in prison
The morning after Independence Day, readers of the Union-Tribune were treated to a heart-warming front-page feature and three-minute video about an influential local family’s 92nd annual reunion at their oceanfront retreat in Del Mar. “For …
July 12, 2017