Scott Skinner — the Godfather There’s an iron man caressing the ivories over on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, and if you miss his act this weekend, don’t worry; he may still be playing there 40 years …
May 31, 2017
News & Stories
San Diego's piano bars
When June comes dancing o’er the death of May
A Memory of June When June comes dancing o’er the death of May, With scarlet roses tinting her green breast, And mating thrushes ushering in her day, And Earth on tiptoe for her golden guest, …
May 31, 2017
The dialogue is pure Joss Whedon gold
I recently rewatched the entire Buffy the Vampire Slayer (USA, 1997–2003, WB Television_ series with my 15-year-old son and I was completely enthralled, yet again. Two decades after it first aired — Buffy still slays. …
May 31, 2017
San Diego Chamber dinged for Robert Hickey donation
The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce has agreed to fork over a $5000 penalty to settle charges by the city’s ethics commission that it failed to report big money spent on a befuddling political …
May 31, 2017
Chris Potter will toy with you
Imagine the world Chris Potter saw when he stepped into the role of Next New Jazz Tenor Saxophonist. He was 18 when he broke out in New York and by then there was virtually no …
May 31, 2017
This way to the Donkey Show in North Park
Everyone knows that gringos going gaga for Cinco de Mayo is stupid, but new North Park neighbor Tamarindo takes it in stride, cheekily dubbing the day’s drink special “The Donkey Show.” It’s a nod to …
May 31, 2017
Heavy Guilt's declaration of disagreement with everything Donald
Co-founded by Redwoods Music impresario Al Howard and keyboardist Josh Rice in 2009, the Heavy Guilt hung things up after their third and arguably best album, Heavy Guilt, in 2014. So why come back now, …
May 31, 2017
Steve Puetz and Jason Roe are busy guys
With the approach of a city-council vote on whether to stage a $5 million special election this coming November for SoccerCity developers and mayor Kevin Faulconer’s hotel-tax hike, his honor’s top political brains are said …
May 31, 2017
A talk with Bambi and Thumper
Walt Disney’s Bambi turns 75 this year. To mark the June 6 release of its Signature Collection Blu-ray combo pack, the studio made available for interviews the original voices of young Bambi and Thumper, Donnie …
May 31, 2017
Opposing views of American history, from Jim Crow to the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights
New Village Arts’ Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years is one of that company’s best shows in its 16 seasons. Sarah L. “Sadie” and Elizabeth “Bessie” Delany don’t like to be called …
May 31, 2017
Shades McCool, lighthearted nihilist, at your service
Bob Baker’s Auto Group, Mossy Nissan, Drew Ford, Toyota of Escondido... The manic anthems of San Diego auto commerce are forever seared into the brains of anyone who spent time near a radio in the …
May 31, 2017
Never seen Sophie’s Choice?!
It always surprises me when people tell me they’ve never seen Sophie’s Choice (USA/UK, 1982, Associated Film Distribution). Meryl Streep is magnificent as the woman faced with life-changing and often impossible choices at every step. …
May 31, 2017
Octagrape still willing to do it in front of people
Octagrape drummer Ely Moyal distilled the band’s spirit, as singer/songwriter Glen Galloway recalls: “We were planning a tour up the coast, and he goes, ‘You know, I just don’t think the juice is worth the …
May 31, 2017
Topped with a twang
You can hear his laugh from all the way out in the corridor. It sounds like he’s having some rip-roaring conversation with Jimmy Kimmel and a live audience. This is Ernest. He’s the chef here …
What to give grads and dads
Dads and grads, dads and grads, dads and grads. What to give them? Food, preferably pizza. Where to go? “Pieology,” said my friend Janice. Four locations in San Diego: Hillcrest (619-241-2881), Clairemont Mesa (858-565-0600), Sports …
May 31, 2017
Boulder Park builder allegedly paid a buck a day
The sculptures of Boulder Park have amused and surprised people for more than 80 years. W.T. Ratcliffe, an unemployed engineer during the Depression years, carved the stone sculptures in the 1930s where the natural shapes …
May 31, 2017
Chris Cornell didn't forget Soundgarden's TJ show
All four Seattle grunge frontmen (Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley) played Iguana’s, the three-story Tijuana rock mecca that hosted major headliners during its 1989–’94 run. …
May 31, 2017
16th annual iVIE Film Festival plays this weekend in Coronado
This year, the Media Arts Center San Diego has taken over production of the iVIE Awards & Student Film Festival, a program started in 2001 “to encourage and reward teachers who utilize video as a …
May 31, 2017
PigPen’s doozy about the end of the world
The Old Globe’s multileveled set for The Old Man and the Old Moon — pilings, planks, and wooden boxes — suggests an ancient wharf. Downstage footlights and roughhewn boards say a 19th-century theater. As the …
May 31, 2017
Veronica May's sweetest 30 seconds
"I’m a big fat lesbian,” says singer/songwriter Veronica May, never one to dance around any topic. “I’m the youngest child of the oldest children, there are seven of us. I was the youngest for a …
May 31, 2017
Kerry James Marshall addresses the absence of blackness
Slinky, unfurling forms run around and through many of Kerry James Marshall’s paintings. They frame individual pictures’ contents and rope together serial canvasses into a narrative of styles and scenes. In his 1993 De Style, …
May 31, 2017
The next über-hip locus will be in the South or the North
Dear Hipster: I’ve been enjoying the hipster town comparisons to San Diego. Now I’m curious: if you didn’t live here, what hipsterville would you call home? Please don’t answer Austin, Brooklyn, or Portland. — G. …
May 31, 2017
San Diego Junior Theatre keeps up the Oz-like curtain
A tragicomedy is a stage production that contains both tragedy and comedy. The local stage scene is a bit like that: the San Diego Junior Theatre for youngsters may be foundering close to a tragedy, …
May 31, 2017
A life spent posing as a cultural poobah
The Great Beauty (Italy, 2013, Janus Films) sweeps me away. It is a paean to Rome, a tip of the hat to Fellini, and a thoughtful look at a man who peaked in his 20s …
May 31, 2017
Russians welcome in San Diego
With Washington abuzz over charges that Russian agents mucked about in American politics during last year’s presidential election, the San Diego Diplomacy Council is going straight to the horse’s mouth for another take on the …
May 31, 2017
Mary Ward on Retreat at Liege in October 1619
He was very near me and within me, which I never perceived Him to be before. I was moved to ask Him with great confidence and humility, what I came to know to whit, what …
May 31, 2017
Everyone's got an opinion on the Reader
14 Games Back I couldn’t help laughing when I read that FM-94/9 took a ratings hit when they started broadcasting the Padres games this season (Blurt: “Sportscasting Now the ‘Real’ Alternative Radio?”). They are 14 …
May 31, 2017