“Occasionally, we need to chase the younger ones out, they have no fear of people,” Katie tells me when asked the oddest thing she’s seen as a server at Duke’s La Jolla. She’s referring to …
April 10, 2025
Articles by Spike Steffenhagen
Gonzo Report: Keni Yarbro provides a musical cocoon at Duke's La Jolla
The Music Box welcomes Napalm Death and The Melvins
Flashback: I was dubbed a “daft cunt” by Napalm Death bassist Shane Embury at Spanky’s café in the early '90s. Earache Records had signed several grindcore bands and sent them on tour. This particular event …
April 3, 2025
Gonzo Report: Troutface vs. the spontaneous
“Prince was just okay,” says a man I’ll call Troutface. We’re sitting at The Cordova Bar on the edge of Linda Vista and Bay Park, waiting for the house band to start the monthly jam …
March 27, 2025
Ramona Music Center finds a new home but keeps the same vibe
“If I hadn’t broken that string, we might not be married today,” says Cat Curry Hasz of her husband Jon. “I went in to Ramona Music Center [previously known as Blue Horse Music] in high …
March 20, 2025
Gonzo Report: Trick and Alderighi's 4 hands make light work of old songs
“Gerbil porn will be the instrument of my demise,” I mutter in the parking lot of Dizzy’s on Morena Boulevard, where Stephanie Trick and Paolo Alderighi are performing this evening. Getting to the club, which …
February 20, 2025
Justin Pearson and the rest of Swing Kids reuniting for one more show
“It wasn’t something grand or unique outside of the actual simplistic meaning of friendship,” says Justin Pearson of the upcoming Swing Kids reunion show. “John Brady, the band’s bassist, is turning 50, and he decided …
February 13, 2025
Gonzo Report: Good music and great merch at T.S.O.L. show
“We have an EMT on-site if you want a Band-Aid for that,” says Observatory North Park staffer Anna when she sees my bleeding left knee. She monitors people leaving the bar area to make sure …
January 30, 2025
Gonzo Report: Substitute Gym Teacher levels the crowd at Tower Bar
“We love this place. So, even if something bad happens, we’ll still love these.” Newlywed Summer is referring to the matching tattoos she and her husband Dimitry got of The Tower Bar to commemorate their …
January 16, 2025
Queen Bee’s keeps fighting to stay put
“A city truck crashed into the building in the middle of a show,” says Alma Rodriguez, owner of Queen Bee’s Arts and Cultural Center in North Park. It’s an awful sort of poetic symbolism for …
January 2, 2025