“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
Articles by Spike Steffenhagen
Gonzo Report: Substitute Gym Teacher levels the crowd at Tower Bar
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
Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard
“Are you more concerned about your drinks being stolen or someone putting something in them?” I ask a gaggle of patrons at The Quartyard in East Village where Hockey Dad, Remo Drive, and Tatiana Hazel …
December 12, 2024
Gonzo Report: Bob Long played piano for Tina Turner and Ray Charles
“How’s polygamy working out for you?” I ask a man at InZane Brewery in Vista. He looks surprised, as if I’ve just deduced something that shouldn’t be common knowledge. We engage in a staring contest …
December 5, 2024
Time’s up for Doubletime Recording Studio
“You’re the last drummer I’m ever recording in this room,” Jeff Forrest tells Declan Halloran (of Gunner Gunner) in a moment shared on social media by Halloran. Forrest, whose Doubletime Recording Studio in El Cajon …
December 5, 2024
Gonzo Report: Jazz jam at a private party
“People say I’m too nice to play jazz,” says bassist Paul Tillery. He’s unloading an upright bass to perform at California English with guitarist Jon Garner as a duo. They’re replacing Amanda Portela, who had …
November 28, 2024
Gonzo Report: Eating dinner while little kids mock-mosh at Golden Island
“Jazz is whatever the fuck you say it is.” I tell guitarist Aaron Lind, whose organ trio is performing at Golden Island Dim Sum and Asian Cuisine in Mira Mesa tonight. Though I’m not opposed …
November 14, 2024
Gonzo Report: Gentrification is scarier than Bandhaunt
“I wonder why my phone isn’t recognizing me,” says All Monster Revue guitarist Richard “Richie” Bonnin with counterfeit astonishment. The reason is pretty obvious: the facial recognition software can’t penetrate his stage makeup, which resembles …
November 7, 2024
Gonzo Report: Watching out for one another at a hardcore taco shop concert
“You’re way too excited about a broken hand,” says someone outside Rolando’s Taco Shop in Barrio Logan to a young man hoisting his harm aloft and yelling excitedly for everyone to look at his hand. …
October 18, 2024