“It’s not easy being a chick rocker,” says Vv Loveland of Scary Mary. “One time at Scolari’s, when I went up to play, this guy shows me his penis while I’m onstage. He was drunk and dancing and jiggling it around and I told him ‘Mine’s bigger than yours’ and he put it away.”

She says her fiancé Patrick brings a camera to shows and gets to witness fan lust firsthand. “He hears all the guys talk about how they want to touch me in naughty places. I dance around and I'm alive so I guess people get the wrong idea. It's funny these guys have no clue who he is, Patrick just takes it in stride. He tells me after the show how many drunk guys wanted to put their hands up my skirt.”

“Sometimes,” she says, “the drunks are onstage. We played before Terror Whore at Scolari’s and, next thing I see, the lead singer is barfing everywhere in the bar. Does he stop playing? No, he gets down on the floor of the bar and starts humping the ground where his spew is. Yikes! The strangest thing was the band was totally unfazed by his behavior, they acted like he f-ks barf puddles all the time.”

“At the same show, there was a fight outside when I was leaving and the bartender had to clean that up as well as the puke inside. He doesn't get paid enough for that sh-t.” Loveland’s new side band is VV Morgue (“Scary Mary is in hibernation for now”).

Singer Amber Ojeda says “For a young girl trying to get recognition in the music industry, your morals are tested on a daily basis. My first experience meeting a record producer seemed to go very smoothly. He told me he loved my voice and liked my style. However, as soon as I left to use the bathroom, he told my manager that he couldn’t wait to sleep with me…yes, there was a couch in his studio.”

Ojeda was later hired as lead singer and songwriter for a female vocal group, but she says the first recording session wasn’t much of a group effort. “The other girls were p-ssed that I was in the booth 75 percent of the time, and not them, and one of them stole my lyric book. Someone later left a comment on my website message board with the words of a poem I had written in that book, with a note bragging ‘I have something you don’t have.’ I couldn’t believe it!”

She has since gone solo, but Ojeda says would-be impresarios still assume a single female needs some kind of gimmick to succeed. “I was recently offered a record deal, but they didn’t even want me to use my name or sing my music. They just wanted my look, and they wanted me to sing hard rock, which is so different from what I actually sing. I felt totally disrespected for my voice and musical style, like a piece of meat.”

This year, Ojeda has aligned herself with Sellaband, which connects performers to investors interested in their music. According to Sharon Holleran of A&R Management, “It’s a free service the artist signs up for, where ‘Believers’ buy stock in the music they love. The Believers then become like a street team, one who has a vested interest in promoting the artist, because they all continue to make money off that artist’s success.”

Sellaband.com posts music samples by participating artists, for potential Believers to review. Purchasing a single Part (ie stock) in an artist costs $10, with no quantity limit. Purchasers get a limited edition CD by that artist, plus a percentage of income from downloaded music files. Sellaband sells tracks at 50 cents per download through Amazon, with Believers receiving a percentage based on the size of their Part investment in that artist.

Once an artist has sold 5000 Parts at $10 each ($50,000), Sellaband provides the performer with a range of recording, mixing, and production services, at no charge. “The company is owned by former music executives from the big labels,” says Holleran. “They’re doing a lot of advertising, to bring in more potential Believers.”

Amber Ojeda joined Sellaband on February 24. Within the first thirty days, she reported selling 100 shares of herself, totaling $1000.

Local rock chick Eve Selis may not sell shares of herself, but she WAS involved in a government-related cover-up.

On September 9, 2000, she was to sing the national anthem at the America West Arena in Phoenix. The performance was supposed to be capped by an American bald eagle being released from a balcony to circle the arena and land on its trainer's wrist. However, the bird instead chose to land on top of Selis's head. She maintained her composure and even managed to bow for the audience, most of whom likely thought the landing had been planned that way.

Says Selis on her website, "The trainer asked us not to speak of it, for fear of the eagle losing his congressional approval. This bird, which is an endangered species, was the only bald eagle sanctioned by the U.S. government to fly free at sporting events, rallies, military celebrations, etc. So we understood and kept it on the down low. We recently heard that the bird had retired, so what the heck. The truth must be told."

Selis says her music has been legally downloaded over two million times on the Internet due to her successful self-marketing. She's sold 35,000 CDs, her music is heard in four movies, and she has performed on CNBC, ESPN, and the BBC. She has opened for Travis Tritt, Crosby Stills and Nash, the Doobie Brothers, Joan Osborne, Heart, Dwight Yoakam, Garry Allan, Chris Isaak, and Hootie & the Blowfish.

The Selis band frequently includes "Cactus" Jim Soldi and Sharon Whyte who, along with Mark Intravaia (the Monroes) have their own band, Cactus Twang & Whyte. Soldi played with Johnny Cash for four years and Ricky Skaggs for two years. She's frequently seen around town playing with Tim Flannery and the duo Berkley Hart. Her album Angels and Eagles was released in early 2008.

Last year, when Anya Marina appeared on the Sirius Radio program "The Sh-t Show” with comedian Andy Dick, she took it in stride when Dick introduced her as “Nuts Anya Chin.” “We made out once, I know you don’t like to admit it,” Dick told her. “We were drunk and I took advantage of you. I mouth raped you.”

“Well, it wasn’t really my choice,” Marina replied with a laugh. “I did ask for it, though. I was wearing a miniskirt.” Marina sang backup on Dick’s all-music album, and the duo performed a bit of one tune, singing “Loving you is very nice, but not as nice as drugs.” Later on the show, she played her tune about Lindsay Lohan, “Lindsay Goes To Rehab.” Dick interrupted to announce “I wish I’d mouth raped her [Lohan] too.”

Marina’s fame has been spreading far afield of San Diego. She was name-checked in TV Guide and on Entertainment Tonight after performing at the September 1 ‘07 wedding of Grey’s Anatomy star Kate Walsh’s and film executive Alex Young. Marina played at the couple’s rehearsal dinner in Ojai and sang the newlyweds’ post-wedding dance song, “Someday My Prince Will Come,” from her album Miss Halfway. Music from Miss Halfway has been featured on Grey’s Anatomy.

A TV ad for Jeep features a song by Marina, “You Remind Me,” co-written with Steve Poltz.

Few chick rockers rock as hard as the all-female Zeppelin cover band Zepparella. “We got dissed on the Howard Stern show!” says drummer Clementine. “He played our version of ‘The Lemon Song’…someone told us about it and we downloaded it off the internet.”

Stern was discussing a new compilation of female tribute bands “Girls Got Rhythm,” which also features tracks by Hell’s Belles (AC/DC), Ms. Fits (Misfits), Mistress Of Reality (Black Sabbath), Cheap Chick (Cheap Trick) and the Iron Maidens (duh).

“Howard said he didn't know why in the heck anyone would ever put out a record like this, he wanted to know why anyone would buy it. He was just dissing the concept. Honestly, I was wondering similar things about the compilation too, Howard wasn't saying much that I didn't agree with. When I want to listen to a record, I wouldn’t usually think ‘tribute band.’ But, even though I sort of agreed with his comment, I know there are a lot of great musicians on this record.”

Her bandmates didn’t take Stern’s commentary so lightly. “The girls have a problem with Howard judging naked chicks, but I don't think anyone's dragging those dumb girls on there and it makes for good entertainment. I think it's funny. Howard cracks me up, I listen to him pretty regularly.”

A.M. Vibe vocalist Lisah has a rockin’ story, about the time she got her throat slit on Valentines Day.

“It was the end result of a horse accident,” she says. “My C4 and C5 discs were touching each other, and I had Spinal Stenosis, which means my spinal chord was being smashed. You couldn't even see the protective canal around my spinal cord.” She was told that virtually any movement could cause crippling damage.

“It was horrific,” she says. “The only option was spinal fusion surgery, unless I wanted to live a sedentary life. But I was very concerned about my vocals. My surgeon told me they’d be cutting through or very close to a nerve that affects my vocal chords and voicebox. He couldn't guarantee that my voice would go back to normal.” While awaiting her operation, she says “I lost all the strength in my arms and hands, and trying to play guitar was brutal. I had to sit down to play, and eventually I had to stop playing at all. I can’t even tell you how many Advil I ate.”

On February 14, 2007, “They [doctors] went in through my neck to my spine. Afterwards, I found out that they discovered a piece of my crushed disc lodged in my spinal chord, which could have paralyzed me for life just from turning around or bending over.”

A little over a year later, she says “No harm was done to my vocals! Sometimes my shoulders and neck get tired…I have a Titanium plate in my neck, and sometimes I can feel it in there behind my esophagus, especially when I laugh really hard, then I can totally feel it. It’s funny and strange all at the same time.”

Elan is a female Latin performer based in San Diego, who counts among her rockin’ guitarists Slash of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver. Her 2004 Street Child CD (sung in English) was self-written and recorded on Elan's Silverlight Records ("a home studio in my apartment in La Jolla"). The album earned the then-22-year-old two Rolling Stone en Español awards in 2004.

"Some fans who've followed me for years thought it was weird, having Slash on the record and in the video [for Street Child]," says Elan of the album's guest guitarist. "But I grew up on hard rock; the first rock concert I ever saw was Guns N' Roses in Guadalajara, when I was, like, eight years old." Elan says the Velvet Revolver guitarist "definitely likes to drink beer, he's into it! He always had one in his hand."

With her 2005 album London Express, Elan gave fans another reason to cry "what the...?" On the cover is a photo of her with her long blond mane shorn to jawline-length. "Some people act real upset. They say, 'How could you?'... I get insane fan mail. I got a letter about a pink jacket I wore to an awards show in Mexico, and it was practically a death threat if I ever wore it again. I don't want to get strangled over my fashion choices."

In August 2006, Elan filed an 11-count lawsuit against Wailers singer Elan Atias, who had begun using just the name Elan for solo recordings. “This is the kind of thing that made my brother and I start our own company,” says the local Elan. “They don’t care about music or who they hurt.” The lawsuit alleges "craft, yet overt maneuvering" to take over local Elan’s given name (which she trademarked and has always recorded and performed under) by defendants Atias, Interscope Records, and public relations firm the Mitch Schneider Organization.

The other Elan's PR company used to represent local Elan, and a link on their website that formerly led to local Elan’s site now sends users to Mr. Atias's webpage instead. Interscope Records told the Los Angeles Times’ "Calendar" section in 1999 that signing local Elan was their "second highest priority after Enrique Iglesias' new album."

“I am shocked that now, my former PR firm and a label that actually wanted to sign me, would try this,” says local Elan. “They thought they could just run us over and get away with it and we wouldn’t say anything. They were wrong!”

"If you take a look at the timing, you have to be very disappointed in how these music industry players behaved," said lawyer Matt Rifat of Manning And Marder, Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez LLP, who is representing local Elan in San Diego federal district court. “The sequence of events is unbelievable. Interscope and the Mitch Schneider Organization deal with Elan one day and the next they are slapping her name onto Atias, who never went by the one name until this year…it is as unseemly as it is illegal."

Elan's new album is What Can Be Done at This Point.

Lindsey Troy was once part of a rock duo with her sister Anna, the Troys. “We were signed to Elektra on my fifteenth birthday, but the record was never released” says Lindsey says of the album she and her sister Anna recorded in 2002. “They kept pushing the release date back and they didn't do what they had promised, which was to make a window of time where they would only promote our single. Instead, they were pushing a bunch of different singles to radio stations at the same time, including Missy Elliott's. I think there was a lot of turmoil within the label, because they were on the verge of folding into Atlantic.”

“Pretty much everyone who originally worked at the label when we were signed lost their jobs when Elektra folded,” says Lindsey. “I believe Elektra still owns all of the recordings that they paid for. We don’t have the masters but we do have a copy of the album, which is nice for memories and what not. Elektra owns the recordings but not the songs so, theoretically, if we ever wanted to, we could sell those songs to someone else.”

Lindsey Troy says neither sister regrets their album as a duo going unheard. “Anna and I were getting older and couldn't really relate to those songs anymore. We both kind of felt that our fetters had been taken off, we were finally free to play and do whatever we wanted. And to grow up.”

Cindy Lee Berryhill’s song “When Did Jesus Become a Republican?” has spent the better part of the last year being featured at Neil Young’s “Living with War Today” website, where songwriters are encouraged to submit political music. "They actually have a kind of ranking system there for the protest songs," she says, "and I [went] from 'newly added songs' to number 13. I didn't even know it had been added until L.A. Air America radio called and said they found my song on Neil's site and would I do an interview."

Berryhill says she went through the regular submission process and the song's embrace on Young's webpage is unrelated to the fact that, a few years ago, she worked for Young's manager Elliot Roberts and Lookout Management.

Sample lyric: "When did Jesus turn the tables on tender and join the money lenders? 'Stead of sharing with lepers, he's sellin' shares of Halliburton?"

Jenn Grinels grew up in Northern California, before landing at UC Irvine to study musical theater. After graduating, she moved to San Diego and began appearing in local stage productions, which she still does from time to time. One of her most challenging roles was in reverse-drag, playing bearded rock musician Yitzhak in the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, at the Cygnet Theatre. Most recently, she portrayed Janis Joplin in the '60s musical “Beehive,” at the Theatre in Old Town,

She tours and plays locally as a solo singer/songwriter. “Many of my songs are inspired by my boyfriend, Marine Captain David T. Russell, who was recently re-deployed overseas. I write about the pain of separation, and how difficult that can be. Before he left, quite a few of his coworkers and guys from his platoon came out to see me play. A lot of them brought their girlfriends and wives, or they bought one of my CDs to send home to their girlfriends and wives. It’s amazing to play for people who so strongly relate to the music. I just got an order from a friend serving in Iraq right now, who bought six CDs because she wants to give them to fellow marines for Christmas.”

“There are a couple of songs on the new album that deal with [my boyfriend's] past deployments. He happens to be highly decorated -- Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart -- which he doesn't like to talk about, but I'm very proud of him.”

The story of how Captain Russell earned his Purple Heart and Silver Star awards was featured in a December 2006 GQ magazine article, "A Few Good Medals."

“They ran a photo of him smiling and covered in blood,” says Grinels. “That picture was taken right after he was shot. One of his Marines joked with him, 'Sir, can you try to look injured?'”

The couple met two years ago when a group of Marines caught Grinels performing at a pub. “I heckled the Marines from the stage,” says Grinels. “I made them put their arms around each other and do a kick line while I sang. When I got off stage, Dave approached me and said 'You have characteristics I'd like to pass onto my children.' It worked!”

Grinels says the captain helped get her new album made. “He acted as executive producer and was involved every step of the way,” she says. “He gave feedback on the music, offered a few lyrics here and there, was present for the recording when he got back from his tour, enlisted graphic designers, and dealt with the duplication company. He also wrote some of the mass emails, and he’s always my roadie when he's available.”

While touring, Grinels often performs at functions organized by KVN, the Key Volunteer Network (“Basically, the military wives club”), and she’s looking into a related charity in order to donate a portion of her CD sales (“Probably Operation Homefront”).

You may have heard Victoria Robertson singing in the chorus with the San Diego Opera over the past several years (M. Butterfly, etc.) or soloing the national anthem at a Miramar Air Show. Or you may have seen her modeling in international print ads and catalogs for Kyocera cell phones and Road Runner Sports. If you hung around La Jolla's Living Room on Thursday nights, you might have caught her with acoustic guitar (Taylor model 414, made in El Cajon) and perhaps a band, performing what she describes as "acoustic-pop-Sheryl-Crow-meets-Jewel-with-a-touch-of-Sarah-McLachlan"-style originals.

If you're in the armed forces, however, you probably know her as Miss USO San Diego, a post she's held since shortly after relinquishing her Miss San Diego crown from the 1998 Miss America competition. "People think the USO died with Bob Hope, World War II, or maybe Vietnam, but the entertainment department is still out there playing all kinds of training bases, all over the world, in war and in peacetime. We've even landed on aircraft carriers, coming down in this little plane on a postage-stamp-sized spot on the ocean and then playing on a stage at the flight line!"

Accommodations for her and her backup band are paid for by the USO when they perform far-flung places like Germany, England, the Netherlands, and Thule Air Base in Greenland (where only 700 troops were stationed). "The A-list performers are building morale in the war zones. We get sent to the other places, where the support troops are warming up." She says she'd have no problem going to a hot zone like Iraq. "I'll sing wherever they send me, wherever they think I can do some good. No matter what your politics are, whether you're for or against the war itself, the men and women in uniform are just doing their job. They deserve support."

Only one other state has a Miss USO -- New York -- and that post is voted annually via pageants and judges. "I'm told they'll let me be Miss USO San Diego until either the troops don't like me anymore or I can't sing. I hope that's a long time away. Boy, that'll be a sad day when they come up to me and say, 'It's time.'"

Originally from New Jersey, Robertson graduated from UC San Diego with a Visual Arts degree. Her album, Say New You,was released in August 2007, and her album Celebrating is often sent to troops overseas.

In February 2008, Robertson won the "Carlsbad to Karlovy Vary" vocal competition for the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus Young Artist program. Karlovy Vary is Carlsbad's "sister city" in the Czech Republic. At SDSU, Robertson is a part of the Artist Diploma Program. She runs her own side business entertaining at children's parties, Princess Parties and Friends.

San Diego native Rachael Gordon makes music ranging from classic sixties styled folk to straight ahead rock and roll. Asked her influences, she starts off with “Joan Jett! All that Runaways and early solo stuff! And I really love Linda Thompson, anything she's done, Fairport Convention. And a guilty pleasure is early Heart, there's a folk side while still rocking out.”

Her recording sessions are known for including dozens of San Diego’s best-known and most accomplished talents. “There’s Hector Penalosa of the Zeros and Flying Colour, Bart Mendoza of the Shambles and Manual Scan, Ray Brandes of the Tell Tale Hearts and Mystery Machine, and AJ Croce, they’ve all written songs for me. And Frank Barajas of JuJu Eyeball and Richard Livoni of Comanche Moon have come up with some real great tunes. That's, what, 1000 years of songwriting experience?”

Wild Weekend – an all-girl (mostly) tribute to local '70s/'80s punk innovators the Zeros -- signed a deal in November 2007 to release two vinyl singles with Spanish indie Munster Records. In the '90s, when the Zeros reunited, the same label released an album and three singles for the Chula Vista rockers.

On November 11, 2007, Wild Weekend actually found themselves performing in the Zeros' stead when the sometime-reunited band was unavailable to play Los Angeles punk club the Masque's 30th-anniversary show. The Plugz, the Eyes, and the Skulls also performed in the legendary venue, which operated for years in the basement of the X-rated Pussycat Theater flagship locale.

Former Zero Robert "El Vez" Lopez, who had caught Wild Weekend that summer at North Park'sPink Elephant bar, recommended the band for the recording project and anniversary show. Lopez's endorsement came to the group's attention when the Munster label MySpace'd the band with an offer to release their music.

"We just made these recordings for fun when we first started playing," says singer Maren Parusel, who also performs in Squiddo (with former Zero Hector Peñalosa) and the Baja Bugs ("They're kind of rough").

The Wild Weekend discs will include versions of "Don't Push Me Around" with "Wimp" on the flipside, and "Black and White" with "Cosmetic Couple" on the B-side. On the cover art, Wild Weekend struck the same poses as the Zeros did for their releases.

Wild Weekend lost their girl-group status in late 2007, after drummer Melissa (aka "Christy Beats") and bassist Kaitlin Kait-O left to concentrate on their own combo, the Atoms. The newly co-ed Wild Weekend now includes guitarist Kelly Alvarez, former Prayers/Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower drummer Brian Hill, and Sexies bassist Wendy Jeffers.

In April 2008, the band released two 7-inch singles (tributes to the Zeros, 'natch), on Spain's Munster Records. Around the same time, they entered the studio with Keith Milgaten from Vision of a Dying World.

(Thanks to Bart Mendoza for Wild Weekend segment)

BROWSING THE BOARDS

One way to read the pulse of the local music scene is to skim the message forums and bulletin boards at websites like sonicspot.com, sandiegopunk.com, craigslist.org, swingorama.com, socal-raves.org and sdmusician.com.

Bobsax loves a parade: "Tuba or sousaphone player wanted for startup brass band (think Rebirth or Dirty Dozen Brass Bands). Lineup is horns and drums only...must be able to play consistent, driving, sometimes repetitive lines and have endurance to keep going. Occasional marching, this will be rare."

Bagingkle loves a funeral: "Bassist sought for dark/heavy/melodic metal band...our style is a mix of hardcore/thrash/death/and doom metal, very aggressive at times and very mellow and atmospheric at times as well. We play at c#, our vocalist has a very harsh, aggressive sound, and our music is very original and dark, especially for San Diego."

Swingstitious is into Jesus: "We are Christians, and our bassist just quit on us...not to provoke some theist/atheist debates on here, [but bassist] must be a Christian (we're a Christian band)...wanting to play emo/indie/screamo rock, ministering as a Christian band, spreading a positive message, portraying ourselves through music."

Dudeski is into meetings: "I am a singer/frontman/songwriter looking to front a slammin' band. Something like Lenny Kravitz meets Led Zeppelin meets Incubus meets the Chilis meets Soundgarden meets Al Green. I definitely have my own style...Chris Cornell meets Bono meets Michael Hutchence meets Al Green."

Epiphany is axe hunting: "Still looking for a guitarist. Applicant should be creative, innovative, textural, professional and not be afraid to play out of 'the box.' " James SatChild replies "Epiphany, maybe you need to start looking in other realms of existence...like have a seance and raise Chet Atkins from the grave. I think he'd fit your bill quite nicely!"

Anniewarbucks is man hunting: "I'm looking for a guy in San Diego. This is really vague, but any help that anyone can give me is great. He is a hip hop DJ, in his early 20s, first name is Chris. I don't know his DJ name. He was recently on a MTV show called Dismissed."

MusiMitch knows what he wants: "Drummer...desiring versatile and eclectic collaborative but understands niche markets (ala, rock, funk, hip-hop, etc., etc.). No chips, chumps, chimps, or wimps (if you're sensitive and/or female, fantastic!)."

SanDiego21 knows you suck: "We know you're a terrible bassist and/or singer...that's fine. We can barely tune our instruments and our drummer is on Lithium. He drools a lot, but keeps good time surprisingly. We play primarily punk...need a bassist and singer to finish up. Gotta have gear."

Unitypunkrocka knows punk: "I think a lot of the stuff Nirvana did wasn't very interesting. Just because he uses 1 4 5 1 chord progressions in songs and other 'punk' progressions doesn't mean that the songs are punk rock. If you wanna be that theory oriented about punk...most of the drum beats were just plain rock and roll beats, nothing particularly punk about them."

StraightEdgePetey knows nothing: "@#%$ Kurt Cobain, druggie piece of @#%$. Because of him, kids take heroin...I suggest either banning all Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, and Elvis records. That's something that needs to occur if we wish to conquer the war on drugs."

Clumsystupid is lonely: "I think my last roommate moved out because I kept saying 'The world ain't round it's square' and getting liquored up and playing Tammy Wynette and the Troggs and beating the sh*t out of him."

Olly The Limey is angry: "I just read this big article in this week's LA Weekly about raving and how it's dead and how it's all commercialized...I was like ready to punch the friggin writer by the end, for ruining my day."

Pond/pie girl is nervous: "I don't know what it is about you fellow dancers but every time I am out it hasn't failed yet that I have fallen, tripped, or managed to injure another...please tell me that I am not the only one that this happens to. I seriously make a fool out of myself at every event."

Katherine A. is dangerous: "I've given and received some blows...there was the huge knee bruise I got a few weeks ago; the time I poked poor Tom in the eye; hit Paul in the face with a fingernail; clobbered Kermit in the face; stepped on feet; tripped over my own feet...there are just so many!"

Mikey S wants to aim high: "I'm a punk singer/songwritter looking to start a band...I write lyrics but I need music writers. Good punkereds willing to grow as musicians, I have high goals. Punks only please."

Kjude wants to get high: "Looking to start an Irish Pub-style band. I'm 28 and a self taught guitarist (3-4 yrs) who doesn't know much about Irish music. With the right people though, figuring it out could be half the fun. I have a job and don't want to be a rockstar, but free beer would be cool."

AdNauseam wants to rock: "I'm moving to San Diego in about two months and I will be starting a band. Hard to describe the sound I'm looking for...Lo-fi, no-fi, no-wave punk...I am very dedicated and need people in generally the same vein of music. I am more concerned with this rather than what instrument you may play."

Joe Scandal just wants to fck: "Fck the corporation, fck the money, fck the internet, fck this computer, fck McDonalds, fck this fcked up world."

Like this blog? Here are some related links:

OVERHEARD IN SAN DIEGO - Several years' worth of this comic strip, which debuted in the Reader in 1996: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/overheard-san-diego/

FAMOUS FORMER NEIGHBORS - Over 100 comic strips online, with mini-bios of famous San Diegans: http://www.sandiegoreader.com/photos/galleries/famous-former-neighbors/

SAN DIEGO READER MUSIC MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/sandiegoreadermusic

JAY ALLEN SANFORD MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jayallensanford