WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN?? ME!! HERE’S THE FIRST SAN DIEGO WATCHMEN REVIEW, MINUTES AFTER THE LIGHTS WENT UP……

 (Mild spoiler alert flashing now ---- be-aware -----) 

Okay, the credits are still onscreen, so let me get one thing out of the way first.

Holy……fuggen…..sheeeeeeit……..

Now then, realize that I’m a guy whose entire adult career has involved comics. I worked my way up from retail comic shops (most notably Comics Etc. in the Mira Mesa mall), to wholesale distribution (Pacific Comics, then Diamond Distribution, then Bud Plant), and then I became a comic book creator (around 200 comics, so far) and, eventually, a comic publisher, to some fair measure of success, albeit very little acclaim (see links after review for more). Reader readers know me as the guy behind Overheard In San Diego and Famous Former Neighbors (in case yer new ‘round here - if you are....nice to meetcha, set a spell why dontcha, maybe checkout my comic strips at the above links later if yer looking fer more) -------------

So I’m a big believer in the power of comics, to entertain, to inform, and – at their best - to engage.

Watchmen – The Movie was the most engaging comic book-related movie I’ve seen. And the most entertaining. AND - as I'll get to when I talk about my fellow moviegoers tonight - it most certainly informed. Most amazingly, against all odds,  the film did indeed manage to capture a lot of the storytelling form and underlying heart pioneered so successfully by the original Watchmen comic creators.

Which is not to say it was a perfect movie…..

For one thing, the music misfires. Frequently. Songs by the likes of Simon and Garfunkel and – gawd help us – Nena (“99 Luftballoons,” fer chrissakes), are far too fixed in our real world recollections to be anything but jarring in the Watchmen universe.

  Never mind that songs like Hendrix’s version of “All Along the Watchtower” are 10 or 15 years mistimed for the film’s setting in a wonky “alternate timeline” ‘80s.

Yeah, yeah, Luftballoons is about nuclear war, one of the movie’s “big” themes, and Hendrix sings “Two riders were approaching” just as Owl Man and Rorschach are staggering thru the snow to Ozymandias’ arctic hideaway (having ridden there in the Owl Ship) – chuckle chuckle. Now get back to the movie -----

The performances (all but one) are pitch perfect.

They would/will be, I think, even to most people who HAVEN’T read the source comics. Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach in particular -- it’s hard to believe that he's the grown-up geeky kid from Breaking Away (a 1979 fave of mine).

The problem with Rorschach, in the film AND the comics, is the apparent celebration of his sociopathic actions/dialogue/costuming/worldview, which is taken a step further yet in the film than in the comics (especially the revolting accompanying movie sound FX, all the more quease-inducing in perfect 21st century Hollywood S-T-E-R-E-O-ON-S-T-E-R-O-I-D-S).

This becomes doubly troubly when one is surrounded by a theater audience peppered with enough of its own sociopaths that Rorschach’s MOST abhorrent actions, and his sickest inner monologues, were greeted with hoots and cheers that didn’t indicate the slightest trace of irony, let alone what should pass as "humor." 

Real people will always be scarier than the worst of movie mustache twirlers ----

BUT, to accept Watchmen as alternate reality – something that could REALLY be real, in a really real world --- for real --- one must accept the premise that there HAS to be a Rorschach in a Watchmen world. As dark is to light, as night to day, yin to yang, frick to frack, Beavis to Butthead....you know what I mean.

The Watchmen world needs Rorschach like it needs air, earth, and water --- if only to counterbalance the childlike, chimerical (and ultimately idiotic) optimism at the other end of the superhero spectrum, the shallow end of the pool, where costumed heroes pose for newspaper photos with their leather hip boots planted heavily atop the unconscious head of a fallen evil-doer.

Where the good guys always win.

When the stars always - eventually - align, for even the most starcrossed of lovers.

Where – to paraphrase Kink-y Ray Davies – heroes never feel pain, and heroes never die.

Rorschach is the deep end of the pool. WAY deep. OFF the deep end, in fact, and falling fast toward bottomless ------

The other characters all ring fairly true to their comic counterparts, and I think they’ll feel real to non-comic types too. Despite (and sometimes thanks-to) the often silly costuming (superheroes, by definition as much as design, dress funny).

I mean, great moviemaking transcends genre, and everything about Watchmen: The Movie is pretty great, from the performances to the costumes, the tech, the script, the minute set details, even Doc Manhattan’s otherworldly blue glow and his occasionally 50-foot penis –

There are so many amazing and striking visuals that I could spend the next ten hours just listing the ones I noticed --- stuff like how the Comedian's teardrops roll down the countour of a jagged facial scar he suffered at the hands of the pregnant mistress he was murdering, with said teardrops then disappearing like phantoms into the graying grizzle of his unshaven (but still cleft and manly) chin.

There’s a much bigger story being told in Watchmen than the end of superheroes, or even the end of the world ----

Bigger even than the various love stories that unfold (a couple of the movie’s other rare misfires happen during the “sex” scenes, even/especially when suddenly there are at least FIVE blue penises flopping around Doc Manhattan's very flustered young girlfriend).

The big picture is the one of humanity itself. Watchmen holds up all the ugly, for all to see, side-by-side with all the love, the power, the piety, and all the other messy ingredients that make up mankind. Holds them up and presents them as one long unchanging, unending sequence ("sequential art" is a phrase commonly - perhaps wistfully - used to describe comics), ie one of those old “infinity cover” comics, where someone is holding a comic with a cover of them holding the comic, with a cover of them holding the comic, with a cover of them holding the comic, the same image repeated again and again, unto infinity, with no indication that one image is greater or less - or first or last - compared to the others.

Watchmen: The Movie holds all of this up before us, (im)perfectly framed within the felt trim that surrounds the movie screen, with no one facet of mankind deemed greater, or lesser, or more or less important than any other. Each ingredient that makes us the malicious, miraculous, bug-fuggen crazy mofos we are, each is necessary, in equal measure, to what we were, are, and will ever be. For better or worse.

Which is depressing.

And joyous.

As is Watchmen: The movie.

Me, I give 9 and a half stars.

In awhile, I'll be able to watch Watchmen on DVD, without those idiot Rorschach "fans" (???) who verbally orgasmed around me tonight when he killed the midget – sorry, little person - from Seinfeld (the film’s only casting/acting misfire…I kept expecting Kramer to stumble in….).

THEN I'll probably give it a 10 ------------- just watch, man ----------

5:45 a.m. - PS: I'm not about to start patronizing indoor theaters over drive-ins. DIs get 99 per cent of my theatrical business - Until tonight, I've only seen two full movies indoors in the last ten years (Spider-Man 1 and the Exorcist re-release). Also indoors, I've seen two partial movies in ten years, whose bugfuggen audiences drove me from my seat, both the same night (Very Bad Things, where they were laughing thru a drawn out bloody prostitute murder, and that movie about middle easterns being rounded up in NY concentration camps, I can't be bothered to look up the name)

That said, I'm astounded at the state of the art in indoor movie SOUND!!

Holy crap, I almost fell out my chair during a few explosive moments, probably cuz of living so long in the CA quake zone and always being ready to bolt out the nearest door whenever the seats shake ----

Not much else (other than the movie) impressed - charging $4.75 for a medium coke should be prosecutable. And I can't believe people put up with the volume and repetition of plain old commercials on the screen, pretty much nonstop between films. Especially the same spots over and over and over and over -maddening ---

Before Watchmen tonight, my other indoor movie was Coraline in 3D, a stop-motion creepy crawly based on a story by comic guys Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean and produced by many of the crew behind Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride. Even without Burton and Depp, it was a fine movie, and not at all bad in 3D. I didn't realize they'd refined 3D so much, and it was cool that I could take off the glasses and still watch a pretty regular looking movie, other than occasional short bits designed for stereoscopic (possibly quadroscopic?) separation.

 Another neat factor was that I was the only person in that theater, for the whole flick - not one other patron ever came thru the doors (one of the smallest rooms in a big multiplex). It was KINDA like being in my car at a drive-in ----- I could scratch anywhere and anything I pleased.

My kinda movie night -------------------

ROCK 'N' ROLL COMICS: THE INSIDE STORY - In 1989, local Revolutionary Comics ("Unauthorized And Proud Of It") launched Rock 'N' Roll Comics, featuring unlicensed biographies of rock stars, most of which I wrote. Some performers, like Frank Zappa and Kiss, were supportive, while others like New Kids On The Block considered our comics akin to bootlegs and sued. In June 1992, publisher Todd Loren was found dead in his San Diego condo, brutally murdered...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/12/rock-n-roll-comics-the-inside-story

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK VS REVOLUTIONARY COMICS - The inside story of how a hugely successful boy band tried to sue local-based Rock 'N' Roll Comics over an unauthorized biography of the group, sparking a court case that established, for the very first time, first amendment rights for comic books. Illustrated by comic superstar Stuart Immonen (Superman, etc.)...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/13/new-kids-on-the-block-versus-revolutionary-comics

THE KOMPLETE KISS KOMIX KRONICLES - Comprehensive collection of stuff I’ve done about working with Kiss on a comic book series, along with a bunch of never-before-seen artifacts from the Kiss Komix archives AND an article by Kiss comic author Spike Steffenhagen, offering his own very-different take, ala Rashomon, on the same events I describe in my essay...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/12/komplete-kiss-komix-kronicles

OVER A MILLION CARNAL COMICS ARE IN PRINT - Here's how and why we made some of the top-selling erotic comics of all time, right here in San Diego, including what Gene Simmons has to do with it all, backstage tales of porn stars, and more confessions of a comic pornographer...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/08/carnal-comics-the-inside-story-jay-allen-sanfor

THE ROCKETEER AND OTHER FAMOUS '80S COMICS BEGAN RIGHT HERE IN SAN DIEGO - Here's a detailed history of local Pacific Comics, who recruited comic superstars like Jack Kirby to create one of the first successful indie comic book lines. Pioneers in the fight for comic creators' rights and royalties, former employees and operators reveal how they did it, and what went so terribly wrong...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/08/pacific-comics-the-inside-story-jay-allen-sanford

COMICS AND CENSORSHIP - DON'T BE AFRAID, IT'S ONLY A COMIC BOOK - A local-centric history of comic book censorship, and the fight for the rights of comic creators...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/06/comics-and-censorship-a-local-centric-illustrated

TWILIGHT ZONE AND STAR TREK WRITER GEORGE CLAYTON JOHNSON PRESENTS - The inside story of a local horror comic book series featuring Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, plus sci-fi king Larry Niven, Zap Comix co-founder Spain Rodriguez, Matthew Alice artist Rick Geary, Vampire Lestat painter Daerick Gross, yours truly JAS, and many more...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/05/deepest-dimension-terror-anthology-twilight-zone

THE BIRTH OF IMAGE COMICS: INSIDE STORY OF A LOCAL PUBLISHING POWERHOUSE - Illustrated tale revealing how Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and local comic artist Jim Lee (the Punisher, etc.) conspired to create the ultimate creator-owned comic books...

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/03/the-birth-of-image-comics-an-illustrated-history

NEW MUSIC STORIES - MARCH 4TH

The Ultimate Palate Cleanser - Singer-songwriter Kenny Eng is a self-taught guitarist. “I took piano early on,” he says, “but basically picked up the guitar by ear...” ( More Ultimate Palate Cleanser  )

 The Stage-Mom Thing - “It’s very hard to find young musicians, especially who know Latin music,” says 15-year-old jazz pianist Chase Morrin. “Not only to find the skill necessary...” ( More Stage-Mom Thing )

 Local acts going through changes include frequent SDMA inductees The Coyote Problem. “We’re taking a break,” emails top Coyote Peter Bolland. “Maybe a long one...I’ve decided to step away from the microphone to honor other areas of my life for awhile.  Being the front man in a rock and roll band doesn’t hold the same joy for me as it once did. Instead, I feel my joy pulling me in other directions. Artists are restless by nature."

 Lower Definition – the only unsigned local band to play the Taste of Chaos 2006 Sports Arena date – has lost two founding members, drummer/manager Valentino Arteaga and bassist Stefan Toler. “The future of Lower Definition is not 100 percent clear yet,” say remaining band members, who blame the failure of their album The Greatest of All Lost Arts.

“We slaved over this last record for months and handcrafted every topic discussed in it, just to have it not catch as well with the masses. We didn’t expect to sell a million copies or go platinum, but our individual views on success obviously weren’t in sync…[now] we don’t know who is going to be in this band, or when we’re going to start making our ‘comeback,’ or even if we’re going to go by the name Lower Definition.”

 Also in limbo are Jack the Original, whose singer/guitarist Gabe Lehner has formed a new band with Steven Bradford of Get Back Loretta (annual SDMA winners 2005 through 2008). Calling themselves Metrofique, the duo are recording songs more mellow, simple, and acoustic-based than their respective bands. “Unfortunately, Jack the Original is on a long hiatus,” says Lehner. “We never officially broke up, so we’re just a band on hiatus that will hopefully do something really cool again someday. We have a second album almost done, but now I have no idea when it will be finished.”

 Bassist James Armbrust and drummer Mark Maigaard have left Louis XIV, replaced by Shaun Cornell (Dirty Sweet, Kemistry, Transfer) and Andy Ridley(The Silent Comedy, Fono). The new lineup made its live debut February 16 at The Casbah.

Louis’s occasional fifth member, local violist/keyboardist/guitarist Ray Suen, remains on tour with the Killers, whose February 18 appearance at the U.K. War Child benefit landed Suen onstage with members of Coldplay and Bono of U2. “I’ve tried to stay level-headed about the things that happen while I’m traveling with the Killers,” Suen posted the next day at www.sddialedin.com, “but, seriously, last night was pretty freakin’ rad.”

 Nautical Disaster's new drummer Matt Nelson (also bassist for Trophy Wife) will play ND’s biggest showcase to date, opening for the Black Lips at The Casbah on April 16.

Titanium’s last show with drummer Alan Spurgeon took place February 27 at Pyrate’s Hideaway (“We need a drummer, spread the word”).

MOTLEY APOLOGY

Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx has apologized for verbally browbeating a fan from the stage during the band’s February 2 Sports Arena appearance.

In a video clip circulating online, Sixx is seen talking to the audience while he tosses a plastic water bottle into the crowd. A moment later, a plastic bottle is tossed back toward him, causing the bassist to cuss out a woman in the audience.

“F-ck you, suck my d-ck,” says Sixx, taking his bass partway off to hold up over his head as he walks aggressively to the edge of the stage, pointing at the woman and gesturing for her to come closer.

She wisely declines, whereupon Sixx is seen spitting into the crowd. Taking the mic again, he calls the woman “a f-cking whore” and continues to hurl expletives and anatomical invitations. After putting his bass back on, he points into the crowd and announces “Aw, she’s f-cking crying.” The band then launches into “Primal Scream.”

“I got pretty p-ssed,” posted Sixx on the band’s website. “The way it happened is, I threw a bottle of water to some fans and didn’t realize the very bottle I threw to the fans was thrown back at me. I have to admit, bands get pretty p-ssed when people throw sh-t at you onstage. I didn’t even think it was the same bottle so, with that being said, I’d like to say I’m sorry to the fan who threw the bottle back at me…"

 "P.S., these self-help books are really helping. Ha-Ha."

STOLEN IN L.A.

The band Stolen has moved to Los Angeles, joining other transplanted locals like The Soft Pack (formerly the Muslims) and Delta Spirit.

“We moved in all together in a house out in North Hills, in the San Fernando Valley,” emails bassist Erik Clabeaux. “The cost is about the same as San Diego and, versus living in Hollywood, you get a more land in North Hills. The best thing about LA is the amount of work and opportunities for the arts. The worst thing is it’s not San Diego.”

Hoping for their big break, they’ve instead found tough breaks. “We fired our drummer Nick Hanson, due to things that we don’t feel like discussing,” says Clabeaux. “Chance Bray, our singer and guitar player, had a serious accident that prevented him from playing for months.”

 “He fell in the shower and broke his fall on the soap dish, severing two tendons in his right hand and lacerating two optical nerves, plus he hit his head on the shower floor, causing a concussion and knocking him unconscious. When he came to on the shower floor, there was blood all around him, with the water still running, like [the shower scene in] Psycho.”

 Bray was rushed by ambulance to the hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery to save the use of his middle and index fingers. “All he cared about was whether he’d be able to hold a pick. It took two months for his hand to heal, however the build-up of scar tissue in his middle finger has left it immobile. Another surgery is required to fix it.”

 Clabeaux estimates the medical cost so far at around $70,000.

Asked the origin of the band's name, Clabeaux says "[It] came from the foothills behind our neighborhood in El Cajon...years ago, the property was sold to build a new housing development and a Wal-Mart. The hills were a part of all of our childhoods...we felt as if they had been stolen from us. We decided to carve 'Stolen Hills' in one of the concrete slabs in remembrance of the hills. When the band formed, we shortened the name."

	The Devil's Music Thursday 5"Kill them all or they will kill you first," suggests electroacoustic act Intricate Machines, which'll plug in at Bar Pink tonight. This Amoeba-recommended quintet was L.A.'s best-kept secret before stuffing their debut EP with ... More
	Heard It All Before Katy Perry's new single, "Broken," sounds familiar, it's not your imagination. The same song, with minor lyrical revisions, was released as a single in 2003 by San Diego's sister-fronted pop group the Troys under the ... More
	Derek Papa, Pillbox Remedy, and Plow Artist: Plow  |  Song: "Sunday Sadir" (from their self-titled CD) Heard By: Adrian Keenan, Ocean Beach  |  I thought it was really interesting -- a kind of old, folksy-sounding song. It was very reminiscent of the late-1800s or so. It ... More
	Are You Smarter Than a Fourth Waiver? Defamation League MC Chaz "Khemical Ali" Lomack was probably the most famous of the 95 arrested in the Operation Sudden Fall drug sting last May. "I was sentenced to 120 days." Lomack, 22, did his ... More

	Pretenders  Chrissie Hynde is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a mother, an environmental activist, an animal-rights activist, and a restaurateur. (See her in this month's Gourmet magazine, talking about her restaurant, the VegiTerranean, ... More
	Delta Spirit With the demise this year of Los Angeles radio station Indie 103.1, one wonders whether indie rock is doomed. Indie 103.1 left broadcast for the Internet, citing low ratings and outside pressure to blend mainstream ... More
	Plein Aire When roots blues acoustic guitarist Joshua Blatchley plays shows around town, he usually leaves his acoustic at home, stuffs some picks in his pockets, and borrows an electric guitar and amp from a friend. Once ... More

A.I.L.D. RE SRO DVD! BFD? IMHO...

"It's hard to believe that we've been a band for as long as we have yet have never released an official DVD documenting our first 7 years," says As I Lay Dying singer Tim Lambesis.  The band's first DVD This Is Who We Are will be a 3-DVD set. Produced and directed by Denise Korycki (Cannibal Corpse), the set includes concert performances (including footage from a San Marcos Jumping Turtle show) and an audio/visual history.

"We've included so much content that you hardly have to like our music to be entertained," according to Lambesis. "With that said, it feels good knowing how many diehard fans over the years have supported our band and their simple enjoyment of our music has given us the chance to see the world!" The set is scheduled for release April 14.

Disc #1 – Main Documentary – approx. two hours: This complete band history includes in depth artist interviews and commentary, interviews with friends and family, as well as observations and road stories from colleagues and bands that have worked with and befriended As I Lay Dying since the band's inception.

Disc #2 – LIVE performances (w/ the current lineup): Over an hour and a half of live performances captured at As I Lay Dying's Southern California shows in November 2008 including the Jumping Turtle near San Diego, The Grove, and Seacoast Community Church, and international festivals such as Wacken and With Full Force, and US festival Cornerstone.

Disc #3 – music videos and bonus features including more touring stories, profiles on personalities and more.

As I Lay Dying (named after the book by William Faulkner) formed in 2001. Guitarist Nick Hipa Hipa describes the band’s music as “brutal, energetic, melodic metal”; drummer Jordan Mancino calls it “metal with ska breakdowns.” The band signed with Metal Blade Records in 2003 and spent 2006 supporting their album Shadows Are Security with opening slots for Slipknot and performances at Ozzfest events around the country.

Asked about being occasionally called “Christian metal,” Hipa says “All of us in the band are Christian dudes and we’re vocal about it and I think our lifestyles and our lyrics reflect that. But at the same time, we also tend to opt to play in the normal music scene because that’s what we love doing.”

As I Lay Dying was named “Artist of the Year” at the 15th annual San Diego Music Awards in 2005. Their album An Ocean Between Us was released August 21, 2007, featuring guest guitarist Adam D from Killswitch Engage. The following week, it cracked the Billboard charts at #8. It lasted eight weeks on Billboard’s Top 200 Chart before dropping off.

At the 2007 San Diego Music Awards, the band took home the trophy for “Artist of the Year” and later that year embarked on a European tour. Their song “Nothing Left” was nominated for “Best Metal Performance” for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards in 2008.

In 2008, singer Tim Lambesis’ side band, Austrian Death Machine, released its debut album, Total Brutal, on Metal Blade Records. Lambesis also appeared on the TV show LA Ink, getting a tattoo Jesus rocking out, while As I Lay Dying won Artist of the Year at the '08 San Diego Music Awards.

A few things about the band members you may not know:

Lambesis: “I often get anemic from a blood-iron deficiency, but you can’t tell just from looking at me. I haven’t fallen off the stage or anything.”

Hipa: “I’m Hawaiian-Japanese, not Mexican.”

Double-bass drummer Mancino: “I love Disney movies, theme parks...pretty much everything to do with Disney.”

As I Lay Dying appear at the Hollywood Palladium on April 3.

Related links

• Musician Interviews
• Website
• As I Hear It (Nov. 8, 2007)
• Blurt
• Blurt

ROCK TO RICHES – LOCAL TEACHES ROCK STAR SECRETS OF FINANCIAL SUCCESS

ROCK & ROLL HOMICIDE by RJ McDONNELL

FORTY SCHMORTY; LIFE KEEP HAPPENING by EVE SELIS & MATTIE MILLS

THE SUMMER I DIED by RYAN C. THOMAS

HEAVY MENTAL by IAN SHIRLEY

 WHERE'S THE READER'S HIP-HOP COVERAGE? We get a lot of emails asking this, and (hopefully) readers have noticed increased coverage throughout the music section, including Blurt, Lists, Of Note, and Club Crawler... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/aug/30/where-is-the-readers-hip-hop-coverage

 Wal-Marts, Best Buys, and Strip Clubs - Everyone performing at the Casbah’s first local rap showcase next month was nominated in the Best Hip-Hop category at this year’s San Diego Music Awards — everyone except Kayo..... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2008/nov/19/blurt4

  Let It Flow - Hip-hop artist MC Flow -- a.k.a. Abby Schwartz -- raps about politics and women's issues. Though she won a 2007 San Diego Music Award for Best Hip-Hop, many locals cried foul to see a white Jewish woman take home that particular prize.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2007/sep/27/flow-it

  CELEBRITY HOUSE HUNTING IN SAN DIEGO - Real estate broker Jeff Paiste has squired several famous musicians around San Diego in their search for decent digs to lease or rent, including Bread frontman David Gates and the late George Harrison.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/13/celebrity-house-hunting-in-san-diego

  JUDGE JUDY TAKES ON THE BELLY UP TAVERN - So I was watching an afternoon repeat of Judge Judy (I like it when she yells at dumbasses), and lo and behold the episode involved the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. It was the case of “Beauty and the Bouncers”.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/13/judge-judy-takes-on-the-belly-up-tavern

   BACKSTAGE RIDER COLLECTION - Deep inside 50 rock and pop star dressing rooms.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/13/backstage-rider-collection-50-rock-star-contracts

    BACKSTAGE RIDER ON THE STORM: He Removes the Brown M&Ms Or "Ray Charles Demands a Chicken Fried Steak" - an interview with the Backstage Rider who fulfilled celeb contracts at Humphrey's, the Catamaran, and other San Diego music venues.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/19/backstage-diplomat-he-removes-the-brown-mms

     BACKSTAGE RAIDER - HE MOOCHES MEALS FROM ROCK STARS - How one local transient practically lived off backstage buffets.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/19/backstage-moocher-living-off-rock-stars

    NEW LOCAL MUSICIAN ONLINE RESOURCE - courtesy of Ike Turner and Tubby drummer Bill Ray, who is also giving away drum tracks at billysbeats.com ---- for FREE.... http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2007/sep/24/gigsandiego-new-musician-resource-courtesy-bill-ra

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/bands/young-mass

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/bands/kayo

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