Here's something you might be interested in.
"I just launched a new site that features local, unsigned musicians who donated songs to help the La Jolla seals," virtual tour guide Local Wally tells the Reader.
"It's a labor of love site, and all download money goes to the seals. I'm hoping to get more local bands involved. There's no charge to be on the site, and it will hopefully drive more awareness to the plight of the seals, a very sad story in recent weeks."
http://www.SDHomegrown.com
"As a musician myself, I love the music scene so decided to build a site to help these local bands out. At the same time, I wanted to do something to drive awareness of the plight of the seals in La Jolla. The two ideas fit nicely together and www.SanDiegoHomegrown.com was born."
The seals made La Jolla their home long before the sea wall was constructed in 1931. Little did Ellen Browning Scripps know when she dedicated the wall "exclusively to public park, bathing pool for children, parkway, highway, playground, and recreational purposes" that she would set off a fierce battle between those who love the seals, and those who believe the beach is theirs.
"For many years, the seals remained on the rocks beyond the sea wall and generations of locals cherished the cove," says Wally. "And then one day a curious seal peeked around the wall and found a protected cove, perfect for lounging and raising pups. That was around the mid-'90s and the word spread amongst the seals. Soon, Casa Beach changed from a local swimming spot into a worldwide phenomenon."
But not everyone liked the seals. "A small minority of locals felt that people should come first, not wildlife, and quote Ellen Browning Scripps dedication 'for children' to mean 'not for seals.' Ropes around the seals and their pups went up, came down, and back up again as threats of bulldozing the beach continues to come dangerously close to reality."
Even with many San Diegans and La Jollans supporting protecting the seals, the Mayor has remained quiet and the lawsuits continue.
According to Wally, "The anti-seal, or pro-beach access, group continues to exercise their right to the 'shared use' of the beach by tossing Frisbees, laying out beach chairs and even bbq'ing next to the seals and their pups, the goal being to scare the seals back into the surf. They argue water pollution and shark attacks, but it's really about their desire to remove the seals so they can take back the beach."
"Someday soon we might go to the beach and find the seals gone, replaced by beach towels and lawn chairs just like every other beach in San Diego. And we'll wonder how we let that happen just so a few locals can have 'their' beach back. But will the children of tomorrow benefit from gaining an additional small parcel of beach, or will they mourn the loss of being able to see a natural habitat unlike anything on the west coast?"
So take a listen to some local music at Wally's website, share it with your friends, download some songs via http://sandiegohomegrown.bandcamp.com , and tell your musician buddies to get their songs in there too.
"This is San Diego, and this is your music."
Local acts currently represented on the website include acoustic coffeehouse troubadour Carly Allyse, ambient jazzman Robby Nelms, La Jolla easy listening enthusiast Steve Shepherd, North County rockers Granville, pop punkers Captain! Captain!, 2-man band Djiipu, Oceanside blasters Crush the Rose, hip-hoppers T.O.N., ska king Ryan Hughes, Encinitas beach bums the Sea Slugs, and more.
Local Wally spent the last 30 years researching the best San Diego beaches, the best San Diego restaurants, and the best San Diego things to do. The results are uploaded to his website, http://www.localwally.com.
Toss those other visitor guides in the trash, delete your Yelp bookmark, and put your trust in a guy who has no advertisers to please and no editor making everything politically correct. If it's good, it's here. If it's not, well, it's not.
"It begins back in 1996 when I was writing the first version of my guide to San Diego," says Wally. "When it came time to name the site, I was stumped. But in walked my orange cat and in a moment of brilliant brain freeze the name Local Wally popped into my head."
Over the years Local Wally's Guide to San Diego has won numerous awards, including the Reader's Best Local-Centric Website, and spawned sister guides on Napa and Sonoma as well.
"I just launched a new site that features local, unsigned musicians who donated songs to help the La Jolla seals," virtual tour guide Local Wally tells the Reader.
"It's a labor of love site, and all download money goes to the seals. I'm hoping to get more local bands involved. There's no charge to be on the site, and it will hopefully drive more awareness to the plight of the seals, a very sad story in recent weeks."
http://www.SDHomegrown.com
"As a musician myself, I love the music scene so decided to build a site to help these local bands out. At the same time, I wanted to do something to drive awareness of the plight of the seals in La Jolla. The two ideas fit nicely together and www.SanDiegoHomegrown.com was born."
The seals made La Jolla their home long before the sea wall was constructed in 1931. Little did Ellen Browning Scripps know when she dedicated the wall "exclusively to public park, bathing pool for children, parkway, highway, playground, and recreational purposes" that she would set off a fierce battle between those who love the seals, and those who believe the beach is theirs.
"For many years, the seals remained on the rocks beyond the sea wall and generations of locals cherished the cove," says Wally. "And then one day a curious seal peeked around the wall and found a protected cove, perfect for lounging and raising pups. That was around the mid-'90s and the word spread amongst the seals. Soon, Casa Beach changed from a local swimming spot into a worldwide phenomenon."
But not everyone liked the seals. "A small minority of locals felt that people should come first, not wildlife, and quote Ellen Browning Scripps dedication 'for children' to mean 'not for seals.' Ropes around the seals and their pups went up, came down, and back up again as threats of bulldozing the beach continues to come dangerously close to reality."
Even with many San Diegans and La Jollans supporting protecting the seals, the Mayor has remained quiet and the lawsuits continue.
According to Wally, "The anti-seal, or pro-beach access, group continues to exercise their right to the 'shared use' of the beach by tossing Frisbees, laying out beach chairs and even bbq'ing next to the seals and their pups, the goal being to scare the seals back into the surf. They argue water pollution and shark attacks, but it's really about their desire to remove the seals so they can take back the beach."
"Someday soon we might go to the beach and find the seals gone, replaced by beach towels and lawn chairs just like every other beach in San Diego. And we'll wonder how we let that happen just so a few locals can have 'their' beach back. But will the children of tomorrow benefit from gaining an additional small parcel of beach, or will they mourn the loss of being able to see a natural habitat unlike anything on the west coast?"
So take a listen to some local music at Wally's website, share it with your friends, download some songs via http://sandiegohomegrown.bandcamp.com , and tell your musician buddies to get their songs in there too.
"This is San Diego, and this is your music."
Local acts currently represented on the website include acoustic coffeehouse troubadour Carly Allyse, ambient jazzman Robby Nelms, La Jolla easy listening enthusiast Steve Shepherd, North County rockers Granville, pop punkers Captain! Captain!, 2-man band Djiipu, Oceanside blasters Crush the Rose, hip-hoppers T.O.N., ska king Ryan Hughes, Encinitas beach bums the Sea Slugs, and more.
Local Wally spent the last 30 years researching the best San Diego beaches, the best San Diego restaurants, and the best San Diego things to do. The results are uploaded to his website, http://www.localwally.com.
Toss those other visitor guides in the trash, delete your Yelp bookmark, and put your trust in a guy who has no advertisers to please and no editor making everything politically correct. If it's good, it's here. If it's not, well, it's not.
"It begins back in 1996 when I was writing the first version of my guide to San Diego," says Wally. "When it came time to name the site, I was stumped. But in walked my orange cat and in a moment of brilliant brain freeze the name Local Wally popped into my head."
Over the years Local Wally's Guide to San Diego has won numerous awards, including the Reader's Best Local-Centric Website, and spawned sister guides on Napa and Sonoma as well.