I was about to participate in a seminar where women spend two days learning about men. I mentioned my upcoming appointment to a few friends and acquaintances and asked them what they thought. Woman One: …

'I call it Chuck E. Cheese for adults. I have to squeeze myself sometimes, business is so good.'

'If there were a remote tsunami in Japan or off the coast of Chile, it would be two to three hours or longer before it would impact the San Diego coast," says senior emergency services …

St. Paul's Cathedral displays a kind of unadorned majesty. Long green banners, tiny stations of the cross, and a couple of Madonna-and-child paintings are all that break up the great expanses of smooth, gray-green concrete …

Dear Matthew Alice: Any time you see judges on TV they're always whamming away on their desks with gavels. I've never ever seen a real judge use one. Do real judges ever use their gavels? …

Hey Matt: Who has been shooting bullets into our sidewalks? Everywhere I go downtown I see these round metal things embedded in the sidewalk that look like bullet casings. What are they? -- Matt Too, …

Matt: I have to know where those "Siamese twin" cherries come from-- you know, two fruits, one stem? -- Judith, San Diego We've meddled with cherry genetics enough that some of the resulting cultivars exhibit …

July 20, 1969, is the date that the moon landing was faked. It says so, here in black ink on the yellowing label that's peeling back from the metal canister on my desk. You see, …

Turns out last week's screed on gambling (emphasis on legal gambling in California) was incomplete. I assure you staff will be disciplined, but in the meantime, let's shout out the good news about mule racing! …

Franklin Canyon Ranch, a patch of open space north of Beverly Hills, belongs to a sprawling assemblage of interconnected parklands called the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Without the benefit of administrative protection, much …

Standing Eight: The Inspiring Story of Jesus "El Matador" Chavez, Who Became Lightweight Champion of the World by Adam Pitluk. Da Capo, 2006, $24.95, 248 pages. FROM THE DUST JACKET: Standing Eight is a riveting …

Thirty Years Ago "What's the matter, darling, you don't like New York? Listen, you came to the best, the very best, and after the sandwich, after the pickle, you know how you'll feel? 100 percent …

Several musicians I know have had their CD release parties this past month. Steph Johnson and Greg Laswell played at different venues on Kettner. Cathryn Beeks hosted a picnic. But CD release parties aren't parties; …

"Sicko Records Runs San Diego," says Sicc Made of the label founded by Southeast San Diego rapper Lil Uno. "We are all over the radio. We perform at car shows in front of 2000 people. …

Rock 105.3's Mikey Esparza once called members of a local Hispanic band "beaners" on the air and was once suspended after making a joke about the murder of a young girl ("...that's why I don't …

"We are being 'hush hush' because if word gets out, this could muster competition and that would be bad," says Todd Urick of his hope to launch "a local community radio station. Not a pirate …

"Viking on the Mountaintop petitioning the gods" is how Frank Melendez describes the sound of Riververb, his one-man experimental noise band. After watching him set up and suit up, his seven-word description makes sense. He …

Brian Barrabee, bassist for the Long and Short of It, is paralyzed from the chest down. He's been in a wheelchair since May 2004, the victim of a hotel-room accident. He explains how he was …

The all-age Bean Bar venue (and coffeehouse) on Rosecrans Street recently stopped booking local bands. Rick Dieterle, who manages the place, says, "We just didn't have the capacity for it. I wanted to do things …

'I haven't gotten any heat from the Gabor estate yet," says one-man band Zsa Zsa Gabor, who doubts anyone will mistake him for the Hungarian-born socialite whose name he co-opted. "What I do is perform …

To suffering there is a limit; to fearing, none. -- Francis Bacon 'This is taking a really long time. We should have given our ticket to our waitress and stayed inside," David complained. "She offered," …

Switchblades, rolled-up Levis, and greased-back hair...rockabilly is what the Buzzbombs are all about. Track 5, "Pintail," is an instrumental in the fashion of the old tune "Tequila." The song features a guitar riff inherited from …

“I flew in from Chicago this morning. I feel like I’m in old Mexico.”

Word spread about how my friend Bernice was going to rent a margarita machine for her summer margarita bash. The guest list started growing from 20 to 40 to over 100. Along the way, someone …

Birdland and the Banana Belt I worked for 16 hours at San Francisco General Hospital yesterday. The final 8 hours was spent on 6B, where I worked with Trent. Trent is an erstwhile Marinite-turned-realtor who …

Outside lawyers and consultants hired by City departments are supposed to file Statements of Economic Interests listing their income and gifts from city sources, as well as stock, bond, and local real estate holdings that …

'I love to read," says Beverly Griffin, with a glance up from the bedding she is arranging against a chain-link fence behind the sidewalk on Front Street. As many as 40 homeless people will sleep …

For most people, charity begins at home. For William Robert Bradley, a cofounder of Metabolife International and onetime tow-truck operator, charity begins in the tax and secrecy haven Switzerland and winds through another hot-money haven, …

Divorce is seldom a happy event, and UCSD has been especially hard-hit this year. Campus counsel Ann Parode has split with her husband of 16 years, R.B. "Buzz" Woolley, the wealthy La Jolla financier and …

Among the expenses of the Brian Bilbray congressional campaign is a payment of $1137.75 to Dogs R Us of Richmond, Virginia, for "food for fundraising event" on June 30. But don't worry, the Washington lobbyists …

"A cat may look at a king," wrote Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland -- and a scuffling writer could look at the Prince of Wales. That's what I told myself when, some years ago, …