I've got this friend back in New York City, Suzi Winson, who flies regularly on the trapeze, and she's counseled me for years that I should take it up. "There's nothing like the trapeze," Winson …

My friend Sally threw a birthday party for her sister Julie at the Old Town Saloon. When I arrived, Julie was showing off a ring that she received as a gift. I didn't know Julie …

"Assembling the team was abundantly easy for me."

Some fans at the recent Cult show at House of Blues left with a live recording of the band's performance. A table manned by a Live Nation employee took $25 from patrons during the sold-out …

No San Diego bands played the British Invasion concert in San Bernardino on March 4. Veteran SD punker Mike Virus (of the band Cheap Sex) was in the audience at around 7:30 when the music …

One of the people who campaigned for the cancellation of Seattle's Summer Nights concerts this year is Mike Silva, brother of longtime local concert promoter Bill Silva. Mike lives near Gas Works Park, where the …

"I wouldn't eat a dog or cat, a seagull or parrot, and I wouldn't eat a horse," says singer Christopher Greenslate of the all-vegan band Tamora, "so why would I eat a pig, chicken, fish, …

"Some of the songs [I wrote] for Fuel TV are on my new CD," says Superunloader drummer Chad Farran about his recently released second solo album, Another Ride. "Fuel TV is one of Fox Network's …

At the Coaster Saloon at 1:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning, Mike Tyler drank Jack and Cokes and checked out the small jukebox mounted on the wall. I asked him what song he was looking …

'The bulk of our trails were laid out by the CCC [Civilian Conservation Corps] during the late 1930s, when they tended to install trails similar to how you would put in a roadway," says Michael …

The acronym for Thank God It's Friday is so universally recognized (I only had to explain it once to a swami who was actually from Long Beach, and I swear she was pretending ignorance) that …

The Agua Tibia Wilderness covers an obscure section of Cleveland National Forest, just east of Temecula, straddling the San Diego-Riverside County line. Agua Tibia's pillowy, steeply plunging, chaparral-clad slopes look austere from a distance — …

In the not-so-divine comedy of investing, short sellers (often simply called "shorts") usually get the short end of the shtick. Whether they are right or wrong, they are reviled because they bet stocks will go …

On the phone with Randy Grossman, San Diego criminal defense attorney, Major League Baseball agent, former KNSD 7/39 TV sports reporter, and member of the adjunct faculty (teaching sports law) at Thomas Jefferson School of …

Crooks like them What did the feds know and when did they know it? That Nixon-era catchphrase might also apply to the ongoing intrigue enveloping the end stage of the Randy "Duke" Cunningham bribery scandal. …

A wild tangle of curls ran all over my head like jungle vines. I looked in the mirror and realized what I'd been depriving myself of for so long. Since that day, I have become …

On a recent Saturday afternoon, Phil Chart and his girlfriend Janice Morten went out to -- what else? -- sketch an old house. "What I like about San Diego is the variety of its neighborhoods," …

Kellie Davis lives in Normal Heights in a studio apartment with her boyfriend Tom and their dog Phoenix. Kellie is a recent UCSD graduate with a film degree and works as a production assistant for …

The Christ depicted on the wall behind the raised, carved-wood pulpit at Grace Lutheran is Christus Rex: crucified, but clad in priestly robes; glorified, but still hung upon the cross that won his glory. But …

Dear Matt: If my wife bumps me off here in San Diego, it's homicide and the county D.A. will prosecute. But what if we're off shore in her private dinghy? Who has jurisdiction? Suppose we're …

Matt: Where did the @ symbol come from? -- Lance, Chula Vista We have some late-breaking news on the "at" symbol, or "commercial a" symbol, whichever you choose to call it. Time was that linguists …

Heymatt: Alongside the 5 freeway heading north somewhere around the airport there is a pink building with a huge white rendition of Michelangelo's "David" painted on the side. I want to know why. -- Susie …

Thirty Years Ago Five years ago, with the depot looking more like a white elephant, talk began about what to do with it. The Santa Fe Railroad unveiled plans for twin office towers on the …

Drawn across the top of my Soundgarden CD case are parallel lines of dusty, crushed-rock powder. I suck at one with a straw and rub my nose because of the raw scratching and chemical burn. …

A Primitive Heart: Stories by David Rabe. Grove Press, 2005; $24; 287 pages FROM THE DUST JACKET: David Rabe is one of the finest playwrights in America, possessed of a muscular voice, singular gift for …

Bad with Girls One evening in Brooklyn, feeling enterprising, I wandered into the kitchen and sat down on the chaise lounge opposite my father, who was parked in his favorite reading chair. "Dad?" I said. …

Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live. -- Mark Twain This was a bad idea, I thought, guiding the two wheels beneath me in a wobbling maneuver to avoid the cement …

My husband Patrick's Aunt Azelda isn't given to indulgences like leather furniture sets, but she just bought one. "I've had pudding that was stiffer than this leather," she cooed, quoting Niles from Frasier . The …

“Oh, you’ve got to live a little, for gosh sakes.”