Before visiting San Diego's Zirk Ubu, the last time I'd gone to the circus, I'd walked out with 50 pounds of elephant dung in a cardboard box on my shoulder.

Poway mayor Don Higginson promised May 19 would be an interesting night: the city’s four sitting councilmembers were scheduled to appoint a candidate to fill the vacant council seat left after mayor Mickey Cafagna lost …

“Is it really out of line to post your songs for sale on another band’s MySpace page?” posits rock trio New Day Mile. “Yes it is!” they say. Singer-guitarist James Brady is all for self-promotion, …

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Rancho Santa Fe School District trustee Richard Burdge and Friends of Rancho Santa Fe Schools, a political committee for which he was treasurer, are set to pay a proposed $19,000 fine to the state’s Fair …

Three members of the Hempfield Area School Board in Pennsylvania are in hot water for spending more than $9000 of school district funds on a junket to the National School Boards Association convention in San …

Thirty Years AgoIn April my dad and I flew to La Paz, a fishing resort near the end of the Baja Peninsula, some 750 miles south of San Diego. From there, we traveled by bus …

“I spent the night in jail after spending the day feeding the homeless,” says Joel D. Mutch, aka Point Blank, of hip-hop trio Even Keel. On April 30, Mutch says he and other artists from …

When acoustic songster and mustache enthusiast Dagart decided to play 30 shows in 30 days at various locations around Southern California, he chose real-time social messaging network Twitter to announce the spontaneous gigs. “I wanted …

Before Taylor Swift appears at the Sports Arena on Sunday, May 24, her personal tour bus must be stocked with a bag of Tostitos tortilla chips, three boxes of Kraft macaroni and cheese, a bag …

There was a moment, or at least it seems like a moment now, when you could roll into the filling station as the gauge fell to a quarter, plop a $20 on the counter, and …

The 454-acre Del Dios Highlands County Preserve, recently unveiled just outside the North County community of Del Dios, now provides a direct connection between Del Dios Highway and the popular Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve. Formerly, …

Did you see the story about college coaches using Twitter to recruit? Twitter, for those doing max time at Pelican Bay, is a social networking stop on the internet inviting passersby to post messages of …

‘We invent ourselves,” Walter Franz tells his brother Vic, “to wipe out what we know.” The title of Arthur Miller’s 1968 drama, The Price, points in various directions, none of them fixed. Ostensibly, it’s about …

I can’t believe it. Here I am on deepest Revolución, when I spot that black hat, that gray-red beard, that loping walk. It can only be one person. “Willy?” I say. Willy Clauson has stuck …

The Dears have a lot in common with Arcade Fire. Both bands are from Montreal. Both are led by a husband-and-wife team. Both make powerful, emotional indie pop. And both are critics’ favorites. In other …

In time of relationship meltdown, what man would not want to cop some Ben Folds attitude? “Wish I hadn’t bought you dinner,” he sings in “Song for the Dumped,” “Right before you dumped me/ On …

“Our music is very lyric driven,” says Eben Brooks. “If I had to choose a genre, I would call it progressive acoustic rock, but by progressive I mean politically and personally progressive. It’s possible for …

While the mainstream has wound down to its summer speed of one blockbuster per week, the alternative cinema has been spewing out counterprogramming aplenty, some of it by big fish. The Limits of Control is …

"What’s the matter with you kids? It’s frozen pizza!” I couldn’t believe it — my own children picking at the cheese on top and regarding me with mournful eyes. And me trying to get out …

I covered a hundred miles driving to three different parties on one recent Saturday. The first party was up in Murrieta. I would’ve blown it off, but it was for an old high school friend …

Nobody on his deathbed ever said, “I wish I had spent more time at the office.” — Paul Tsongas I rolled onto my right side and stretched my left arm toward the nightstand. I simultaneously …

Album: Psychothermia (2009)Artist: CanoblissLabel: Self-releasedWhere available/price: iTunes, $7.92; CDBaby, $7Songs: 1) Notorious 2) Psychothermia 3) Convicted Again 4) Adios 5) Take Vics 6) Slingshot 7) Pangea 8) Convicted Again (radio edit)Band: Johan Maldonado (vocals), Samson …

Marco Mitrowke, loss prevention manager for the local retail clothing chain Everything 5.99, was not what I expected. The job title “loss prevention manager” conjured images of a strapping, muscular young man wearing a T-shirt …

Just For The Record I am writing with respect to your story, “Who Is the Union-Tribune’s New Owner?” (Cover Story, May 14), which does not fairly reflect or accurately characterize myself or my firm. To …