"This gym, NeoSpa, opened in 1988. It was started by a Russian group that came to Tijuana. They came up with the name and made the original investment. They also opened a disco and a …

My phone rang. "Hi, this is Josh from Girls Gone Wild , and I've got..." "Girls Gone Wild?" I asked. "Yes, sir," his crackly, immature voice croaked over my receiver. "Josh, is it?" "Yes, sir. …

Visiting Frost: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Robert Frost, edited by Sheila Coghill and Thom Tammaro. University of Iowa Press, 2005; 180 pages; $39.95 hardcover; $17.95 paper FROM THE DUST JACKET: A …

"'Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers,'" said Pastor Doug Baker. Baker quoted America's first Supreme Court justice, John Jay. Baker's quote was in response to the nomination process of chief justice nominee …

There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman? -- Woody Allen 'Don't make eye contact," I whispered as we walked in the door. But my …

King of Tribes is a troupe of urban San Diego DJs who spin the sounds of hip-hop and reggae. They include Dash Eye, Rashi, Kofi, Unite, and MC Tefsa and can regularly be found at …

Tens of millions of years in the making, Devil's Punchbowl is without a doubt Los Angeles County's most spectacular geological showplace. Looking into this chasm, you immediately sense the enormity of the forces that produced …

Oh, the things a child brings home from school. My son, a third-grader, came home yesterday begging for "royal meat" on his birthday. He insisted that sirloin meant Sir Loin, that it had been knighted …

Nine Inch Nails manager Jim Guirenot wants it made clear that the band's aborted Cox Arena show on September 16 had nothing to do with drug use on the part of drummer Jerome Dillon. The …

When Business Lady found the location of the first date on their first national tour -- a former urinal cake factory called the Bill Hicks Resurrection Laboratory in Houston, Texas -- they had a feeling …

"It's time for us to embrace the suck," 91X DJ Marco Collins told San Diegans last week upon his return to local airwaves. Collins worked at 91X in the '80s, when it became the first …

Promoter David Raynes, who recently brought live bands back to the Royal Palace in El Cajon, died September 19. "They found him Monday morning in bed," says Eric Dogol of Society's Victim. "He's been sick …

"Before, it was this really old dingy dive bar, but now it's classy and funky," says Bethany Main, an SDSU senior majoring in interior design. She got the job of remodeling the Morena Club from …

"It is not my fault that the sound man didn't even show up until after 11 p.m.," says Candye Kane in an e-mail to fans titled "Tio Leos Controversy," referencing a September 9 show. Phat …

'I get there about a half hour before the show starts. Normally, a cavy [guinea pig] show is a one-day thing. If I'm flying in, I'll arrive the day before. Someone picks you up, takes …

The City of San Diego doesn't know its assets from a hole in the ground, and neither does the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System, we learned last week. So what else is new? Sloppy …

Up there in the pantheon of California's 1990s financial swindlers is Donald Marquis Bickerstaff. Bickerstaff was charged in 1997 with a Ponzi scheme involving 75 investors, the majority women, in San Diego and Marin counties. …

Off to the races Former San Diego school superintendent Alan Bersin, currently GOP governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's secretary for education, is busy raising campaign cash for L.A. city attorney Rocky Delgadillo , who's running in next …

'The success rate of dogs making the find is very low nationwide. One of the reasons for this is that people are not where we are looking for them," says Jan Frazee, president of Southwest …

“We had two or three strollers lined up against a wall with infants sleeping in them.”

“It’s a motorcycle gang. But they’re good people. They do lots of charity rides.”

Movies reviewed this week: A History of Violence and Flightplan

I was invited to a midweek luncheon for realtors in Chula Vista. The woman who invited me, Lu Pizarro, insisted I wear cowboy attire, as it was a Western-themed party. I threw on a Western-style …

California cuisine as it's often cooked in San Diego can be a big bore, with featureless combinations and all-too-familiar fusiony flavorings. I was bored last week (last month, last year) -- but I wasn't bored …

Twenty-Five Years Ago A new instructor in the San Diego State economics department assigned his students Macroeconomic Models and Policy, which costs $22.95 and was written by department professor Yiannis Venieris. What aroused the ire …

They Are Always Watching Me I noticed my four-year-old with her thumb in her mouth. I said, "Aren't you a little old to be sucking your thumb?" She replied, "I not sucking my thumb. I …

Call them what you will — roach-boys, rat-men, rat-catchers, terminators, pest technicians — the fact is that pest inspectors are professional killers.

"People thought [my becoming a pastor] was bogus," said Pastor Stan Miller. "They said, 'He's lost his marbles' and 'He's flipped out.' It angered the media. They vilified me. Most of this came from my …

You can't outrun evolution. You can throw a blazer over a half-tucked button-up, slip a sterling money clip into your back pocket, open the door, and ease your Dolce & Gabbana sandals over the pedals …

A Place Called Paradise: Culture & Community In Northampton, Massachusetts, 1654-2004. Edited by Kerry W. Buckley. Historic Northampton's Museum and Education Center, published in association with the University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst and Boston, 2004; …

Nothing makes you more tolerant of a neighbor's noisy party than being there. -- Franklin P. Jones Everybody shows up around the same time. They settle into their spaces -- hang posters on the wall, …

Remember when Christian rock conjured up images of guys with poodle perms wearing bumblebee stripes (Stryper) and high school productions of Jesus Christ Superstar stiffly performed to an amplified vinyl record? Those a bit more …

"We’ll trawl for tix. Half of these people are too drunk to go to the ballgame.”

Mile-high Palomar Mountain State Park has probably the finest montane scenery in San Diego County, complete with trickling streams, mixed oak-conifer forests, and rolling meadows. So far, this magnificent spot has managed to evade the …

During the Mister and Misses Tribute to Ugliness set at Che Café's "Ultimate Pizza Party," a Che staffer hurried onstage to tell any bands who had parked their vans in the "unofficial" loading area next …

Power Chords singer/guitarist John Hammer isn't bummed that his band didn't win "Best Punk" at the San Diego Music Awards, however... "They botched the category of punk," says Hammer. "[Other nominees] Kill Me Tomorrow is …

"I heard the Rolling Stones played here for sure," says Saad Mattia, owner of the Royal Palace in El Cajon. The 750-capacity hall, built in 1932 and named the Bostonia Ballroom, recently became active again. …

"The Hurricane Hit Us dead on [in Miami]," says Gavin Allen, director of Visual Underground. At the end of August, the local firm was in Miami to work MTV's Video Music Awards; they assisted the …

My partner was still hors de combat with food poisoning from the latest flunk-out café, so I met up with Lynne and Sheila, our Aussie friend, at Soleil @K. If we'd had a Samantha to …

When the House of Blues opened in June, some wondered if the smaller venues in town could survive. This month the Belly Up scored with two choice bookings: the Pink Martini orchestra from Portland, Oregon, …

When the Foo Fighters play Cox Arena Tuesday, September 27, they request that "if for some reason purchaser [promoter] actually promoted the show with a real live ad campaign and accompanying cool posters or lithos, …

Husband Patrick sings all day long -- in the shower, in the car, in the front yard on the way to the mailbox. He even bursts into song in the middle of stores and restaurants. …

San Diegans neck deep in debt may feel a noose tightening next month: a stringent new bankruptcy law goes into effect October 17, at the same time credit-card issuers will be boosting minimum monthly payments. …

'I've often pondered why anyone would run for public office.... So what's it all about? Power, plain and simple." "Sometimes people's quest for power is not a healthy one. And more often than not, the …

Their old chairs on the San Diego City Council dais may be empty, but the same can't be said of their former seats in the city's skybox at Petco Park, where politicos and their pals, …

'We cannot be complacent with playing good but not winning games," Marty Schottenheimer said after losing to Denver on Sunday. The Chargers gained 41 yards in the second half of that game. FEMA personnel are …

'A wall provides three dimensions. When we're on a stage, we just get the floor. If there's a wall there, you can balance against it, lean on it, run up it, push a dancer against …

“He called around, did a background check. Then he called me and offered a deal.”

“It will be hard, if not impossible, for Parker to pass on his mantle of power.”

Movies reviewed this week: Côte d’Azur, Everything Is Illuminated, Just Like Heaven, Proof, Reel Paradise, The Thing about My Folks, Thumbsucker, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride

I went to a house concert in Rancho Peñasquitos where Steve Poltz, the Rugburns singer/guitarist, was performing. Though he plays at the Casbah and Belly-Up often, those shows are nothing like sitting on a driveway …

Matt; A brilliant school teacher in 1957 told the class something no one had ever heard. The Russian "Sputnik" was coming. It did. He also said that man is so brilliant he can change the …

Dear Matthew Alice: I think I've asked every short-order cook, waitress, chef, bus boy, whoever, for years this question, and nobody's ever been able to tell me. Why, WHY are restaurant coffee pots for decaf …

Thirty Years Ago Las Hermanas was opened last December. It is owned by two women, who are no longer San Diego residents.... I was left with an unclear idea of the coffeehouse's legal status. Partnership …

I Like My Four Seasons Here in North Idaho, "Californian" is a dirty word to some people. Which is ironic since most everyone I meet here has lived in California at one time or another. …

“I’ve gotten as far in three years as I might have in ten years without them.”

"A setback is the setup for your comeback," shouts Chaplain Marks to the congregation of 30-plus in the North Island chapel that has served American sailors since December 1945. Knowing that many congregants are miles …

I’m a Recovering Pack Rat Last night it took me just over two hours to pick up and put away every toy, game, puzzle, doll, crayon, pillow, blanket, cup, rock, and book strewn about on …

"We believe that there is only one religion. All other paths that people take are legitimate paths, which represent only one of God's manifestations," said Susan Collins, about Muslims, Jews, Christians, and other world religions. …

A burst of screaming kids blew out of the door , down the steps, and across the rocky front yard. "Happy Birthday, Donovan!" I yelled to one of the grubby little monsters as he shot …

Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books by Maureen Corrigan. Random House, 2005; $24.95; 201 pages FROM THE DUST JACKET: For the past 16 years, Maureen Corrigan has reviewed books for …

A celebrity is a person who works hard all his life to become well known, then wears dark glasses to avoid being recognized . -- Fred Allen 'What's that?" David asked, pointing to the bag …

Life as an evacuee in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is strange. No routine, no certainty for the future, not much income, bills that still have to be paid...and then all the thoughts about what's …

Livejournal.com user "Mzkitten" posted on her blog recently: "I was wondering if anyone lives in the San Diego area who would like to go-go dance with an up-and-coming psycho-billy band...at the Zombie Lounge [Sept. 3]. …

When Live play House of Blues on September 19, their contract requests the band dressing room have a "spotlessly clean and sanitized bathroom" with "soft toilet tissue, odorless air freshener [and] toilet seat covers." In …

After three years in operation, Margarita Rocks in Oceanside closed its doors on August 31. "The place was definitely mismanaged," says Kathy Baker, redevelopment manager for the City of Oceanside. Before the closure, she says …

"10 Years without Dick," a November 11 Casbah tribute to the late Dan McLain (a.k.a. Country Dick Montana), will feature a reunion of Montana's pioneering punk band, the Penetrators. Montana died during a Beat Farmers …

"They killed it all," says Loss of Control singer Jason Lee about the elimination of live music at the Vista Entertainment Center. "The general manager stood up for us, then they said to him, 'Okay, …

"Rock Star," a music page of band interviews, concert reviews, and full-color photos of local and national bands, has been published every Thursday since November by the Copley Press. The page can be found in …

Dave Mustaine's Gigantour -- with Megadeth, Dream Theater, and others -- had big booking problems. Several venues, including SDSU's Open Air Amphitheatre, couldn't accommodate the show's second stage, and promised bands (such as Symphony X, …

Twenty-two years ago today (9/15/83), Elvis Costello and the Attractions played an experimental "amphitheater seating" show at the Sports Arena with two thirds of the venue blocked off. The bands (Aztec Camera opened) were set …

The climb to Calabasas Peak appeals to both exercise-minded folks and landscape photographers. The non-trivial gain and loss of 1000 feet of elevation makes a great workout, and the geologic formations you pass along the …

Plumbers, Spooks, the Boys in the Band, the Boys Up the River, the Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. Or, as former SEAL Dan Cerrillo referred to them when he testified recently at SEAL Lieutenant Andrew …

Will San Diego be Karl Rove's Waterloo? President George W. Bush has now made two monumental missteps while addressing San Diego sailors. The blunders have energized his opponents and enraged some of his supporters. The …

Down in National City, Mayor Nick Inzunza, who recently announced he's running for the 79th District state assembly seat being vacated by Juan Vargas, has ramped up his campaign with an anti-fat theme. "Mayor Inzunza …

"We've got ants in the kitchen again," I told my husband Patrick. "Hmph. That's nothing. My computer is buggy," he grumped in reply. "It's sluggish, and it just isn't working the way I want it …

San Francisco (underdog by 7) leads the NFC West after they prevailed over St. Louis on Sunday. New Orleans (underdog by 7) won at Super Bowl--bound Carolina. Dallas (underdog by 5) beat Super Bowl--bound San …

This restaurant is closed. Contrary to rumor, Cinco de Mayo is not "Mexico's July Fourth." The real Mexican Independence Day is September 16, and in its honor, some genius cook invented a spectacular treat that …

Does it hurt? "Depends on where you get hit," says Ryan Greenspan, a member of Dynasty, a San Diego--based paintball team. "If I were to get shot in the arm or chest or body or …

“People forget sometimes that it’s a liquid in a bottle.”

Haley threw a Dukes of Hazzard theme party at her new Pacific Beach apartment. She wore Daisy Duke cut-offs and a Western shirt. On the small lawn in front of her apartment there were about …

Thirty Years Ago I want to get back at my parents for force-feeding me Gerber's and making me clean my plate at butter-knife--point. "Eat it all and become strong like Mad Dog Vachon." (Mad Dog …

“It’s a very popular Korean dish. Good with Number 22 sauce.”

My first day in school was really my second day — Jangchup Phelygal The Radiators That Ticked Heat into the Room — Laura Rhoton McNeal Rear Rank Rudy — Jim Morris Forget-me-nots — Rosa Colwin …

A bell rings. The big metal door flies open, and hallway sounds of boisterous chitter-chatter rush into the empty classroom like lake water breaching an ill-built dam. Now comes a paddling of young humans, averaging …

I never made it to my first day of school. Or rather, I made it there, but I didn't stay. That is, the first day I ever went to school, I was there for all …

'Do you think you're pretty?" A strip of tawny brown hair, chewed at the ends, dawdles by her nose. She stands at the top of the stairs and tilts her head to the side, flipping …

I don't remember much from my childhood. Why this is, I don't know. I was happy; I remember that much. I came from an intact, loving, financially stable home. But when I go poking around …

If there were nursery schools on the northwest side of Chicago in the late 1950s, I knew nothing about them. The other preschoolers on my block and I negotiated our way through those years when …

Faded memories There's a line in the 1986 movie Stand by Me about "never having friends like the ones you have when you're young." This came to mind recently while I was going through old …

Jess's Ford roaring up my driveway woke me up. I looked at the clock, 7:15. I was supposed to be awake at 7:00. I was in the shower when I heard Jess yell from my …

"God is involved in a lot of ways in hurricane Katrina," said Seth Pruitt, the worship leader at Ethnos. "God is sovereign. He allowed Katrina to occur. In allowing it to occur, He has a …

Upon my return from Boston, where I attend college, and dizzy with the prospects of home, the customary pile of mail one expects after a long sojourn greeted me. Two thin off-white envelopes lay within …

"Coffee, please," I say and hold back on snapping my fingers and yelling, "Quick! Quick! Move! Move!" She understands the unspoken commands and slides a clear, textured glass of ice water in front of me. …

Tim Walter is the technical director at On Broadway, downtown -- that's a fancy name for a VJ (video jockey). "There's a unique balance found in the chaos, which, as of late, is very joyful," …

Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forgive …

Envy: A Novel by Kathryn Harrison. Random House, 2005; $24.95; 301 pages FROM THE DUST JACKET: Will, a Brooklyn psychoanalyst and almost-identical twin, has a good sex life-with the woman he married. So why then …

Jewel has decided not to release a book of love poems she calls "too steamy, too private" for publication. In a message posted at www.jeweljk.com, the 31-year-old explains, "They're too explicit...when I wrote these poems, …

Obscured by Fog and black hooded gowns, Goblin Cock tore through their debut show at the Casbah on August 20. The band, led by "Lord Phallus," crawled from the shadows to fuse the sounds of …

"Rampant Liver-Defying Consumption" is promised at Rocket From The Crypt's final show on Halloween. "After 16 years of scars and ear damage all in the name of spreading goodwill and the Rock N Roll doctrine," …

"It's very hard to get Balboa Park between Memorial Day and Labor Day," says Benny Garcia, a promoter based in Orange County. For two years he's been seeking approval from the city to let him …

Candye Kane won't be doing lap dances at Tio Leo's tomorrow night; she'll be singing with her blues band. However, members of the Fat Bottom Girls will shake their booties during the ten-woman burlesque troupe's …

Twenty years ago, concert promoter Bill Silva predicted that there would eventually be two concert markets in San Diego County: North County and metro San Diego. In other words, the same artist could play both …

Clear Channel Entertainment holds exclusive rights to book the Sports Arena. Sources say the agreement won't be renewed when it expires in December. As the largest concert company in the U.S., Clear Channel Entertainment dominates …

One of Hot Snakes' final recordings is featured on Activision's video game soundtrack to Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. They do a cover of Government Issue's "Time to Escape." Saves the Day, Thrice, My Chemical Romance, …

I was enthusiastic about it from the start. World War II had ended only three years before, and I had spent my early childhood poring over battle maps in the evening paper, reading comic books …

Forget those jokes: blondes are not dumb. The proof is the former Nancy Hoover Hunter -- now named Nancy Fletcher and once again living in luxury in San Diego County. She and her husband of …

In early September 2001, Carol Eklund went to Paris for a fashion show. She was looking for new lines to offer sales representatives of a wholesale business she had started two years earlier. Her return …

Last Sunday morning, August 28, at about 7 a.m., I left my apartment on St. Charles Avenue to evacuate New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina closed in. The night before, my parents had plans to "vertically …

Los Pinos Mountain's 4805-foot height hardly places it in the same league as the nearby, higher peaks of the Cuyamacas and Lagunas, but the peak does get some recognition as the site of one of …

With the city's finances in tatters, the Union-Tribune has lately been talking up the idea of raising taxes. In a lengthy front-page story a week ago Sunday, headlined "America's cheapest city," the newspaper set forth …

Mary Jackson founded a ministry in Barrio Logan. She helps women learn job skills. Mary drives a new Honda Element. “Do you want to hear how I got such a nice car?” she asks. I …

Two of my brothers-in-law are superstars in karaoke world. Carl and Leon are both tall, handsome, wannabe Vegas singers. Leon, whose curly hair earned him the nickname David Hasselhoff, favors cheesy '80s rock ballads: Journey, …

When the fall quarter began in 1972, I vowed to make no new friends at school. I was a third-year graduate student in literature at U.C. Irvine. I was finishing coursework and would take qualifying …

It was the first week of September, must have been. I was 13 and it was 1964. JFK was dead less than a year, but the Beatles were making us feel better about it. I …

The second day of seventh grade, the students of my new junior high were having a sit-in in the library over open campus. There were about 40 of them on the floor between the stacks, …

It looks as if you're cradling a baby goat in your arms while something explodes from its backside. Right wrist rests atop left elbow. Right elbow rests atop left wrist. Right pinky and index finger …

On August 24, 1968, Mary McBride and I stood one mile south of Hawthorne, Nevada. It was 108 degrees, and we hadn't eaten in a day or had a change of clothes in two. She …

The first day of higher education started for me with morning ablutions in my own private bathroom. I had one of the few single rooms on the dorm's fourth floor, and baths adjoined no other …

Authentic Afghan cuisine is hard to find. For several years, Chopahn restaurant was an overlooked storefront in a huge mall up near UTC. "When we were in the Renaissance Towne Center, people often drove right …

Day one, 5 a.m. I am buttoned into an immaculate uniform, my polished black shoes sport steel toes, I carry a whip, rubber spreader, and an 11-inch slicer. My heart bangs at over 100 beats …

'If you know that the good guys aren't so good, you're a Raiders fan. If you know you've been jacked and are waiting for revenge, you're a Raiders fan. If you know your boss isn't …

My parents had taught me that, as a Catholic, I was a member of the One True Church. But the Catholic school I attended in first, second, and third grades stopped teaching that kind of …

“The wet laboratory of your mouth is not always the same.”

“We realized this was not our soup. It was the customers’. They’re very possessive.”

The winter I was in fifth grade, my father brought home a National Geographic book that seemed to consist entirely of swamp photographs. He turned the thick, glossy pages for me, and I stared at …

Movies reviewed this week: Crimen Perfecto, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Memory of a Killer, and A Sound of Thunder

What a brown land, I thought, peering out of a late-'80s station wagon, at the chaparral-covered mountains looming over the Santa Clarita Valley. I was headed to a Great Books college, Thomas Aquinas, tucked away …

I enjoy Evite party invitations for the on-line responses from people who are showing up or declining. A woman named Bonnie (an editor at WORD San Diego) sent me an Evite: "Bring a dish to …

First day of kindergarten, newly arrived in Boston, newly separated from my best friend (and neighbor) Andy, doing the standard weeping thing, even though I had attended preschool back in upstate New York and loved …

Graduate school started not with a bang or with a whimper, but with the slow fall of a scarf down my head and over my eyes. Three things terrified me about my arrival at Brown …

Dear Matt, I won't join a circus to find out so this task goes to you Matt, you find the answer to nearly anything we experience in day-to-day life. What propels the human cannonballs? I …

Thirty Years Ago I left San Diego at 1:00 p.m. on the 21st of July for Vancouver, British Columbia. I had been rapping about how much fun I was going to have for so long …

It was September 1950, and that first day of school my brown uniform shirt scratched, the heavy corduroy pants were stiff with newness, my suspenders would not stay up, and my new shoes (bought a …

Shyness has a strange element of narcissism, a belief that how we look, how we perform, is truly important to other people. — Andre Dubus I had it all planned out. During the last week …

Have your friends and neighbors looked weighed down, put upon, or bent low to the ground lately? Perhaps they are! After all, many of the people we see around us tote a good deal of …

Hey, Daddy, I’m a Candyvore! Hi, I'm a stay-at-home dad. Now, before your eyes glaze over and you slowly back away, let me just tell you why I am one. Most boys don't spend their …

"People keep saying that Muslims are not voicing their opinion by condemning terrorism. This is because Fox News is not coming here to ask us our opinions," said Usman Khan, a volunteer and congregant at …

“I suggested that we stay on the raft and sing.”

I was on my second chocolate martini with a shot of espresso; they were still at it. I'm going to have to say something, I thought. How can I do this without being rude? I …

"At Shady Acres we're committed to respect," the announcer says. Across the TV screen, a golf cart eases down a concrete path between two manicured lawns. I look over at my dad. "Don't even think …

Ice Cube rapped about his AK-47, Bushwick Bill threatened Texas with a 12 gauge, and Warren G warned haters about his .44. But when Oceanside's SouthuNoyz raps about guns, they're the real deal. The four …

If you used Ticketmaster for the August 20 Ryan Adams show at Spreckels Theatre, you paid $25 for the ticket and $11.95 in fees (48 percent!). When the concert was canceled, Ticketmaster refunded the cost …

"This happens every night," guitarist Ricky Rene Maymi said while sneaking a smoke inside the Casbah on August 17. Anton Newcombe, the mercurial vocalist behind the Brian Jonestown Massacre, was in the midst of a …

Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte. Little, Brown and Company, 2005; 311 pages; $24.95. FROM THE DUST JACKET: Into our trash cans go dead batteries, dirty diapers, bygone burritos, broken …

John Renna, owner/operator of the Coaster Saloon in Mission Beach, recently began hosting live bands outdoors on Friday and Saturday. Attorney James Pyle says he owns apartments behind the Coaster Saloon. "I received some complaint …

"There's always a backlash when a band lands a major-label deal without paying their requisite 'dues' beforehand," says Augustana frontman Dan Layus. Former locals STP were scorned for their seemingly "instant" success; now it's time …

Marco Anguiano, who had much to do with organizing talent for the Adams Avenue Street Fair, died August 24 of cancer. He was 50. "He really stressed San Diego groups," says Judy Moore, associate director …

The band's performance after an August 28 high school football game in Birmingham, Alabama, was to be televised on ESPN. When parents got ahold of The Best Little Secrets Are Kept CD and found a …

Twenty years ago today (9/1/85), Black Flag, the Minutemen, and SWA played Palisade Gardens Roller Rink on University near 30th. Police stopped the show four times due to noise complaints. Nearby businesses frequently petitioned owner …

Twenty-eight years ago tomorrow (9/2/77), concertgoers could choose from Mahogany Rush at the Civic Theater, Leon Russell at SDSU's Open Air Amphitheatre, and Bob Marley at the Civic Theatre. The Marley show (and the rest …

Those who point fingers should have clean hands. But outside consultants pocketing big bucks to pinpoint San Diego's financial woes are themselves suspected of having sticky fingers. Four law, accounting, and investigative firms have wangled …

'The survival rate for people who are mentally ill and have alcohol or drug addictions is terrible," said Mike Milsop, who had been served with an eviction notice by the Shelter Plus Care facility on …

In 1803, Coronado’s North Island was a brown hump across the channel from the tip of Ballast Point. Ships entering the bay had to navigate through acres of kelp offshore, then a bottle-neck between the …

Early one morning in May, Padre Gabriel Rodríguez walked out the front doors of downtown Tijuana's San Francisco de Asís Catholic Church. When he reached the sidewalk, he turned and looked up to admire the …

As one of the richest wetland areas Southern California, the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary offers an uncommon opportunity to come in contact with a natural ecosystem seemingly plunked down in the midst of Orange County's …

One thing I know that Mom never said to Pop: "Dear, don't you think you need a hobby?" The old man has been a hobby nut ever since I can remember. When I was a …

College football, hereabouts, kicks off on Saturday with UCLA (6-5 last year) playing San Diego State (4-8 last year) at Qualcomm. The game will be televised on ESPN2. We need to clear the decks, people. …

'I got more power doing the right thing than I ever had being an actual violent gang member," says Derek Grover, author of The Gangbanger's Dictionary: One Hundred and Eighty-Seven Things You Better Know Before …

I found out about a retirement home having a party on the beach in Oceanside. The idea of old guys on the beach didn't sound appealing, but the party was for the employees, not the …

Movies reviewed this week: Asylum, The Constant Gardener, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Tony Takitani

Maureen doesn’t do the kind of foods I might eat, like meats.

It started with a single oyster, a pearl of an oyster. The occasion was one of those Taste of the Gaslamp eat-arounds a few years ago. Too many of the participating restaurants took the cheap …

Thirty Years Ago The one guy dragging along his backpack on the floor has an Ocean Beach look about him -- disheveled, sleepy eyes, blissful expression. It turns out that the O.B. guy has spent …