Along with many vidiots my age, television was the teat that nurtured us all, and I was less weaned than most. I recall "discovering" the Beatles on a Smothers Brothers show from October 1968 (which …

I started my weekend off at a midday party. Jenn was having a garage-sale party. (I'd never heard of one either.) She had a garage sale and invited her friends over to drink beer and …

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, and autumn a mosaic of them all. -- Stanley Horowitz I woke up to the sound of rain drumming on the cedar shingles and …

Rappers who start feuds to make a name for themselves are nothing new. Tupac versus Biggie, Nas versus Jay-Z, 50 Cent versus everyone...but what happens when local rapper Nomad calls out the whole black race? …

UCSD pornographer and newspaper editor Steve York made national news when he exposed himself on campus TV in February. The controversy that erupted earned York an appearance on MSNBC's Scarborough Country. "After my 15 minutes …

Local singer/guitarist John Pertle, of the four-man group Johnny Love Sound, pled guilty on November 28 to five felony counts of distributing child pornography and four felony counts of possession of child porn with intent …

"We were at a bar in San Diego," Nickel Creek mandolin player Chris Thile told starwars.com, "when low and behold, Carrie Fisher appears accompanied by two of her friends. It turned out that she had …

For 15 years, the biggest names in modern rock have come together for KROQ's "Almost Acoustic Christmas." This weekend, System of a Down, Nine Inch Nails, Korn, Depeche Mode, Coldplay, the White Stripes, Jack Johnson, …

Sacramento dance punk septet called "!!!" (pronounced "Chk, Chk, Chk" or any other series of repeated monosyllabic words) have modest goals for their first show at the Casbah. For a few years they've played the …

Last Friday was a memorable anniversary for Dave Drury, one of the four rappers in the KneeHighs. "It was December 2 [2004], around 8:30 in the morning. [A fire] started with an old wall heater.... …

"[When I'm taking the Eucharist], I'm consuming Jesus' body, if you view it with eyes of faith," said Eileen Carton, a volunteer at Holy Spirit Catholic Church. "How else can you get that close to …

The Illinois summer heat and humidity clamped down over Chicago's West Side like a damp electric blanket. Ozone filled the air with the promise of lightning. Gunmetal clouds brooded, purple with bad intent. Merrimac Street …

“I flew Panthers, Corsairs, and Sky Raiders. We sometimes took AA 50-caliber fire.”

'I took self-defense classes, so I had had some of the same training. When I saw my first ultimate fighting championship, I was like, 'Wow, I know that move!' and I got hooked. This was …

On many a late fall and winter morning, a damp, opaque layer of air a few hundred feet deep lies over the low-lying Southern California coast. By 9 or 10 in the morning, the sun …

My Dear Mr. Secretary, First, I want you to know that I'm on your side in this. When you said, on the 30th instant, during a nationally broadcast press conference, that Iraq was high-stepping along …

San Diego wheeler-dealers dumping their stocks just can't get away -- whether to the Turks and Caicos Islands, a Caribbean tax haven, or to Wilmington, Delaware, a corporate "lax" haven. Padres majority owner John Moores, …

Last summer's trial of San Diego councilmen Michael Zucchet and Ralph Inzunza produced an unexpected candor from the city's Redevelopment Agency. On June 24, Zucchet's attorney Raymond (Jerry) Coughlan called agency employee Alex Greenwood to …

Dirty money Following last week's guilty plea of Randy Cunningham, the tentacles of "Duke-Stir-gate" are spreading rapidly into local Republican money circles. Topping the list of reported coconspirators is Brent R. Wilkes, the Poway defense …

“No one noticed that not a single paper or speech specified what Perignon had really done.”

Movies reviewed this week: Aeon Flux, The Dying Gaul, Loggerheads, Protocols of Zion, and Syriana

Thirty Years Ago RETIRED CHIEF EXECUTIVE of international banking cartel, bored with yachting and women, will consider assisting with your perplexities. Armondotio...after 10 a.m. -- "CLASSIFIEDS," December 11, 1975 Twenty-Five Years Ago In 1965 Marquis …

The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons by Samantha Barbas. The University of California Press, 2005; $29.95; 420 pages. FROM THE DUST JACKET: Hollywood celebrities feared her. William Randolph Hearst adored her. …

A VD clinic is like if you could take a standard elevator and stretch it in every direction. Chemical lemons accost the sinuses; every surface has been wiped down with a disinfecting alcohol solution. Light …

Boxes of Stereotype Yesterday I had a stomach flu. The sudden weather change from 108 degrees to 55 with rain did not help. They don't have seasons in the seventh circle of hell, but immediate …

'Tis the season to host relatives and friends escaping from frigid far-off lands to America's Finest City. And once they check in, what do they want first? San Diego's finest food.Consider Laurel Restaurant and Bar, …

The game is afoot. Every year, my husband Patrick and I try to outdo one another's Christmas gifts. Not for their perfection or beauty, but for their goofy fittingness. Last year, he won, giving me …