On April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia, a sullen, troubled, twisted young man killed 32 people, injured 25 more, and then took his own life in the deadliest …

Mean people's rice pilaf is a terrible disgrace. At Kaiser Vanduzer's Brathaus and World War One Memorial, get the wiener sandwich and wheat beer, but tell the bright-eyed frau in lederhosen to keep that damn …

Robbie RobbinsCo-owner, IDW Publishing Extras, extras, I'm all about them. DVD extras, like the custom comic books IDW's created to accompany the deluxe DVDs of Underworld, Saw II, and The Devil's Rejects as well as …

'Most people, especially in California, think barbeque is going in your back yard and throwing on a couple of steaks," says Gary Notley. "But that is not barbeque, that is grilling. Barbeque is when you …

DJ: Tami Wong Station: KCR KCRLive.com, (or on digital cable, Cox 956 and Time Warner 957) Shift: Saturday, 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Heart isn't one of my top ten bands, even though I've listened …

A cascading wave of honeyed wood and gray-white marble poured its way across the front wall of St. John's; the wood matched that used for the highly stylized crucifix suspended just in front of the …

Way, way back, my significant other and I got a dream assignment from a friend who was an editor at a slick new Playboy spin-off called Oui. Our mission: to drive down the Pan-American Highway …

Name: Francisco Sandoval Home: Imperial Beach Vehicle: 2000 Isuzu box truck Surfing: Tourmaline Surf Park, Pacific Beach Today was the first day of Francisco's experiment and "it worked out freakin' perfectly. I've got a place …

"I'm vegetarian, so I always find it hard to have interesting quesadillas or tacos."

Mrs. Jerome Garcia and some of her children in their Logan Heights home, March 1960. "She was glad her latest child was a boy," according to our local daily. "She is the mother of 15 …

Olaf Abel Age: 21 Occupation: Student Lives: La Jolla I use a lot of Bay Area slang. We call girls "breezies," like, "What up, Breezie?" Because girls come and go like the wind. "Scrilla" is …

Driving home from Vegas, I got into San Marcos around 10:00 p.m. I drove by a house that had festive lights glowing in the back yard and several cars parked in front.I went home, took …

Strong mayor? Amid the strong odor? There are two things wrong with the administration of Mayor Jerry Sanders: (1) It can't grasp the big picture because it is in the pockets of real estate developers, …

Man bites dog. San Diego appears to be headed in a sensible direction on at least one pension topic. In an informal discussion, boardmembers of the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System have indicated that …

There's been a lot of talk, and legislation, surrounding saltwater fish farming lately. A bill working its way through Congress would create a permit process for farming fish from 3 to 250 miles off the …

When KPBS TV shuttered its Full Focus public affairs show earlier this month, the move was greeted by a hail of criticism from loyal viewers of the seven-year-old steady stream of talking heads hosted by …

On Monday, Michael Vick pleaded guilty to one count of "conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce in aid of unlawful activities and to sponsor a dog in an animal fighting venture." This is what a …

Dear Matthew Alice, I received this info from a friend in an e-mail. Is this true or real?? Or is it a joke? The History of the Middle Finger. I feel compelled to send [this] …

Hey, Matt: What is the red stuff the planes drop on the brush fires? How does it work? -- EED, via e-mail Works very well, thanks. The red stuff is mostly water. It's mixed with …

Dear Matty: In the movie Party Girl, with Parker Posey, there is a reference that the Dewey decimal system is so easy to learn that it was once taught to monkeys. True? -- Daniel the …

"We don't try and chase everybody around to be everybody's best friends," says Rat City Riot singer Noah Bricker. Though the San Diego band maintains a low local profile, Rat City Riot has national distribution …

Phil Spector hasn't let a murder trial slow him down. In early April, he produced "Crying for John Lennon," a song by local singer/song-writer Hargo. The song will likely be included on a documentary film …

"For a young girl trying to get recognition in the music industry, your morals are tested on a daily basis," says soul/jazz singer Amber Ojeda, 23. "My first experience meeting a record producer [three years …

In September, Chris Heaney celebrates the fifth anniversary of Club Kadan, the European-style bar in North Park that hosts bands and DJs. Heaney played in bands in Philadelphia before he moved here to do sound …

When "Nigel" works at Coors Amphitheatre as a security guard, he's usually backstage. "The guards up front have to deal with [fans] trying to jump up onstage and getting crushed and escorting people out. People …

What book are you currently reading? "Planet Law School II by Atticus Falcon. I'm on page 579." Tell me about the book. "It's basically just a book preparing you for going to law school. Important …

Thirty Years Ago The last remaining farm in Mission Valley has come to look almost invincible over the years. The farm is the one east-west commuters know so well, the one Interstate 8 bisects, east …

The females in my family are bastions of advice. Regardless of the subject, they assert their superior knowledge and follow up with at least three contradictory suggestions. Ironically, they ignore others’ advice almost as much …

'We'd do backflips to recreate that feeling," says lighting designer Eric Lotze, as we head upstairs at the Whaley House, "but you can't have it onstage." We'd just left the dining room at the Old …

AntiQuark is a San Diego electronic music duo with an international feel and flair. Ant Dakini is originally from Torino, Italy, and when she is not composing music she works as a marine biologist specializing …

When I'm good I'm very, very good, but when I'm bad I'm better. -- Mae West I sensed the conversation was drawing to a close, so I stopped pacing back and forth on the rug. …

My sister Meg has a growing brood and an overflowing laundry room. "I can never seem to get on top of the laundry scene," she complained, "even after doing ten loads on Monday." She was …

The Noble Canyon National Recreation Trail is an extension and reworking of an older trail built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Since its completion in 1982, the trail has proven popular among …

Our future began on Wednesday, February 5, 2003, when a UCLA doctor announced that for the first time since the late 1850s, Hispanic births accounted for more than half the births in California.The UCLA Center …

Vernon MortensenFilmmaker and board member, San Diego Filmmakers Looking for something different? Try the long-lost '70s gem Cockfighter, based on Charles Willeford's novel. Roger Corman produces, Monte Hellman directs, and world-class cameraman Néstor Almendros provides …

Tiki people are a disgusting, wild, terrified group. This weekend at the tiki convention I witnessed the grossest of base, amoral misbehavior by adults. It was in the tiki and sushi bar that I saw …

Title: A Charmed Life Address: http://acharmedlife.typepad.com/a_charmed_life/ Author: Debbie Angelo From: Escondido Blogging since: March 2006 Post Date: May 16, 2007 Post Title: Wardrobe, Malfunction So things are going as well as I can make them …

It's easy to be suspicious of good taste in matters of religion, to fear that a refined aesthetic sense, so concerned with making the atmosphere harmonious and pleasing to the senses in an unobtrusive way, …

Herbert Marcuse was the single most famous person who ever taught at [University of California San Diego], and there was no living connection to him, no evidence of Marcuse having been there," says Professor Andrew …

Chris served as a Navy SEAL until last November. "I hit the 20-year-mark," he says. "And I figured that was good, I'd retire. I'd spent more time here in San Diego than anywhere else, so …

It only looked like car trouble on SR 163, near the Laurel Street bridge, in July of 1958. A newspaper reporter was dispatched to the site to pretend her car conked out. "Sixty cars passed …

This restaurant is closed. "Point Loma and Ocean Beach were the traditional centers for the Portuguese in San Diego," said my friend Laura, a native San Diegan, as we settled down to our first meal …

I grew up in Mira Mesa and played basketball at USIU off of Miramar Road. Kids of different races played in that gym. The idea of an "international" university seemed cool. I had never heard …

The Minneapolis bridge collapse and New York City steam pipe explosion have engendered introspection: Is the nation neglecting infrastructure? But the city with one of the most gaping infrastructure deficits, San Diego, has a slogan: …

Mike Ayzen Age: 21 Occupation: Student Lives: La Jolla I have a few close friends who are Persian and who speak Farsi. In Farsi, "jendeh" is a derogatory word for a girl who gets around. …

Ex-Democratic state senator Steve Peace, still peddling his plan to remodel San Diego's downtown waterfront, recently changed the articles of incorporation of the nonprofit he's been using to promote his agenda. Currently an aide to …

With the stock market melting down, it's getting harder to remember the money world's free-spending heyday, when exotic investment vehicles such as hedge funds were confidently prospecting for new money from public pension funds. But …

On any given day, it's difficult to tell who works for the residents of Chula Vista and who works for private industry. A proposed residential development by CV 42 Investments, LLC, represented by Bill Ostrem, …

Like most of their cohorts in big business, executives of Sempra Energy have been opening their checkbooks for presidential campaigns. They include Jessie Knight, the first African-American executive director of the San Diego Chamber of …

Two assailants are serving time (40 years and 21 years) for the June 2005 Oceanside murder of Rusty Seau, a cousin of former Charger linebacker Junior Seau. Attempts to prosecute a third person, rapper Joseph …

Josh Dunn owns nightclubs in Escondido and San Marcos. His busiest night used to be Thursdays at Club Tropics in San Marcos, where he featured hip-hop. Last summer, he discontinued hip-hop at Club Tropics because …

"This isn't [Richard Simmons's] 'Sweatin' to the Oldies,' " says Techno Sweat CEO Rick L. Frimmer, whose Carlsbad company sells music downloads and CDs remixed at various BPM (beats per minute); the music is designed …

The Death Squad posts songs on their MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/thexdeathxsquad) such as "Emo Arab Turbins" [sic] and "White Power": "Hail Hitler, white power, supremacy is the best, tattoo a swastika on my chest/ I pay …

Congratulations to professional golfer Brandt Snedeker, who won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday with a stunning two-point victory over the field. Perhaps I should make that, "won with a final score of 266, 22 under …

Hey there, Matt: I got this line from Wikipedia explaining the culture of San Diego: "San Diego had a gay index of 186 (gay male index of 226 and a lesbian index of 144); the …

Charlie Quinn, operations manager of new radio station Sophie 103.7, put Anya Marina's "Miss Halfway" into regular rotation (which means it's played about every other day). Marina has been a DJ on FM-94/9 since 2002. …

Happy Songs About the War, set to debut in January '08 at Sixth@Penn in Hillcrest, is a one-man musical being developed by singer/songwriter J.D. Boucharde and local theater maven Leigh Scarritt. "It started as a …

What books are you currently reading? "I always read a few books at once, so that I have something that suits whatever mood I'm in. I'm always reading fiction, but lately, I'm reading more non-fiction …

I would have thought I could find at least one more joke, yet another gag along the Dean Martin, Foster Brookes line of humor, that oldest of joke butts since the prostitute and/or lawyers: the …

Thirty Years Ago Roger Hedgecock, the youngest San Diego county supervisor ever elected, sometimes has an excited vision of Idi "Big Daddy" Amin circling in a C-130 Transport 15,000 feet above the ocean off the …

Hey, Matt: Why can foreigners like David Beckham, Yao Ming, and many others just pop over to the USA whenever they want, make millions here "working," yet the foreigners who come to pick the lettuce …

"I don't know. I think they were called Krunk. They didn't last long."

I have always wanted to turn the eyes of local theater artists outward: have them look at examples of their craft in San Diego at large. Eric Lotze, the award-winning lighting designer for Cygnet, Moxie, …

An hour of basketball feels like 15 minutes. An hour on a treadmill feels like a weekend in traffic school. -- David Walters I was five minutes in; by ten minutes, sweat would begin to …

blurts bigger

"It's like soccer - Everywhere in the world except the U.S. So I'm bringing it here."

I strolled out of Nordstrom Rack, my bag heavy with suede pumps, cropped pants, and strappy tops. Just before I got to my car, I stepped on something squishy -- a fat Gucci wallet. I …

Girded by freeways and busy streets, the trails around Puddingstone Reservoir in Bonelli Regional Park are hardly the place to get away from it all -- unless, perhaps, you arrive early on a Saturday or …

Busy Fingers Are Happy Fingers — Joe Deegan Mother Reader — Barbarella Build Your Writing Muscles — Ollie Let the Tape Recorder Do the Work — Matthew Lickona Faith — Abe Opincar Make Something Better …

"Writing is like a muscle, honey." Judith always called me honey, and her voice was warm like cinnamon tea. "The more you use the muscle, the stronger you get; the more you can write. Write …

I used to send Judith gifts around Mother's Day. Not on, but around -- because she wasn't my mother. But among her many titles -- mentor, boss, friend -- there was also this: the mysterious …

Our dealings from the beginning had a mother-daughter feel. Judith played the loving, nurturing mother; I, the eager-to-please daughter. It was curious, because we never met. But she headed her e-mails "Dear heart," "Cream puff," …

I knew Judith Moore only through her voice: a baritone with a slight Southern accent. And I knew her writing. The first time I spoke to Judith -- in early 1997 -- she called me …

Aside from my father, the only real, if informal, writing teacher I've ever had was Judith Moore. I met her in 1989, when I was working at Hunter's Books in La Jolla, one of the …

I could almost be tempted to resent Judith for getting my hopes up. When she signed my copy of her food memoir Never Eat Your Heart Out back in 1997, she inscribed it, "To Matt …

As a loose rule, whenever you hear "question authority," you can replace it with "be a lazy ass." When a hippie in an organic oats and horse apples store says, "The government doesn't want you …

Judith was a ghost to me. She was present, but never corporeally. It strikes me as ironic that I never met her, considering that the body — her body — was one of her principal …

Title: Musings and Mud Prints Address: http://muddymuse.blogspot.com Author: Lannice From: San Diego Blogging since: December 2006 Post Date: July 16, 2007 Post Title: Uncle Walt -- Friend or Foe? I've identified myself as a feminist …

What's nice about outrigger canoeing is that you're facing forward, so you get to see where you're going," says John Wascher, vice president of the Oceanside Outrigger Canoe Club. "And [the canoes] are built to …

Judith Moore called me in the fall of 1995, when I was living temporarily in Laguna Beach and teaching at UC Irvine for a semester. Judith was familiar with my poems and deduced from some …

Name: Mike Turner Home: Chula Vista Vehicle: 1995 Ford F-150 Surfing: Ocean Beach Pier Mike Turner surfs a 9'4" Bear and is committed to environmental causes. He inherited a gas-guzzling V8 Jeep that didn't have …

This restaurant is closed. Chef Chris Walsh must be the culinary patron saint of Hillcrest. After a long stint at California Cuisine and a shorter one nearby at his own Cafe W (which burned down), …

"Old school vs. new school, Bob Hope vs. Adam Sandler, dirt vs. fruit."

I was contacted by a guy who runs a nudist camp. He asked me to be a judge in an American Idol-style competition called "Ultimate Idol." The winner would get an iPod and go to …

The law doth punish man or womanThat steals the goose from off the commonBut lets the greater felon looseThat steals the common from the goose. -- anonymous 18th-century English epigram These pithy words should be …

The Tijuana neighborhood of Adolfo Ruiz Cortines sits north of the river about five miles east of the San Ysidro crossing. The east-west thoroughfare Avenida Defensores de Baja California bisects the lower-middle-class neighborhood. Campaign signs …

Longtime cynics greeted last week's announcement that architect Hal Sadler has been chosen the next Mr. San Diego, to be awarded on August 23, with a hearty laugh. Sadler, a wealthy pillar of the local …

The state's Fair Political Practices Commission is set to approve a stipulation between it and ex-Chula Vista mayor Steve Padilla and Padilla campaign treasurer Donald Wroe that settled charges arising from Padilla's 2002 mayoral campaign. …

Qualcomm, the big La Jolla-based cell phone outfit, hasn't been having a lot of luck in its long-running patent battle with competitor Broadcom. Last week, George Bush declined to alter a ruling by the U.S. …

Shanna Roberts Age: 20 Occupation: College student Lives: UCSD area "Cutty" is a good one. "Cutty" means shady. Like, you just came up to me, you're freaky and weird; you're "cutty." It describes a person's …

Beginning in September, all San Diego--area Borders stores will begin taking a 40 percent cut of musicians' revenue generated by CD sales. In the past, Borders has allowed artists to pocket all of the money …

Slow ticket sales are the likely reason Live Nation moved Street Scene from the Del Mar Fairgrounds to Coors Amphitheatre and its parking lot. Why the slow sales? Live Nation hasn't yet sold single-day tickets; …

When drummer Morgan Young played his last gig with Silverbird on August 3 -- just shy of a year after forming the group -- few local music fans were surprised. Young has played in area …

"We open at 2:00 every afternoon," says Morena Club owner Steve Billings. "But sometimes the bartender lets in regulars a few minutes earlier." The front door was open at about 1:45 p.m. on Sunday, August …

Muslim Jew Love doesn't have any lyrics about world harmony. "Sometimes people think we're a hippie band about peace and love," says guitarist Toofun Golchin. "We don't have any lyrics at all." Inspired by the …

Some gems from July posts on the San Diego Musicians page at craigslist.org: "Seeking U2Heads to portray U2's Boy/October era in sight and sound...seeking a Bono, Adam, and Larry. The Edge portrayer position is taken. …

Judith Moore remains an enigma to me. When first asked to write for the Reader, I was instructed to run everything by Judith. Who was this lady? Why did she live in Berkeley if she …

A friend once told me, "Nothing ruins a bird but its beak." It wasn't until Judith told me that the biggest mistakes a writer can make are (a) talking about what he or she is …

This is where it started: minorleaguefootballnews.com. I read, "The 4th Annual 'Hall of Fame' All-Star game is Saturday, December 8, 2007, 3:00 p.m., at Virgin River High in Mesquite, Nevada. Mesquite is the home of …

I never met Judith Moore. To me she was a voice over the phone: slangy, half-cynical, eager to talk about her dog, and passionate about writing. I first talked to her in the summer of …

I was 26 and unemployed when a friend told me about the San Diego Reader and its editor, Judith Moore. I had published a few essays and stories in small literary journals while amassing a …

Though I never met Judith Moore, she was one of the most significant people who's ever entered my life. She believed in and nurtured my writing abilities even before I really did. She liked my …

Judith came out of nowhere. She called one evening and asked if I'd like to write something for the Reader. I'd read the Reader enough to feel flattered, since the writers I'd encountered in it …

Judith often referred to herself in the third person as "Mother Reader." An appropriate epithet, considering that after coming across my blog, she elicited a job offer from "Father Reader," thus giving birth to my …

"Execrable." And... "You sound like a fluttering dilettante." There were many more in a similar vein. I have all her editorial comments saved somewhere on the jittery hard drive of my old computer. The two …

Though she was my editor, I never met Judith. I knew her instead via calls and e-mail. When she phoned, there'd be that throaty alto, so sure, so self-possessed. I'd grab a pen, and she'd …

Her first order to me, sent by fax, was to buy and read Joan Didion's Slouching towards Bethlehem. I was 23 and recently graduated from Thomas Aquinas College, a Catholic liberal arts school where the …

Point-blank, Judith is the reason I'm here. When she found out that I, at 20 years old, had a love for writing, she wanted to see for herself. A piece I'd written for another magazine …

Judith and I shared an October 14 birthday. We met when a mutual friend threw a party for us both, 30 years ago. I was freshly graduated from a state teachers' college, where I had …

My long conversation with Judith Moore about writing began in 1980. We first met at a monthly campus ministry shindig for the faculty of Central Washington University, in Ellensburg, Washington. Judith was escaping the small-town …

Some of the Beatles' first recordings -- before they became "The Beatles" -- were collaborations with English rocker Tony Sheridan. Today Sheridan frequently appears at Fab Four events, though Blizzard singer/guitarist Chris Leyva says, "I …

Name: Ruby Tsaturyan Age: 27 Occupation: Florist Neighborhood: Normal Heights Where Interviewed: Borders Books in Mission Valley What book are you currently reading? "I just finished The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Luiz Zafon. …

Dear Matthew Alice: I understand how cordless phones can pick up signals from other devices. HOWEVER, my wall-mounted (very corded) telephone has been picking up a religious radio station for the past several months. How …

Hey, Matt: I seem to be the only one noticing this, but it's driving me crazy! I keep seeing California license plates that follow this pattern: a few numbers followed by the letters MA. The …

Thirty Years Ago PENNSYLVANIA natives: Re-incarnate as groundhog, coal, smokestack at America's Finest City picnic, Saturday, August 27, 3--7 p.m., Balboa Park, near Sixth, Upas. Prizes for unique Pennsylvania costumes/posters/representations. NEW IN TOWN? So am …

Hey, Matt: I make tea nowadays by microwaving both the water and tea bag together. It works just fine. It's quick and easy. But I've been told to never put metal objects into a microwave …

"I ran away from home when I was 16," she says when I get nosy.

The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise. It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us. -- Ashley Montagu It was a brilliant idea. Machiavellian genius. Why hadn't I …

"This is horrible, this stuff about your mother. Just awful, Susie." Not since my father had someone called me Susie. And not since my father had the endearment arrived with such menace. "It's what I …

Judith made this whole gig happen, I mean Tin Fork and the cheap-eats world she gave me. Actually, it wouldn't have happened without Carla either. She met Judith first and must have mentioned this layabout …

The e-mail was titled, "When Wildlife Comes Visiting the Garage." My curiosity was piqued. My friend Austin lives in an exciting world. Her nickname is Lucy — think Lucille Ball — because her calamities are …

UCSD's Stuart Collection of outdoor sculpture seeks to enrich the cultural and intellectual life of the campus and the surrounding community. The current 16 works in the collection are sprinkled throughout several hundred acres of …

Shocked shoppers see a woman fall to her death from a parking structure at Parkway Plaza in El Cajon. Was she pushed? In Chollas View, a mother loses the second of her two sons to …

You probably don't know this. I mean, how could you? Unless you hang out in vampire bars, that is. But I'll tell you something -- it's not a secret, but it's not broadcast, either -- …

"Wholehearted" was the first thing that came to mind when I sat down to think about Lighthouse Baptist. "Done up right proper" was the second. Everything about the place invited the idiom: the proper orchestra …

All the wonderful tunes of that era [1920s and 1930s], they're the crème de la crème of classical pop music," says musician Pete DeLuke. "George and Ira Gershwin, [Richard] Rodgers and [Lorenz] Hart, Cole Porter …

Matthew: Where do pigeons go to die? -- Inquiring Mind, North Park Birdy folks and pest-control folks generally agree that when a pigeon's feeling funky, he probably heads back to familiar territory-- his sleeping roost …

Heymatt: Mt boyfriend is from Canada, and he claims that when people move from a cold climate to a warm climate, their blood gets thinner and they are more sensitive to cold. Huh? -- Terra, …

October 12, 2006. Remember that date. Excuse me: forget that date. According to the late-June report by Mayor Jerry Sanders's purported Office of Ethics and Integrity, the City's real estate czar, Jim Waring, didn't learn …

Steve Peace and John DeBello go way back. While still in high school in 1971, the pair, along with Costa Dillon and Mike Grant, put together a student movie called Do They Accept Traveler's Checks …

Name: Jason Corp Vehicle: 2002 Toyota Tundra Lives: Linda Vista Surfing: The pier, Ocean Beach Jason Corp paddled out past the O.B. pier. Earlier, he thought he might pack up for the day to head …

Crab Hut advertises, "You'll swear you're in New Orleans." (They clearly don't mean the drowned, empty neighborhoods and the crack-dealer gangs, but the pre-"Brownie" foodies' paradise.) But you can't believe everything you read. Take Crab …

Gasoline Chicken singer/guitarist Chris Crow says he has dealt with the demons that led him to get into eight fights at Scolari's Office (four during Gasoline Chicken gigs). He says his "almost a year" of …

The Viejas Indian tribe has been spreading plenty of freebies around the state legislature of late. The tribe has disclosed a total of $7423.31 in lobbying "Activity Expenditures" from April through June. The biggest chunk …

She was in town to promote How to Save Your Own Life, the follow-up to Fear of Flying, "a book that shocked some with its frank look at sex," according to the writer who interviewed …

The Good Charlotte's sold-out August 1 show at the Wave House indicates the viability of a second music venue at Belmont Park. 'Canes is the other Mission Beach venue capable of hosting national touring artists. …

Why did Viejas Entertainment move the September 18 White Stripes show from the bayside Embarcadero venue to Coors Amphitheatre? Theory #1: The booking flew in the face of a decibel-limit agreement Viejas Entertainment made with …

"We went to a soundstage in L.A. and got clown makeup put on us," says Shoestring Strap singer/guitarist Dave Lowenstein of his band's appearance in the upcoming film Circus of Life. "We waited around for …

News of the upcoming Tell-Tale Hearts reunion caught many fans off guard. Since the garage-rockers split up in 1986, there have been several attempts to reunite the group that was originally composed of Ray Brandes …

First District San Diego city councilman Scott Peters may be married to multimillionaire Lynn Gorguze, but that hasn't kept him from accepting a bunch of handouts from local builders, an ambulance service provider, and a …

Over the years I've been writing this column, I can't recall crashing a bachelor party. Whenever I've gone to friends' bachelor parties, there was a strict rule about cameras. This stemmed from a friend who …

When Manganista chartered a "party bus" for a gig at L.A.'s Viper Room at the end of June, they decided to record on the way. "I wanted to record a crowd of about 30 or …

San Diego city council campaign financial disclosures are in, and perhaps not surprisingly, only four donors to the candidates with the biggest bankrolls claim to be "developers": Ure Kretowicz of Cornerstone Communities ($270 to April …

I Hate Second Avenue I went back to driving a cab after a hiatus of six months. When I showed up at the garage for my first shift, my buddy Sam updated me on the …

"[To] buy a bottle of wine from me makes me a bootlegger. That's not right."

Rachel Greenberg Age: 21 Occupation: College Student Lives: UCSD area My friends and I abbreviate a lot. "Fave" for "favorite," that sort of thing. A good one of those is "yet" for "Yeti." A "yet" …

It must have been in Cosmo that I once read "The Top Five Relationships Every Woman Should Have Before She Gets Married." Most of us have had the first kind: the quintessential first love. This …

Lately, some national sports stories have fallen off the table. For instance, what happened to Floyd Landis? Where's Ricky Williams? And, what's up with the NBA referee scandal? Donald Rumsfeld It's been three weeks since …

Sacha Boutros attended the University of San Diego on an athletic and academic scholarship. "I played soccer growing up; I learned how from hall-of-famer Jean Willrich." She played soccer semiprofessionally for ten years. Going pro …

Name: Ryan Smack Age: 28 Occupation: Chef Neighborhood: Point Loma Where Interviewed: Borders Books In Mission Valley What book are you currently reading? "A Thin Dark Line by Tami Hoag. I'm on page 191 out …

His name is Alex Mohamed or Mohamed Alex; he doesn't seem to mind either or both or in any particular order. My height, short and curly grayish hair, trimmed beard, large, gray-rimmed glasses, Mohamed wears …

Hey, Matt: Why do they call 'em boobs? -- An Aficionado, San Diego Matthew: What's the difference between silicone and silicon? Why isn't it Silicone Valley and silicon implants? -- Need Facts, Escondido The elves …

Thirty Years Ago The attraction tonight -- as it has been for the past seven and a half months -- is Rocky Horror Picture Show, a rock opera chronicle of innocence, transvestitism, and science fiction. …

On January 17, 1995, a 7.2 earthquake struck just north of Kobe, Japan, at dawn. Between 6500 and 7000 people lost their lives. Twenty-six thousand were injured in Japan's worst quake since 1923. Many had …

Marriage is a ghastly public confession of a strictly private intention. -- Ian Hay 'H ey, beh beh!" I called out, as I often do when I'm comfy in my office and don't want to …

"I brought this idea to the colonia. It's upper-middle-class around here."

The Cheeseboro/Palo Comado Canyons park site, a unit of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, draws tens of thousands of self-propelled travelers yearly, but there's plenty of room for those visitors to spread out. …

'Mom, what's Shabbat?" That was Liam, the 13 year old. He's been invited to his friend Alex's house next Friday and wanted to know what to expect. So Mom headed down to The Place (619-286-6499), …

A boy 3-1/2 months old was the youngest homicide victim in San Diego County during the first half of 2007. The oldest was a 75-year-old woman. Both were killed by family members, allegedly, the infant …

A horse which stops dead just before a jump and thus propels its rider into a graceful arc provides a splendid excuse for general merriment. -- Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh I t was 8 …

Many pamphlets sat on the table just inside the door of the Chula Vista Police Officers Association Building: On the Faith of the Gospel, The Sovereignty of God, Objections to God's Sovereignty Answered, The Foreknowledge …

About the same time I was studying to take the SATs, my mother was renewing her sense of purpose with the lost art of sewing clothes for her family. I was sitting on my bed …

DJ: Xavier,the X man Station: Magic 92.5 FM Shift: 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. weekdays; 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Sunday (oldies show). I was a freshman in college, in the Bay Area [in the early '90s]. …

'Since most Filipinos are immigrants, when they come here they change their diets," says Ofelia Dirige, a nutritionist with a doctorate in public health. "They used to eat fish, vegetables, and fruit when they were …

Ethics I. Have you ever wondered why so many crooks set up shop in San Diego? It's for the climate -- the ethical climate. A sleazebag visiting the city this year and following the Sunroad …

Ethics II. An ethicist should understand that it's wrong to cite a legal opinion as your reason for taking a particular action when in fact you have rejected that legal opinion. But the City's self-professed …

On June 19 at 220 Broadway, just outside room 30, the courtroom of Judge Timothy Walsh, an unlikely group gathered in the narrow hallway to "represent," as it were, at the sentencing of Alissa Valencia. …

The SDPD was trying to contact Marc Shannon last week. The vice department wanted him to know that he could not use a North Park building at 3926 Ohio Street -- once a 99-cent store …

Former Republican San Diego city councilman Bill Mitchell, who was once quoted as saying that the fire department could save money by not answering false alarms (he said the attribution was false), has become a …

Rosey Bystrak's blog (sddialedin.com) has fueled the debate over fans shooting concert videos to post online. After a July 6 Band of Horses show at 'Canes, Bystrak posted, "So there I am with my tiny …

That recent report on the City's Sunroad office building debacle by Mayor Jerry Sander's in-house ethics officer Jo Anne SawyerKnoll has cleared fellow mayoral aide Julie Dubick of any involvement in her husband's dealings with …

Which came first, lyric or melody? No need to pose that classic songwriter query to Glen Galloway about any tunes on his band Soul-Junk's new album. In the beginning were the words, to paraphrase John …

The San Jose Mercury News reported last week that Democratic assemblywoman Lori Saldaña's 2005 Honda Accord Hybrid, owned by the state, got crunched in a "chain-reaction crash" here on December 2, 2005. That earned her …

It's been ten years since the Miami murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace by Andrew Cunanan, the onetime San Diego gay party boy turned serial killer whose murderous saga transfixed the nation and terrorized Hillcrest …

The future of Long Live Logos looks bright. The Escondido band, including three brothers and their best friend, has recorded songs with producer Brad Wood (Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair, Say Anything, mewithoutYou). MTV2 will air …

John Croft in Lindbergh Field's new control tower, 1941. The article that accompanied this photo noted that Croft and another air-traffic controller were on loan from L.A. area airports. Here in San Diego, the men …

Everyone points out the irony to Marco Collins: the former VH1 programmer, record label honcho, and radio exec lost his last full-time job due to drug abuse. He had to leave 91X last year when …

Name: Steve Mast Vehicle: 1968 Volkswagen Bus Lives: Ocean Beach Surfing: Tourmaline Steve Mast came out from Cincinnati ten years ago and has since immersed himself in the surfing community. "When I got here I …

I got two phone calls from two different people about Dana's 21st birthday party. The two callers assured me that it would be a swanky affair at a mansion in Poway. There was a tram …

I was in ninth grade. So was Tony, my first boyfriend. Tony was sweet, handsome, popular, and absolutely smitten with me. A girl's dream. I'll never forget our first date. He took me to a …

Something in the Air After sitting in the taxi lot at LaGuardia Airport for an hour, I got a fare back to the very slow city. Business was thin all night, but I did manage …

Charlie Conefrey Age: 28 Occupation: Personal Trainer Lives: San Diego In Boston everything's"wicked" or "pisser." "Pisser" is pronounced "pissah." They both mean great or awesome, like "the chowdah was pissah," or "the Red Sox are …

"Almost every winemaker [in Ramona] is either keeping his day job or is retired."

Not much I can do about this. The stars in baseball heaven have aligned with Mars, and with Saturn, while a blue moon hovers off the starboard side of Mercury. In other words, Barry Bonds …

Singer/songwriter J.D. Boucharde's four-album project Contra Mundum (Latin for "against the world") is a biographical odyssey about his experiences with addiction, abuse, and depression. He specializes in telling stories, though not all are based on …

Name: Shaun Gilbert Age: 16 Neighborhood: La Mesa Occupation: Student Where Interviewed: Harry Potter book release party at the La Mesa Public Library What books are you currently reading? The book I most recently finished …

Having pretty much exhausted the possibilities in writing about the examining of and disappearance into my own navel (put less delicately by one reader and with an alternate but equally unaccommodating orifice suggested), I have …

Hey, Matt: Walking around my neighborhood you can't help but notice numerous homeowners who have placed plastic jugs or glass jars of water in their front yards in order to keep dogs from pissing on …

Dear Matt: Whatever happened to the "Fairest of the Fair" at the San Diego County Fair or Del Mar Fair? -- Bob, via e-mail Hey, you're right. Haven't seen her around lately, but never missed …

Matt: Settle an argument I'm having with my wife. I say if you open one of those big plastic bottles of soda, pour out the drinks, then crush the empty part when you close it …

Thirty Years Ago The Abominable Leitmotif Man He sits behind you at Wagner operas, with his girlfriend, who cannot tell Wagner from Pink Floyd but thinks her escort is as groovily wise as -- as …

On the Old Globe stage this summer, Shakespeare's Two Gents has a disguised woman, Measure for Measure a Duke disguised as a priest, and you could even say that Prince Hamlet uses the "antic disposition" …

Adobe is the finale of this summer's series search for "view" restaurants with serious food. It doesn't have an ocean view but is situated in a plush resort, an oasis of Southwestern serenity amidst the …

Inside story of a porn empire

Miramar Lake, perched halfway up the dry hills overlooking Scripps Ranch, Mira Mesa, and the distant coast, was completed in 1960 as part of the second San Diego Aqueduct project. Water flowing south to the …

A few weeks ago, I found sugar-free water for my friend Jennifer who has gestational diabetes. Jen's been a bit down in the dumps about her condition. "I never thought it would be an annoyance …