The first time I chat with painter David Darrow on the telephone, I ask him how I might pose. I tell him that I like the highly individual stagings of Annie Leibovitz's photographs. Darrow tells …

Five-year-old Janie Ann Galvin, rescued after wandering away from Paso Picacho Campgrounds in the Cuyamacas, April 17, 1961. She'd followed a squirrel. She fell asleep before dark and awoke in the morning. She didn't try …

The whales, you see, eat up the little fish. -- Thomas Churchyard As Jane piloted her monstrous mom-mobile and I read directions aloud, I was suddenly distracted by the sound of my name. Swiveling in …

The resource table by the entrance to the gymnasium that hosted Christian City Church San Diego offered several titles from CCC founder Phil Pringle: You The Leader, Leadership Excellence, Keys to Financial Excellence . The …

Title: Casing the Joint: Weblog from the Linkery Address: http://porterx.com/blog/ Author: Jay Porter From: North Park, Golden Heights, etc. Blogging since: September 2005 Post Date: June 19, 2007 Post Title: Today Is Reuben Tuesday We're …

My friend Shawn has long endured the nickname "Girlscout," despite the fact that she is over 40. No matter what event she attends, she always comes prepared to provide for herself, her husband, her daughter …

This film is wholly implausible. In this first scene, the starlet's noisy neighbors disrupt her homework time by banging their headboard against the shared wall. Yet, in the next scene, she's walking downstairs and through …

The Fourth of July holiday offers a variety of activities and events. If you're of a pioneering spirit and not attached to the idea of oohing and aahing over a light show in the sky, …

Sarah was graduating from a high school in Vista, and her family rented a banquet hall at Pechanga casino in Temecula to celebrate. It was a bit of a drive, but it's not football season, …

Name: Junko Brunelle Home: Ocean Beach Vehicle: 2000 Ford Focus wagon Surfing: Ocean Beach Pier Junko Brunelle doesn't like Fords at all. "They break too easily," she says. But she bought her Focus wagon for …

The search continues apace for "view restaurants" with cuisine to equal their eye-candy appeal. California Modern, the newly remodeled former dining room at George's at the Cove, is another winner. As soon as the decor …

Flashbulb anticipation The Jonestown massacre was responsible for my growing up bereft of popular culture. Not because I was orphaned by Kool Aid--drinking parents or because I belonged to a cult, but because my mother …

The San Diego economy is like the chap sitting in a restaurant waiting for his sausage sandwich: the wurst is yet to come. The local economy suffers from mild dyspepsia, with employment barely growing, but …

"We play what we want to play and the fashion occasionally matches."

As if Grantville didn't have enough traffic problems, local developer Leon Parma wants to build 588 new condominiums, plus new restaurant and office space, on land he owns in the area. The property sits on …

The late-spring syphilis epidemic at San Diego State is ostensibly over, according to county health officials. Only 3 active cases have been attributed so far to the SDSU "cluster," news of which broke May 3. …

"Everybody was cutting throats, giving stuff away just to bring the customer in."

Developer Aaron Feldman and employees of his Sunroad group of companies currently enmeshed in the Montgomery Field office-tower dustup have long bankrolled many local GOP candidates and their causes, including ex-mayor Susan Golding and current …

Jennifer Morrison Age: 31 Occupation: Interior Designer Lives: Hillcrest Oh, "beefy-T" is one of my favorites. It's a man-y, muscle-y guy who looks like he can throw you around a little. It's a big man …

"Man, is La Jolla always this generous?"

After a number ended, late in the La Jolla Playhouse's Carmen, five or so dancers stood in a circle, illumined in red. Then four left the stage. The fifth, facing front, remained, as if she …

Got the California State Games press packet in the mail today. Seems a bit thinner this year. The California games is a development program of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). Yes, I understand, you …

Did you ever notice how when you go to sit down at your computer at home to do some work, you notice it really needs some Febreze? Well, maybe you do and maybe you don't, …

Thirty Years Ago LADY BLUE -- Personal computing? Origami? Tolstoy? Underweight? Lack of skill at chess? Large feet? Colorblindness? Wait a minute, I'm not colorblind. Moron man. BOB HOHMEYER made me blow my whistle during …

For about a year, David "DJ Faded" Casillas and his partner Hector "DJ Kieto" Topete have promoted hip-hop nights on Fridays at Club Mystere in Tijuana. "We hardly have any problems down there," says Casillas. …

Molly Malone's in Ramona is home to "the world's first Internet concert club," according to the online 420 Channel. Organizer Jay Znamirowski uses three cameras to film performances, which he edits and then puts up …

Local club DJs have been switching over to Serato Scratch Live, a digital system that allows DJs to use turntables in conjunction with laptop computers. With a Serato system (about $500 retail), the DJ uses …

"We're a rock station now" is how one station staffer describes the new direction of 91X. Employees of Finest City Broadcasting who operate 91X have lately been telling others in the industry that the station …

"I know firsthand what it's like to be young and without a roof over my head," Jewel told members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, June 19. She testified at a hearing on "the …

Tall, aromatic pines and firs and thin air (elevation averages 7500 feet) lend a High-Sierra feel to the north slope of Blue Ridge, which lies on a high divide of the San Gabriel Mountains near …

The road that led to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station from Cocoa Beach, hard by the Banana River, where alligators sunned on muddy shores and water moccasins slithered through nearby mangrove swamps, was straight and …

We all took turns at sound check as I recall. Now those last three words are key to everything that follows. It may have been Robin Williams who made famous the joke about how if …

One day, he's a lauded real-estate visionary being handed the key to the city by Mayor Frank Curran. Then, he's battling city officials as they appropriate his downtown properties in the name of some barely …

At British Motors, 1305 Kettner Blvd., c. 1958. This Jaguar XK150 had 200 horsepower and could cruise all day at over 100 mph. In 1958, our local daily reported that California had more registered vehicles …

"This song, 'Joyful, Joyful,' comes from Beethoven's Ninth," said a man to the woman next to him as he perused the bulletin before the service began. Apparently, she had sung the Ninth before, in another …

It is difficult not to wonder whether that combination of elements which produces a machine for labor does not create also a soul of sorts, a dull resentful metallic will, which can rebel at times. …

Title: Doc in the Box Address: http://docinthebox.blogspot.com Author: Sean Dustman From: Mira Mesa/Miramar Blogging since: 2003 Post Date: April 3, 2006 Post Title: The Other Jungle We've bent over backwards trying to get basic services …

Patrick is a watering fiend. Over years of marriage, I have come to realize that he uses it as a relaxing escape. During early-morning hours and as the sun sets in the evening, I will …

Soughington Armes looms dark and heavy on a discreet block in South Park. The Ashfield family, from Soughington, England, built the estate more than a century ago. Rumors around the area speak of dark and …

'Toads bury themselves in mud and can survive for months until the rains come down," says Diane Nygaard, president of Preserve Calavera, a nonprofit environmental organization that works to protect native habitats around Mount Calavera …

My friend's wife had knee surgery. There were complications; a blood clot in her knee had caused a stroke. My friend hasn't left his wife's side at Kaiser Hospital nor slept in days. The day …

Name: Jess Hamilton Home: Pacific Beach Vehicle: 2005 Toyota 4Runner Surfing: Tourmaline Surfing Park Jess Hamilton is an electrician. He says his job affords him the time and means to indulge in his hobbies. "I …

"The Wednesday Wonder" -- that's what my roommate called this guy whom I was seeing. This is before the term "friends with benefits." But we weren't even friends. I was 23 and had just started …

My Body is my paintbrush Everyone asks the question: "How much money do you make as a professional belly dancer?" The "baby" belly dancers want to know because they've got dilated dollar signs in their …

The U.S. economy is growing at a mere 0.6 percent annual rate, yet the stock market is rolling upward, with occasional setbacks when inflation and interest rates spike up. This seeming anomaly actually makes sense, …

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. To a large extent, that's what's fueling the current buyout-driven stock market upthrust. The richest 1 percent account for almost 20 percent of household income and …

Merrilee Miller, a resident of Goleta, northwest of Santa Barbara, believes she has the right to vacation in a recreational vehicle on the banks of San Diego's Lake Murray. Or to plant banana trees near …

"I knew I wanted mountain fruit - a little bit of a clunky, rustic quality."

Kip Reese Age: 34 Occupation: Web designer Lives: Ocean Beach I like the word "celebutard." It's three parts: "celebrity," "debutante," and "retard." It's pretty self-explanatory; it's any of the crop of young, really dumb girls …

Equine karma? It's too bad Devon Tramore couldn't interview Street Sense, Curlin, and Rags to Riches, this year's Triple Crown winners. Devon, a female jockey in Mary Fengar Gail's Devil Dog Six, can more than …

If you follow the National Hockey League, you'll remember where you were on April 18, 1999, the day Wayne Gretzky scored his 2857th and last point. If you like college basketball, you'll remember that day …

"It's nice to hold the old full-size, bosomy glass bottle again."

This is in response to multiple requests for shorter sentences. Re: previous columns, "People are stupid don't you think? I do." Well, that's about it in a nutshell. Join me, won't you, for bitter, curmudgeonly …

Matthew Alice: Watching a Family Guy episode tonight, I noticed things that there is no way the FCC would have let radio stations get away with, yet TV seems to get by doing. Why is …

Dear Matthew Alice: I've noticed that once free from the bonds of public education, American males tend to write in ALL UPPERCASE LETTERS, or sometimes a mix with mainly UC and a few lowercase letters …

Matt: What is cream soda? There's no cream in it. What flavor is it supposed to be? -- DO, San Diego Hard to believe that Squirt and Pepsi have their origins in the mineral waters …

Thirty Years Ago I'd kill them. I'd do whatever was necessary to get the hostages free, and then put the terrorists on trial and give them the death sentence. If you have to negotiate to …

As recently as June 8, the White Stripes' website said the band would play Street Scene at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in September. Last weekend, the radio aired ads for a White Stripes concert at …

After Hank Williams III's screams of "fuck Solana Beach" over the P.A. system at 2006's Fiesta del Sol, city council members considered calling an end to the 27-year-old event. "The press acted like we started …

Susan Suffecool, operations manager of Balboa Park's Starlight Bowl, works for the San Diego Civic Light Opera Association. For 61 years, the outdoor amphitheater has been used primarily for musical plays. Suffecool says even though …

"We made a record last spring that was slated to come out this summer on Capitol Records," reads a post on Reeve Oliver's MySpace page. "This is now no longer the case.... Capitol's parent company …

Ike Turner has filed a $5000 lawsuit against the LAPD. He was arrested last month based on a 1989 narcotics warrant that later proved invalid. The 75-year-old spent around 15 hours in jail. "I think …

Before the Goo Goo Dolls play Viejas Casino Concerts in the Park on Saturday, June 23, they want their dressing room stocked with eight bottles of Starbucks Frappuccino or Nestle cappuccino ("four plain coffee, four …

Summer's here and the time is right -- to try to find restaurants with beautiful views that serve equally appealing food. The cliché is as true for San Diego as for other touristed cities: Most …

Middle Peak's north slopes used to feature the "big trees" of Cuyamaca Rancho State Park -- centuries-old sugar pines over 100 feet tall and plenty of black oaks, white firs, Jeffrey pines, and incense cedars. …

In 1973, California officials were using the “Red Light Abatement Act” as a toilet brush to clean out porn shops and theaters from the municipal landscape. The Buena Park Pussycat at 6177 Beach Boulevard was …

Sex Drive I was having another long, disjointed night, which is normal when you drive a yellow cab in New York City. But this night in particular it seemed like everyone had sex on the …

Sentence one: Lois Lane believes that Superman can fly. Sentence two: Lois Lane believes that Clark Kent can fly. Sentence one is true. Sentence two is false, because Lois Lane doesn't know that Superman and …

I moved to San Marcos about six months ago, and since these aren't exactly Rockwellian times, I've made no effort to meet my neighbors. Most of them I never see. The old geezer across the …

The Who's Roger Daltrey in a Mission Beach hotel room, June 13, 1970. The band's Sports Arena show was their fifth on this U.S. tour; in about a month's time, they'd done 24 and were …

Shafts of gold radiated from the nexus of the crucifix hanging above the tabernacle at St. John the Evangelist. A tall wooden frame, carved with images of grapes and wheat, surrounded both and also served …

The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them. …

Nine p.m., Thursday. All I want to do is download a couple of episodes of The Office and relax with my husband while he rubs my feet. But just as I'm sending the nine-year-old off …

Title: Grow This Address: http://growthis.blogspot.com Author: Weeping Sore From: El Cajon Blogging since: September 2006 Post Date: May 22, 2007 Post Title: Slave to a Springtime Passion for the Earth ...become like me, Slave to …

Diary of a Television-Infected Existence 5:22 a.m. Dick Cheney and George W. Bush are doing it. I know it. That old, chapped man's hand is down that other old, chapped man's pants. They lean in. …

'Pinstriping is like a tattoo for a vehicle," says Mark Whitney Mehran, founder of local lifestyle company Hot Rod Surf. "You have to follow the contours of the lines of what you're dealing with, and …

With its rolling hills, undisturbed land, grazing cattle, and old men in overalls, Flinn Springs seems worlds away from downtown San Diego. Yet it’s only 20 miles to the east. Tumbleweeds lie in stacks by …

Harold (Hal) Fuson Jr., senior vice president and chief legal officer of Copley Press, has always called himself "the house liberal" -- out of step with the militaristically conservative hierarchy. Aboooouuuut faaaaaace! At the end …

Few bands reunite, especially two decades later. The Playground Slap, originally from Jamul, is now based in Cardiff-by-the-Sea and back in the game. When they first played together, from 1982 to 1988, the Playground Slap …

Name: Onika Miyashiro Home: Pacific Beach Vehicle: 1992 Dodge Dakota Surfing: Tourmaline Surfing Park Onika Miyashiro surfs competitively -- a couple years ago she took second place in the Junior Women's category of the PB …

The first time I ran a personal ad, this is what it said: "21, Cal Berkeley student, brown/brown, seeks tattooed proletarian man age 21-31. Ideally, a cross between Chet Baker and Mike Ness. Bonus points …

Your mental picture of Tijuana's Avenida Revolución probably looks like this: hordes of American tourists wearing shorts, T-shirts, and fanny packs tromp up and down the sloping street. Some wait in line to don sombreros, …

Ex-National City mayor Nick Inzunza, whose wheeling and dealing in the ramshackle residential properties of Barrio Logan was first revealed on these pages a little over four years ago, is continuing to expand his inner-city …

Fighting a two-front war with the Federal Aviation Administration over the too-tall high-rise he is building near Kearny Mesa's Montgomery Field and two towers he's proposing for Harbor Island near Lindbergh Field, Sunroad Enterprises' Aaron …

Padres owner and nominal Democrat John Moores is hedging his bets in the presidential race. On March 30 and 31, he is listed as giving a total of $4600 to Hillary Clinton's "exploratory committee." On …

Art makes me uncomfortable So, a guy -- let's call him Mr. Teacher -- at the school where I often pose nude for figure-drawing classes asked if I would be willing to work with him …

"Let the feast begin!" pretty much describes the spirit of a Brazilian rodizio -- a Rabelaisian orgy of all-you-can-eat carnivorous gourmandizing, leavened by a vast array of side dishes. Never read Rabelais? Here's an abbreviated …

Cy Maronage Age: 26 Occupation: Law Student Lives: Mission Bay Park I say "That's what she said" a lot. It's a contest with my girlfriend to see who can say it the quickest. Like, if …

"We didn't want to be crass or crude, but we were trying to be a bit clever."

Regard, I have happened upon our Department of Fish and Game Licensed Big Game Guides Web page. I envision a Great Hunter, right boot placed on a dead beast's ribs, Italian shooter shirt opened at …

When I first shook her hand, the blood raced to my heart and my head.

"I get, like, five or six new band-promo packs every week," says Mario Metranga, who with his father runs Patrick's II in the Gaslamp Quarter. "And since Hurricane Katrina, a lot of the New Orleans …

Within hours of Morrissey's June 3 Viejas Bayside appearance, fans at Morrissey-solo.com were ripping the former Smiths singer a new one for cutting his set short. He left the stage without a word to the …

A column of this size is perfect for the brief essay, and I have done this, in a sense, several times. Never have they been formal and rarely have they been entirely serious; the more …

Hey, Matt: I work in a convenience store. About half of the transactions are paid for using a credit card. Sometimes the cards are not recognized by the card reader. If this happens, I put …

Matthew Alice: How about "lose one's marbles"? Where is that from? -- Ken, M.A. comments board Ken was browsing through some archived info from our stable of word nerds when he came up with this. …

Ryan Brink, lead singer of Individual, an all-original Tool/Mudvayne-like band, says it's hard to convince local clubs to allow him to be skewered and suspended by hooks. "All they think about is insurance and blood …

Singer-songwriter Victoria Robertson, a former Miss USO and Miss San Diego with three albums to her credit, says she "...was at a wedding when a little girl came up and invited me to come and …

"I was asked to fill in at the Poway Music Trader," says "Steve," a regular employee of the Sports Arena Music Trader. "I had never worked there before. I went back to use the bathroom, …

The biggest box-office flop in Sports Arena history may have occurred on June 1. Radio station 103.7 Free FM had announced for weeks that its morning-show cohost and former Partridge Family member Danny Bonaduce would …

Thirty Years Ago Ruby Yamada was born in Omu, a village of northernmost Japan, in May of 1903, and then came to the United States when she was 20 years old. A short time later …

A "gastropub" sounds a lot like a gastropod (e.g., snail), which literally means a creature whose stomach (gastro) is in its foot (pod). (It must be a very diplomatic animal, as one hates to think …

Tucked amid a lovely grove of pines on the remote north ridge of the San Gabriel Mountains you can find tiny Messenger Flats Campground, an Angeles National Forest facility available on a first-come, first-served basis. …

I got a call from Tracie, a friend of a friend. She said, "I'm having a party. And you have gone to so many parties... Help me come up with a theme. But it has …

"As we gaze at your kingly brightness/ So our faces display your likeness/ Ever changing from glory to glory/ Mirrored here, may our lives tell your story. Shine, Jesus, shine..." Those lines from the opening …

His father, speedboat racer George May, encouraged Brett to get into racing the single-seat ten-horsepower boats that could reach 50 miles per hour. George May told our local daily: "There is no other sport I …

First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you. -- F. Scott Fitzgerald I was three steps from the entrance of my building when I noticed him. He …

Babies are in the air. Everywhere I go I see babies or pregnant moms. Among families and friends, it's no different. My children will have a few new cousins by year's end and a handful …

Title: Leucadia Address: http://leucadia.blogspot.com Author: Funky Leucadian From: Leucadia Blogging since: May 2005 Post Date: May 26, 2007 Post Title: Leucadia/Encinitas Will Absorb Carlsbad's Traffic The following was posted in the comments section in the …

Miss Muffett traded her tuffet, many years ago, for the comfort of Italian leather. But it isn't her own seat Muffett is interested in at this moment. It is the seat of her stewardess. Muffett …

That's Dan. He kept our salary going for the whole year we were closed.

The WineSellar and Brasserie is a longtime local favorite "splurge" restaurant, oddly located in a soulless industrial park, one of many such parks that dominate an area that looks as if designed en masse by …

'Since I moved to California from New England, I find that I can pretty much eat anything I want without gaining weight," says Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma. "I'm convinced that when you …

'A really good friend of my family's has been U2's tour business manager for about 20 years, so I got to meet famous people," says Brendan Concannon, drummer for Big Provider. "When I was 12, …

Name: Bernie Calderon Home: San Diego Vehicle: 1994 GMC Yukon Surfing: Tourmaline Surfing Park Bernie surfed for a few years when he was a teenager. He says he gave it up to "go to school, …

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania There's a rumor circulating among my friends that you can't be popular in the belly-dance scene unless you "party." Not like the Nevada brothel Moonlight Bunnyranch's iteration of the word. I mean the …

"Any way that you can get wine from a piece of dirt and onto a retail shelf, we're doing it."

Rhianna Bruno Age: 28 Occupation: Nurse Lives: Rancho Bernardo My friend Niki and I say "chubi" instead of "bitch." If you type "bitch" into a cell phone, the predictive text will write "chubi" first. The …

'Never heard of it." "It's a fairly unpublicized event," says Jim Penseyres. "ABC put it on TV from '81 through '87, but even then it didn't get much public attention." Penseyres is referring to Race …

Richard Aguirre says he approaches things differently than his uncle, City Attorney Mike Aguirre. Yet, Richard says they are "on the same mission. He works from the top down. I go from the bottom up." …

Mariachi bands have violins and sombreros. Norteño bands dress like cowboys and use accordions. Bandas are big (14--18 players), brassy Mexican dance bands. There are about 15 bandas in Tijuana, but only 1 performs regularly …

Insiders say two Del Mar Fair Grandstand headliners this year will get paid a lot more to play the venue than what they would otherwise get for a local show. Switchfoot, which would normally command …

Gary Hustwit, a presence in the San Diego music scene through the '80s and '90s, thanked the cheering full house at Philadelphia's Drexel University last month after a screening of his directorial debut, Helvetica. The …

"Not only am I banned from Winstons in Ocean Beach, but recently I've been banned from playing Lestat's," says Clifford M. Jomuad, who -- performing solo as "Clifford" -- sometimes lights himself on fire. "Depending …

"I woke up in the tour van in the middle of a field at about 5:00 a.m. to see a sign that said, 'No trespassing, unexploded mines,' " Revenge Club singer Amy Paddack says. "We …

Today would be one of those Fridays at the end of the school year when "pupils," as we were known then, would find whatever was outside the classroom window inordinately fascinating. I can remember one …

Thirty Years Ago When we reached Interstate 30's exit 104, just east of Dallas, Blue Diamond pulled off and minutes later the King's Kid pulled up. Blue Diamond went on into Dallas and I had …

What do certain animals, computers, drivers, drummers, surfers, skaters, railways, and runners have in common? They all have a need. The need for speed. We measure speed in hertz, flops, knots, machs, mph, rpm, and …

'They're all marching to the same drummer. Nobody is supposed to get out of step. The rule is to obey orders." That's activist Norma Damashek talking about city government under Mayor Jerry Sanders, a former …

'Paying a company to return shopping carts that people were taking off our lot got too expensive," says the manager of a supermarket in San Diego. "The truck driver who brought the carts back said …

Watching Mayor Jerry Sanders distort the truth is as disgusting as watching the Union-Tribune helping him do so. Friday, June 1, was another example. At the request of the city attorney's office, Sanders released documents …

When the board of directors of downtown's private Harborside School announced last week they were shutting it down because there wasn't enough money to pay the bills, no one was more disappointed than headmaster Stephen …

Anybody who's tried to sign on to municipal Wi-Fi in San Diego knows there isn't any. While other big cities like Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle forge ahead with ambitious plans to provide residents and …

The lights come up. We're in a room under repair: boards tilt against bare walls; faux blue marble fireplace. In the center's a silver tarp and a blindfolded old man slumped on a chair. There's …

Hey, Matt: Where I live in University Heights there are signs everywhere on sidewalks, monuments, and such that say "University Heights" with an ostrich below. What's the deal with the ostrich? -- Dale in UH …

Heymatt: Is it true that snakes won't go where geraniums grow? There has never been a snake anywhere near my geraniums, but I am only one person in a world of flowers. -- Snakeless in …

Carlsbad's Rancho Carrillo community trail circles what used to be the heart of the 2538-acre Rancho de los Quiotes (Ranch of the Spanish Daggers). Stage and screen actor Leo Carrillo founded the ranch in 1937 …