The first time I heard the word Larry was when my old boss said it to me. I bumped into him and he yelled, “Watch out, Larry!” I wondered who Larry was and then I …

What book are you currently reading? “Presumption of Death, by Perri O’Shaughnessy.” Tell me about the book. “It is a legal thriller. It is about an arson in Carmel Valley. Two boys went into the …

Ponzi schemes — in which early investors are paid off with funds from later investors — are most often tied to stocks, commodities, and currencies. But just a few years ago, when Southern California real …

The Iceman Cometh, predicted playwright Eugene O’Neill, but eventually, the iceman went, and so did the milkman and the doctor willing to make house calls. Next to disappear: San Diego Gas & Electric meter readers. …

It was one of my favorite events of the year: the Brazil Carnaval at 4th&B. She and I had just met, but we danced the samba as if we had known each other forever. The …

Seemingly everything has been called a “lost art.” Spelling, conversation, keeping a secret, note taking, listening, and even (why not?) hollering. One string of online text even refers to the lost art of blogging.What constitutes …

Welcome Mat This is regarding the article “Great for Everybody” (“City Lights,” March 20). When we elected Cheryl Cox as mayor, we unfortunately invited in outsiders whose goal is to control Chula Vista. The Lincoln …

Yuseff Cherney says his revered and super-bitter Dorado Double India Pale Ale has become too expensive, if not impossible, to make. Cherney is head brewer at Ballast Point Brewing Company, which has breweries in Linda …

It’s politics with an inside twist at the County Administration Building, where Jim Duffy, a sheriff’s lieutenant, took over earlier this year as Republican county supervisor Ron Roberts’s chief of staff. Son of the late …

Employees of a small defense contractor headquartered in Mission Valley have created a stir in local political circles with their flurry of contributions this past fall to Third District San Diego city council candidate Todd …

Thirty Years AgoA former alcoholic, Sister Winnie first immersed herself in rescue work 28 years ago when she took over the city’s oldest such haven (then 25 years old) and rechristened it God’s Extended Hand. …

Spring is here and pal Bernice has soccer on the brain. A layer of dust has descended on her cleats in the closet. Her shoe size is a higher number, as is her jersey size; …

Post Date: March 12, 2007Post Title: The Problem with Really Good TimesIt’s partly the empty chest of a lingering hangover, but at the end of weekends like this I feel like breaking down over the …

There were a couple of video-release parties I hit downtown. The first was for a band called Crash Encore. It was a video-premiere party for their song “Stormy Weather” at the Buzz Clothing Warehouse on …

File Under: Fiction Is Good for You. I was reading Peter May’s crime novel The Critic, which took as a dramatic starting point the murder of a famous wine critic, one Gil Petty. The hero, …

Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting. — Dave Barry The way my friend Jen tells it, her boyfriend Rob arrived home from work an hour before sunset …

For a long time, the only development project in my neighborhood belonged to a swarm of wasps building a papery hive in the corner of an abandoned storefront. They were the only things fighting entropy …

Sometimes the intimacy of a small, hidden waterfall is more aesthetically rewarding than the thunder of a famous one. Such is the case with Holy Jim Falls. Tucked into a short, steep canyon draining the …

“Allow yourself to simply be one with the service,” read one of the suggestions in the program for the Good Friday Taizé Service at Light of Life Church. But there’s nothing like a nagging cough …

People fall in love. They fall in love with other people, with their pets, with the city they live in (or the city they don’t live in), with books, entertainers, crystals, artichokes, and, ranking near …

There is no way around it, not for several more weeks; I can’t get out, cruising on crutches to look into neat stuff to do on Fridays or weekends. I am reduced to poring over …

The vapors, the vapors. Oh, man. Me thinketh I shall swoon. Unlike Bill Clinton, I inhale deeply. Rose aromas? Cardamom? Honey? It sits steaming under my schnozz here at the granite-top counter as I wait …

No, to answer everybody’s first question, the flashy new Gaslamp Nobu is no relation to our sweet and humble Solana Beach Nobu, owned by Nobu Tsushita. For better or worse, our Nobu-sur mer merely shares …

Sam Zien is a regular guy. He’s a husband, he’s the father of three teenage boys, and he has two dogs, an orange Labrador and a Chinese Crested. He also happens to have both a …

Lisa FranekFilmmaker and lecturer, SDSU Arturo Ripstein’s No One Writes the Colonel is just beautiful. The camerawork is amazing; it’s filled with rich colors. It’s a beautiful storyline that’s dark and dreary but still really …

“There is a kind of goofy stereotype of birdwatchers, that birders always have that funny hat and something like a fishing vest with all those pockets,” says biologist Tom Troy. “I don’t have one, but …

Jay Reatard is the questionable stage name of prolific Memphis resident Jay Lindsey, who has been recording and releasing music for about ten years as a solo artist and with the Reatards, the Lost Sounds, …

I tell Justin Sullivan that without rock, I might not have survived adolescence. I tell him that my 1960s teenage alienation was overwhelming, that rock lyrics put better words to my black anger than I …

Miki Vale hails from Oxnard, California, making her musical debut on The Awakening, a 2004 compilation album from SGM (Sleeping Giant Music). In 2006 she collaborated with fellow Oxnard hip-hop artist Kankick for a 7” …

Clue: Dead reckoning at holy field. Describe this location, name the nearest cross-streets, and win a Reader T-shirt. Enter by completing the form below. Last week's place: (clue: Exotic auto zone, commercially speaking) San Diego …

It takes a bit of cheek to call a film Flawless. Especially a Demi Moore film. In it, she carries that affixed chip on her shoulder into the role of the sole female executive at …

Big labor is throwing in big money to oppose San Diego fifth district Republican city council candidate Carl DeMaio, a self-styled government reformer opposed by city employee unions. A state campaign disclosure filing made earlier …

Artist: The Devastators Song: “Land of Woe” (from the CD Better Days) Heard By: Nicholas Kistler, Golden Hill I was listening to it and, sure, I heard a beat that was synonymous with reggae, but …

Album: Same Old Fight (2007) Artist: Modern Day Moonshine Label: self-released Where available/price: At live shows for $8, or order it online from myspace.com/moderndaymoonshine for $8. Songs: 1) Intro 2) Such a Shame 3) Unite …

Name: Jeff Marr Occupation: Lab technician Age: 38 Lives in: Ocean Beach Night-surfing: Dog Beach Pre-surf music: Marvin Gaye Post-surf food: Fish tacos “It’s so peaceful and beautiful at night, I can literally walk out …

Louis XIV is on tour supporting Slick Dogs and Ponies, the band’s second Atlantic album. Released January 29, Ponies has yet to break into the Billboard Top 200 album chart. One insider says that being …

Brassy blues diva Candye Kane has been diagnosed with a rare neuroendocrine tumor, a form of pancreatic cancer. On February 22, Kane was admitted to the Scripps Encinitas emergency room with abdominal pain. The symptoms …

An anonymous letter sent to a handful of city departments and the state bureau of Alcohol Beverage Control has put a stop to Mission Bay Boat & Ski Club concerts organized by Cathryn Beeks. She …

In February, Lil Niqo played an international rugby tournament at Petco Park that included teams from 16 countries. The rapper – a third-grader at Pepper Drive elementary in Santee – has had a few good …

“I wasn’t mentally stable on that first record,” said Tom DeLonge recently to the Ventura County Reporter; DeLonge referred to the 2006 Angels and Airwaves disc We Don’t Need to Whisper. “I was spun out …

Gail Jones at the downtown Woolworth’s store, 1972. Jones and a friend, waitresses at the store’s café, were in the dressing room changing their clothes when management locked up at 6 p.m. and went home …