Content for Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Blog Entries

News & Stories

Reviews: Drive, Contagion, Mozart's Sister

We drive through a plague, past dear Mozart, and on to pretty Coronado: Ryan Gosling, once a Mouseketeer on TV, will never be one of the big, terse dominators (Mitchum, Marvin, Bronson, Eastwood). But his ...

When in Aroma

Whew. Sniffing the rarified air of La Jolla. Wandering along Prospect at about 2:00 in the afternoon. Muggy hot. Looking for burgers. Promised the lovely Carla I’d take her back a nice big fat one. ...

The Ugly Trailer Park Across the Water

In order to visit a beach community, one must wear ugly sunglasses, so I snatch my chrome Elvis reproduction shades that I purchased in Las Vegas last summer and hit the door. From the 8 ...

Slice of Suburbia

Suburbia can suck it. Clans isolated in their castles, moated by lawns, concrete, and cars; no decent food joint or watering hole within walking distance. It works for kids, who can frolic carefree in protected ...

Across the Vermilion Sea

Three ships nodded with the tide in Acapulco Bay. The San Diego, Santo Tomás, and Tres Reyes were light draft vessels, able to anchor in shallow waters. Each had been careened — flopped on its ...

Pharmacy, No Kittens

“We were originally called Kitten’s Pharmacy, back in the ’90s,” says singer Kathleen “Kit” Johnson of Pharmacy. “We opened for bands like Bow Wow Wow at Brick by Brick and Third Eye Blind at Canes, ...

Midnight in Belize

On the phone with an old friend and Poway resident who I’ll call David Becker. I’m listening to David vs. the Power Outage. He’s saying, “It seems strange, after ten years and spending a billion ...

Tijuana Prepares for Independence Day

A common sight on the calles and avenidas in recent weeks has been the vendors of all things Mexican. Red, white, and green flags, pinwheels, banners, and bunting adorn buildings, balconies, and shop windows. All ...

Folk Explosion

Troubadour magazine will celebrate its tenth anniversary in the midst of what they describe as a folk-music renaissance. American porch music, says publisher Liz Abbott, meaning acoustic blues, country, folk, and bluegrass is being made ...

Witness Takes Keys from Stumbling Driver

In June, an off-duty firefighter was almost struck by a black BMW in the parking lot of the Leucadia Liquor Store, according to testimony in the Vista courthouse on September 12. The firefighter-witness watched William ...

White Hills and Societal Ills

Playing White Hills through desktop speakers or earbuds won’t cut it. This is a live band, and it takes a wall of giant speakers to get the full White Hills experience. This New York band ...

George Lewis Jr., the Twin Shadow

George Lewis Jr., who performs under the name Twin Shadow, has a distinctive look: pompadour, mustache, clothes that are flashy but in a muted color palette. He has said he’s aiming for a style that ...

Naming Rights

Blink-182’s new CD, out September 27, has the harmless title Neighborhoods. But the potty-mouthed pop-punk band from Poway is known for releasing albums referencing enemas and masturbation. The title Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, ...

Yuppie Hipsters

Thursday 15<br>From Ameritown (somewhere between Philly and L.A.), indie power-pop trio Eastern Conference Champions defends its title at Bar Pink. ECC’s best known for its takes on the blockbuster Twilight series soundtracks, but the collections ...

The True Heart of Rebecca Zahau

The woman on the other end of the phone is in tears. “I was just praying to God when you called,” she says. “That He’ll help us with what happened to our daughter. We are ...

Conventions, Football Don’t Mix

Southern California has balmy weather and, seemingly, balmy leadership. For one thing, both Los Angeles and San Diego want to expand convention centers in the teeth of a grossly overbuilt market and slumping convention attendance. ...

Jan Goldsmith Hires Former U-T Writer

Jonathan Heller, who labored for years at the Union-Tribune covering the downtown baseball stadium controversies and Democratic city attorney Mike Aguirre, finds himself back in familiar territory. After leaving the U-T in 2005, Heller went ...

Survivors of Torture Aids Iraqis in San Diego

The war in Iraq may be over, but federal spending on its fallout continues. As repeated waves of refugees continue to flood the county, providing psychological therapy and other help for Iraqis tortured both during ...

A 91X Rant

Thirty-Five Years Ago<br>Studio structures have been bemoaned for so long that it is almost an automatic reflex to greet the recent breakdown with cries of “Up the rebels.” But the upshot of independence is that ...

Human Passing

We’re cognizant of but normally don’t heed the fact that we’re hostages of fortune. I sometimes think photography was invented as a memory aid to press upon us that unhappy fact. The first batch of ...

Ray Charles: Rare Genius

"Alrightfellas, holditrighthere, waitaminute!" That's "Wheel of Fortune," roughly 2:40 in, where the Genius needs to reign in the horns, somewhere in 1972. But that's only an especially fine specimen of the bold yet effortless idiom ...

Goodnight Starlight?

“I tried to rescue the Starlight Bowl because I saw the amazing potential a venue like that had,” says Chris Leyva after learning that managers of the 4000-plus seat amphitheater had recently filed bankruptcy. “I ...

Human Meat Grinder

Situated in an undeveloped dirt lot known as the Los Angeles State Historic Park, on the outskirts of Chinatown, the 2011 FYFest was a filthy, sweaty, ear-battering affair. The line-up listed heavily toward the punk ...

From "The Four Zoas," by William Blake

What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price Of all a man hath, his house, ...

Letters

Get A Kidney, Give A Liver Your story about organ donation highlighted the tragic shortage of human organs for transplant operations (“Gift from the Grave,” Cover Story, September 8). There are now over 110,000 people ...

September 8 Sudoku Contenders

Evil Carl Baltrunas, Milpitas, 12. * Bliss Beedle, Encinitas, 12. To Mailman, these are bills, my name is Al! Joseph Ciprian, Little Italy, 12. Gary Gish, Rancho Bernardo, 12. Richard Hutchings, Santee, 12. Roy E. ...

September 8 Brainstorm Contenders

* Joseph Ciprian, Little Italy, 11. The U.S. economy is so bad that Angelina Jolie adopted an American child. Martha Awdziewicz, Clairemont, 9. Ed Barno, San Diego, 9. Ai Goodwin, San Diego, 8. Conway Redding, ...

September 8 Crossword Contenders

Martha Awdziewicz, Clairemont, 11. L. Barling, El Cajon, 11. Evelyn Bowser, Hillcrest, 11. Leslie Chase, Campo, 11. Joseph Ciprian, Little Italy, 11. Maria Coda, Oceanside, 11. Thomas Diehl, Escondido, 11. Dale Duffala, Bird Rock, 11. ...