On October 12, 2011, my husband and I signed two hours’ worth of paperwork and forked over a $2450 earnest-money deposit on a four-bedroom, four-bath townhome in Chula Vista. For years, we’d fantasized about escaping …

In a letter published this month in the Clairemont Times, District 6 councilmember Lorie Zapf warned area residents to use caution when enjoying our canyons. The letter was prompted after a fire was extinguished in …

There are many ways to enter the preserve, but most lack adequate parking and currently none offer toilet facilities, except the Oak Riparian Park in Oceanside, which offers both as well as a chance to …

The invitation read, “black-tie optional.” David opted for black everything — a black silk tie with this black shirt and black suit. “Look, even the dogs are wearing tuxedos,” I said. “Will you hold this …

The website intothewoods.tv has a remarkable video of the band Radiation City performing their song “Babies” in someone’s living room. They’re packed in so tightly that one guy who wants to listen is standing outside, …

Classic rock blasting through the 16,000-watt surround-sound system, psychedelic eye candy filling the 76-foot dome, and Rock 101.5 KGB’s Coe Lewis guiding the cosmic voyage — this was the scene at the premiere of Rock …

By Saturday afternoon it was over. Gonzaga lost to Ohio State and there was not a single West Coast team left in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Before we go on, I should tell you …

The views in the Old Globe’s world premiere musical, A Room with a View, are one of the show’s best features. Heidi Ettinger’s sets re-create Florence, Italy, and Surrey, England, with enlarged postcards from 1908. …

Salmon and sushi this week, also poor sex and De Niro on the skids: Sheikh Muhammed of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen must have seen Lawrence of Arabia and then never forgot the Bedouin chief …

California Strategies, the Sacramento-based lobbying outfit run by Bob White, ex-aide to former San Diego mayor and California governor Pete Wilson, was very busy at San Diego city hall during the final quarter of 2011, …

The word Toronado carries a lot of meaning in West Coast craft-beer circles. For San Franciscans, it’s the name of a bar in the Lower Haight, where the stock has consisted of fine beer for …

For the 16 years, Dicky Demonic has been thrashing it out in North County punk bands with his in-your-face, lefty politics. Demonic has been known to go off on cops, the rich getting richer, and …

It’s about 9:00 at night. Wednesday. I hear a ripple of people clapping. I look in through the door of this café I’ve never noticed before. Place is filled. Can hear the thudded Ps of …

After a year of intermittent recording between hard-drive crashes and rewrites, alt-country five-piece the Western Set released their debut LP, Country Music, on March 3 at the Tin Can Ale House. Vox/guitarist Patrick Conway calls …

The rise and fall and rise again of the power trio as an art form notwithstanding, the first thing I want to know about the Grass Heat is the name. How did it come to …

This will be the last “TGIF” column. It has been a great 12-year run. Well, mostly. Lord knows there were some turkeys in there over the years, but you can’t hit ’em all out of …

San Diego County supervisor Dianne Jacob has been busy trading stock and options in high-flying Apple, Inc., according to her recently filed personal economic interest report. On January 19 of last year, the supervisor unloaded …

“I’ve been wanting to play this music since I learned how to play guitar and was listening to my uncle Jarrod’s punk bands. I was only 13,” says former Atoms/Watusis bassist Branden Parish, whose new …

Ruby likes the color red. On her day in court, she wore a red sweater and her hair was dyed a reddish color. Ruby (not her real name) is hiding from her former lover Robert …

Lawyer and Del Mar mayor Carl Hilliard, now running for third district county supervisor in a crowded field that includes Steve Danon, aide to GOP congressman Brian Bilbray, and Democratic Solana Beach deputy mayor Dave …

The sold-out house at Anthology was treated to the musical feast of John Waite's "Rough and Tumble" tour. The English singer-songwriter’s array of material and showmanship spanned 30 years. Not only did he perform the …

Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon) was inspired by the 1902 film of the same name by Georges Méliès. The sound has a haunting, hypnotic effect, much like the soundtrack Air …

Title: onelessinch Address: onelessinch.com Author: smartsypantsy From: La Jolla Blogging since: 2002 Post Title: One Less Inch. Final Draft. Post Date: March 13, 2012 [Chapter] 16. hit by a truck so this one time i …

Every park I see these days is swarming with kids throwing baseballs. My ten-year-old is pushing hard to join a team. But while he’s had years of catch with his dad, he hasn’t done much …

The Best Made Plans Toward the end of World War I, the Germans boasted that their prisoner-of-war camp on the western outskirts of Villingen was tight as a sealed tomb. A ten-foot-tall, barbed-wire fence surrounded …

When married-duo Harry and Nancy Mestyanek launched Folding Mr. Lincoln in 2006, the plan was a gentle country-roots ensemble. “Though we continue to evolve as a band and to develop musically,” says Harry, “I feel …

Membership: 300 Pastor: Darrow Perkins Age: 46 Born: Baton Rouge, La Formation: Andersonville Theological Seminary, Camilla, Ga.; U.S. Marine Corps (1983–2003) Years Ordained: 19 San Diego Reader: What is your favorite subject on which to …

Cover Kudos Reading your March 15 Reader. Excellent article by Siobhan Braun on the cover, “The Recruiter Loved Me.” Franco AlbueroLa Jolla Elitist Bumper Stickers Re “The Recruiter Loved Me” (Cover Story, March 15). In …

It shows up one summer in a greatcoat, storms through the house confiscating, says it must be paid and quickly, says it must take everything. Your children stare into their cornflakes, your wife whispers only …