The hush-hush life of forbidden pet ownership.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey is a documentary on the life and career of Kevin Clash, the magic behind Elmo. The film chronicles his career from schoolboy to executive of Sesame Street. Watching a piece …

Gaithersburg, Maryland At Scot Gas, Darnestown Road, the high school boys pumping gas would snicker at the rednecks. Every Saturday night there was Earl, puckering his liquor-smashed face to announce that he was driving across …

Afghan-inspired pizza at Zia — there will be eggplant and yogurt.

Barkeep Marc Canzoneri’s Whiskey Rose — an Old Fashioned for the 21st Century.

I sat on a plush sofa in a room dimly lit with electric candles and fussed over the gap in my robe with one hand while balancing a mango-papaya mimosa in the other. “I can’t …

San Diego flatlanders open a brewery in the local mountains.

Sax master Charles McPherson began his career in 1959 with Charles Mingus. Inspired him to go get a job with the IRS.

“New Justice Records in Australia will be putting out our debut album.” That’s ex–Zombie Cartel member Jono LaNasa. He’s speaking about a record deal for his new band, Prevailer. New Justice will distribute hard copies …

“I’ve written songs that metaphorically address what happened to my dad,” says Retox mainman Justin Pearson, who was 12 when his father was assaulted, robbed, and died during a 1987 altercation with patrons he’d met …

The Third World is somewhere in almost every great city. It fills much of the Brooklyn of Restless City. This movie has a zip chance in the big market but will still be worth viewing …

For the past year and a half, electronic music collective Liquid Geometry has been cultivating San Diego’s beat scene with a monthly showcase at the Kava Lounge, curating local and out-of-town genre luminaries, including Free …

Super Troopers is a zany satire about small-town highway-patrol officers. Hatched from the minds of famed comedy group Broken Lizard, Super Troopers follows the adventures of the fun-loving patrolmen as they deal with the banality …

Director Tim Burton might never equal his early pinnacle Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, with its tight budget and its design in splendid sync with weird little Pee-wee Herman. Burton came close with Beetlejuice and Ed Wood, …

Where roller derby and rock and roll collide in San Diego.

The pieces of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel fit together enjoyably. Here is something for those who love Downton Abbey (and Upstairs Downstairs) and something for those who love Slumdog Millionaire. Add elements of Merchant …

Paris, 1999: Camille is besotted by Sullivan. He besots back, but she cannot understand why he wants to go to South America with two pals, minus her, on a long adventure. Maybe from fear of …

When a band of SoCal punk veterans calls itself OFF! you know what you’re going to get, but that doesn’t mean you will be prepared for it. OFF! takes its name from a brand of …

Before The Hunger Games there was Battle Royale, director Kinji Fukasaku’s dystopian fantasy about students forced by the government to kill each other. Being a horror and fantasy film buff, I looked forward to the …

“The reason why Dontaye has not cut his hair is because he is trying to portray a persona of a wild man to the guys in jail.” Dontaye Henderson’s mother wrote these words in 2003, …

Bridgepoint Education stock drops. The San Diego company’s relationship with Wall Street becomes more apparent.

California Strategies & Advocacy, the Sacramento-based lobbying firm founded and run by Bob White, former top aide to ex–San Diego mayor and onetime GOP governor Pete Wilson, had a busy time of it in San …

When your telephone rings at 3:30 a.m., it’s the phone company. They won’t say so, but it’s true.

JDS Exclusive Security Services was contracted by the Sweetwater Union High School District to provide guards for the May 7 board meeting. The company also provided guards for the April 16 meeting, after which John …

San Diego–based United Domestic Workers of America, a labor union representing so-called home-care workers who are paid by state and federal funds, kicked in with a whopping $400,000 to Governor Jerry Brown’s campaign to raise …

Beneath the high-domed ceiling of the Joan Kroc Peace and Justice Theatre, an opulent facility at the University of San Diego, a crowd of perhaps 80 convened on Monday, April 9, for what the hosts …

Hike to Daley Ranch’s highest peak while delighting in the sights and smells of chaparral and coastal sage plant communities.

Magician shopping for the next party.

WNBA president Laurel J. Richie made her career in advertising.

He was a friend of Andy Kaufman’s; I was a young woman in a miniskirt.

Got You Covered As an avid reader of the Reader, I was a little disappointed in the fact that the May 3 cover photo is a picture right off the internet that anyone can access. …

During the mid-2000s, the music industry produced a rash of bands that embraced roots. Dobros were heard, percussion sounded DIY, and arcane instruments such as toy piano were embraced. Standouts included Cage the Elephant, the …