Content for Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Blog Entries

News & Stories

Paul People

Why San Diegans like Ron Paul.

Ron Paul, a 12-term congressman from Texas, is attracting an intense and dedicated cadre of voters in the 2012 primary election season. But, to date, at least, their numbers suggest he is not a viable ...

Jerk 'Em Around

I fished my Evil Hello Kitty bejeweled phone out of my purse, saw my sister’s face on the display, and answered, “Yo, we’re standing outside of Long Island Mike’s waiting for Dad, what are you ...

Chula Vista Considers West-Side Apartment Complex

Chula Vista’s Design Review Committee will soon consider a six-story apartment complex on the city’s west side. The “Urbana” proposal includes 266 apartments and is situated on H Street between Third and Fourth Avenue. Last ...

DJ Mark E. Quark Confesses to Spending Time in the Naked Castle

DJ Mark E. Quark recalls Len Paul, owner of Soma, telling him things such as “Play more industrial,” and “You’re playing too much of that techno shit.” Quark admits he pretty much ignored the suggestions, ...

Ramona Grasslands Preserve

See hawks and other wildlife in this prairie habitat

Between Interstate 15 and the town of Ramona lies a new gem for San Diego outdoor enthusiasts. Only recently opened to the public, the Ramona Grasslands Preserve allows hikers, joggers, and horseback riders to explore ...

I Heart Slacker

“Local artists,” says Ofek Hayon, “can come onto Rockcityclub.com, upload content, and [potentially] be heard by millions of listeners on Slacker.” Hayon is the chief business development officer at Las Vegas–based Rockrena, owners of Rockcityclub.com. ...

In Cahoots

Let’s face it, line dancing is about as exciting as singing “Who Let the Dogs Out?” in American Sign Language, which is to say, not terrible, provided there is drink. Luckily, In Cahoots dancehall and ...

Tiger’s Back on Top, or So They Say

Here it is, Thursday, D-Day for the 2012 Masters. And here is Tiger Woods stepping up to the tee for his first drive. The man does have a hold on us. Only Tiger Woods could ...

Your Child Is My Child

The first time I try to meet up with Makeda “Dread” Cheatom, she doesn’t show. I leave her a note. An hour later, she calls to apologize, and we arrange a new time for later ...

A World Away from Old Town

“We’re breaking even, which is a miracle in winter.”

"The usual,” she says. Kellie’s ahead of me in line. We’re standing between a bank of Canadian coffee dispensers and a Parisian street. Okay, a pretty darned convincing Parisian scene — on the wall. “I ...

San Diego Gas & Electric: Fat Profits, Fat Pay

Sempra Energy, the San Diego–based utility, is wealthy by comparison with other utilities. It is obsessed with handing out its riches to its shareholders (particularly its own top executives) at the expense of its customers. ...

Mixed Nuts

Thursday 5“Something new, for new people.” Soda Bar stages L.A. punk icon and artist, the Black Flag founder Greg Ginn and the Royal We. The Royal We being he. It’s a solo show backing last ...

Page's Six-String Sibling

Gregory Page’s music may not have troubled the charts just yet, but the same doesn’t hold true for his acoustic guitar, a 1953 Guild M-20. Long his favorite instrument, Page recently learned that the guitar ...

Fornology

Post Title: The Water Tower — Digging Up the Past Post Date: September 16, 2011 Hello from Washtenaw County, home of The University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University. I am in Michigan doing research ...

  • Gregory Fournier
  • April 4, 2012
  • Comment

The Business of Nonprofit News

Don’t ask Scott Lewis about the layoffs at Voice of San Diego. It’s not something the chief executive cares to discuss. Back in early December, the nonprofit news organization let go reporters Emily Alpert and ...

The High Cost of Local Politics

The 2012 election season is quickly shaping up as one of the busiest in recent years, and by all indications, San Diego political consultants have just begun to rake in big bucks from a variety ...

Mikan Zlatkovich on Jazz

“You know what a drummer once told me? That I’m a drummer’s pianist,” says Mikan Zlatkovich. “Meaning that I’m percussive. The piano has to keep the time as well.” We meet in a café in ...

Redeveloped Ethics

The Downtown San Diego Partnership, a pro-redevelopment lobbying group run by Kris Michell, ex–chief of staff to GOP mayors Susan Golding and Jerry Sanders, quietly settled up with the City’s Ethics Commission last month. Seems ...

Movie Reviews: Mirror Mirror, Wrath of the Titans, Free Men, Delicacy

It’s easy to imagine some Hollywood exec seeing certain scenes from Tarsem Singh’s The Fall and thinking, “Holy Tentpole, boys, here’s a director who has rediscovered the art of the breathtaking vista! And look what ...

Bowerbirds Sing at the Casbah

Today’s folk-rock is typically made to sound like a product of the predigital age, but the success of bands such as Fleet Foxes, Mumford & Sons, and the Avett Brothers proves that the early 21st ...

The Shins' Port of Morrow

This is a new Shins, not the band that gave us the delicious acoustic-pop of Chutes to Narrow and Oh Inverted World. Nor the band that released Wincing the Night Away five years ago. The ...

Soda Bar Serves One-Man Bands

Following a compelling backstory as long as the song itself, Floridian emcee Bleubird launched into “Giehe 1977,” which chronicles a small Italian village and the home in which his great uncle was shot by Nazis. ...

A New Gaijin-neration

I wasn’t sure what to think when I first heard about Gaijin Noodle + Sake House. Taken literally, the word “gaijin” means “foreigner.” In actual usage, it means “non-Japanese.” But growing up in Hawaii, “gaijin,” ...

Inside the Easter Basket

I snagged an invitation to Easter in La Jolla this year, so I decided to bring the host some fancy Easter baskets for her two lovely daughters. I started with the basket. Joe at World ...

Paradise, Thai-Style: Beaches and Islands of the Andaman Sea

I first became intrigued with the beaches and islands of Thailand while reading an account about a family selling their home in those halcyon days when the real estate market was skyrocketing. They intended to ...

Rubblebucket, Live in San Diego

It’s Alex Toth, the trumpet-playing founder of Rubblebucket on the phone. He’s just finishing breakfast in Columbus, Missouri, a long way from home in Brooklyn. His band is touring in support of their latest, Live ...

I Think You’re Wonderful

I think you’re wonderful. I’m driving my car and your name is on every mailbox. I’m kissing you and my shoes crawl away in darkness, sweet gadgets sing in my wrists, the life I dumped ...

Letters

“Frisco”? Yikes! Re “Two Toronados” (Restaurants, March 22). Imagine the scene. A tourist from San Diego visits Toronado, a venerable San Francisco institution, insults the hosts by calling the city “Frisco,” revealing himself as a ...

Chabad Jewish Synagogue Center of La Jolla

Membership: 120 Rabbi: Baruch Shalom Ezagui Age: 34 Born: Montreal, Canada Formation: Rabbinical College of Montreal, Canada; Yeshiva Geloda Lubavitch, London, England; Educational Institute Oholei Torah, Brooklyn, NY; Yeshiva Gedola of New Haven, Conn., Rabbinical ...

March 29 Sudoku Contenders

Evil Susan Avery, Escondido, 5. Carl Baltrunas, Milpitas, 5. Joseph Ciprian, Little Italy, 5. Larry Clark, Clairemont, 5. Paula Davis, Spring Valley, 5. Patrick Driscoll, Santee, 5. Cindy Fisher, San Clemente, 5. Paula Henderson, La ...

March 29 Brainstorm Contenders

Martha Awdziewicz, Clairemont, 5. Conway Redding, La Mesa, 5. * L Barling, El Cajon, 4. These are called trying times because we have to keep trying, trying, trying and trying again to make things better. ...

March 29 Crossword Contenders

Flo Abena, Rancho Penasquitos, 5. Mary Arana, Encinitas, 5. Martha Awdziewicz, Clairemont, 5. L. Barling, El Cajon, 5. Evelyn Bowser, Hillcrest, 5. * Marvin A Brown, Clairemont, 5. Doctors caring for dwarfs and midget's have ...