Stories | T.G.I.F.
Loosening Family Ties
Published Nov. 11, 2009
For me to write of family strikes me as vaguely pretentious if not outright hypocritical. Possibly we all feel like failures in this area, at least to some degree. Those who do not I tend to ...
A Fear of Cold and Dark
Published Nov. 4, 2009
It may well be behind us as this sees print, but I will comment again on the fascination this part of the country has with the macabre at this time of year. Between Halloween — which ...
Friday Night Frights Part II
Published Oct. 7, 2009
My friend Christian Cullen was telling me a story of how he was robbed in his apartment at dead-blank, carotid-artery range by two inept assailants with a .45. They mistook Cullen for a major marijuana dealer ...
Hog-Tied with Christmas Lights Published Sept. 30, 2009
Here is a tale told to me on a Friday night, one that may sound like so much ramadoola (an old hepcat word I miss) ... More Comments (5)
Fire Lane Published Sept. 16, 2009
Do this on a Friday or Saturday night — almost any night, really. Impress your date, your friends, kids, mom or dad, freak out your ... More Comments (2)
Page to the Stage Published Sept. 9, 2009
Gregory Page is back from Australia, where he toured on his own, then hooked up with Steve Poltz to re-form the Rugburns Down Under. Page ... More Comments (2)
Brizz vs. Ninjas Published Sept. 2, 2009
Another hot — really freaking hot — August weekend. A Sunday morning, actually, and I’m greeting the (in theory) post-church crowd in and around Horton ... More Comments (2)
A Threat from the East Published Aug. 26, 2009
There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and ... More Comments (5)
Everything's Happening, But Nothing's Going On Published Aug. 12, 2009
It could be someone’s living room in 1969, say, just outside of An Hoa: open air — no bullet holes or mortar scars — a ... More Comments (5)
A Con Love Story Published Aug. 5, 2009
Marlon Castle, 22, got in line for the entrance to the San Diego Convention Center after having stood in line for 20 minutes at the ... More Comments (9)
John's Fair Maiden Published July 22, 2009
It’s over, you know that. But it’s not. It’s never over. Year after year it comes back; and every goober, his brother, and his family ... More Post a comment
You Must Keep Reading Published July 15, 2009
Haven’t done this for a while. Seems indicated: recommendations for summer beach reading. In the past few months I have happened upon three extraordinarily excellent ... More Comments (14)
We Hijacked a Theater Published July 1, 2009
Junior Wells and John Belushi must have been grinning up from wherever they are now — mumbling and slurring with cocaine-and-Tanqueray-addled approval at “Doc” Holliday’s ... More Comments (2)
How's It Goin', Everybody? Published June 24, 2009
June has had damp cool about it. The sky, for most of the month, scallop and oyster clouds. Congealing bruises showed at intervals beneath the ... More Comments (3)
Hula Hoop Revolution II Published June 17, 2009
Speaking with a few young dudes and a few chicks up here in North County, I asked, “What’s up with your weekend?” this past last ... More Comments (2)
Escondido by Night Published June 10, 2009
I am staying in Escondido. I am unfamiliar with this town (which is called a city) and so I set out to explore on a ... More Comments (23)
Port-O-Protector Published May 27, 2009
How to explain what I was doing in Escondido as parking-lot cop on a Friday night in May for “Cruisin’ Grand: Pre-’74 American Hot Rods, ... More Comments (5)
Diversion from the Humdrum Published April 22, 2009
It seems as if the same number of people now spend their Friday nights watching YouTube (and other nights, and sometimes 24/7 — the meth ... More Comments (6)
Thoughts at 4:13 a.m. Published April 15, 2009
“Remorse, emptiness, relief, disbelief, sadness, feeling older, morally diminished.” These are feelings expressed to me in an email from a friend and fellow writer about ... More Comments (3)
Moral Failure? Published April 8, 2009
Not all Fridays — let’s face it — are fun, games, leisure, and license. Some suck. Not unlike a very recent one, a several-day visit ... More Comments (4)
Peruvian Currency Published March 11, 2009
Friday again. Payday again. You’ve been down to Ramen noodle soup since Wednesday. You’re in North County, but you are far from retiring, much less ... More Comments (5)
Crash Published March 4, 2009
Fridays are paydays for many working people, and it reinforces in some that sense of license implicit on the eve of the weekend. One example ... More Post a comment
Cute Little Thing Published Feb. 25, 2009
I am writing this the day before that God-forsaken Hallmark idiocy, Valentine’s Day, and it is Friday the 13th. This seems to spell doomed love. ... More Comments (2)
People-Watching Published Feb. 18, 2009
In these harsh, Bush-shadowed times as the sun sets on the empire of the two Georges from Texas, it is not surprising that our Friday ... More Comments (5)
The Road to Perdition Published Feb. 11, 2009
One recent Friday your columnist started out from San Marcos after five days with his disturbed son — maybe ten hours’ sleep, total. The whole ... More Comments (3)
Elephant and Castle Published Feb. 4, 2009
On a recent Friday night I was staying at the downtown YMCA. Don’t ask. The irony in its being referred to as the “Y” for ... More Comment (1)
Parking Lot Thrashers Published Jan. 28, 2009
Sometimes, on a Friday night, if you’re a kid and you live in the wilds of San Marcos, all you have are your friends, your ... More Post a comment
Spin Dry Published Jan. 21, 2009
On a recent Friday I was at Interfaith Community Services in Escondido, where I encountered some beatific (I think that’s the word) people, a diabetic ... More Comment (1)
Doubt and Indecision Published Jan. 14, 2009
In the past minute or three I’ve been trying to determine what it is that so distinguishes one month from another. What is it that ... More Comments (2)
Supposedly Endless Summer Published Jan. 7, 2009
Here is a post-holiday column possibly welcome only to readers who spend inordinate amounts of time taking the rectal temperature of cats. It is about ... More Comment (1)
The Time Machine Published Dec. 30, 2008
It was a Sunday morning, the last in November and just after Thanksgiving. The Time Machine, the 1960 George Pal version, came on one of ... More Comments (2)
Christmas on the Loop Published Dec. 23, 2008
Christmas is getting harder to dodge as a topic, and I may have outwritten that one. I think I have columns running right past that ... More Post a comment
A Tone of Entitlement Published Dec. 17, 2008
We have all by now — or most of us anyway — found ourselves familiar with the phrase “random acts of kindness.” I first saw ... More Post a comment
Just For Men Published Dec. 10, 2008
I will (the mountain or Allah willing) have turned 58 years old by the time this appears, assuming it does at all. Anything I might ... More Comments (2)
I Smoked the Weight of My Own Soul Published Dec. 3, 2008
Maitland is standing, fourth from the teller, on Friday afternoon at an undisclosed Hillcrest bank. He is holding a paycheck for $1050 and a deposit ... More Post a comment
I Love Published Nov. 25, 2008
Give us, Lord, a bit o’ sun,A bit o’ work and a bit o’ fun:Give us all in the struggle and SputterOur daily bread and ... More Post a comment
The Gates of Mercy Published Nov. 19, 2008
Visit the sick, it is said in scripture, somewhere. I try to do that when indicated, possibly because it is pretty much always the last ... More Comment (1)
Poor Dad Published Nov. 12, 2008
It would have been two weekends ago, All Souls (morphed along our border into Day of the Dead), a date I have had fun with ... More Comments (4)
Brizz's Body Count Published Nov. 5, 2008
Shall I give Halloween a rest? I don’t much think so. Why me? In fact, I notice it growing on me day by day, and ... More Post a comment
Halloween Dream Published Oct. 29, 2008
Fall is the most fun season to write in and about. I have exhausted the famous Hemingway quote to F. Scott Fitzgerald in one of ... More Comments (2)
The Dark Side Published Oct. 22, 2008
Now is the onset of a delicious annual malady that might be called the Halloween syndrome, particular to Southern California. Why Halloween seems to be ... More Comment (1)
Buck Up, for Cripe's Sake Published Oct. 15, 2008
I am, I guess you could say, a bit of a cutup. It’s true. I’m known for my wry sense of humor in certain circles, ... More Comments (3)
This Is The End Published Oct. 8, 2008
As always, it is a little odd writing this column at something of a remove, a matter of a week or two, sometimes as much ... More Comments (2)
The Angry Malcontent: A Musical Published Oct. 1, 2008
Only three months until Christmas! It’s enough to throw me into a panic now, weeks earlier in September. This gives rise to my thoughts this ... More Comment (1)
Dad, Do You Have to Smoke? Published Sept. 24, 2008
Visitation weekends are an anxiety experience for Baldwin, punctuated by sheer bliss. Baldwin is in his 50s and lives in Mission Hills. His little boy ... More Post a comment
I'm Watching Too Much TV Published Sept. 17, 2008
Over halfway through September. I can’t wait. I’m still stuck here in these dog days, maybe all of us are. My sentences are too long. ... More Comments (2)
Note to Trailer Park Patriots Published Sept. 10, 2008
Sitting down to write this column, I checked the exact date this would appear and was immediately transported to that morning of 9/11/01. It is ... More Comments (13)
My Mother and the Balloon Animals Published Sept. 3, 2008
Many people will tell you, when the subject comes up, that one’s dreams are uninteresting to others. I do not find that to be the ... More Comments (4)
Summer in Chicago Published Aug. 27, 2008
The end of summer is at hand, and I may well miss it. Jumping the gun a bit, but not by much, I find myself ... More Comment (1)
America's Finest Fridays Published Aug. 20, 2008
We San Diegans are a self-congratulatory lot; the weather itself is, to us, a kind seal of approval on our meritocracy. After 28 years here, ... More Comment (1)
I am, in fact, very much related to Conan the Barbarian and, by extension, the governor of California Published Aug. 13, 2008
It will have been some weeks after the San Diego comic convention by the time this sees print, but it hasn't happened yet as I ... More Comment (1)
SciFi Summer Published Aug. 6, 2008
Hot enough for you? I’m counting on the heat still being a predominant if subliminal influence this first week of August. As I often do ... More Comments (2)
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