Locals rocking tattoos and a Bill Shatner Freakfest

ROCKIN’ TATTOOS Tattoo shops flourish in San Diego, and pretty much always have. Customers used to be perceived, correctly or not, as coming from predominantly military, blue collar or “outlaw” (bikers and ex-cons) backgrounds. In actuality, practitioners and aficionados come …

Brunch with a Beatle bride

MY BRUNCH WITH YOKO Yoko's personal secretary called me early on a Friday afternoon. "Miss Ono and her companion will be arriving in Dalton Georgia around 3pm tomorrow. She regrets that she won't be able to accompany you to your …

Trouble in Paradise, plus Famous Cartoon Neighbors, and Local Fashion Wearabouts

Worst in Rock: Busted, Burned & Barefoot in Balboa Park STEPHEN STILLS August 14, 1970 In late 1970, ex-Byrd David Crosby, former Hollie Graham Nash and Buffalo Springfield singer Stephen Stills were joined by periodic fourth voice Neil Young, as …

Celeb Graves, Locals Make Their Own MTV, and Rock’n Rob’n

FAMOUS FORMER NEIGHBORS - CELEB GRAVESITES Whether you're goth or you just dig celebrity graves (that's "dig" as in "enjoy"), you might be interested to know of these famous former neighbors entombed at a gravesite near you. BOBBY DRISCOLL (1937-1968) …

Plus Kyle XY’s local music connection, Gaslamp gadflys, San Diego’s first rock stars, a phone call from Bob Dylan(?)

MOTLEY CRUE SPOOF – SNOTLEY CRUE Here’s a rarity from the Rock ‘N’Roll Comics archives – this mini-comic created in Hillcrest was commissioned to be included with Motley Crue’s official box CD set “Music To Crash Your Car To II” …

SoCal skinheads, Local DJ Stalkers, and Concert Lawsuits

SoCal skinheads, Local DJ Stalkers, and Concert Lawsuits DO THE WHITE THING "Throughout history, music has been used to recruit and unify ultra-right movements. A lot of people think the Third Reich couldn’t have happened without Wagner. For Skinheads, who …

Stone Temple Pilots, Crimson Moon, the Brain Police, Online BootyCall, and more –

Scott Weiland didn’t show up for a Velvet Revolver gig at the Sundance Film Fest, just as the press quoted him saying a reunion of his old band Stone Temple Pilots is imminent. Hmmmmmm…hey, VR, I hear Sammy Hagar is …

Also: War Stories battling over band name, Boy Shakira is all my fault, & “I Found Nirvana (Next To The Foo Fighters)”

WAR STORIES AT WAR “There’s a bunch of makeup wearing weirdos rocking our name,” says DJ Frydae of Boston-based War Stories, referring to a local band using the same name. “I Googled it one night and found ‘em. In turn …

Inside story of a local '70s counterculture icon & Top 5 Lists

LEGENDARY LOCAL DJ GARY ALLYN: THE O.B. RANGER RIDES AGAIN! “We were going after the progressive rock or the album rock crowd,” says radio DJ and programming vet Gary Allyn about his early seventies on-air gig in San Diego. “We …

Rating TJ's toilet facilities, and a creepy old guy goes to a rave...

Every weekend evening, thousands of people travel southbound across the San Ysidro-Puerta México Port of Entry. The majority will pass right by Plaza Viva Tijuana, a retail commercial center adjacent to the border station, and head straight for the nightclubs …

I didn't set out to become a pornographer...

BATTLE OF THE PEEPS – THE INSIDE STORY OF A PORNOGRAPHY EMPIRE I didn’t set out to become a pornographer. In '84, about to become jobless, I grabbed the Yellow Pages and circled every “bookstore” listing within moped-riding distance of …

New axe to grind with Mustaine & old axe courtesy Bart Mendoza

SOMEONE ELSE IS MAD AT DAVE MUSTAINE Last month, Megadeth mainman and North County resident Dave Mustaine conducted a “Who Will Support Megadeth In Europe?” poll on theliveline.com. A metal band named Warmachine scored highest, earning 21 percent of the …

Remember the Monroes?

REMEMBER THE MONROES??? “Could you be the one I’m thinking of? Could you be the girl I really love? All the people tell me so, but what do all the people know!” (The Monroes, “What Do All The People Know”) …

According to hearing experts and the rockers themselves...

From an engineering standpoint, the human ear has more design flaws and potential for breakdown than any other mechanism on Earth. That’s according to audiologists, whose expertise involves evaluating the nature and degree of hearing loss. Since obtaining such expertise …

Gene Simmons, Stan Lee, Axl Rose, Gene Roddenberry, etc.

(repost of an earlier deleted entry) I hear it all the time. "Wow, I wish I had your job - you get paid to have fun and hang out with famous people!" What folks don't seem to understand is that …

City rankings on various year-end lists, and the inside story of an infamous local murder

SOME LOCAL NUMBERS FOR 2007 San Diego ranked #17 in U.S. terrestrial radio market earnings last year, with 45 operating stations generating around $203 million dollars income. The same Arbitron ratings show the two most-listened to local stations are KSON-FM/KSOQ-FM …

Local tattooists talk rock, and a rare chat with legendary Zappa protégé Wild Man Fischer

Tattoo shops flourish in San Diego, and pretty much always have. Customers used to be perceived, correctly or not, as coming from predominantly military, blue collar or “outlaw” (bikers and ex-cons) backgrounds. In actuality, practitioners and aficionados come from every …

Instead of a lawsuit, I was served brunch…

DUFF-O-CIDE "A Duff is a Designated Ugly Fat Friend. They are most commonly spotted within a small group of girls hidden behind a large burrito or super-sized meal. They have a violent temper and must be approached with extreme caution. …

Plus all the Shat you can eat (and THEN some), and '70s cartoon psychedelia

JON KANIS: "If I had to pick only one of the 156, I'd probably say 'The Dummy' starring San Diegan Cliff Robertson and written by Rod Serling, a contemporary master of the morality play if ever there was one. Honorable …

Bad blood and new blood -- Goodbye Ike and Hello Rob’n

WE ASKED LOCAL MUSICIANS “LENNON OR McCARTNEY? JAMIE RENO signed a national record deal in 2004 with 33rd Street Records and 10,000 copies of his last record, Survivors’ Songs, were donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, to be given …