I didn't recognize where I was. "Things have changed a lot," said Jorge Rodríguez, leading me out of the rain, into his two-story cinder-block house. "I came to Los Arenales looking for new horizons," he …

“It’s been around for a while — you can pretty much guess what they have on the menu.”

'For the most part, this stuff is high energy and high emotion. This is not lullaby," says director of the Chula Vista International Mariachi Conference Mark Fogelquist. The conference includes three days of workshops at …

Rice and Gravy Days bright with heat, afternoons merciful with rain. When I think of summer, I think of Mississippi. As a military brat, I spent portions of all my summers around the South of …

Thirty Years Ago THIS EERIE MALE still playing long shots, nevertheless would like an eerie female around the house. Special inducement, summer trip to Lake Erie. Truman. -- CLASSIFIEDS: June 26, 1975 Twenty-Five Years Ago …

Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don’t know. I got a telegram from the home: “Mother deceased. Funeral tomorrow. Faithfully yours.” That doesn’t mean anything. Maybe it was yesterday. — Albert Camus, The Stranger …

Mary had a little lamb. Mary's ovine pet propelled her, not just to stardom, but to galactic fame. It was the TV show featuring Mary and her adolescent sheep where her acclaim started. It was …

Far from sight and sound of the city, the Burkhart Trail blazes a lonely path over the desert bordering range of the San Gabriel Mountains and down into the upper margins of the Mojave Desert. …

Word on the street was that Jose Sinatra and the Troy Dante Inferno were about to take to the road again. The performer and sidemen haven't toured since April of 2001. That was the "bizarre" …

Harder to Cross the Border for Eek-A-Mouse. "Rumor has it he can't get back in this country," says Coach House Records CEO John Bullard about his label's dancehall-reggae star. For the past 15 summers, you …

"They need to understand they can't make a living on what the Belly Up did," says Belly Up Tavern talent buyer Jeff Gaulton. What the House of Blues did was snag Neil Diamond tribute band …

When my brother and I were in high school, he was in some boring Shakespeare play that I got dragged to see. It was fun hearing him talk about the cast party, though. Larry Zeiger, …

"What do indie musicians and Tupperware have in common?" That's what an article in the June 20 issue of Newsweek ponders as it suggests local O.B. reggae-rockers Slightly Stoopid have tapped into a hipper version …

"The days are over when a single local independent promoter will dominate the local scene," says longtime promoter Harlan Schiffman (Fineline Entertainment). Schiffman reflects on the life of Jim Pagni, San Diego's first major rock …

Who is Ziyad Abduljawad and why is he giving all those travel freebies to GOP congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the embattled old Navy fighter ace from the Vietnam War? According to congressional gift records, Cunningham …

The Deadheads' Holy Grail -- tapes of every concert the band has ever played -- is within grasp, thanks to a phone call from the former wife of onetime Dead keyboardist Keith Godchaux. Official Dead …

When the Neville Brothers appear at Humphrey's on June 24, in the tuning room, they want a bottle of V-8 juice, a bag each of "individually packed cookies" and "individually wrapped candy" as well as …

Katherine Jackson takes the toothbrush out of her mouth. "In an old house in Paris all covered in vines lived 12 little girls in two straight lines..." This is Jackson's way of telling me what …

FROM THE DUST JACKET: Over the course of his life, Robert Lowell impressed those who knew him by his "refusal to be boring on paper" (Christopher Benfey). One of the most influential poets of the …

My niece Bridget is fashion-conscious. Though she lives in a small town in rural New Mexico, she is, thanks to catalogs and the Internet, always bedecked in the latest fabulous must-haves. But there is still …

"Pacifica Del Mar, seafood is our passion! How can I help you?" are the first words you hear when you phone this restaurant. And phone you must. This place is a-hoppin' -- especially now that …

I mistype a Web address that results in a visit to the Sports Authority website. Their opening ad reads, "Lionel Riding the Rails Hobo Train Set. Our Price: $259.97. During the Great Depression, many men …

This January, Stephen L. Baum will retire as Sempra Energy's chief executive in fine shape (rich as Croesus) and at a fine time (as the company faces a jury in a potentially backbreaking lawsuit). Maybe …

“Once people understand it, they feel cool. They’re in with the clique.”

Movies reviewed this week: Après Vous, Bewitched, Heights, Land of the Dead, and My Summer of Love

"Beer is one of our core values. We enjoy it and like to drink it. Drinking is part of our culture and a great way to spend time with others," said Pastor Justin Bragg of …

Hey Matt: What's the deal with quicksand? As a child I saw movies where people died in the stuff. Cartoon characters sank in it. Yet in all my years of reading the newspaper and hearing …

“They’re growing up soft, less healthy, because they eat burgers and tacos and fries.”