In the office where I met David Omen Acana II, paramount chief of the 800,000-member Acholi tribe in northern Uganda, a large color photograph of two hippos hung on the wall behind him. The animals, …

I was concerned by how much she enjoyed making plush toys squeal.

'The one thing that's crucial in this business, is not to pretend you're something you're not.

"We knew we would not be allowed to play [the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon], so we decided to take it over and do our own thing," says Dune Murderous of Defamation League. The local hip-hop …

On May 27, lawmen snuffed out a show at Stripline, a new all-age venue in San Marcos. The promoter, who had hosted four shows there during a two-month period, didn't have an entertainment license. "The …

Credit P.O.D.'s Sonny Sandoval for those tykes in your kid's kindergarten class named Nevaeh (pronounced neh-VAY-uh). According to the New York Times, the name's popularity is rising faster than any other in the past 100 …

This weekend, former Ché Café sound engineer and booker Bob Bellerue will enter the UCSD venue for the first time in 15 years. He'll perform as Halfnormal, his L.A.-based noise project. Bellerue ran the boards …

On May 25, aspiring rapper Lawrence Christopher Smith was sentenced to 84 years to life in prison for the November 2004 shooting death of Dom Perignon Champagne in Southeast San Diego. During his sentencing for …

In mid-May, Chula Vista police arrested the operator of El Jibarito Music Studio, Walter Rivera, and charged the 49-year-old with ten counts of lewd acts with a victim under the age of 14. The "inappropriate …

"Over 50 percent of my roof is gone, and all the wiring has to be replaced," says Candye Kane, who recently returned from a European tour to her partially burned North County home. "I had …

When Ashlee Simpson appears at Viejas Casino Concerts in the Park tonight, June 8, she'll be in possession of a bag of Ricola cough drops, some Dentyne Ice or Orbit gum, a small bottle of …

'The Scripps Park Project proposes to enhance this postcard-perfect place. I think they have some political agenda," says Jaruska Solyova. "This city is quite bankrupt and quite corrupt. With improvements done by the architect, [the …

Memorial Day weekend is over as I write here and so this will not exactly be timely, but Judith Moore, a friend and long-time editor of this paper, died very recently. I see she is …

A cool late afternoon or early evening in June is perfectly fine for exploring the aptly named Boulder Loop Trail in Daley Ranch -- Escondido's 3000-acre open space preserve. During the next six weeks, the …

“I need to put a little more junk in my trunk.”

At the Belly Up Tavern I overheard some girls talking about a Memorial Day party. I asked them if I could go. Two of them looked at me as if I was crazy, but one …

Time for our annual hockey column, a "Sporting Box" tradition that enriches itself year after year. San Diego, the seventh-largest city in the United States, is running low on major-league franchises. We have no NHL …

Gladness Blooms Hmmm...the happiest and saddest I've been in my life... Seems simple enough, but it's not. I was having trouble coming up with answers, so I asked around. If you're married, your wedding is …

Thirty Years Ago The recent swell of Letters to the Editor on the subject of my sourness, or sore-headedness, or however it's diagnosed, has reached a point where it seems advisable for me to step …

Maybe you have a philosophy. Maybe it has to do with Santa Claus clapping his hands and pop! out comes everything. Out comes the Milky Way and our solar system and down here, on our …

When a Gene Makes You Smell Like a Fish: ...and Other Amazing Tales about the Genes in Your Body by Lisa Seachrist Chiu. Oxford University Press; 2006; $27; 240 pages. FROM THE DUST JACKET: From …

Crash Carter was formed in North County in late 2004 and pairs drummer John Mears and bassist Jeff Bowman (both formerly of surf rockers Tower 7) with singer/keyboardist Casey Gee. "We're just three groove-oriented guys …

"We were meant to live for so much more/ Have we lost ourselves?" Switchfoot played through the speakers as congregants found their seats for Missiongathering's first service in their new venue, there amid the Moroccan-tinged …

Voyage, travel, and change of place impart vigor. -- Seneca Four people in the past three days have asked me the same question: "How does one pack for that long?" As I prepare to be …

Bachelor's Rant The wedding is nearing. As the bachelor and groom to be, let me testify that people believe its novel to joke about me getting married. Those who consider themselves funny spread crude remarks …

Uncle Max is at it again. It seems he's got himself a new gal -- Mae. "A real Southern Belle," he proclaims. "When she drinks her iced tea, she rests her wrist on the side …

"Have a seat, watch the game while I cook you up something good to eat," says chef Mel Johnson, owner of Batter Up! "That's my attitude, that's what Batter Up! is about -- like you …

The government's Enron prosecutors exulted last month that the guilty verdicts prove "no matter how rich and powerful you are, you have to play by the rules." Some TV talking heads are rejoicing that corporate …

Each new chapter of the bribery scandal that began last June with the unmasking of now-imprisoned former GOP congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham seems to bring a new local character to light, revealing to the nation …

Someone's been out polling on the airport issue, paying a Houston, Texas, public opinion survey company an unknown amount of money to conduct an elaborate 30-minute telephonic question-and-answer session with likely voters about their position …

Architect Homer Delawie, who survived his share of scandal and political heat during many years as one of then-San Diego mayor Pete Wilson's appointees to the planning commission -- including long-ago battles over the future …

Medicine is very lucrative for physician Jim Dunford, part-time medical director of the City's Emergency Medical Services. According to his statement of economic interests, filed March 15, Dunford, professor of clinical medicine and surgery at …