Prescription for Numbers

It's unlikely that San Francisco's Numbers will go to Tijuana when they return to San Diego this week.

"It's, like, a lawless place," drummer/vocalist Indira Dunis says of their last visit to Tijuana. "As soon as we crossed the border, three or four cop cars from every direction surrounded us. They wanted cash or something. Our host ran over and cleared everything up."

Dunis was shocked at the volume of pharmacies that carry drugs available in America only by prescription.

"I actually did try to buy something. I was, like, 'All right. While I'm down here I might as well try.' I think I went in and asked for Xanax or something like that. They were, like, 'Oh, we don't have that. But we have something very similar.' "

"They did? Why didn't you get that? That's probably how it works!" guitarist/vocalist Dave Broekema asked.

"I didn't realize until I was walking away that that was how it worked. I choked, man."

Then the band got hassled by an American who claimed he was wanted in Mexico and the States; he asked for $50. Keyboardist/vocalist Eric Landmark called him a "lawyer on a bender."

"I gave him a dollar and he tore it up and threw it in our faces," Landmark says.

Numbers play the Casbah January 29.