Well, I was born an original sinner I was born from original sin And if I had a dollar bill for everything I've done There'd be a mountain of money piled up to my chin. …

'When you walk into a cafe in Paris and have a wonderful Bordeaux Superior, you are drinking Merlot.'

"Some people think they're looking at a video and think that it's fake," says Bob Nanz, the San Diego Astronomy Association's North County coordinator. "Especially Saturn, because you can really see the rings. I say, …

I remember seven years ago decrying the choice of writing about bars and coffee houses simply because they were so obvious, but I did not count on the ineluctable factor of coffee and rock music …

March was an active month for parties -- St. Patrick's Day, March Madness, National Corn Dog Day. You didn't know there was a Corn Dog Day? Neither did I. A group of UCSD students did, …

Stonewall Peak's angular summit of white granitic rock is a conspicuous landmark throughout Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. Although Stonewall stands some 800 feet lower than nearby Cuyamaca Peak, its central position and steep, south slope …

Heymatt: When my daughter was a child, she had an ant farm. I thought it had a hospital and a cemetery. Do ants have hospitals and cemeteries? Naomi, the net Were they out behind the …

I was going to begin by observing that most books about sports are dreck, but after turning the thought over, I'll modify that statement to, most books about anything are dreck. Still, there is dreck …

Dear Matt: If California is the Golden State, why is Nevada the Silver State? Shouldn't it be called the Silvery State? Or should we be known as the Gold State? Worried in North County Heymatt: …

Hey, Matt: I picked up a Gatorade bottle off the street with some liquid in it. When I unscrewed the cap to dump the liquid out, it exploded. The cap blasted off with a bang, …

“You get judges, ministers, teachers as customers because there’re always interesting tastes.”

Thirty Years Ago Victor laughs to himself thinking about how easy it is to bunk honkies. Anyone who is a transient is sure to get his ass kicked in a dope deal because, as Victor …

ChrisChrisChris is a different kind of band: front man Chris Decatur is live onstage in San Diego while the other performers beam in from different locales. Bassist Chris Capri and drummer Chris Hardy are transmitting …

Having bronchitis afforded me a rare view of the bleak daytime-television channelscape I don't normally enjoy. For a week the coughing banged me up and rattled me awake before regular programming had begun. First thing …

A Loeb Classical Library Reader (Loeb Classical Library), edited by Jeffrey Henderson. Oxford University Press, 2006; 234 pages; $9.95 (paperback). FROM THE DUST JACKET: This selection of lapidary nuggets drawn from 33 of antiquity's major …

Cheap Sex is on a growing list of local performers sounding off with politicized lyrics. The title track of their debut album, Launch Off to War, paraphrases the old Country Joe cheer ("What the fuck …

Somehow, some way, someday / We're gonna burn this bitch down for what they did in Abu Ghraib / Somebody, somewhere, say something / I've tried myself and I haven't changed one thing. "A lot …

After a ten-year run, the annual Rob Machado Surf Classic and Beach Fair has been canceled. Held every September at Seaside Reef in Cardiff, the surf contest/festival hosted eight to ten bands during the two-day …

"I can still rock," says Danny Weis, cofounder of Iron Butterfly. The guitarist, who lives in Canada, spent the majority of his youth in El Cajon. "I fondly remember the years I would go see …

When Minnesota State University (Mankato) students voted for the band they wanted to play their annual spring concert, first choices included My Chemical Romance, Jack Johnson, Dashboard Confessional, or Brooks & Dunn. Because the fees …

"We were contacted by lawyers for Babyshambles a few years back," says Shambles front man Bart Mendoza. "When the Libertines broke up, they wanted to call their new band the Shambles. We'd already had records …

"I was the kid on the ground doing pushups with my tongue," says 13-year-old Jade Gilley of her role for a Kellogg's Mini Swirls commercial. Gilley, who attends seventh grade in Vista, has been dancing …

Rejoice, fans. The Padres are one dollar richer. The team's long-running malicious-prosecution suit against former councilmember Bruce Henderson was settled last month for a buck. Henderson pays that sum to the Padres. But it's dwarfed …

In a surprise visit, San Diego District 7 councilman Jim Madaffer appeared at the City's December 1 Planning Commission meeting. Visits by councilmembers are "rare," writes Commissioner Carolyn Chase in the April San Diego Earth …

I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strangely, I am ungrateful to these teachers. -- Kahlil Gibran The woman with one dreadlock in her otherwise …

Cornfield Playgrounds The cornfield I grew up playing in is gone. On a recent visit to my hometown, I looked into the early morning sunrise over a street of designer brick ranches. While walking through …

That big two-page ad in the Sunday Union-Tribune of April 16 touting San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders's proposed budget was the brainchild of Pam Hardy, "communications director" for Councilman Scott Peters, according to documents obtained …

Padres owner John Moores has given $100,000 to Rebuilding California, a so-called issue advocacy committee controlled by state senate leader Don Perata. Since the beginning of February, Democrat Perata has raised $570,000 to promote his …

I yearn for the country, for the smell of grass, horses, and fresh produce. I worry that my kids are becoming urbanites. The sight of a horse or a cow is like a UFO sighting …

The first warm day of spring, I headed for Harbor Island to catch some rays at lunch. A few minutes later, I was sitting on the lanai at the water's edge at Island Prime C …