BEST LOCAL PERFORMANCE ON YOUTUBE -- ROOKIE CARD AT THE CASBAH Somebody filmed Rookie Card's record-release party at the Casbah, where they took to the sidewalk in front of the club to perform the Beatles' …

A Friday night's diversion, without making a point of looking for any, presented itself when I walked into Borders Books downtown, at Sixth Avenue and G Street. Shelf-surfing at Borders (any bookstore) is a kind …

Have you ever made an ass of yourself? I mean, somewhere public, involving a loud hissy. Ever done anything like that? I did. I was in a coffee shop in Little Italy last week, getting …

"NEXT Church," read the painted sign running along one wall of the converted industrial space: poured concrete floors, concrete-block walls painted in muted red and yellow, a canopied stage in one corner, and a '60s-era …

Two weeks ago I wrote a column about Chargers linebacker Steve Foley, who was shot near his house by an off-duty Coronado policeman. I finished the piece with, "...this story reeks of lies and omissions. …

Thirty Years Ago SALLY, why keep kissing frogs when there's a prince standing behind you? Turn around. It's the magic frog you kissed long ago. You're loved. Prince. BWANA. Crystal Pier is a beautiful idea. …

Earlier this month, former blink-182 members Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker played their first show with their new band (+44) at the Roxy in West Hollywood. Until August, Hoppus had been silent about the band's …

Sharply terminated by the Los Angeles River and Interstate 5, Beacon Hill stands as the last eastward gasp of a 50-mile-long mountain range -- the Santa Monica Mountains. Back in the early 20th century, the …

Richard "Boogeyman" Martinez, a three-year veteran of the Freak Show (an eight-member break-dance crew), says the local b-boy culture will not accept anything rock-edged. "I have a mohawk. I'm into industrial music. I was raised …

4th & B employees learned last week that owner Ali Nilforshan sold the club to House of Blues Concerts. A former employee says 25 of 75 employees will be retained, and there are plans for …

Luis Illades lives the immigrant work ethic. The Tijuana native and graduate of North Park's St. Augustine High plays in four groups. After joining San Diego bands that fell apart during the mid-'90s, Illades moved …

Chris Doolittle says the all-percussion Procrastinators (who met in SDSU's Drumline) formed in 1999, when they built their first drum kit. "We bought barstools at Wal-Mart and, using a lighter, we melted holes into the …

Do you wonder why Mayor Jerry Sanders wants to spend millions of dollars annually to hire a high-priced monitor to oversee city finances? Or why he wants to study setting up a joint city/county authority …

How best to survive? Should a member of Congress coddle his district or make himself a national name? After newspaper and television broadcasting careers, Lionel Van Deerlin in 1962 won a seat in the U.S. …

When a respected, deluxe Italian kitchen that's previously featured only chefs FOB from Italy hires a Montana-born, Manhattan-seasoned top toque, it's time to taste again. Vivace's new chef, Bruce Logue, is a protégé of New …

Just exactly who is bankrolling this fall's ballot crusade by San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders to privatize city services and limit pension options for city workers? First on the list in a campaign financial disclosure …

The fledgling Truman Association of San Diego, a group of centrist, pro-business Democrats vowing to vie with the local GOP's wealthy Lincoln Club in the busy arena of independent fund-raising and campaign spending, has picked …

When he's not out on the hustings praising the merits of the Kroll report on past malfeasance at city hall or plugging his privatization measure, one of San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders's biggest causes of …

Live for yourself -- there's no one else more worth living for. Begging hands and bleeding hearts will only cry out for more. -- Neil Peart (of the band Rush) We emerged from the underground …

'The love of money may be the root of all evil," sighed Bernice, "but the only sure things are death and taxes. Money isn't going anywhere. Except maybe my money." She had just paid a …

Friends often ask if they can join me for the parties I write about. If I'm crashing a party, it's more difficult when I have people with me. If I've been invited to the party, …

“We do different game show themes to interact with the crowd.”

“I’m the only person who serves you during your every single entire visit ever.”

Urban Encounters This morning I was walking up the subway stairs right behind one of those girls . You know, with the hair? And the fingernails? And the ass pants? Her ass was pretty much …

Replaceable You: Engineering the Body in Postwar America by David Serlin. University of Chicago Press, 2004, $25, 244 pages FROM THE DUST JACKET: After World War II, the U.S. underwent a massive cultural transformation that …

'They're proving themselves as athletes, as women trying to play football. There's a whole different level of passion involved. Plus, women are known for being more emotional than men," says So Cal Scorpions player Jody …

Meet me at Mustafa's. I'll jump in your car and show you the valley.

Hey Matthew Alice: Every time I see a football game, the kickoff guy always pushes on both ends of the ball before he sets it on the kicking tee, squeezes the living daylights out of …

Hey, Matt: In those Lipitor commercials with Dr. Jarvik, he is standing in front of and walking through a stunning piece of architecture. What and where is it? -- Michael Faught, Clairemont Get yourself a …