Dear Dad,Do you remember the first time we walked along the Pacific Ocean? It was in Carmel in the summer of 1965, our first vacation in California. That was during your two-year stint as a …

Thirty Years Ago ONLY TWO FREE classifieds per week, please. Some of you are cheating on this and other important rules. See last page for rules which help us handle a large volume of classifieds. …

Some excerpts from Simeon Flick's tour diary... St. George, Utah, the One and Only Bar: "The towns [in Utah] are only allowed so many bars per capita, and for the longest time St. George only …

The photo was taken in 1950, "near Rolando Hill, south of University Avenue and east of 54th Street," according to info on the Historical Society print. To order this photo please contact the San Diego …

Okay, so California Government Code section 1090 bans government officials from developing, negotiating, or executing a contract in which they have a financial interest. It's an obvious conflict; someone violating 1090 deserves to be punished. …

San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders may have his Charter Revision Commission stacked with big-money establishment favorites, like ex-city schools superintendent Alan Bersin and GOP lawyer and political insider John Davies, but local libertarians are happy …

Steve Peace, the ex-legislator now working for Padres owner John Moores, has been doing more than just making the rounds of legislative offices in Sacramento and working the rubber chicken circuit on behalf of Moores's …

Friends are generally of the same sex, for when men and women agree, it is only in the conclusions; their reasons are always different. -- George Santayana I knew they'd say yes. No woman in …

Who cares for the caregiver? Adriana Sevan assumed that when her best friend Rhonda was seriously injured, Sevan would stay by her side, see to her every need, and all would quickly heal on love …

My first memories of California are of salt air, sun, and speed: the wind whipping past my face as I rode with my brother Bill on his motorcycle. I had come to visit him at …

Title: Cerebral Itch Scratch Pad Address: http://cerebralitch.blogspot.com Author: Cerebral Itch From: South Park Blogging since: February 2007 Post Date: March 18, 2007 Post Title: Hi, Boomers, We'll Take It from Here Many things have been …

When I was 19, I had a friend who worked as a bartender. On certain nights the bar was without a bouncer, so off my friends and I went for a night of underage drinking. …

I received several invitations for St. Patrick's Day parties this year. The first party I attended, however, was the day before St. Patrick's, at the offices of Walsh Engineers on Kearny Villa Road. I had …

Yes, sir, the mind is an amazing thing. The other day I was walking, enjoying the warm sun, and counting bits of litter, listening to cars, birds, and people on my street. As I got …

'Culture Shock [a San Diego--based hip-hop organization] is not Christian, but a kind of youth organization," says Tommy Moseley, associate pastor at Rock Church. "Ours has a purpose, and that's to be a gospel." Moseley's …

I got told off last week...by a chicken. I'd had a particularly late night and hadn't climbed out from under the bed blankets until 10 a.m. My ears tuned in to the new day and …

I am one of the lucky few. I do not study, have never studied much, and do not need to study. Currently, my GPA is a 4.0, and I have never dropped below a 3.83. …

"I would get all crazy about how beautiful the vineyards are in fall or about how the air smells like wine during crush."

"So where do you go now for good Korean food since Boo Choo changed hands?" I asked my buddy Sang, whose parents are from Korea. "Buga is the place," he said. "It's in a weird …

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. Scholastic, 2007, 533 pages (300 illustrated), for ages 9 and up, $22.95 FROM THE JACKET COPY: A young orphaned boy lives secretly in the main railroad station …

I wanted to know, so I asked, "Was there something about it that grabbed you? That made you say, 'This is fun!'" Jennifer Kleck, owner of Aqua Adventures, a kayak emporium on Mission Bay that …

From the outset, a mix of old and new marked the service in Faith Presbyterian's mid-century- modern church. The old standby "What Wondrous Love Is This" served as the prelude, but the organ arrangement mixed …

People often ask me, "John," they'll say, "What's wrong with you?" Well, no one seems to know in any general sense. That is, if we're not settling for some facile cleverness like, "I'm an idiot!" …

Matt: The wetlands intersected by I-5 just south of Via de la Valle, looks like a major construction project is underway. Isn't that environmentally protected real estate? -- Keith W. Turner, Encinitas Hey, Matt: Settle …

It ought not to be esoteric. It ought to be known far and wide.

Hot Monkey Love Café owner Alma Felan allowed Funny Farm Productions to stage a series of Saturday hip-hop events called the Candy Shop, which featured a rotating group of DJs and MCs. "We had 500 …

Some Girls lead singer Wes Eisold is credited as a cowriter of three songs on Fall Out Boy's new CD, Infinity on High. However, he didn't help write any of the songs on that album. …

Insiders say Street Scene is headed for the Del Mar Fairgrounds. A representative for Paul Blaney (who handles the booking for outside events at the Fairgrounds) confirms that there have been discussions with Street Scene …

Diana Martinez booked shows at the Belly Up for ten years; she moved on to work at downtown's House of Blues two years ago. Last week, Martinez, who has 19 years of nightclub experience, was …

"The age of the printed fanzine has passed," says Mike Stax, publisher of '60s garage-rock-influenced zine Ugly Things. While Stax continues to print new editions of his 200-plus-page glossy covered publication, he acknowledges that the …

"We must resist this attempt to smash free speech and allow our community to have our own media," reads a newly circulated announcement from unlicensed radio station 106.9 FM. "The FCC is trying to shut …

Thirty-eight years ago today (3-29-69), Janis Joplin appeared at the Sports Arena for one of the first West Coast concerts with her new group, the Kozmic Blues Band. "Janis was flirting with a lethal combination …

The City is going to sell a slug of land. What's to keep a councilmember from buying some at a cheap price and later dumping it at a fat profit? Well, there's California Government Code …

Some writers are so suspicious. In the January issue of Men's Journal, writer Mike Guy raised new doubts about a story several Mexican fishermen told last summer of being lost in the Pacific Ocean for …

When Jay Goldby announced back in January 2004 he had decided not to seek a third term on the Poway City Council, the then-63-year-old grandfather said that he and his second wife, Sherrie Anne Bagley, …

Diminutive Arroyo Sequit Park, a 155-acre former ranch that is now a unit of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, is a bit hidden in one of the more remote parts of the mountains …

"The sausage patties were so big, my date brought one home and we made a pizza from it."

It is a quiet weeknight in early February at the Chula Vista downtown library when Dr. Dan Davis of UCSD, wearing pale green cotton hospital scrubs, arrives in the auditorium. He's come to make the …

Thirty Years Ago "You name it, everything causes cancer. You can't even drink water, they say. It's all a fallacy, like everything else." As Ida McNamare moves around the cramped quarters behind the counter at …

The bus on the sign is an accurate depiction of the "stages" they ran to Tijuana in the '20s. Those big buses left San Diego at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 6 p.m. The company …

'I thought he was crazy [to want to produce me]," Molly Jenson says about San Diego colleague Greg Laswell, "but we met one afternoon and wrote a song in our first meeting." Laswell eventually produced …

If you lay down, the baby will never come out! -- Native American saying I didn't think she'd take me seriously. Then again, I was pretty sure she was physically incapable of granting my request. …

I call my husband Patrick "Renaissance man." Five years ago he discovered his tenor voice while singing along with a Three Tenors CD I bought him on a whim. He started taking lessons, won an …

Title: Leaning into the Sharp Points Address: http://switchyardmusic.com/blog.htm Author: Rachel From: University Heights Blogging since: March 2007 Post Date: March 9, 2007 Post Title: The Death of a Dream Music has always been my one …

About seven years ago I went on a date with a rather odd woman (we'll call her Allie). She possessed two bachelor's degrees and was working on a third, yet worked at Restoration Hardware -- …

I received a voicemail about a party for Shay Davis, but I thought the guy said Gray Davis and that it would be a politician's dinner. Shay is an artist who moved here from Denver, …

After a quick check of Internet fares and a phone call, I was on the redeye to Milwaukee. Seventy miles by bus from Milwaukee to the city of Fon du Lac, a greedy jailer with …

"It's the summer months, and your children will be outdoors playing more often and could seriously hurt themselves." This announcement remains ingrained in my mind; it was made on the BBC during their prime-time news …

The border has been "bearish" since 9/11 -- that is, sometimes you eat the bear, usually the bear eats you. The unpredictability has hurt a lot of Tijuana restaurants -- especially the better ones. Fewer …

'Taco Bell had that Chihuahua talking on the TV, and people would always ask me, 'Hey, doesn't that little dog piss you off?' and I'd say, 'No,'" says San Diego State English professor William A. …

Small world. Jeff Morgan, co-founder of a winery founded on the notion of making rosé its flagship product, gets invited to San Diego by the local chapter of the American Institute of Wine and Food. …

"Signs of Life," read the banners affixed to the light poles in the parking lot. In the church vestibule, piles of take-home magnets bore images and Scripture verses explaining the signs. Week three was Worn-Out …

At 7:30 a.m. on the morning of November 21, 1980, Charlie Wright and me were drinking at the Barbary Coast, a midsized casino adopted by locals on the corner of Flamingo and the Strip. Caesars …

Latino rapper Raul "Blaze" Cervantes's first public appearances were impromptu, one-on-one street battles. "We would battle each other at the beach for, like, $40 or $60; whoever wins gets the money." The crowd would decide …

I heard it on the news today/ 39 people dead they say/ A madman had led them astray... Triangles on their faces and money in their hands/ he told them they would venture to faraway …

On radionigel.com, longtime 91X DJ Steve West has played Depeche Mode, Cure, and Ramones hits for the past two years. "Basically, it's what I play on my Resurrection Sunday show [on 91X] and more." A …

Fox Rox, San Diego's only televised local-music show, has been canceled. The program began in 2002 with XETV executive producer Mark Jacobs, who brought in music writer Troy Johnson as host. Jacobs left the station …

It was music -- rock and roll, really -- that brought me to California in 1969. Since then, music and I have treated each other with various degrees of love and dismissal: gaudy and debilitating …

Though Tokyo might not seem like a stronghold for Celtic music, local quintet Skelpin reports otherwise. In 2005, the band did a three-month stint at Disney's Tokyo Sea theme park; the band was asked to …

Few people outside of the military know of guitarist Jim Earp's career as a sailor. "Discharged from the Navy in 1979, I've been working for the Department of Defense/Navy Department as a civil servant since …

"I knew the sound guy's stress level was rising [after] one of us said a microphone should go on one side of the stage and then we changed our mind," says Matt Rhea of Manganista, …

The first-person narration sets the tone closer to a stand-up routine.

"Don't worry, my friend. There's plenty of free tequila for you."

New Mexico governor Bill Richardson -- sometimes called "Dollar Bill" Richardson -- is running for president. It's not an ideal time. Richardson was on the board of San Diego's Peregrine Systems from February 2001 to …

At next month's Peregrine Systems criminal trial, defense lawyers will probably ask if the U.S. attorney's office selected defendants on the basis of a highly biased report prepared after the company plunged into bankruptcy in …

The Colegio de Bachilleres high school sits about five miles east of downtown Tijuana on the Vía Rápida, the highway that straddles the Tijuana River channel. The campus looks like public high schools in San …

It's conflict-of-interest filing time again for state legislators, and as usual, financial disclosures by members of the local delegation reveal that many have been living high on the hog. Take 80th District Republican assemblywoman Bonnie …

Customarily reticent David Copley is speaking out, but it's not about future plans for the Union-Tribune now that the rest of the newspaper chain left him by his late mother Helen has been sold for …

The northernmost stretch of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in San Diego County traverses the flank of the colorfully named Bucksnort Mountain. Combs Peak is the highest summit on that mountain ridge, and rates as …

The narrow opening of the mud cave was nothing but a slot in the rock, barely wide enough for my shoulders. If you didn't know it was there, you'd never know it was there. We're …

Thirty Years Ago The taste and price -- and the romance -- of kiwis have generated one of the biggest agricultural fads to strike California in years, with San Diego County moving into the forefront. …

When 16-year-old guitarist Ted Friedman founded the Gravedigger V in his parents' garage in the early '80s, little did he know it would become one of San Diego's most influential bands. "We didn't feel too …

In Amy Freed's Restoration Comedy, Amanda's married to a philanderer named, appropriately, Loveless. He ran off to the Continent and, for a decade, celebrated "the diversity of God's creation." Hearing she died, Loveless returns to …

"Do-so" is more important than "say-so." -- Pete Seeger After introducing myself to a few people at a recent event, one guy said, "I know you -- you write that diary advice column for the …

I hadn't heard from my high school chum Laura in years, but it didn't take more than 20 minutes of catching up on the phone to discover that we still had a lot in common. …

Title: Dating Is Warfare Address: http://datingiswarfare.blogspot.com Author: Dating Trooper From: Hillcrest Blogging since: February 2007 Post Date: February 21, 2007 Post Title: "Based on my tarot card reading..." I think you will agree... That's not …

A certain mystique developed around the Tractor Room from the day it opened. Perhaps it arose from the black velvet curtains inside the entry door, shielding the interior from prying eyes, or maybe it was …

Have you ever seen a party in a movie and wondered why the parties you go to are never as cool? Well, I went to a bash in Clairemont that was as cool as one …

Within five minutes of meeting Stan (not his real name), I was head over heels for him. He was ten years my senior and had that confidence that can come with an age advantage and, …

“You can’t pick the newcomers out of the herd anymore. There’s almost more of them than locals.”

"You walked all the way from the Coaster? Try the Ironman sandwich."

I remember pressing my nose against the window as we flew over the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand for the first time. "Ah, yes, this is just as I imagined it …

'Iolanthe is pulled together last minute," says J. Sherwood Montgomery, artistic director for Lyric Opera San Diego. "I had to find a stage set and a set of costumes and cast it, partially using people …

With a shortage of money and time, fast food is popular with people my age. Now that I can drive and am a senior, I find myself spending less and less time at home. When …

"Lancers was developed to appeal to American military servicemen toward the end of World War II."

Instead of preshow trivia, the onscreen slideshow at the movie theater showed Kaleo Church's announcements. (Like the preshow trivia, they proved difficult to ignore.) "We partner with Abandoned But Precious ministries, which serves orphans in …

English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable by Lacey Baldwin Smith. Academy Chicago Publishers, 2006, 275 pages, $17.95 ABOUT THE BOOK: No people have engendered quite so much acclaim or earned so much censure as …

It's NCAA Tournament time again, a three-week basketball pageant that comes around every March to remind us what a national playoff looks like. The NCAA lists 326 colleges as playing Division I basketball. Sixty-five teams …

"This is not an act," says Romak, 19. "I wear full makeup every day." As the androgynous lead singer of Romak and the Space Pirates, Romak says he is more about action-hero fantasy than cross-dressing. …

Local rapper Brendan B tried to set up a show a couple of weeks ago. "I call up one [San Diego] venue, and the guy goes, 'You know, we really don't do rap music.' I'm …

The San Diego Indie Music Fest was held March 3 on seven stages located in North Park. Seventy artists played, but guitarist/singer/drummer Jordan Thomas says he isn't so sure about the "indie" label. "It is …

After Candye Kane recorded a version of the theme song to John Waters's 1974 trash-classic film Female Trouble, she sent the famed director an advance copy, hoping he might enjoy it. He didn't. "When inquired …

Playground Slap didn't sound like the other local bands during their 1982--'88 run. "We had punk and jazz and psychedelic and funk, but back then everything was called new wave," says guitarist Marcelo Radulovich, one …

"The Longboard Grill wanted to introduce live-band karaoke to San Diego," says bassist Rob Renovales, whose group Pickford's Party plays the PB venue's "Rock Out Karaoke" each Wednesday. "We knew a bunch of covers already, …

"The tour is about inspiring people to make space in their own hearts for peace," says Carlsbad musician Jerry Leggett, who is touring the U.S. in a yellow teardrop-shaped trailer he calls the Peace Bubble. …

A friend from Los Angeles visited the other day. We hadn't seen each other for nearly ten years. Now, any ten years are significant in a human life, but the ten years I missed with …

The level of culture in the film offers the American moviegoer a rare refuge and respite.

Forgive us our debts? For more than three years, William (Bill) Newsome, a member of San Diego's widely publicized Community Bible Church, has peppered the pastors and elders with questions about the church's debt and …

Where do you suppose San Diego Mesa College, which lies in Clairemont on its southern edge, will build a huge garage to solve its student parking problems? Why, largely on Linda Vista canyon land, of …

For decades, legions of executives, editors, and reporters of once-mighty Copley Newspapers have trooped out to the firm's posh Casa del Zorro resort near Borrego Springs for the annual "Ring of Truth" awards honoring employees …

Padres owner John Moores is a member of the board of regents of the University of California. So is fellow Rancho Santa Fe denizen Gerry Parsky. Moores contributed heavily to Democratic governor Gray Davis before …

The Los Santos-Trans Preserve loop hike on the Santa Rosa Plateau near Temecula traverses open meadows, grassy hillsides, and shady glens presided over by oversized specimens of Engelmann oaks. You'll enjoy superb views throughout, plus …

“Often, you’ll see that a tomato picked in Oceanside is shipped to L.A., then turns right around and comes back to San Diego. Happens every day. That’s how the distribution system works.”

San Diego singer/songwriter Danielle Lo Presti has written and recorded music for VH1, the Lifetime Network, Clear Channel, and the 1996 movie The Nutty Professor. In 2000 she went guerilla-style and founded her own indie …

Thirty Years Ago On March 10, 1912, 5000 people gathered in front of the San Diego city jail at Broadway and Front Street to demand an end to the ban on public speaking. The police …

Showroom in San Diego County. (Townsend Lincoln-Mercury in Carlsbad closed in July 2006.) This Townsend sold American Motors and Jeep. The car is an AMC Gremlin, considered the first American subcompact when introduced in 1970. …

Standing tall amid lesser bumps on the west slope of the Cuyamaca Mountains, Eagle Peak has a view of the island-dimpled ocean, scattered parts of urban and suburban San Diego, and the higher mountains -- …

Two of the most useful books I've read about theater: Moss Hart's Act One and Michael Shurtleff's Audition. Hart's concerns playwriting, not the craft so much as the tenacity it demands. He wrote one a …

The word aerobics came about when the gym instructors got together and said, "If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it jumping up and down." -- Rita Rudner T hin mats …

M y husband Patrick has been dreaming of the sea. After blazing through all 20 Patrick O'Brian Master and Commander novels in 10 months, he began to throw out wild statements such as, "I decided …

"We have been using spoons and forks since the present king's grandfather."

Title: Jake Esquire Address: http://jakeesquire.typepad.com/jake_esquire/ Author: Jake Esquire From: La Jolla Blogging since: February 2007 Post Date: February 27, 2007 Post Title: no title The mood is whimsical on Mira Mesa Boulevard this morning. The …

I thought winter would be the perfect time to write about the "Summer of Love." That was the theme of a party that Pat and Gene hosted to celebrate their 40 years of marriage. They …

Hey, my name is Elisa, and I was dumped about a month and a half ago. Here's the scoop. One day I came home from work, and my boyfriend wasn't home. I called his friends...nope, …

It has been several months since the passing of my grandmother. I cannot remember everything I did the day I received the news of her death, but what I remember most about my grandmother were …

'It all started when the cost of producing video dropped way down," says Ben Cote, "digital media guru" for DIVX, an online digital media company. "People had access to things like home video cameras. Avid, …

The cooking-segment host for that l.a. News station was a kid-toucher. They ever tell you that? No. Because Hollywood is depraved. Right now, there are slaves tied up and swinging from the ceilings of TV …

'You're all super-palates, you know," said Jeff Morgan to the crowd gathered in the San Diego Art Institute's Palette dining room. "If you weren't super-palates, you wouldn't be interested enough to sit here and listen …

Creepy Creeps Rule No. 1: Taunt the crowd. While wearing Creepy Creeps chic (mariachi outfits, caveman drag, or spacesuits), the band likes to get a rise out of its fans. "We heckle them," says guitarist …

Crawdaddy! rock magazine, launched by Encinitas author Paul Williams in the mid-'60s, has been sold to Wolfgang's Vault, online music-history merchandisers. "They bought it lock, stock, and barrel," confirms Williams. "I couldn't afford to publish …

"We just did a metal show at Tilly's," says Sergio Carlos, who plays drums in San Diego's Parasitic and Tijuana's Armagedon. Carlos says TJ bars such as the Hard Rock Café, Sotano Rita, Box Underground, …

The big question that hovers over Zodiac is not, Who's the Zodiac Killer? Nor is it, How did he elude capture? Nor, What ever became of him? None of the above. The big question is, …

EMI Music is the London-based company that owns Capitol Records. Two months ago, after EMI chairman Alain Levy claimed that the CD format is dead, he was fired. A month later, as it was announced …

"Marc and his group of scary-looking punk-rock friends [would] cruise the streets of downtown San Diego wearing armbands which read F.O.N.O., Friends of No One," recalls aspiring filmmaker Carl Schneider. He refers to punk artist …

Tim Mayfield stood at the pulpit, ringed about with congregants before and musicians behind -- perhaps a hundred choristers fronted by a small orchestra. The organ sounded out, and he led everybody in song: "O …

"I moved to New York in 1999 and immediately was in shock by the fact that I couldn't find good Mexican food," says San Diego native and Pistolera front woman Sandra Velasquez. "How hard is …

The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World by Lynne McTaggart. Free Press/Simon and Schuster, 2007, 288 pages, $26. FROM THE BOOK JACKET: The Intention Experiment builds on the discoveries …

I'm wandering the floor of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, an acre of mom-and-pop bicycle manufacturers. The ambience is low key, PG, small scale, nonpolluting, sincere enthusiasm. So, you can understand why the bomber …

What's huge, loud, strange -- and smart enough to catch the eye of every passerby? American travelers gravitate to Australians the world around, but do all those street-strollers giving Bondi the eye even realize that …

One TGIF I have always meant to do is about that happy Friday-afternoon ritual of standing in line at the bank with your paycheck in hand. This can be a social hour (and it often …

Every February, the Internal Revenue Service sends out a news release warning Americans that unscrupulous tax preparers may use dirty tricks to lower their clients' income taxes. The preparer may wind up in the hoosegow …

May 17, 2006, San Diego Police homicide detective Robert Donaldson was thumbing through cold-case files looking for something that might warrant reopening an investigation: a bit of physical evidence, blood maybe, that modern forensics could …

Wealthy car dealer Steve Cushman has been in the news about his port commission appointment battle with Laurie Black, daughter-in-law of the late del Coronado hotel mogul and U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, M. Larry Lawrence, …

A chain of Midwest papers is the rumored buyer of the Peoria Journal Star, put on the block by David Copley to pay his late mother Helen's estate taxes, reports blogger Billy Dennis in his …

The San Diego State University Foundation, which has changed its name to the San Diego State University Research Foundation, has been involved with more than its share of unsavory political practices in an unending search …

When he broke, it was hammerlike. It almost hurt my ears: a terrific crack! The colorful balls caromed and danced and spun everywhere.Nothing went in, though, lucky for me. So I lined up my first …

The song that played during 19-year-old snowboarder Hannah Teter's gold-winning halfpipe run at the 2006 Winter Olympics -- "Communicate" -- is by local band Strive Roots. Singer/guitarist Eli Lieberman is Hannah's boyfriend. "We got 150,000 …

Thirty Years Ago Some 15 years ago, I appeared in a San Diego courtroom as witness for Lawrence and Geraldine McGilvery, on trial for selling obscene material, Miller's Tropic of Cancer. Prior to my appearance, …

At the corner of Rosecrans and Pacific Highway, 1923. In 1911, three factories fired brick in San Diego; they produced 13 million bricks and grossed $100,000 in revenue. To order this photo please contact the …

In the midst of what is regarded as one of America's hottest and driest deserts, it seems a bit surprising to find a place where mosses, ferns, sycamores, and cottonwoods flourish around a sparkling waterfall. …

The time to relax is when you don't have time for it. -- Sydney J. Harris When we first met, David thought my neurosis was "cute." He toyed with my anxiety-induced OCD as if it …

I knew Christina in high school, and we've kept in touch over the years. As the years passed, some of the old crowd began to wonder if she would ever marry. But she did, and …

Title: Cat Dirt Sez Address: http://catdirtsez.blogspot.com Author: Cat Dirt, CDW From: Golden Hill Blogging since: May 2006 Post Date: February 17, 2007 Post Title: Friday Night in San Diego Here are my thoughts on Stingaree: …

I can't say I have women figured out, but one aspect of them I understand. I got invited to a party to which I had the perfect outfit to wear. I ran to my closet …

"I'm here once a week. Rehearse with the San Diego Symphony, then straight up here."

I should have known anyone calling himself Alexander the Great might be a narcissistic psycho maniac or the proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing. Heed the warning, ladies. Dating is like learning to fish. Know when …

Mike Soul, a local DJ who has appeared at and/or organized events at Olé Madrid, On Broadway, and Aubergine, points out that 2005 census figures indicate 30 percent of San Diegans are Hispanic. "There are …

New Zealand supermarkets are devoid of the range of TV dinners and pasta sauces that are the staples of their British counterparts. I didn't know this until my husband Warren and I sold everything and …

Local performers whose MySpace sites include references to illegal drug use: Cheez and Mac Jabronie from El Cajon post songs with titles such as "Big Phat Bluntz" ("Grab the fire and burn one down"), "Stoner …

"We recorded the whole thing straight to tape," says Vinyl Radio front man Matt Binder. "This is how the Beatles and the Stones did it." Two years ago, however, two-inch studio recording tape was not …

"We manage to sneak some humorous covers in, even if people rarely notice," says Paper Moon guitarist Daniel Dever. "The theme from Borat works great in a Gypsy jazz format, and nobody in the crowd …

'One of my pet peeves right now is the school educational system," says Susan Walter, education chair for the National City Living History Farm Preserve (informally known as the Stein Family Farm). "Kids are taught …

"I wanted to get out of Brick By Brick [because of problems with] one of the partners," says former Brick co-owner Chris Heaney. "He wouldn't let us buy him out, plus we always had to …

Mojo Nixon quit KGB/101.5 two years ago to work for Sirius satellite radio. (His weekday-afternoon country-rock show, Outlaw Country, originates from his home studio in Coronado.) With the planned merger of XM satellite radio with …

When the Who plays ipayOne Center tonight, Roger Daltrey's private dressing room requires six bottles of tonic water, a bottle of Belvedere vodka, a jar of honey, two packs of Throat Coat lozenges, and a …

When Christina Aguilera appears at ipayOne Center tomorrow, March 2, her dressing room should have an assortment of Power Bars, Cliff Bars, and Balance Bars, a half-pint of fat-free small-curd cottage cheese ("Knudsen or Clover …

"Flavor, in terms of wine quality, is secondary. It is important, but it is secondary."

What I am not is a loud ass in the morning. I am a morning person. When most people are slapping their alarm clocks and begging God to let them sleep, I'm cartwheeling to the …

The stained-glass windows of the Immaculata church showed black against their creamy stone frames as congregants gathered for the evening Mass on Ash Wednesday. Bare, twisted tendrils rose up from the vases placed on pedestals …

Which one of the following three events is least likely to happen? (a) meeting Santa Claus, (b) winning the British Open by six strokes, (c) becoming head coach of the best team in the NFL …

The IHOP Papers by Ali Liebegott. Carroll & Graf, 2007, 256 pages, $14.95. ABOUT THE BOOK: Francesca, a disgruntled 19-year-old lesbian, tries desperately to pull together the pieces of her scattered life. This novel opens …

This is a rare occasion; it really is. I am sitting at my desk, where I have produced tens of thousands of words in just a few months since I bought the desk; I'm staring …

In its advertising, Las Vegas boasts that "What happens here, stays here." But that's not true if you are a well-known San Diego biotech executive who went through a quickie marriage in mid-2005, a week …

The Mission Bay Park Master Plan of 1994 presented a vision of Fiesta Island's future that was general enough for different decisions to fill in the picture. Recently KTU+A, a local "land planning and landscape …

There's no need to ask why a black man of that generation would not immediately call the police.

Time again to check up on the doings of that growing corps of lobbyists working the corridors of power down at San Diego's city hall to get contracts and permits for their well-heeled clients. Year-end …

Former lobbyist and appointed San Diego city councilman Scott Harvey was once executive director of the San Diego County Disposal Association, a trash haulers' group. About two years ago, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger named him as …