If San Diego has a voice, it may be the plummy bass of Chris Cantore. Until December 2007, the Brooklyn native was an audible fixture on 91X’s Cantore in the Morning, his 5:00–10:00 a.m. show, …

Mel Vernon leans against a black steel fence behind Quarry Creek Shopping Center, on the border of Carlsbad and Oceanside. Above him towers a massive signpost facing the traffic on State Route 78. Below him …

Applause X 2 Excellent article by Barbara Davenport on Reality Changers and Christopher Yanov’s effort to help young people like those in the story (“Gangbangers to College Students,” Cover Story, December 24). I applaud Mr. …

Old punk rockers who are still willing and able: that list would include Mike Watt. But unless you were a fan of the Minutemen or fIREHOSE or ’80s Southern California punk revival in general, you’ve …

Political folk-punk band This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb has been around for more than ten years, but it feels weird to be writing about them in a big weekly newspaper. In an age of …

“I’ve lived in San Diego all my life,” says singer-songwriter Jack Tempchin, “and I consider it my city — although I don’t mind sharing it with a few million people.” Before writing songs for the …

Post-Christmas blahs have set in. Children are lolling about the house, and I got a couple of nice checks for Christmas. Time for a jump start. Steve Wymore is manager of Backyard Adventures in San …

There was a story on CNN about the controversy surrounding a public Christmas tree in Washington, D.C. In the interest of fairness, apparently, an atheist group was permitted to place a sign up in the …

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this …

It was a Sunday morning, the last in November and just after Thanksgiving. The Time Machine, the 1960 George Pal version, came on one of the classic-movie stations, and I could not get out of …

Dallas is the great loser. Like a schoolmarm who has run out of patience with the class dullard, Dallas players brought home their message of quit with a slap to the face. The Boys were …

I say “I’m too junkie for that.” It means that you are too cool for something or too hip. It’s not a drug reference, though. I think I made it up about two months ago. …

This restaurant is closed. Should I or shouldn’t I? I stand at the base of the steps. Up top, a couple of “log” fires are burning in their chimeneas, kivas. Beautiful People sit around them, …

Where has all the foie gras gone, long time passing? These are bad times! Don’t it just make you wanna throw your shoes at someone? A year ago, the glitzy openings of Quarter Kitchen at …

Skiing in San Diego County’s mountains? Fact or fiction? The answer in any given winter season varies, but it is typically “fact” for one or two brief periods of time per year. The type of …

Halley’s Comet appeared when I was nine. It came late at night. I was watching TV on the couch, dozing. There was a big fuss about it; every commercial break, a news anchor would tell …

Shabbat was over; the spare, clean-lined synagogue at Dor Hadash was empty. Instead, the community gathered in the adjacent room, decorated for a party. Tinfoil runners gleamed over blue-and-white tablecloths; clusters of silver-and-blue-foil dreidels hung …

Short of the outlying fields of basketball playoffs (the Jayhawks, the Celtics) and Presidential campaigns (Obamanos!), strictly confined instead to my assigned field, the year just past felt pretty dismal. On the personal front, Manny …

Nine years ago, Francisca and Jorge Alvarez started selling Slayer T-shirts, pentagram necklaces, and Dimmu Borgir pins at Kobey’s Swap Meet and at weekly swap meets in North County. Six years ago, they opened the …

Tonight’s headliners at the Belly Up, the Night Marchers, San Diego knows well; three quarters of the band’s members were together from 1999 to 2005 as Hot Snakes. The fourth Hot Snake was singer-guitarist Rick …

“For the past six months, I’ve been toying around with live Internet broadcasting from my home,” says singer-songwriter Michael Tiernan. “In the past couple of months, my audience has really begun to grow.” Tiernan’s “interactive …

Almost 29 years ago (1/2/80), Cheap Trick played to a sold-out crowd at the Sports Arena. Exactly one year earlier (1/2/79), the band’s Civic Theatre concert attracted around 1000 patrons (this was before the release …

William “Doc” Hunter, 70, jazz pianist, Chicago Six, South Market Street Jazz Band. d. 1/8/08. Bob Finch, 82, jazz bassist and bandleader for the Chicago Six. d. 1/12/08. John Stewart, 68, member of the Kingston …

Album: Into My Soul (2008) Artist: Lindsay Hail Label: self-released Where available/price: Cow Records in Ocean Beach and Music Trader in Point Loma and Pacific Beach for $9.99. CDBaby.com for $12.97; iTunes and Digstation.com for …

The San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System always likes to brag about its investment performance. It endlessly points out that among its peers (other municipal employees’ funds) and among benchmarks by which various funds are …

Seventy-year-old Hoover High School wants to make some major renovations to their sports facilities, including new bleachers, restrooms, a press box, new entrances to the fields, and 90-foot light towers so they can host nighttime …