Seemingly everything has been called a “lost art.” Spelling, conversation, keeping a secret, note taking, listening, and even (why not?) hollering. One string of online text even refers to the lost art of blogging.What constitutes …

It was one of my favorite events of the year: the Brazil Carnaval at 4th&B. She and I had just met, but we danced the samba as if we had known each other forever. The …

Yuseff Cherney says his revered and super-bitter Dorado Double India Pale Ale has become too expensive, if not impossible, to make. Cherney is head brewer at Ballast Point Brewing Company, which has breweries in Linda …

Welcome Mat This is regarding the article “Great for Everybody” (“City Lights,” March 20). When we elected Cheryl Cox as mayor, we unfortunately invited in outsiders whose goal is to control Chula Vista. The Lincoln …

The Iceman Cometh, predicted playwright Eugene O’Neill, but eventually, the iceman went, and so did the milkman and the doctor willing to make house calls. Next to disappear: San Diego Gas & Electric meter readers. …

Ponzi schemes — in which early investors are paid off with funds from later investors — are most often tied to stocks, commodities, and currencies. But just a few years ago, when Southern California real …

“I wasn’t mentally stable on that first record,” said Tom DeLonge recently to the Ventura County Reporter; DeLonge referred to the 2006 Angels and Airwaves disc We Don’t Need to Whisper. “I was spun out …

Gail Jones at the downtown Woolworth’s store, 1972. Jones and a friend, waitresses at the store’s café, were in the dressing room changing their clothes when management locked up at 6 p.m. and went home …

In February, Lil Niqo played an international rugby tournament at Petco Park that included teams from 16 countries. The rapper – a third-grader at Pepper Drive elementary in Santee – has had a few good …

An anonymous letter sent to a handful of city departments and the state bureau of Alcohol Beverage Control has put a stop to Mission Bay Boat & Ski Club concerts organized by Cathryn Beeks. She …

Brassy blues diva Candye Kane has been diagnosed with a rare neuroendocrine tumor, a form of pancreatic cancer. On February 22, Kane was admitted to the Scripps Encinitas emergency room with abdominal pain. The symptoms …

The first time I heard the word Larry was when my old boss said it to me. I bumped into him and he yelled, “Watch out, Larry!” I wondered who Larry was and then I …

What book are you currently reading? “Presumption of Death, by Perri O’Shaughnessy.” Tell me about the book. “It is a legal thriller. It is about an arson in Carmel Valley. Two boys went into the …

Louis XIV is on tour supporting Slick Dogs and Ponies, the band’s second Atlantic album. Released January 29, Ponies has yet to break into the Billboard Top 200 album chart. One insider says that being …

Name: Jeff Marr Occupation: Lab technician Age: 38 Lives in: Ocean Beach Night-surfing: Dog Beach Pre-surf music: Marvin Gaye Post-surf food: Fish tacos “It’s so peaceful and beautiful at night, I can literally walk out …

Album: Same Old Fight (2007) Artist: Modern Day Moonshine Label: self-released Where available/price: At live shows for $8, or order it online from myspace.com/moderndaymoonshine for $8. Songs: 1) Intro 2) Such a Shame 3) Unite …

Artist: The Devastators Song: “Land of Woe” (from the CD Better Days) Heard By: Nicholas Kistler, Golden Hill I was listening to it and, sure, I heard a beat that was synonymous with reggae, but …

Big labor is throwing in big money to oppose San Diego fifth district Republican city council candidate Carl DeMaio, a self-styled government reformer opposed by city employee unions. A state campaign disclosure filing made earlier …

It takes a bit of cheek to call a film Flawless. Especially a Demi Moore film. In it, she carries that affixed chip on her shoulder into the role of the sole female executive at …

Clue: Dead reckoning at holy field. Describe this location, name the nearest cross-streets, and win a Reader T-shirt. Enter by completing the form below. Last week's place: (clue: Exotic auto zone, commercially speaking) San Diego …

Miki Vale hails from Oxnard, California, making her musical debut on The Awakening, a 2004 compilation album from SGM (Sleeping Giant Music). In 2006 she collaborated with fellow Oxnard hip-hop artist Kankick for a 7” …

I tell Justin Sullivan that without rock, I might not have survived adolescence. I tell him that my 1960s teenage alienation was overwhelming, that rock lyrics put better words to my black anger than I …

Jay Reatard is the questionable stage name of prolific Memphis resident Jay Lindsey, who has been recording and releasing music for about ten years as a solo artist and with the Reatards, the Lost Sounds, …

“There is a kind of goofy stereotype of birdwatchers, that birders always have that funny hat and something like a fishing vest with all those pockets,” says biologist Tom Troy. “I don’t have one, but …

Lisa FranekFilmmaker and lecturer, SDSU Arturo Ripstein’s No One Writes the Colonel is just beautiful. The camerawork is amazing; it’s filled with rich colors. It’s a beautiful storyline that’s dark and dreary but still really …

Sam Zien is a regular guy. He’s a husband, he’s the father of three teenage boys, and he has two dogs, an orange Labrador and a Chinese Crested. He also happens to have both a …

No, to answer everybody’s first question, the flashy new Gaslamp Nobu is no relation to our sweet and humble Solana Beach Nobu, owned by Nobu Tsushita. For better or worse, our Nobu-sur mer merely shares …

The vapors, the vapors. Oh, man. Me thinketh I shall swoon. Unlike Bill Clinton, I inhale deeply. Rose aromas? Cardamom? Honey? It sits steaming under my schnozz here at the granite-top counter as I wait …

There is no way around it, not for several more weeks; I can’t get out, cruising on crutches to look into neat stuff to do on Fridays or weekends. I am reduced to poring over …

People fall in love. They fall in love with other people, with their pets, with the city they live in (or the city they don’t live in), with books, entertainers, crystals, artichokes, and, ranking near …

“Allow yourself to simply be one with the service,” read one of the suggestions in the program for the Good Friday Taizé Service at Light of Life Church. But there’s nothing like a nagging cough …

Sometimes the intimacy of a small, hidden waterfall is more aesthetically rewarding than the thunder of a famous one. Such is the case with Holy Jim Falls. Tucked into a short, steep canyon draining the …

For a long time, the only development project in my neighborhood belonged to a swarm of wasps building a papery hive in the corner of an abandoned storefront. They were the only things fighting entropy …

Fishing is boring, unless you catch an actual fish, and then it is disgusting. — Dave Barry The way my friend Jen tells it, her boyfriend Rob arrived home from work an hour before sunset …

File Under: Fiction Is Good for You. I was reading Peter May’s crime novel The Critic, which took as a dramatic starting point the murder of a famous wine critic, one Gil Petty. The hero, …

There were a couple of video-release parties I hit downtown. The first was for a band called Crash Encore. It was a video-premiere party for their song “Stormy Weather” at the Buzz Clothing Warehouse on …

Post Date: March 12, 2007Post Title: The Problem with Really Good TimesIt’s partly the empty chest of a lingering hangover, but at the end of weekends like this I feel like breaking down over the …

Spring is here and pal Bernice has soccer on the brain. A layer of dust has descended on her cleats in the closet. Her shoe size is a higher number, as is her jersey size; …

Thirty Years AgoA former alcoholic, Sister Winnie first immersed herself in rescue work 28 years ago when she took over the city’s oldest such haven (then 25 years old) and rechristened it God’s Extended Hand. …

Employees of a small defense contractor headquartered in Mission Valley have created a stir in local political circles with their flurry of contributions this past fall to Third District San Diego city council candidate Todd …

It’s politics with an inside twist at the County Administration Building, where Jim Duffy, a sheriff’s lieutenant, took over earlier this year as Republican county supervisor Ron Roberts’s chief of staff. Son of the late …

A typical conversation went like this: “Excuse me, do you offer home mortgages?” “Well, yes.” She seems startled. “What sort of customers borrow from your bank?” “People who have no other choice.” On April 25, …

Old men with money decorate our world.

“I’m pretty anti-karaoke, so we encourage people to pick really bad songs, to sing as badly as they like,” says Rookie Card front man Adam Gimble. His “Too Cool for Karaoke” event debuts this week …

‘When you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.” That line, from the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, serves as part of the epigraph for Peter May’s crime novel The Critic. The novel …

A bodey is a euphemism for a cuss word, although it’s not necessarily profane. It’s something that my friends and I made up. It’s a word you can say when you shouldn’t use a real …

What is the title of your book? “The Art of Voice Acting, Third Edition: The Craft and Business of Performing for Voice-Over.” Tell me about it. “The book is really a guide. The first thing …

The 8:30 a.m. is the more contemplative of the Sunday services at La Mesa United Methodist. Throughout Lent, elements of Taizé spirituality have been incorporated into the service. The worship bulletin (church motto: “Open hearts. …

“We never had speed down here,” Verne Dodds remarked. I nodded, agreeing with my former JV basketball coach, going back 40 years and more to our shared town of Imperial Beach. Mostly sons of Navy …

The Port of San Diego calls the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan “one of the largest waterfront planning efforts in the nation.” For more than seven years, competing interests have negotiated and compromised on parks, …

Without Malice Where oh where to find Alice? Who cheered folks without malice If you need to prune Poke the ad balloon Not the man answering ALL us Jill Porter via email Somewhat Fringe Earth …

The United States is behaving like a drug addict groping for another fix or an alcoholic reaching shakily for a hair of the dog. Our central bank, the Federal Reserve, keeps lowering interest rates and …

EdVoice, a controversial Sacramento lobbying and political action group closely aligned with Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad and other wealthy advocates of public school privatization and charter schools, has placed a high-stakes bet on the …

District Eight San Diego city councilman Ben Hueso has been told by the general counsel of the City’s Ethics Commission that he can’t vote on anything concerning the Dells Imperial redevelopment project area, which includes …

Thirty Years AgoLarry Remer’s first fundraiser for his weekly newspaper, Newsline, held in the stately Mission Hills home of Janed Casady, rallied 150 fellow liberals at $12.50 each. The ticket price paid for a chance …

“Mom, do you call Mrs. Phelan a cat lady because she looks like a cat?” Smart kid. Mrs. Phelan, who works as an aide at my boy’s school, does have a feline aspect to her. …

Post Date: August 8, 2007Post Title: A Simple Request to My Friends Prelude: One year ago, early morning in Las Vegas. I woke up on the floor of our friends’ hotel room with a brain …

I was talking to a musician at a club and he said, “Have you ever been to a pole party? I know about one next weekend.” A few things entered my mind: with the primaries …

I envy paranoids; they actually feel people are paying attention to them. — Susan Sontag I didn’t want to see the doctor. I never do. But my options were running out — pills made me …

This is true. I know my reputation for oddball fiction and addled fantasy damages my credibility, but I swear, this is true. A spider and I encountered each other in an unpleasant way. Last week, …

In Black Canyon, water amply illustrates its mindless yet artistic ability to sculpt stone. Every once in a great while, a gush of sediment-laden storm runoff tears through the canyon bottom, carving and polishing the …

This column is for once-a-year college-basketball consumers. The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is going to run for the next 18 days, and it’s possible to enjoy it this time around. Here’s a suggestion: give yourself …

Friday, today, I took a taxi to the office. The driver looked familiar, though I had forgotten his name. He told me but wishes to remain anonymous. I’ll call him Mel, and he reads this …

Stephen Sondheim was so proud to have a musical on Broadway — West Side Story, for which he wrote the lyrics — he went back the night after it opened and stood in the aisle. …

This restaurant is closed. “We’re opportunivores,” says Brian. “No,” says Jake. “We’re freegans. Like vegans, but only when it’s free.” Everybody’s sitting around two tables here inside Roots, chatting to stop the teeth from chattering. …

Sometimes, the second-to-last thing you want to do is dress up, get in the car, and go to a restaurant. The only alternative that’s worse? Shopping and cooking. Of course, this may apply more to …

Thomas PierceLibrary technician, Encinitas Pink Floyd The Wall has a dark, evocative story by Roger Waters and brilliant animation by Gerald Scarfe. It’s essentially a feature-length music video directed by Alan Parker. Parker also directed …

“Only one other fluted point has ever been found in San Diego,” says George Kline, graduate student in archaeology at San Diego State University. Kline describes a fluted point as an arrowhead with a “channel …

There’s been a buzz about Grand Ole Party for a while now. The band recently released their first CD, Humanimals. The artwork was done by local artist Kelsey Brookes. The band’s previous EP also featured …

As the millennium turned, Built to Spill was one of the bigger names in indie rock, even if the band wasn’t actually on an indie label anymore. Singer and songwriter Doug Martsch had gone from …

Cheryl Wheeler’s voice runs the table in terms of emotion. A singer/songwriter in the new-folk tradition, she teeters on the edge of a full-throated country sound but misses no opportunity to accent or put an …

Clue: Exotic auto zone. Describe this location, name the nearest cross-streets, and win a Reader T-shirt. Enter by completing the form below. Last week's place: (clue: One giant aloha) World's largest Hawaiian shirt, according to …

Two Mondays ago I saw two films. In the morning was the advance screening of the American indie, Snow Angels, scheduled to open locally a week from Friday. I should probably, by custom, wait till …

Artist: Writer Song: “I Think She Died” (from the Don’t Wake the Sun EP) Heard By: Mike Kong, Golden Hill I think it was kind of a love song, a memoir. She was singing to …

One of my favorite memories takes me back to my years on the high school varsity tennis team and turning our school’s losing record into one of the best for the girls’ tennis team. Believe …

Name: Aaron Age: 21 Surfing: P.B. Drive Post-Surf Food: Organic “My grandfather was a pro in the ’60s and ’70s. He really inspired me to start competing when I was 14. I’d been surfing since …

A February 22 4th&B appearance by country artist Blake Shelton was sponsored by KSON, which means its competing station, U.S. 95.7, had no connection with the show. The day before the concert, U.S. 95.7 DJ …

Since forming 18 years ago, the Bay Area—based Tommy Castro Band has played over 30 gigs in San Diego. Last Friday’s Belly Up show was in peril because guitarist Tommy Castro had his 1966 Fender …

Samuel Lopez says tomorrow night’s show with noise artist Justice Yeldham and the San Diego Noise Crew promises to be a unique evening. “What can you say about a guy who plays a sheet of …

Late last month, Kite Flying Society, the indie-pop band that took home the 2006 San Diego Music Award for “Best New Band,” split, leaving the recording of their second album, The Aviary, unfinished. The quintet, …

“For so long, people have told us that we were just a novelty,” says Matt Hensley, accordion player with Flogging Molly. “They didn’t give us any credit. They told our manager that what we did …

Album: Say What You Wanted to Say (2007) Artist: The Frantic Romantic Label: Self-released Where available/price: Music Trader in Pacific Beach or at live shows for $5. Online at franticromanticband.com and myspace.com/thefranticromantic for $7 ($5 …

Beth Bennett, manager of local Department of Motor Vehicles, 1965. She began working at the DMV in 1946. Bennett left San Diego in 1961, when Governor Pat Brown made her deputy director of the state …

Most everyone knows about San Diego’s widely publicized St. Patrick’s Day celebrations like Hooleyfest in La Mesa and ShamROCK in the Gaslamp, but for those who are looking for a more intimate St. Paddy’s experience, …

Odessa: it doesn’t sound like a particularly Russian word. Maybe Spanish, or Italian. Actually, it was named after Odysseus, the hero of Homer’s (if Homer existed) great epic poem, The Odyssey. Any word, when it …

After living in Northern California for four years, blues singer Earl Thomas is moving back to San Diego to join Ike Turner’s band, the Kings of Rhythm. (Turner died in San Marcos on December 12, …

Guitarist Joe Wood, a member of seminal Orange County punk band TSOL, moved to Leucadia last year. He says he legally acquired the TSOL name with drummer Mitch Dean in 1988 or ’89, as other …

La Jolla—based music-photography retailers Morrison Hotel Galleries signed a lease on February 29, taking over the Manhattan space previously occupied by legendary New York punk club CBGB. In addition to galleries in La Jolla and …

“After watching the lyrics come true with Paris Hilton, Lindsey Lohan, and Britney Spears, I decided to pull the song from the Web,” says singer/songwriter Scott Wilson of “She Won’t Stop,” his ode to fame …

Album: Here’s to Curiosity (2007) Artist: Invictus Label: Self-released Where available/price: iTunes for $5 and interpunk.com for $6. Songs: 1) Lost in Sounds 2) It’s a Leopluradon 3) The Ground Is Not Your Friend 4) …

Artist: Get Back Loretta Song: “Girlface” (from the CD Over the Wall) Heard By: Candis Krueger, Golden Hill I love that song so much. It’s so good. It’s better live, but it’s good on CD. …

We had a private listener concert on January 31 with Shawn Mullins at the Hard Rock Café downtown. It was 10:30 p.m., and we decided to go get something to eat. He was with Kip, …

Protest at UCSD, 1966. That’s Lowell Bergman onstage (with sunglasses). A student of philosopher and social critic Herbert Marcuse, Bergman went on to become a producer on 60 Minutes (where his exposé on the tobacco …

Name: Desiree Age: 19 Lives in: Mira Mesa Surfing: Torrey Pines Occupation: Graphic designer Pre-surf music: the Pixies Post-surf food: Slurpees “The first time I ever surfed was in 2005,” says Desiree, a 19-year-old Texas …

Clue: One giant aloha. Describe this location, name the nearest cross-streets, and win a Reader T-shirt. Enter by completing the form below. Last week's place: (clue: Ramona's roses?) A century-old rose bush growing at Rancho …

A pretty country quilt lay across an old four-poster bed on the stage at Pathways Community Church. The bed had been there throughout the church’s “Sexual Revolution” series — in which “revolution” was defined as …

What book are you reading? “I just finished Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz.” Tell me about it. “It’s about this guy who has kind of a supernatural gift. He can see spirits, and he’s trying …

A schwiggler is a sneaky person, someone who is trying to trick you or hide from you. It’s something my friends and I call each other. Of you’re trying to avoid phone calls from someone …

For decades, Tijuana’s eastern colonias have sprung from the chaparral faster than the municipal government can provide services to them. The resourceful residents in these neighborhoods have long brought electricity to their shanties by running …

Bad Government, Bad Press Re “The Rise and Fall of the Copley Press” (Cover Story, February 28), I would have liked more of a discussion of the Copley Press’s support of city hall that was …

Padres owner John Moores continues to pour cash into the legal defense fund of departing California Senate president pro tem Don Perata of Oakland, under investigation by the feds relating to alleged kickbacks from consultants …

It’s March, and that means it’s again time for San Diego State University Month, when the taxpayer-funded institution flexes its public relations muscle and shows off to local denizens what all that money is ostensibly …

You know the political season is in high gear when candidates file their ballot statements, describing their personal achievements, with plenty of hyperbole thrown in for good measure. San Diego city councilman Brian Maienschein touts …

In the early ’80s, at 19, I enrolled in a culinary school in Hyde Park, New York. I’d planned on finding an apartment off campus, but after getting lost and stuck in a traffic jam …

“Scientifically, there is nothing meaningfully different about people in different racial groups,” says Laura E. Gómez, professor of law at the University of New Mexico. “Race is socially constructed; it’s not rooted in biology. Race …

One night I was flipping channels on TV and came across someone interviewing shred-guitar hero Joe Satriani. Satch was talking about how his music expresses his innermost feelings. At that moment the TV editors cut …

“Their music isn’t revolutionary,” says my friend of Vampire Weekend, “but it’s light and silly, and it makes me smile listening to little blips of it.” There is an impressive shock wave of fan-driven hype …

Many hip-hop artists describe themselves as activists, but Southeast San Diego native Bennie Herron fits that bill more than most. With a master’s degree in social work and a bachelor of arts in psychology from …

James VasquezFilmmaker-actor, Daisy 3 Pictures, readyokmovie.com Paper Moon, shot in B&W, features an Oscar-winning performance by 11-year-old Tatum O’Neal. Director Peter Bogdanovich takes his time telling this funny father-daughter story, often with long static shots, …

Thirty Years Ago“Jacumba Hotel, Ida here.” “Hello, I’d like a reservation for this weekend.” “Sorry, honey, we’re filled up. We’ve got two groups coming in — the glider club and the A.A. — plus all …

“When I was a child in Mayo,” said my Irish mother as we drove along the Embarcadero, “my aunt used to send me down to the village pub to buy ‘a pint for the washing.’” …

I am dumb when it comes to girls. My friends are quite good at involvement with them, but their company hasn’t had a great deal of effect on me; they often think I am not …

I heard from a friend of a friend about a leap-year party in Clairemont. I brought a few of my friends who are in their late 20s. I didn’t think there was much of a …

Oh, now this is a fun idea for a story: an American wine critic — one of those make-it-or-break-it critics in the mold of Robert Parker — winds up murdered, pickled in a vat of …

The Secret is not just a moronic hymn to greed and selfishness; it nastily suggests that victims of catastrophe are the authors of their misfortunes. — Catherine Bennett In case any bubble dwellers happen upon …

My dad still lives in our hometown of Sonora. Folks call the area different things, depending on what they want to sell you. It’s “God’s Country” if the license-plate frames on the new cars at …

At 1680 feet above sea level, the summit of Mount Lee perches high above the Los Angeles Basin on the western edge of spacious Griffith Park. In addition to hosting the iconic “Hollywood” sign, the …

My connection to gymnastics is watching a 14-year-old Bulgarian girl do backflips once every four years. Turns out, I’m not the only one. I found this on the CBS College Sports Web page: “In 1969 …

I am not alone this Friday. Much of the county — certainly North County, where I am holed up, my foot encased in fiberglass and elevated — is rendered nearly as immobile as I am. …

In UCSD Theatre’s recent staging of The Physicists, Michelle Diaz played Sister Boll, a monobrowed, lock-stepping head nurse at a sanitarium. Diaz made bold physical choices, including reps of one-armed push-ups. Larry Herron played Johan …

“I bit my arm, I sucked the blood/ And cried ‘A sail! A sail!’ ” I swear, that’s how I feel right now. Like Ye Ancient Mariner. Been cruising Imperial looking for that ceviche place …

Attention, all New York expats and other lovers of indulgent, exuberant Italian food: That terrific “secret” Mulberry Street restaurant you loved and still miss has been found again — in a La Mesa strip mall. …

I walked into Body Marks Tattoo and Piercing on El Cajon Boulevard, a few blocks from the 805 and right next to a strip club. At night, hookers are walking the streets. A perfect setting …

Attention all masochists. Funny Games is not what it sounds like. Not fun and games, not funny ha-ha, not charades and Mad Libs. It is Michael Haneke’s English-language remake of his own Austrian film of …

“I need a hero to come in and save me,” says Alma Felan, owner of the Hot Monkey Love Café. “To buy [the café] and continue what we have done. I don’t want to sell …

Mower is looking for both a guitarist and drummer. Front man Brian Sheerin admits the band has seen its share of drummers. “One dropped out after the last tour,” he recently told metalunderground.com. “Then we …

Tax-free municipal bond prices plunged in late February. The market has since stabilized a bit but remains nervous. The positive side of the collapse is that the interest rates investors receive on these bonds have …

Maybe it’s my age — the dark side of my sixties, an elder proto-baby boomer, those 78 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964. Maybe it’s because I’ve been tearing my hair filling out Medicare …

Greg Friedman (Truckee Brothers): “In my old punk band, we played a charity Christmas show at a school for the mentally disabled. We started off too loud, and the entire audience was crying in agony. …

Not a Bad Battle? Sixty-four local bands paid $70 each to participate in the Emergenza Music Festival. The first of eight preliminary battle-of-the-bands competitions began at O’Connells on February 23 (eight bands on eight separate …

After one semester, Lou Smart, 20, decided not to return to SDSU. He asked his two brothers to move to San Diego and join him on the streets; since September, the three have been supporting …

“So, last night I got hit in the head by an empty glass Maker’s Mark bottle,” said As I Lay Dying guitarist Nick Hipa after a February 24 gig in Sydney, Australia. “While it did …

Artist: The Fascination Song: “Do You Know What I Mean” (from myspace.com/thefascination) Heard By: Benjamin Inouye, East Village I thought it was pretty good. It sort of reminded me if Interpol and New Order had …

Name: Mark Lives in: Ocean Beach Surfing: Ocean Beach Age: 50 After-Surf Food: Bean and cheese burrito Favorite Surf Spot: Mexico “I started surfing when I heard the message from the Beach Boys when I …

Extracted from a fat Philippa Gregory novel (the novel, that is, is fat), The Other Boleyn Girl doles out yet another installment in the long-running royal soap opera. Think of it as Elizabeth: The Genesis, …

Mauricio ChernovetskyDirector, Cassandra To someone who’s a fan of long, contemplative takes and abstract narrative techniques, Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Syndromes and a Century really delivers! But what’s most refreshing is the lightness and humor …

Originally a three-piece band, Merkaba Bandits moved here from Washington D.C. last year and added a fourth member. Their sound is a mixture of contemporary pop and classic rock, heavy on lyrics and vocals. Merkaba …

From the beginning, Bad Religion, a Los Angeles band, thought they had a plan for the world. “Don’t you know the place you live is a piece of shit?” Greg Graffin sang in 1982. “Don’t …

Everyone from Morrissey to Mötley Crüe name-checks the New York Dolls as an influence, but no one really sounds like them. Hardly anyone even tries. The Sex Pistols would not have happened without the New …

“We chose these movies because this particular branch has an 80 percent Hispanic-of-Mexican-descent population,” says Catherine Greene, librarian for the Mountain View/Beckwourth branch library. “They like taking these movies out, particularly the classics, and I …

Alexander’s is the new North Park spin-off of very old Old Venice in Point Loma, where the latter is popular, if perhaps taken for granted. In the gentrifying North Park area, however, no decent restaurant …

Could this be it? Cue music: “This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius…” I mean, if I was looking for a sign, this sign has to be it. “Organic to Go,” right here …

Greeth is a combination of ‘“gross” and “teeth.” I guess it could also be “green” and “teeth,” depending on how long it had been since the person brushed. “Grums” is the same idea but pertaining …

Maybe things’re different across the lake, where vacationers play nonstrenuous games and pound down chow on the American Plan: three squares, plus tea, coffee, and snack breaks. They’ve come to the Catskills in the summer …

“With some important exceptions, scholars and translators, from the 19th Century onwards, have been virtually at one in their indifference to Seven Against Thebes; an indifference which has been deflected from time to time only …

We were talking about Michelle Wie, who was The Next Big Thing in women’s golf at the age of 10, and now, at 18, is a has-been making $19 million a year (according to Forbes). …

After many years of awkward accessibility, or no access at all, the north slope of Black Mountain once again welcomes hikers (and their four-legged companions). The new, improved access to the Miner’s Ridge Loop Trail …

How the Nightly News Should Be: Today, billions of people survived. Of our species, less than one percent was killed, raped, or burglarized. So, don’t freak out and worry about a bunch of terrifying stuff …

I call it performance art, but my friend Ariel calls it wasting time. History will decide. — Steve Martin as Harris in L.A. Story To me, the word “chocolate” is the penultimate attention-grabber, second only …

‘Why don’t you write a book about wine?” You write about a subject long enough — nine years here at “Crush” — and you’re bound to hear it a few times. And every time I …

I went to an Oscar party at Sunset Cliffs in O.B. The affair was a potluck, and I stopped at a grocery store to pick up a cake. A few days earlier, when I was …

The sold-out February 25 Marilyn Manson show at House of Blues had its share of weirdness. A few couples dressed in leather S&M outfits. Many in the crowd dressed like Marilyn Manson, looking like raccoons …

Four years back, while I was living in Tarbela Dam, a friend of mine asked me to accompany him to have his computer upgraded. I said, “Fine, let’s hit the road to Peshawar tomorrow.” He …

As my mother’s memory gets shorter, the East Coast winters that seep into her bones tend to get longer — especially when she forgets to turn up the thermostat. Mom and Dad are fierce, independent …

Thirty Years AgoSunday, country music figurehead Johnny Cash makes his annual visit to San Diego at the Civic Theatre with his perennial partners, June Carter and the Carter family. Cash has long been the most …

Texas buyout magnate T. Boone Pickens, who has a spread in Del Mar Country Club Estates near Rancho Santa Fe, is throwing a St. Patrick’s Day fund-raiser for GOP Congressman Brian Bilbray. The host committee …

What remains of San Diego’s rapidly diminishing press corps has always had a tough time getting a straight story out of Mayor Jerry Sanders and his bulked-up spinmeister Fred Sainz. Sanders is sometimes produced for …

The San Diego State University Research Foundation has parted company with the firm of ex–GOP congressman Bill Lowery, its longtime lobbyist, who is currently under scrutiny by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles for …

LETTERS Just Ten Off Really enjoyed this article (“The Rise and Fall of the Copley Press,” Cover Story, February 28). It was well-researched. One minor edit. In the reference to the 1978 PSA air crash, …

On Friday morning, February 15, the patrons at Krakatoa café in Golden Hill sipped on blood red pomegranate tea and poked at laptops. They repositioned patio chairs to allow the sun’s rays to land on …

San Diego’s heralded Smart Corner is smarting — as in stinging. It’s a condominium/office building project, another of the City’s touted public/private sector ventures. What titillates city planners is that the trolley runs between a …

Q: Ramona's roses? Describe this location, name the nearest cross-streets, and win a Reader T-shirt. Enter by completing the form below. Last week's place: (clue: Capri-cious diving belle?) "Diving lady" neon sign outside the Villa …

“I want to encourage you to enjoy really close fellowship today — about 15 people to a pew,” said Pastor Mark Wilkinson as the congregation poured through the doors of the small, spare church. The …

Album: Wasn’t Tomorrow Horrible (2007) Artist: Roxy Jones Label: H.O.I. Where available/price: Off the Record in North Park, M-Theory in Mission Hills, or Thirsty Moon in Hillcrest for $7. Songs: 1) Hola Papi! 2) GM …

I think there’s a particular kind of relationship — specific to each person — that you must endure before you find the one that you are going to spend the rest of your life with. …

Virginia Casey with chinchilla pelts at Graf’s Firs, Fashion Valley, 1972. In 1940, the daily paper interviewed a local retired druggist who was raising chinchillas. By 1951, 200 San Diegans reportedly had chinchilla farms. A …

Considering they’ve been making noise and upsetting parental status-quo sensibilities since 1980, it’s not only a pleasure to be on the receiving end of fresh Bad Religion albums every 24 months or so, it’s also …

What are you currently reading? “The most recent book I read was Loving Frank — it’s a novel by Nancy Horan.” Tell me about it. “It’s basically a novel about the events in the life …