Witnesses reported a motorcycle crash at approximately 1:45 p.m. on April 29. Volunteer sheriff's deputies were the first to reach the scene on Highway 79, near the Green Valley state campgrounds. No rider could be …

A low-flying helicopter hovered over Sabre Springs on the morning of April 29. Its mission was to kill mosquito larvae in three areas of standing water near the intersection of Poway Road and Sabre Springs …

At approximately 12:30 p.m. on April 21, a middle-aged woman fell down a cliff above the beach at the end of Santa Cruz Avenue. An ambulance was called, and within minutes police cars, fire engines, …

I’ve been gone a long time. When I wake up in the morning and look out my window, the deep topaz sky over Carmel Valley is so inviting. Palm fronds clack at my window, beckoning …

During District 2 councilmember Kevin Faulconer’s state of the district speech on April 27, he listed his accomplishments during the past three years. One of his proudest accomplishments so far has been banning alcohol from …

Artist: Po County featuring Big Money BlueSong: “Po County Livin’ It Up (Slamming)” (from their two-song CDR)Heard By: Richard Medlen, San Diego It was good; it had a great beat to it. It was something …

When the new Gio took over the space of the old Village Garden, the charming neighborhood of La Mesa Village acquired something like a “downtown-y” restaurant, a sophisticated but family-friendly indoor-outdoor bistro and wine bar. …

“Slow down, you move too fast. You’ve got to make the morning last...” Can’t help humming that Simon and Garfunkel ditty. Life’s pouring through my veins again. How not? It’s one of those crisp, sunny …

Call it a riptide in the ranks of city lifeguards. A dissident group is roiling the city’s beachfront guardians with an effort to split from the San Diego Municipal Employees Association, which represents them and …

"In Spain there was Guernica! But here there was only hot swing music and liquor, dance halls, bars, and movies, and sex that hung in the gloom like a chandelier and flooded the world with …

These things are fun every long once in awhile. Every long once in awhile has passed. Let the fun begin. Short-Term Memory section, 2008 NFL division. 1. One of these teams won all their home …

A loaf of bread and a pitcher (presumably of wine) flanked the oversized open Bible on the long stone altar at Northminster Presbyterian on Sunday, but there was no communion service. There wasn’t much liturgy …

Adjoining the vast spaces of Angeles National Forest, Claremont Hills Wilderness Park spreads over foothills spilling down toward the college town of Claremont. The Cobal Canyon Loop, the one significant hike in the park that …

“Live clean, die nasty,” as suggested in track three, “19:04,” seems to be the prevailing theme of this rap album. The four men behind it — Kostik, Tank, Mute, Kalibur — paint a tough-as-nails portrait …

Matt Curreri of the Exfriends has been looking for a venue where he can play weekly shows, like the dive bar on Manhattan’s Lower East Side where he used to play every Sunday with his …

From 1994 to 2004, guitarist Ryan Ruiz and bassist Steve Van Wyk played in Surf Report, a band known for retooling metal songs (“Ace of Spades,” “Crazy Train”) into instrumental surf tunes. They opened for …

Eighties electronic duo Red Flag performed for the first time in San Diego since 2002 on April 22 at the House of Blues. Originally a project of siblings Chris and Mark Reynolds, the show marked …

Slab City lies at the southeast corner of the Salton Sea, where the Anza-Borrego Desert becomes the Colorado Desert. The “slabs” are what’s left from WWII training facility Camp Dunlop. And there’s an Olympic-sized swimming …

Thirty Years AgoEaster at the Colorado River is like a holy pilgrimage for those who believe. They pour out of the hot cities of Southern California in endless caravans, crossing the mountains and deserts, enduring …

“‘What Do All the People Know’ was a fun song, and I still enjoy listening to it,” says Rusty Jones, whose San Diego band the Monroes toured with Rick Springfield, Toto, and Greg Kihn in …

I don’t want to say that Damien Jurado is somber. Let’s just say that he’s the kind of guy who writes lyrics like “Happy birthday, John/ Where has your sweetheart gone?/ She left today with …

From the first downbeat of a Mike Doughty , you know you’re in for something crafty and powerful and maybe a little strange. He’s a flawless modern craftsman, and that encourages a listener to embrace …

Border Patrol agent Richard Gonzales pushes a button in the shiny white Chevy Tahoe he’s driving. In response, a gate rolls open to allow entry to the no-man’s-land between the secondary fence and the old …

Report from the front: pressure mounting, resistance weakening, defenses leaking. Try as I might to hold the line, more and more movies in recent months and years, mainly movies of the “alternative” as distinct from …

Korean Goodies I enjoyed Moss Gropen’s article on the Korean spirit soju (“Our Favorite Drinks and Where We Drink Them,” Cover Story, April 23). I was introduced to the stuff by my friend and his …

Neal and Linden Blue, the La Jolla millionaires who own and operate General Atomics, makers of the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, have been getting a lot of good ink of late about their government-sponsored efforts …

Sacramento’s Capitol Weekly is out with its top-100 list of the biggest “influence peddlers, power brokers and political players in California.” Only two San Diegans, both Republicans, make the cut: Bob White, the ex-aide to …

Doug Hutcheson, CEO of San Diego’s Leap Wireless, has chipped in $2500 to the campaign for Props 1A through E, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s five measures on the May ballot. Prop 1A would hike state sales and …

Author: D. Kinsley Neighborhood: Encinitas Age: 32 Occupation: Sous chef Little did I know that upon moving into my neighborhood that I was sooner or later going to have to go around in a circle …

“How’s life in the new house?” I asked my friend Suzy, who recently bought a North Park bungalow. “New?” she answered. “More like old. I’m still charmed, but ever since we decided to have a …

In late March, I went to a park in Hillcrest for a going-away party. People there dubbed the theme “crokaoke” because they were playing croquet and singing karaoke. The guest of honor was a local …

Hi, Matt Alice: I cleaned my silver necklace’s cross using a name-brand silver cleaner, but my wife says I am a stupid, ignorant, ugly male idiot because silver, as she briefs me from watching antique …

“We have no suspects and only very limited information,” reports Captain Ed Aceves with the La Mesa Police Department. There is a stabbing victim, though: he was treated early Sunday morning at Sharp Grossmont Hospital. …

On Saturday April 18, a section of the Bayshore Bikeway was officially opened. The new bike path, built atop the levee formerly occupied by the old San Diego & Arizona Eastern railway tracks, stretches a …

On April 2, a ground squirrel from the Doane Valley Campground on Palomar Mountain tested positive for plague, the “black death” disease that ravaged Europe and killed millions during the 14th Century. “The number of …

Author: John Campbell Neighborhood: Pacific Beach Age: 26 Occupation: Reporter Everyone, even my friend from Ohio, knows that P.B. is full of douchebags. So when I said I was going to move to the beach, …

On April 23, the San Diego County Water Authority released results of a survey conducted last month in which 700 county residents were asked about water-supply awareness, conservation measures, restrictions, and the development of additional …

On Wednesday, April 22, at around 3:00 p.m., three would-be burglars attempted a residential robbery on Pasadena Drive in the Mt. Nebo neighborhood of La Mesa. According to the homeowner's son, Dave, two males and …

At 5:24 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21, the plaintive cries of a man could be heard in the parking lot of the shopping center at the corner of Jamacha Road and Fury Lane in Rancho …

There are times, sometimes in the midst of otherwise polite conversation, when it comes out that I make my living writing for the Reader. The follow-up to this revelation is almost never “Oh, that’s right, …

French vermouth-Italian vermouth-Gin-Twist of lemon Mix French (dry white) vermouth and Italian (sweet red) vermouth into a cocktail glass, favoring the French. Add a shot of gin. Garnish with a twist of lemon. José Palma’s …

Just like most other communities in the county, Carlsbad’s finances are tanking. The City’s finance experts are projecting a deficit during the next three years. For the first quarter of the current fiscal year, general-fund …

During the April 21 meeting of the County Board of Supervisors, 17 speakers opposed a plan to bolster the use of food stamps throughout the county. Those who opposed want to factor in the recommendations …

Dynamite Walls first crossed my radar in 2007, after the band, while on tour, unknowingly spent a night in a rented home that had once been the site of a mass murder. That same year …

Robert Fisher, the man behind the Willard Grant Conspiracy, has a deep voice and a talent for dark but sophisticated lyrics. His music is usually categorized as Americana, but it can just as easily slip …

“There may be trouble ahead/ But while there’s moonlight and music/ And love and romance/ Let’s face the music and dance.” Irving Berlin wrote that at the height of the Depression, and Fred and Ginger …

Can’t believe it. Here I am in North Park, yapping away with Albert Einstein’s cousin! Evelyn, who runs this eatery with her husband Jeff, casually drops it that her grandpa and Albert were first cousins. …

It seems as if the same number of people now spend their Friday nights watching YouTube (and other nights, and sometimes 24/7 — the meth users, for example) as once watched DVDs and VCRs (VCRs …

It is strange how a housekeeping ritual can grow to such a magical height that a continental gaggle of disparate people, all of whom have no role in the actual ritual, nonetheless make a career …

The ambitiously constructed Secret Canyon Trail, circuitously nosing its way down the canyon walls of Pine Valley Creek for 14 miles, traverses nearly the entire length of the Pine Creek Wilderness in Cleveland National Forest. …

What are you reading? “Exit Here. by Jason Myers.” Tell me about it. “It’s kind of his life story. He was in Minnesota, and instead of following the dream that his dad has laid out …

Album: I Was Young, It Was Dark (2009)Artist: Modern RiflesLabel: Self-releasedWhere available/price: ModernRifles.net, $10; CDBaby, $10; Amazon, $11.99Songs: 1) Introplane 2) Terroplane 3) Lie to Me, Ian. Lie to Me 4) Feck Me If I’m …

Irradio will play a free release party for their album I Am the Horn on Sunday, April 26, at the Casbah. “All attendees can expect a night full of magic, free food, good spirits, and …

Should it appear in California, there might be no stopping it: citrus greening, or huanglongbing. The fearsome citrus-killing bacterium, first seen in China in the early 1900s, has spread steadily across the continents. It recently …

“I met my wife in a bar in New York City,” said Barabbas Road pastor Matt Smith. “I was a rower, training for the Olympics, and I hated religion. I knew she was the girl …

On April 13, San Diego–based Sempra Energy gave $25,000 to the campaign in favor of Props 1A through E, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s five measures on the May ballot. Prop 1A would hike state sales and …

Pass The Kudos, Please He has done it again!! That Ollie guy, your writer, has sucked me in again!! I read his story a few weeks back and read this story about the Extreme-X dude …

Recipe by John Robert Kennedy, executive chef, The Better Half. I started cooking growing up. At big family gatherings, I was always in the kitchen. When you were brought into my household, into my family, …

They say that people are attracted to one another because of pheromones that we can smell. What would happen if you took pheromones from a woman that I’m attracted to and applied them to a …

I will not be surprised by 2009’s Mother’s Day. The 2008 observance caught me off guard. I found myself in a crowded mall the day before the holiday, frantically searching for gifts for my mom …

About a month ago, I went to the opening of a music store in El Cajon called Guitar and Bass Land. A guy was talking about how he plays bass in a Dio tribute band. …

The real menace in dealing with a five-year-old is that in no time at all you begin to sound like a five-year-old. —Joan Kerr Bella approached the refrigerator with cautious curiosity. “Are you thirsty, honey?” …

At last a bone to gnaw on. Not a very meaty bone, only a very scrappy bone, but a bone nonetheless. State of Play, the Americanization of a BBC miniseries, qualifies as a ripped-from-the-headlines thriller, …

Now that Alan Bersin has been appointed “border czar” of the Obama administration’s Homeland Security Department, the race to replace him as chairman of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority is on. Insiders say …

While the economy tanked last year, salaries of staffers working for San Diego’s congressional delegation were on the rise. The GOP’s Duncan Hunter, who retired in 2008 and was succeeded by his son, paid his …

When independent filmmaker Tray White contacted Matt Resovich last year through MySpace to do the score for Impaler (a documentary on self-proclaimed satanic vampire Jonathon “the Impaler” Sharkey, who ran for Minnesota’s governorship in 2006), …

Eric Woodard, aka Dizzy Order, has been rapping locally for 15 years. He used to freestyle at underground shows based in Encanto in the mid ’90s and frequented a short-lived rap collective in 2000 in …

Wavves — the local duo brainstormed by former Music Trader manager Nathan Williams — are being called lo-fi poseurs by Columbus, Ohio, garage band Psychedelic Horseshit, which manufactured “Wavves Suxx” T-shirts after sharing three shows …

Thirty Years AgoFor Marty Levin, life can still be a drag. Once the area’s most celebrated ex-smoker, the Channel 10 anchorman is now back puffing away, although at a reduced rate. A year ago Levin …

7 oz. coffee in glass coffee cup Generous shot Jameson whiskey 1⁄4-inch whipped cream on top The Ould Sod on Adams Avenue in Normal Heights is my favorite San Diego bar. Formerly the Elbo Club, …

12 oz. red wine-3 oz. brandy 2 oz. triple sec 2 oz. orange juice 2 oz. pineapple juice 1 oz. simple syrup 1/2 oz. anisette Top with 2 oz. Sprite and garnish with fresh fruit …

Do you guys serve beer? Only to ourselves. — From the Bronx Pizza FAQ on the back of the to-go menu It’s a good, pithy answer, entirely in keeping with the feel of the place. …

Bourbon Dash of bitters Muddled cherry and orange Serve on the rocks Booze holds a storied place in the serious business of turning things unserious. As with everything, there’s a time and a place; specific …

-1-1/2 oz. tequila -1 oz. triple sec -Margarita mix -Sweetened lime juice -Splash of orange juice Some people sound so damn cool ordering their drink. “Martini. Shaken, not stirred.” Or they know which vintage of …

2 oz. orange vodka 3 oz. pomegranate juice Fresh mint leaves to garnish Pour vodka and pomegranate juice into a cocktail shaker and add ice. Shake vigorously and pour into a chilled Martini glass. Garnish …

-50 percent white port -50 percent tonic water -Slice of lemon, on the rocks in a highball glass My taste in adult beverages, like my taste in friends, has become more refined with each passing …

-1-1⁄4 oz. Montecristo Premium Blend -Club soda -8–10 mint leaves -2 lime wedges or 1⁄4 oz. fresh lime juice -3⁄4 oz. simple syrup -5 fresh raspberries In a tall glass, muddle 3 raspberries, torn mint …

-2 oz. vodka or gin -4 oz. grapefruit juice -Garnish with lime or lemon wedge -Serve in a glass with a salted rim Jimmy’s days behind the bar at Nunu’s are over, but you’ll likely …

-1 part vodka -1 part tequila -1 part rum -1 part gin-1 part triple sec -1-1/2 parts sweet-and-sour mix -1 splash Coke It’s about efficiency. When I need to catch a buzz, I need to …

2 oz. vodka 1 oz. melon liqueur Pineapple juice Maraschino cherry and pineapple for garnish The Pearl Harbor is a “tropical” drink that, I have found, most urban bartenders do not know how to mix. …

Whenever I go to Shozen & Manpo, I drink soju, and whenever I drink soju, my wife and kids tell me it does strange things to me. I’m not sure if they’re right, but even …

In recent years, there’s been a lot of talk about San Diego’s housing market — from non-stop development and ballooning housing prices to free-falling property values, toxic assets, and real estate scams. What hasn’t been …

All that remains of Julio’s Mexican Restaurant is the tall sign at the corner of University Avenue and 45th Street. Julio Arreola and his brother Olimpio ran the restaurant for 35 years before they lost …

For over a year, rumors have flown around Encinitas that an In-N-Out Burger would move onto a site formerly occupied by Burger King and a 76 gas station on Santa Fe Drive. The end of …

A search by gang investigators of the San Diego Police Department began on Tuesday for a male teenager who shot and wounded a 20-year-old man at a Clairemont recreation center. The victim was standing with …

"Last week, after city council members rejected a proposal to raise rates and extend operational hours of parking meters, it was believed that time had run out on the initiative. Not so. Members of the …

The city’s backlog of deferred infrastructure projects is piling up. According to the city’s five-year financial outlook and 2010 budget, the backlog of repairs to city streets, sidewalks, and storm drains, and upkeep for libraries, …

Our man finds a network of others like him: the World Superhero Registry

The day before Easter, Saturday, April 11, the Solana Beach train station was crowded with people awaiting the northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner No. 769. A lot of baseball fans, most of them wearing Bosox T-shirts, …

On May 14, 1976, Bay Area blues group the Elvin Bishop Band, with 25-year-old Johnny Vernazza on guitar, recorded their concert at downtown’s Civic Theatre. Two tracks recorded at the show were included on the …

In 2006, Arthur Levitt Jr., former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, came under intense criticism in San Diego. At the time, Levitt was raking in $900 an hour as titular head of an …

Mike Hogan walks toward a small pile of treated sewage sludge, a moist, black, lumpy, faintly malodorous substance inside a newly expanded processing plant at Encina wastewater treatment facility in Carlsbad. “That’s what biosolids look …

Sunday Junk With regard to “Church on Sunday” (Cover Story, April 9), why devote so many pages to such religious nonsense? Haven’t you seen Bill Maher’s Religulous? Ted Rodosovich via phone Go Greek I have …

Sheriff Bill Kolender has thrown the race for his successor into a tizzy by deciding to resign on July 2, giving his support as expected to Undersheriff Bill Gore, an ex–FBI agent who enjoys the …

Ex–GOP state assemblyman George Plescia has filed a final accounting for his officeholder fund. During the first quarter of this year, he spent $17,200, the remaining cash, on settling some tabs from last year, including …

The Union-Tribune has reported that the American Boat Racing Association has dropped San Diego from its 2009 World Series of Powerboat Racing schedule for the first time in 40 years. But though it cited a …

One question that’s often posed in the Reader musician interview is “Favorite local performer?” The most frequently cited is Manuok (pronounced “man-you-okay”), aka Scottish-born Scott Mercado, who’s been name-checked over a dozen times — by …

In a lot of ways, it’s never been easier to be a musician. These days, with a handful of equipment and a smidgen of talent, you can create something on your laptop that sounds nearly …

You gain a sense of the desert rat in the lyrics of Calexico, a Tucson-based alt-rock band: “Four in the morning the sidewalk’s asleep/ Dogs on the porch, spiders on the leaf/ Shipwrecked by night, …

For some years now, whenever Rialto Pictures (it usually was) had selected a foreign film for theatrical reissue, I was given to wonder when they’d get around to Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Deuxième Souffle, known in …

Thirty Years AgoI’m not sure why the birds on the north island of the Coronados are making such a racket. They’re screaming so loudly, it seems like the noise should carry to Point Loma, 15 …

Outlaw country legend David Allan Coe could sell between 1000 and 2000 tickets if he were to play in San Diego. But, he won’t, says Sulo King, talent buyer for Brick by Brick. Two years …

A few days after playing Austin’s SXSW festival, members of the Soft Pack (formerly the Muslims) were driving to a gig in Philadelphia when a reporter from Rolling Stone magazine called and told them that …

Ever since the Kadan on 30th Street in University Heights started hosting Guitar Hero competitions in January 2007, the video game has been bringing out inner rockers in clubs and music shops all around town. …

Album: Within My Reach (2009)Artist: Folding Mr. LincolnLabel: self-releasedWhere available/price: CDBaby, $12.97; iTunes, $9.99; Amazon, 99 cents for single “Within My Reach”Songs: 1) It Happened Just the Other Day 2) Missing Her Pretty Green Eyes …

A chill clung to the air as the service began; it would be 11 minutes before the sun crested the hill to reveal the ranunculus and warm the 900 or so souls gathered in the …

‘Individual athletes contact me because they may be challenged within their sport, may get frustrated when losing a game and watching their play go downhill. They get upset at themselves — ‘I suck. I’m no …

“Remorse, emptiness, relief, disbelief, sadness, feeling older, morally diminished.” These are feelings expressed to me in an email from a friend and fellow writer about the death of his son-in-law. But they could as well …

Marc Blitzstein’s play The Cradle Will Rock had one of the most famous premieres in theater history. The Federal Theatre Project commissioned, then dumped, the piece, which the powers that be deemed too far left …

“Be nice or go away,” says the sign above the bar. Hmm...none too welcoming. But, hey, I’ll be nice, ’cause what a bar, and what a backboard! Huge, with baroque carving, big mirrors. Victorian, I …

Happiness is an ice-cold strawberry Bellini at Bite, made with the first berries of spring, and a $20 four-course dinner from a chef who can really cook. Bite is one of several good restaurants now …

Artist: Israel BissellSong: “Angel Wings” (from the CD Disillusioned Hero)Heard By: Bryan Whitman, North ParkI thought it had a good instrumental. I liked that they used a lot of wind instruments — they used more …

“They told me the freeway would sound like the ocean,” griped Patrick’s friend Jon just after buying his first house. “It doesn’t. It sounds like the freeway.” “A good solution might be our acoustical curtains,” …

What’s the big mystery? It’s my vagina, not the sphinx! — Miranda on Sex and the City We were at Target, a store Jane hits up an average of three times a week. While Jane …

I fit a couple of parties into one night. Both were at bars. Well, the first wasn’t really at a bar, per se. It was in the cantina of Fidel’s in Solana Beach. I was …

Matt: I drink a lot of water and Gatorade and stuff like that. My friend tells me I can die if I drink too much water. How is this possible? I thought water was good …

One would hope that the susceptibility to peer pressure dies off somewhere around 11th grade, and maybe it does for those a little more evolved than myself. But every once in a while, I’m so …

So far, 2009 has been a bumpy road for city council members in Encinitas. Several issues have damaged relations between city officials and the public. During the past several months, public outcry over cutting down …

On the afternoon of Friday, April 3, I was riding my bicycle in the parking lot between the Villa Toscona apartment complex and Kohl’s in Rancho San Diego. A friend had recently asked me about …

Tijuana police say that nearly 60 reports have been taken recently from residents who said they received telephone calls from purported commanders of Los Zeta, hit men known for working with the drug cartels throughout …

The number of Tijuana minors being treated for gunshot wounds -- some children as young as two years old -- has increased about 50 percent in the past few months. In interviews with two Tijuana …

“Oh how I would love for the world to know who you really were.” So begins a mother’s letter to a son fatally shot by police three weeks ago. The letter is at the center …

Tijuana police arrested a woman on Thursday, April 9, who they say was involved in three car crashes over a distance of less than a mile. Officers remain puzzled as to why the accidents occurred. …

Fabio Marchi stood in front of Oceanside’s city hall building during an April 7 demonstration. He held a neon-green sign that read: “No Clear Master Plan.” Surrounding him were 12 other protesters, some dressed in …

The City of San Diego requires a 100-foot-wide zone of flammable brush clearance between new buildings and existing brush. A 2007 email from San Diego Fire Department representative Mike Benoit stated that since this 100-foot-wide …

One man's search for Christianity's core.

Wednesday morning, April 8, as I was strolling down Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach, I noticed that one of O.B.'s most controversial stores had been vandalized. Wings Beachwear, located in the Strand Theatre building at …

Last Saturday night, April 4, a knife-wielding teenager trying to rob a video-rental store in Tijuana’s Buena Vista neighborhood looked familiar to the store’s owner. And for good reason: the same young man had returned …

Councilmember Carl DeMaio believes the city needs to focus on reducing waste at city hall before it begins charging residents for waste removal at their homes. The statement comes in response to an April 7 …

Hey, Matt: Some time ago I was checking out San Diego on Google Earth. On Coronado Island, at what I am told is the Special Forces training facility, there exists a large building that has …

Hubby Patrick despises Easter grass. “It’s like the plague!” he complained over our nightcap. “It gets everywhere and clogs up the vacuum. Who created this stuff? This year, no Easter grass will enter the Kelly …

Wendy Bailey is an old-fashioned pop songstress with a big splashy sound akin to, say, Carole King or Sheryl Crow. “Most of my songs are short, sweet, and full of jangly pop hooks,” says Bailey. …

They say your home is your castle. So it is with Jim’s place, which is shaped like a castle. He’s known as the P.B. Millionaire. The St. Patrick’s Day party he hosted was downtown at …

In the strict scientific sense, we all feed on death — even vegetarians. — Mr. Spock, Star Trek My friend Hanis has a tattoo of a pig on his left forearm — a simple outline …

Wild Weekend, one of the San Diego buzz bands at South by Southwest, broke up just days after returning from the Austin music fest. “It was my decision,” says Wild Weekend singer-guitarist Maren Parusel, 26. …

Thirty Years AgoA Sunday afternoon last month on the Ocean Beach pier. The fellow in the yellow short-sleeve shirt and sunglasses was carrying three small boxes wrapped in white paper and ribbons. Mike Hall had …

Even though they’re from Colombia and do not sing a word of English, Aterciopelados (which translates as “the Velvety Ones”) are straight out of the rock-and-roll playbook of the America of the late 1960s. With …

The first time I heard the Donkeys’ “Excelsior Lady,” I thought they were singing, “sexy lady.” Fortunately, I was wrong. But almost everything about the Donkeys — from the Crosby Stills and Nash harmonies to …

On March 23, stocks were headed for a fabulous 7 percent gain. The Obama administration had just come out with a program in which private investors could buy toxic bank assets by putting up almost …

On New Year’s Eve, Howard Jackson was in court with Ellen Falcone, his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child. For more than nine years, the last three in Oceanside, the two had shared custody of …

LETTERS Home Improvement I am commenting on your article on the current violence in Tijuana and Mexico (“Mommy, Why Are They Shooting at Us Again?” Cover Story, April 2). Such comments by the Baja governor …

History’s in the air. Talk about hidden jewels. Turns out that here in National City they have the only original transcontinental railroad terminus in the United States still standing. Since 1882, the depot has been …

Call your play Rabbit Hole, and you conjure images of a tardy white hare shouting “I’m late!” with a ticking clock tucked under one arm. Given David Lindsay-Abaire’s other works — Kimberly Akimbo, about a …

Not all Fridays — let’s face it — are fun, games, leisure, and license. Some suck. Not unlike a very recent one, a several-day visit to what I will call Palomino Hospital in the horse …

Back with Pattie Pinkerton, UCSD women’s crew head coach. She did student time at San Diego State in the ’70s, rowed in the USA National Championships from 1975 to ’84, was a competitor at the …

The service was scheduled to start at 6 p.m. At a quarter to six, the doors of the domed white church were still locked, but there was movement, and lots of it, in the next …

With gentle grades most of the way, the San Juan Trail is tailor-made for a leisurely saunter from the Main Divide of the Santa Ana Mountains to the lower foothills. Due to an elevation change …

“Whiskey Down,” by Dannicus Live, was the most-downloaded MP3 from SDReader.com during March. Below is an interview with Daniel. What in particular inspired “Whiskey Down”? The song was written by a former bandmember, Tim Cartwright. …

Scott Mercado didn’t know what to expect for Manuok’s first European Tour. Not long into it, the band — consisting of Mercado, Andrew Trecha, Geoff Hill, Jeff Grasmick, and Erik Berg — was pleasantly surprised. …

When MTV2 started airing episodes of VBS.tv — Vice magazine’s video documentary series — it did more than introduce fans of From G’s to Gents and Cribs to North Korean tourism, Mexican death tabloids, and …

Slightly Stoopid is one of San Diego’s biggest-drawing bands. They sold out the Open Air Theatre last summer, and a date to play with Snoop Dogg at Cricket Amphitheatre will be announced this month. But …

Shortly before 11:00 a.m. on Monday, April 6, a female driver fleeing an accident on Eighth Street lost control of her late-model Ford Escape and nearly crashed into a house a couple blocks away. John …

Near midnight on Sunday, April 5, police radio traffic indicated that a fight had broken out between two men on the 1300 block of Iris Avenue. A Hispanic male and a Hispanic female had been …

At about 6 a.m. on March 26, just south of Pine Hills, two Julian residents heard sounds of distress coming from the vicinity of their livestock pen. Upon arriving at the scene, one resident discovered …

Last week in a Spring Valley business park, a tower nearly 100 feet tall sprang up seemingly overnight. It was not there on Monday, March 30, but the thin skeletal structure was noticed on Tuesday …

Chula Vista’s financial department is trying to get the city’s finances in shape. A $3.5 million budget deficit for this year and a $20 million budget shortfall for the following three to four years have …

On March 17, at the Ocean Beach Jetty, I had just caught a wave that nobody else was close to catching. After my ride, I paddled back to the lineup and another surfer told me, …

On April 1, hours after Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano outlined new plans to bolster border security by spending $400 million for new surveillance technologies, 60 Chula Vista residents gathered at the city’s main library …

At the recent March meeting of the Mira Mesa Town Council, a concerned resident stood before the group to voice her dismay on an issue that has plagued the town for years -- abandoned shopping …

The 1898 ferry boat Berkeley, moored permanently on San Diego Bay at the Embarcadero, has been in need of maintenance, which it received last weekend. On the morning of Sunday, March 29, workers for the …

On Sunday, March 29, over 200 people and at least 250 dogs showed up at Oceanside Harbor. The group, known as Friends of Oceanside Dog Beach, walked around the area to show support for a …

On Saturday, March 29, a young man fell from a 12th-floor apartment on Ninth Avenue at 1:15 a.m. The victim, who had been visiting a friend at the Avalon building in Cortez Hill, died on …

Life in Tijuana goes on. The buses run, people go to work, kids go to school, traffic still jams the city’s arteries. But something has changed in the last year or so: the city’s residents …

Hey, Matt: Last year at the Del Mar Fair, my wife and I came across a booth where the company was selling some kind of a detox/purification product. You put your tootsies in a foot …

Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment. — Rita Mae Brown "This is fantastic,” I said. “It’s not so good as Josue’s,” said Rosa, turning to her husband. Josue shrugged …

Instead of a handkerchief or tissues, Dad’s pockets always contained a paper towel. Usually used. And if he noticed any of us kids sniffling during a church service, out came the dirty Brawny. I feared …

To feel affection for the grade-Z science-fiction films of the Fifties, especially as their descendants get ever more deluxe, is perfectly natural and no cause for shame. (A Not-Guilty Pleasure.) To set out in the …

I got laid off yesterday. Two of our three offices were closed, leaving 80 of us unemployed. I’m not sure what you’re supposed to do the day you get laid off, but I’m certain of …

Edward WilenskyDirector of media relations, San Diego Opera, sdopera.com Terry Gilliam’s Brazil serves up a tale of a man’s battle for freedom and independence. Criterion gives the film a stunning treatment in this box set, …

Since the late ’90s, Mike Kamoo’s Earthling Studios has been a vital cog in the San Diego music scene. The studio, headquartered in a corporate park in El Cajon, has a well-worn path to it …

A few months ago, when Facebook was in the throes of a “25 Things About Myself” chain-letter epidemic, my friend Andria sent me a list of 15 albums that changed her life. Andria moved to …

Anya Marina, little-girlish, standing waiflike and rib-thin on Jimmy Kimmel’s electric-blue stage is somewhere in between her alter ego Miss Halfway and her metamorphosis into a full-blooded rocker chick. The song she is performing — …

Democratic assemblyman Curren Price — who moved into West L.A.’s 26th State Senate District to run for the seat vacated by newly elected county supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas — was forced into a runoff last week …

Political operative Mark Fabiani, who worked for Democratic vice president Al Gore before striking out on his own and signing up with GOP fat cat Alex Spanos, has picked up yet another controversial client. Italian …

The proposal to build a new San Diego city hall at a cost to taxpayers of at least $587 million is slowly making its way through the City-owned Centre City Development Corporation, en route to …

Late last year, local solar advocates were pleasantly surprised when San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders moved quickly to implement a new state law that allows cities to finance solar systems for homes and businesses. But …

"For us, business is good,” says Barry Lander, clerk of the bankruptcy court. “It’s a sad thing.” Indeed it is. The courts, judges, clerks, and the legal profession have been blown good business in San …

It’s odd to think of a glitzy, Angeleno Wolfgang Puck restaurant on a bucolic, wooded college campus, but Jai (pronounced “jay,” like the bird) is no college dining hall. (The press release says the name …

I still can’t believe it. My buddy Frankie. He’s gone. Checked out. Died. Had half his life to live, still. And my hands aren’t clean. All those Delicado Ovalado cigarettes I always got for him …

Sound designers usually draw raves for obvious effects: street traffic, flocks of chirping birds, hammer-the-walls thunder. Their background scores also set mood and period. But the sound designer’s primary job is far more crucial: how …

‘I found your bio on a UCSD web page. Do you also play viola for the San Diego Symphony?” “No,” a woman laughs. I’m talking to Pattie Pinkerton, women’s crew head coach for UCSD. Here …

I was just thinking that this particular stretch of Del Mar Trails Road reminded me of some ancient Italian village (only with more yard space and much bigger houses), when a bend in the road …

For the second year in a row, fire-following springtime wildflowers are popping up on the slopes of Poway’s Rattlesnake Canyon. A reconnaissance of the area in late March revealed a rainbow of color: California poppies, …

Artist: SicarusSong: “Strength of All” (from the CD Strength of All)Heard By: Scoops, City Heights It totally sucked. It was like three different bands that weren’t really good that were playing the same song in …

In the days following the South by Southwest music convention, several of the two dozen or so local bands who performed around Austin reported on their experiences. Drew Andrews: “It’s hard to describe the insanity …

“Why would anyone pay $55 to see Creedence Clearwater [Revisited] when you can see them for free at the Del Mar Fair?” That’s what one insider asked about two upcoming shows by the band that …

“Someday I hope to have my own independent record label,” says Aileen Burns, who has spent the past four years touring with the Plain White T’s as their “merch girl.” “My responsibilities include picking designs, …

A website, paulwilliams.com, has been set up to help raise money for the care of author Paul Williams, who in 1995 suffered a brain injury from a bicycle accident. Riding near his home in Encinitas, …

Thirty Years AgoHe was not a typical casualty in the world of television reporting. He was Jack Walsh, the former politician who turned television celebrity after his 1976 reelection defeat as county supervisor. So when …

Culturally Incompetent I’m writing in regards to Ernie Grimm’s “My Gender Is Bunny” (Cover Story, March 26). I found it incredibly disrespectful that throughout the article, its subject, Micha Cárdenas, was referred to with masculine …

Name: Michael Janzen Surfing: Tourmaline Lives: Mission Valley Miss work for surfing? “No. Get up earlier and do both.” A few months ago, surfers congregated at Tourmaline Surf Park in Pacific Beach. The mayor and …

Recipe by Dean Thomas, executive chef, Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino. I started out as a dishwasher for an Italian chef. One day, his cook didn’t show up and he said, “Come on over …