A 43-year-old Fallbrook man was brought before a judge on November 30 and charged with strangling to death his ex-girlfriend on the eve of her birthday, November 23. Michael David Robles pleaded not guilty and …

A women goes over 2,000 miles west and ends up in the same place, how is this possible? I didn’t pull that question out of the MindTrap deck (note cultural reference that makes me feel …

My buddy John turned me on to Landini’s. He works at Caffe Italia, farther down India Street, here in Little Italy. It was a couple of months back. Friday evening. Spotted John and his buddy …

It’s been ten years since I last ate at Top of the Market. Back then, the menu was similar to the downstairs Fish Market (plus a few luxury bites), with higher prices for identical upstairs-downstairs …

An afternoon of neon lights and ’80s pop, washed down with a pitcher of draft beer at the roller rink...a night of charalitos con chile, flying chairs, fake blood, and a screaming crowd that competes …

Aunt Azelda’s tiny mutt Taffy has died. I’m on duty for the burial arrangements. “We have taken care of pets ranging from goldfish to horses,” says Mick Palermo of San Diego Pet Memorial Park in …

“I never really knew much about Frank Sinatra as a kid,” says crooner David Patrone, whose decade in the United States Marine Corps was spent as a fan of classical and blues music. That is, …

As the year starts to fade, we find time for some three-star entertainments: Martin Scorsese, our national auteur and No. 1 movie fan, converts his status into both commercial and emotional terms with Hugo. Without …

“I’ve never been homeless before.” At least Osiris Murillo still has her car — where she and her three-year-old daughter will sleep tonight, behind the gates of a designated “safe lot” in an unsafe neighborhood. …

When a close friend died from AIDS, Tony Kushner dreamed about an angel “crashing through someone’s bedroom ceiling.” It wasn’t an archangel — a Gabriel or a Michael — or a chubby Disney cherub plucking …

Fifty years after Columbus first set sail, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo discovered “a sheltered port and a very good one” on the California coast. Guarded by a steep promontory, dark green with vegetation, a channel doglegged …

On December 7, Queen Divas of the Universe hosts a CD-release show at Humphrey’s Backstage Lounge, for their debut album All Wrapped Up in Christmas. The band consists of three music vets: bassist Shaaron Hancock-Schuemaker …

In a city partial to its indie rock, Jamie Minotti is striving for balance. “A year ago, there was no way [Toronto-based progressive/electro/house DJ] Deadmau5 would be in local alt weeklies,” Minotti says. “It would …

I am constantly revising my own rules regarding panhandlers. I can’t seem to stick to one policy with any consistency. For a time, my rule was to give some money — never a great amount …

We have a sporting pause before the NFL playoffs and college conference football tournaments begin, before NCAA basketball is cranked up to speed, and well before the NBA resumes its struggle to make you give …

This year’s International Tournament of Witchy Women in Rock is entering its final phase, and the brackets are quickly narrowing. Florence Welch, of Florence & the Machine, has easily established herself as The New Stevie …

Title: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Address: sdoccupymemoirs.tumblr.com Author: Anonymous Blogging since: October 2011 Excerpts from the four-entry diary of an Anonymous volunteer at Occupy San Diego. First, euphoria tempered with concern for the future: Post …

Matthew: I’ve noticed that when I drink, after a while I have to pee. And maybe I’m imagining this. After a real short time, I have to pee again. That goes on all night. A …

Jesse LaMonaca and the Dime Novels will preview the Lament of Tumbleweed Hawk (recorded locally at Lost Ark Studio) on December 2 at the Soda Bar. The full-length, designed to resemble an old dime novel …

In due time, all things pop music eventually get recycled. Punk, girl bands, new wave, rockabilly, jam bands, metal, fusion, funk — you name it. Granted, some artists merely repurpose rather than recycle. Moby’s first …

In the 1940s and early 1950s, when other surfboard shapers worked intuitively, legendary surfer Bob Simmons was applying mathematics and boat-building and aircraft technology to board designs. In 1954, he died in a surfing accident …

Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum The information for cost of the SENTRI border-crossing pass is not only $25, as was said (“The Only Way to Walk Across the Border in Five Minutes,” Cover Story, November 23). Many other fees …

Early next year, the California Supreme Court will decide whether the state can abolish or weaken redevelopment agencies. If the City of Escondido is lucky, the high court’s decision will thwart the City’s dubious plan …

Membership: 90 Pastor: Stephen Parker Age: 63 Born: Buffalo, NY Formation: Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Mass.; U.S. Navy chaplain (1986–2004). Years Ordained: 33 San Diego Reader: What is your favorite subject on which …

Old Eben Flood, climbing alone one night Over the hill between the town below And the forsaken upland hermitage That held as much as he should ever know On earth again of home, paused warily. …