What’s it like to live in what passes for “the wilds" of San Diego County? Bill Manson finds out.

Tensions within the Sweetwater Union High School District continue to escalate. The April 16 board meeting had an overflow audience of unhappy people, but an odd conflict between boardmember John McCann and recall activist Stewart …

About 60 protesters gathered early Wednesday morning in front of the Farmers Market Building, a historic Sherman Heights structure, dating to the 1920s, whose tower and grain silo are visible to drivers on Interstate 5. …

A drive down El Cajon Boulevard leads to Alforon, the said-to-be “amazing” Lebanese restaurant. No disappointments there.

Most San Diegans need good soil for backyard gardens. Where to get it, how much, and for how much?

Singer/guitarist Kris Towne describes the music of A Scribe Amidst the Lions as “an adventure. You never know where we’re going to go next. Oftentimes we don’t even know. Think Fugazi and Pink Floyd writing …

Matthew Alice answers the question of an enthroned gent wondering if pharaohs were buried with toilets.

“A pretty much world famous dive,” the Hole is a bar in its full glory on Thursdays — $4 Stoli and Bacardi all night. And on Mondays — $2 wells and the weekly wet underwear contest. And...

When the San Diego County Fair paid $80,000 to Gym Class Heroes to be a Grandstand headliner in 2007, one talent buyer said the New York hip-hop quartet was paid $45,000 more than they would …

San Diego folk music archivist/godfather steps back into the committee to organize the Adams Avenue Roots Festival.

Phil Golden of Chula Vista Community Church says he likes to preach on John 3:16. And he won’t skip over John 3:17.

Ex–San Diegan alt-rockers Uncle Joe’s Big Ol’ Driver are returning to the studio for the first time since 1995. The new recordings will feature frontman Andrew McKeag, guitarist Dave Jass, bassist George Viduarri, and original …

In the glory days of rock ’n’ roll, artists changed all the time: Dylan went electric, became a Christian, and went back to his irascible, inscrutable self; Bowie became a different character every couple of …

Sweet, unbroken rhythm at the San Diego Museum of Art.

Last year, Inspector Bellamy. This year, Monsieur Lazhar. Both spiritually French, with an excellent central performance: Gerárd Depardieu as Bellamy, Mohamed Fellag as Lazhar. Philippe Falardeau’s French-Canadian movie dramatizes a teacher and students with exemplary …

Brendan O’Rourke must have liked helping customers over the phone for NTN Buzztime and planned to return to his job after his attack. He phoned his boss every day for a week to explain that …

Now that the Republican presidential race has been pretty much decided in Mitt Romney’s favor, staffers for the long roster of losing candidates are once again back on the job market. Those who might have …

It was two years ago this month that I sought pharmaceutical assistance for my chronic anxiety. It took awhile to get the dosage right — it was four or five visits before I could talk …

Jimmie Dale Gilmore is a singer/songwriter from Lubbock, Texas. In the early 1970s he started a band called the Flatlanders with Joe Ely and Butch Hancock. They made the first alt-country record ever, but it …

Sixty-two miles away from downtown San Diego, a strenuous three-mile hike on Five Oaks Trail. No. Dogs. Allowed.

The Irish Bären they make over at Hooley’s could just as well be called an “O’Jito.” According to Hooley’s bartender Austin Bell, his creation has all the properties of the traditional mojito but with a …

The newspaper business, not to mention the art world, has come to this: a former reporter and editor with the San Francisco Chronicle and copy editor with the New York Times turned performance artist has …

Ed Bedford digs into some Filipino soul food at Villa Manila in National City.

Woe to you of earth and sea, for this time the devil sends the beast from Oakland with mitigated wraith! And the problem is Jesus’ twin, who perished at birth, is reincarnated into a time …

For the first time in four years, the Berkley-based psychobilly band Tiger Army added a San Diego date to their tour. The show was apparently much anticipated, as there was cheering between every recorded song …

Locked in a tight battle to save his congressional seat in a newly redrawn district, San Diego Republican congressman Brian Bilbray was featured in a fundraising invitation last month that reminisced about the good old …

Excerpts from the blog of Janice Bowles, a woman unafraid to ask, “Did you knowingly marry Mr. Wrong?

Wives come and go, fantasy baseball endures.

There was a time when the San Diego Union-Tribune prophesized that an NFL player would fill this city with super sports boosters. Didn’t happen.

A narrow fellow in the grass Occasionally rides; You may have met him,—did you not, His notice sudden is. The grass divides as with a comb, A spotted shaft is seen; And then it closes …

Deal Me In, Lord In response to the article by Siobhan Braun (“Christian Card Counters,” Cover Story, April 12). Great article, Siobhan!!!! First of all, I am appalled by the attitudes of the so-called Christians …

Weathered from a 75-million-year-old sandstone cliff in La Jolla are seven sister caves. Like many other seaside caverns, these, too, have been used by pirates. Only the cargo they smuggled was human. California’s eight-year-gold rush …