A couple of years ago, my friend Tina Frantz began taking a San Diego Continuing Education course to help develop her handbag business. All I knew for sure was that Tina was suddenly unavailable by …

If only I had not listened to the piece on the morning radio about the former asylum whose inmates were kept busy at wooden benches in a workshop making leather collars and wristbands that would …

When is fronting a band cheaper than hiring a therapist? Lost in the Trees invented their American-orchestral folk-pop music in North Carolina. Not to diminish Ari Picker in any way (he is the band’s primary …

The Ramona Music Center is a storefront music store with a recording studio/rehearsal space in the back. It’s the only business of its kind serving this small, rural town in San Diego’s backcountry. Seven years …

Seen as the community’s last chance to postpone the auction of the old Pacific View Elementary School site, almost 100 people showed up at a meeting of the Encinitas Union School District on March 11. …

The man who wrote “Peaceful Easy Feeling” for the Eagles hopes people who love the song also love wine. Encinitas-based songwriter Jack Tempchin has introduced a “Peaceful Easy Feeling” cabernet sauvignon made by the Temecula-based …

Last month, Jsix completed a renovation that included walling off the dining room with exposed brick and concealing the open kitchen to place added emphasis on the bar, which has been extended to seat 19 …

Post Title: First Words Post Date: April 11, 2013 From all over the world, I get requests for more information about the novels I write about your life. Now, I am taking it a step …

While he has released some ten albums, appeared in a handful of movies, had years of MTV exposure and tons of radio airplay for his novelty hits (“Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love …

It’s possible to accuse Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel of verging into self-parody. But I think Anderson is too self-conscious for that. And if you squint just so, you may be able to see …

“Most of the songs on this album were written while I was recovering from a major injury,” says singer/songwriter Sherri-Anne of Sister Speak’s upcoming debut full-length Rise Up for Love. “I broke my pelvis and …

For the past ten months, producer/engineer/DJ Keith Milgaten (aka Jamuel Saxon) has been living in Brooklyn and, under the alias Keith Sweaty, dropping the occasional dance mix on Soundcloud, including his own spin on brother …

Hike from a Kumeyaay seasonal village site to an elephant tree “forest” and palm groves.

“I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy,” I say to no-one in particular. Sigh. Actually, no chance of a bottle in front of me. Not tonight. Gotta work. Came …

As drought ravages California and other parts of the West, the political giving habits of the state’s private water merchants and brokers are coming under increasing scrutiny. One is La Jolla–based Pico Holdings on Ivanhoe …

The name Kelsey McNair is well known among San Diego beer enthusiasts. To many, he’s looked upon as the next big hope for North Park. An accomplished homebrewer who’s brought home many awards and tantalized …

When a friend of mine, who is a few years younger than I am (on the earlier side of her 30s), announced that she was getting a divorce, I was dumbfounded. So soon? I thought ...

If things go the way Lou Curtiss hopes, by the end of summer, he will have handed the keys to his Folk Arts Rare Records shop over to its new owner, whoever that may be. …

It’s Saturday night on El Cajon Boulevard. A mob of cyclists banters on the sidewalk, cheering and slapping high-fives as friends wheel across the finish line with endorphin-tinged grins. The race — organized by Lucas …

2013 was a very good year, politically speaking, for La Jolla developer and U-T San Diego publisher Douglas Manchester, who saw his top nemesis, Democratic ex-mayor Bob Filner, vanquished in a sexual harassment scandal. Then, …

Bob Brewer gleefully shouts how Bonnie Dumanis is cozy with Mexican moneybags Azano. But it was Brewer who initially put the Feds on Azano's tail.

HH in OB Just giving you a heads-up about your Happy Hour Guide (March 6). The Joint in O.B. has $2.50 Sculpins every Tuesday. Pizza Port has a $3 select pint or two every Monday …

Come let us rejoice unto the Lord. Let us make joy to God our Saviour. Let us approach to his presence in confession, and in psalms let us make joy unto him. Hail Mary full …