To hear it from Bill Richardson — aka crooner Jose Sinatra — his destiny was decided by a chance highway encounter. “The Beatles passed my family in a limo as we were returning to San …

Ex-Democratic city councilman Tony Young continues to grow his lucrative city hall lobbying business. Already flush with a bevy of well-heeled clients, including SDG&E, shopping-mall developer Westfield Corporation, and San Francisco’s Zirx, a start-up specializing …

When the Reader ran a story on October 22 about a death at a Burning Man event on Palomar Mountain, many readers reacted negatively over news accounts of deaths at EDM events. Alma Rodriguez was …

Good to have nice, big eggs with floods of bright yellow yolk.

It’s been a busy three months for Brian Karscig and his brainchild, the Nervous Wreckords. In that short time span, his band performed at the KAABOO festival, he joined friends the Killers at their North …

Something pure and holy about downtown’s streets.

The White Buffalo and Jake Smith are one. It’s not an alter ego so much as a nickname that stuck. When he calls the Reader from his home in Los Angeles, I ask him about …

Hike the transition from high to low desert on this historic cattleman’s trail.

Last April I wrote a column about taking up the game of golf. My previous golfing experience occurred many frog lives ago, having to do with a road trip, two women, two guys, the usual …

Among the endemic peoples in Southern California were the Mohavae, Yuma, Kamia, Diegueño, Miwok, and Chumash. These early settlers of the region had access to wild vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Wildlife was abundant, and they …

The Internal Revenue Service is on fire! Red-and-blue emergency flashers scat about the structure, but this is a fire that will never, ever be put out. “As you can see,” Nick Pecoraro offers, “the firemen …

Once upon a time, a guy named Tony L. headed up the film department at Chicago’s Columbia College, an institution of higher learning where I would spend 11 years of my life teaching. I thought …

Confident in their hairiness and hairlessness.

On November 19th, Second District councilwoman Lorie Zapf presented a city-council proclamation celebrating the 100th anniversary of Sunset Cliffs. On this anniversary, many San Diegans and visitors are not able to access Sunset Cliffs Natural …

“The inequity here is that a civilian goes to jail and is presumed guilty, whereas an officer is given a leave with pay.”

With the departure of the Chargers for Los Angeles looking likelier than ever, according to many accounts, do rowdy fans pose a real danger to what could be the team’s last days in Mission Valley? …

San Diego Museum of Art’s Art of Music exhibit welcomes visitors with a giant ceramic auricle and protruding ear trumpet that, upon detecting the voices of passersby, proceeds to emit Beethoven’s “Grosse Fuge.” It’s a …

Current Owner: El Secreto LLC (William & Kathryn Scripps) Bedrooms: 8 Baths: 13 Price: $23,000,000 Welcome to “The Secret Ranch,” a 12-acre estate with more than 12,400 square feet of living space under roof located …

Bodiless You leave your signature like the atom whose footprint is its only proof, the pencil’s sharp point indenting the paper next to my poems’ lines. With what voice you have uncovered my concealed intentions, …

What do Stewardess bassist Grant Reinero, Vinyl Junkies record-swap founder Eric Howarth, No Knife’s Brian Desjean and Mitch Wilson, Rebecca and Demetrius Antuna from art-metal band Kata, and Ghetto Blaster guitarist John Cota have in …

Blame the Astrodome for the Chargers’ supposed stadium crisis.

The Tuna Harbor Dockside Market has the freedom to test new markets for fish that most high-volume wholesalers are unwilling to consider. For example, this monchong (aka pomfret), which was line-caught off San Diego’s deep …

Gayla Peevey can’t avoid hippos, even if she wanted to. “People assume I collect them, so they give them to me,” she tells me from her home near Mt. Helix. “I have figurines and a …

Puzzled Fourteen people were just slaughtered in San Bernardino, and Barbarella writes a fucking column about a puzzle room (Diary of a Diva: “A Room with a Clue,” December 3). Are you kidding me? Michael …