Content for Wednesday, December 20, 2017
News & Stories
San Diego Reader writers dig deep into Christmases past
The great Santa swindle came crashing down
Every Power Rangers toy known to man The exact moment the sleigh bells stopped jingling — by Chad Deal Sister Santa’s once-a-year smile I adored American Christmas — by Tam Hoang We were ruthless Christmas-letter ...
The angels sang through all the night
Two poems by Sara Teasdale
Christmas Carol The kings they came from out the south, All dressed in ermine fine; They bore Him gold and chrysoprase, And gifts of precious wine. The shepherds came from out the north, Their coats ...
In pursuit of Nirvana
Ex-91X DJ Marco Collins talks about the storage unit that got away
Former 91X DJ Marco Collins resides in Seattle now, but he still rents a storage space in San Diego. The unit is notable because it houses a large amount of unique music memorabilia that he ...
Titanic deck chairs
Orange Barrel Media wants to “provide way-finding kiosks in the City of San Diego”
Longtime city hall influence-peddler Richard Ledford has been retained by Orange Barrel Media, a client seeking to “obtain a contract to provide way-finding kiosks in the City of San Diego.” The Columbus, Ohio-based company, famous ...
The ice melts slowly and the flavors peel off
Striders calls it the New Fashioned
As January draws near, Striders general manager Tony Martineau found a way to raise a glass for the old year rounding the last bend even as the new year comes galloping out of the gate. ...
The time Scott Szikla evaded Russian arrest
"We got to fly from Helsinki to Osaka for, like, $400. It was freezing.”
San Diego–born-and-raised guitarist Scott Szikla, 29, who grew up Poway a few years after blink-182 and Unwritten Law became popular, played his first awkward teenage gigs at the Epicentre. He eventually became assistant manager and ...
Call Me By Your Name, a frank depiction of desperate teenage longing
It’s not love
“What of [Alcibiades’] beard? Are you not of Homer’s opinion, who says, ‘Youth is most charming when the beard first appears’? And that is now the charm of Alcibiades.” — Socrates, the Protagoras That is ...
Dobson's happy hour includes the bisque
What's the secret? New Zealand mussels.
Bah, humbug! Seriously. Just once, I wanna be rich at Christmas. Be able to splurge, party, take folks out, presents for everybody, not sweat the lettuce. Already, the holiday thing’s starting to strain wallet, patience, ...
Check out the Wallows, Pheobe Bridgers, Brett Dennen, and Yanni
New shows coming to San Diego
The first time I heard “Pulling Leaves Off Trees” by L.A.’s Wallows, I had to check the readout twice to make sure a new Strokes track didn’t slip into the playlist. I was impressed enough ...
Machete trouble at La Jolla High
People don't get Santiago
Santiago, La Jolla’s Darger of the Hedgerows, lives most of his life in a sanctuary he carved for himself amid the dense trees and underbrush separating a kindly Frenchwoman’s home from the busy street on ...
Tubercular threat
The county health department is looking for a contractor
The city’s hepatitis A crisis continues unabated, and now the county health department is looking for a contractor to help tame a cross-border tuberculosis threat. “Among clients who are diagnosed with tuberculosis in San Diego, ...
God goes with submariners
400 feet below the Pacific Ocean, like the Garden of Gethsemane
Place: University Lutheran Church Pastor: J.L. Precup Age: 71 Born: Aurora, IL Formation: Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO Years Ordained: 45 San Diego Reader: How long do you spend writing your sermon? Pastor J.L. Precup: ...
King Schascha of the dancehall
Trinidadian and Tobagonian toaster once a Marine, now a soccer lobbyist
Frontman Dave Wakeling is the only original member of the two-tone British ska band that moved from England to Southern California over 25 years ago. He calls all the shots. “The rest of us are ...
The old ranches of Borrego
The Bailey cabin, the Campbell Ranch, the trap for cowbirds
The old Vallecito Ranch is now part of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and has been designated a preserve known as Hawi-Vallecito Cultural Preserve. Hawi is Kumeyaay for “the place where tules grow” and vallecito is ...
Miracle Mai Tais
Mtume learned to like Christmas
My Christmas miracle came in a highball glass filled with ice and equal parts rum and mai tai mix. At the time, it was clear that the drink had done what it was supposed to ...
La Jolla's version of Henry Darger
The corkscrew-childlike inner life of Santiago
A recent exhibition of works by the artist known as Santiago — aka Charlie Chimpo, aka “the Scripps Institute of Oceanography’s Retard Grandson” (a self-applied sobriquet) — during a festival at La Jolla’s Mary Star ...
Dandelions are not the most Christmaslike plants
A lot biology crammed into the four corners of the house
Last year, my wife and I hosted my entire family for a week over the Christmas break. All told, we had eight people in the house: me and Sara, my three brothers, my younger brother’s ...
Violinistic rock
Alex DePue spilled out of the airplane with a suitcase and a fiddle
“I moved to San Diego from Philadelphia, and nothing really changed for me besides the weather,” says classically trained violinist Alex DePue. “I spilled out of the airplane with a suitcase and a fiddle and ...
The Milky Bun from Orange County
White Americans do not have the lock on this thing
Dear Hipster: Does hipster-ism extend to multiple cultures? Living in SoCal, one gets to appreciate, and even integrate with, people and neighborhoods with distinct cultural identities. Are there branches of hipsters among different cultural pockets, ...
Sister Santa’s once-a-year smile
I adored American Christmas
I fell in love with America for the first time on a sweaty night in a Bangkok refugee center in March 1991. “In America people have meat with every meal,” my dad told me as ...
Come up with $8 mil and change, and the second floor is yours
Numerous attempts over the course of a decade have yet to snare a buyer
Marketing copy for the three-bedroom condo at 202 Coast Boulevard (#3) says this “spectacular oceanfront property is ready for you.” Situated on a single level (the building’s second floor), the unit features direct elevator access ...
L.A. Witch to fly in to the Casbah
Expect many, many minutes of reverb
“Expect 30-something minutes of reverb,” L.A. Witch frontwoman/guitarist Sade Sanchez has said of her band’s debut release. The L.A. music scene has long gone stale, but with this kind of raw music coming out today, ...
I wanted every Power Rangers toy known to man
The exact moment the sleigh bells stopped jingling
I’ll never forget the day the great Santa swindle came crashing down around me. It was Christmas morning, and I was eight years old. When I bolted out of bed, Santa was as concrete a ...
A crystal-ball view into San Diego’s 2018 economy
Tax bill will punish California, may hurt housing prices
Despite labor shortage, San Diego is due for a good 2018.
The most audacious neighborhood displays of Christmas cheer
And Jungle Bells plays up animals
Got Lights The following are the most audacious neighborhood displays of Christmas cheer. Christmas Circle, Chula Vista. Nearly total participation of over 55 homes in the circle formed by Whitney and Mankato streets. At least ...
We were ruthless Christmas-letter mockers
But my husband's family wasn't
When I married my husband Aaron I was well aware of his political leanings, his thoughts on religion, and that he was a saver not a spender. What I did not know was that he ...
Adam Day’s other job
Big money on the battle for Qualcomm Stadium site
The board that runs the California State University system is expected to remain on the sidelines of the costly political battle between backers of SoccerCity and a group calling itself Friends of SDSU over the ...
Letters on The San Diego Symphony, Star Wars , and Frank’s Philly Cheese Steak
Readers have their say
Lizst the rock star Re: “San Diego Symphony, good but not sublime” First, keep publishing Garrett Harris’s column on classical music. Second, his December 5 column on Chopin stated that “according to the symphony program ...
