Content for Thursday, December 27, 2018
News & Stories
Oceanside Mohsen gas stations at war with G&M stations
Shell takes over from Chevron as most expensive
Southern Californians are driving more this holiday season, as evidenced by an unusual post-Christmas Day traffic jam on December 26 through Camp Pendleton south to Del Mar on I-5. It was bumper-to-bumper most of the ...
Can’t stay mad at soup dumplings
How to score reservations to San Diego’s best new mall restaurant
Two years ago, we were driving through a dark evening storm, heading into the Westfield UTC with seats reserved for a new Star Wars movie at the Arclight Cinema. Entrance to the mall parking lot ...
Rigoletto would never have made it if written in 2018
Austrian censors had no problem with rape
In just a few weeks Verdi’s Rigoletto will be opening at The San Diego Opera. Let’s talk about how it fits in with the current milieu of hypersensitivity. The fact of the matter is that ...
The “permanent vacation” feel
This house is made to be shown off
The newly-constructed estate at 7430 Hillside Drive in La Jolla includes five separate elevator-accessed levels of living area totaling nearly 6300 square feet of living space carved out of the side of Mount Soledad. “A ...
A poem to finish off the year from England’s poet laureate
Known for his version of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” fairytale
Ode Written on the First of January Come melancholy Moralizer—come! Gather with me the dark and wintry wreath; With me engarland now The SEPULCHRE OF TIME! Come Moralizer to the funeral song! I pour the ...
Born to drum
Three minutes of percussion glory
This is the 50th anniversary of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by San Diego’s Iron Butterfly. The 17-minute rock opus was known for taking up one entire album side. Its mid-song drum solo helped grease the wheels for the ...
December 20 Sudoku Contenders
Elliot Rosenberg, La Jolla, 47. Joseph Ciprian, San Diego, 43. Thomas LaFleur, San Diego, 43. Ralph Levy, La Jolla, 43. Isabella Bosch-Sorensen, San Diego, 41. XP Liang, San Diego, 40. Hiroshi Miyazaki, San Diego, 40. ...
December 20 Crossword Contenders
Joseph Ciprian, San Diego, 45. Martin Soblick, Del Mar, 43. Jon Christianson, El Cajon, 40. Ron Meyer, Santee, 40. Maria Coda, Oceanside, 39. Dennis Butterworth, San Diego, 37. Richard Hutchings, Santee, 37. Evelyn Bowser, San ...
December 20 Brainstorm Contenders
Joseph Ciprian, San Diego, 36. Robert Ott, Mira Mesa, 12. Randy Paddock, San Diego, 12. K.J. Rayner, San Diego, 12. Thomas McVeagh, Lakeside, 11. Johanna Barry, Pine Valley, 9. Greg Bergeron, Tierrasanta, 9. Martin Soblick, ...
The memory of swordfish
Just enough spice to give the white flesh a come-hither taste
The waves crash as if this were an episode of Poldark. Sun and spume glint through the colored plastic surfboard sculptures, here at IB’s Portwood Pier Plaza. “So I’m still looking,” says Kevin. We’re meeting ...
Flashpants flashback
Their persistence on The Gong Show paid off
It took the producers from ABC’s reboot of The Gong Show three attempts before they got Flashpants to bite. Their persistence paid off. The group decided to go for it, even though they knew crashing ...
2018: Apparition to Zama
If a movie releases on Netflix and not in a theater, is it a movie?
A strange year at the movies for your exceedingly humble correspondent. Only about 100 reviews this time ‘round, and three of my notable ten didn’t even make it into the paper. The first of those ...
Sarcastic adenoidal madness
Les Claypool has released an album almost every year since 1988
Les Claypool: unless you were a diehard Primus geek, I doubt you can remember the names of the other two guys who were in that band. Claypool is another thing entirely. As Sting was to ...
Big Sonic New Year’s Eve
XIV can veer from “Erykah Badu-meets-Radiohead” to industrial-Afrobeat
Consider XIV, a loosely-structured La Mesa congregation that joyfully lives in the loungey music groove known as Big Sonic Chill. Nathan Samuels (keyboards, trumpet, vocals) and wife/partner Kelly Samuels (vocals, flute, keyboard, percussion) have anchored ...
What real music sounds like
Steely Damned II will stage a rare performance at the Music Box on December 30
“It’s not an interpretation of Steely Dan,” says guitarist Hank Easton, whose tribute band Steely Damned II will stage a rare performance at the Music Box on December 30. “It’s like the records, but with ...
