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Comic-Con co-founder Barry Alfonso, back in his hometown

His recently published A Voice of the Warm covers the life of Rod McKuen

Barry Alfonso-Roy Thomas-1975
Barry Alfonso-Roy Thomas-1975

“When we first came to San Diego, we lived in Golden Hill, then on Florida Street in the University Heights area. From there, we moved to a little bungalow on Eads Avenue in La Jolla. I would have to say the oddest and most memorable things happened when we lived there — this was the late ‘60s, when you would see hippies mingling on Girard Avenue [La Jolla] with rich retirees and Navy petty officers. I later lived in Pacific Beach and Bankers Hill.”

Carmine Infantino-Barry Alfonso-Jack Kirby-1973

That’s writer Barry Alfonso, back in his hometown for two panels at Comic-Con, with his memories of growing up. A comic book maven from a young age, Alfonso actually co-founded Comic-Con with several like-minded friends in 1970, at age 12. And by his teens he was writing music reviews for the La Jolla Light, San Diego Union, and Rolling Stone.

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Asked about favorite local acts, he recalls “Tom Waits was already an L.A. resident by the time I started going to shows, but he was still thought of as a San Diego artist. I always liked his work. I was lucky to have friends in local music, particularly Jan Tonnesen, who played wonderful guitar for such worthy combos as the All-Human Orchestra and the Troy Dante Inferno.”

A Voice of the Warm - The Life of Rod McKuen

Hunting for cheap old LPs at Arcade Records downtown, and Swap-a-Tape on Midway Drive lead him to, among many other things, the work of Rod McKuen, that well-nigh-unclassifiable author-poet-singer-songwriter-actor-neo-classical composer who dominated the late ‘60s through the ‘70s. His name and often his words were on everything from greeting cards to travel bags.

Alfonso, who recently published A Voice of the Warm, the first-ever McKuen biography, elaborates: “McKuen’s words and music could make you feel good or a little melancholy. As I grew older and read Rolling Stone and similar publications, I figured out that McKuen wasn’t cool. He was more of a guilty pleasure or an ironic one.... I got the message that he was appreciated by unhip people who liked to have their heartstrings pulled. Rod was sort of taboo if you had a certain image of yourself as a sophisticated person. That’s what got me interested in him.”

Alfonso’s take on San Diego concludes, “It’s a town full of Theosophists, UFO cultists, dreamers, and comic book freaks. It’s a wonderful mixture of the exotic and the totally normal — like Rod McKuen, I might say.”

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Barry Alfonso-Roy Thomas-1975
Barry Alfonso-Roy Thomas-1975

“When we first came to San Diego, we lived in Golden Hill, then on Florida Street in the University Heights area. From there, we moved to a little bungalow on Eads Avenue in La Jolla. I would have to say the oddest and most memorable things happened when we lived there — this was the late ‘60s, when you would see hippies mingling on Girard Avenue [La Jolla] with rich retirees and Navy petty officers. I later lived in Pacific Beach and Bankers Hill.”

Carmine Infantino-Barry Alfonso-Jack Kirby-1973

That’s writer Barry Alfonso, back in his hometown for two panels at Comic-Con, with his memories of growing up. A comic book maven from a young age, Alfonso actually co-founded Comic-Con with several like-minded friends in 1970, at age 12. And by his teens he was writing music reviews for the La Jolla Light, San Diego Union, and Rolling Stone.

Sponsored
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Asked about favorite local acts, he recalls “Tom Waits was already an L.A. resident by the time I started going to shows, but he was still thought of as a San Diego artist. I always liked his work. I was lucky to have friends in local music, particularly Jan Tonnesen, who played wonderful guitar for such worthy combos as the All-Human Orchestra and the Troy Dante Inferno.”

A Voice of the Warm - The Life of Rod McKuen

Hunting for cheap old LPs at Arcade Records downtown, and Swap-a-Tape on Midway Drive lead him to, among many other things, the work of Rod McKuen, that well-nigh-unclassifiable author-poet-singer-songwriter-actor-neo-classical composer who dominated the late ‘60s through the ‘70s. His name and often his words were on everything from greeting cards to travel bags.

Alfonso, who recently published A Voice of the Warm, the first-ever McKuen biography, elaborates: “McKuen’s words and music could make you feel good or a little melancholy. As I grew older and read Rolling Stone and similar publications, I figured out that McKuen wasn’t cool. He was more of a guilty pleasure or an ironic one.... I got the message that he was appreciated by unhip people who liked to have their heartstrings pulled. Rod was sort of taboo if you had a certain image of yourself as a sophisticated person. That’s what got me interested in him.”

Alfonso’s take on San Diego concludes, “It’s a town full of Theosophists, UFO cultists, dreamers, and comic book freaks. It’s a wonderful mixture of the exotic and the totally normal — like Rod McKuen, I might say.”

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The latest copy of the Reader

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Extended family dynamics

Many of our neighbors live in the house they grew up in
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