Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Close to Home — What it’s like on the street where you live
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Live Five: Jesse Ray Smith, The Frights, Manganista, Stone Temple Pilots, My Town 2026
Americana-soul, surf-punk, ska-rock, alt-grunge, and celebrating decades of local music in Solana Beach, North Park, OB, Normal Heights, Chula Vista
Portion of album art for Manganista's latest effort.
Jesse Ray Smith at Belly Up Tavern
September 10
Jesse Ray Smith describes his sound as "heartland rock with heartbreak soul." He plays Americana music with strong touches of soul, classic rock, heartland folk, and even a bit of country. This melting pot makes sense when you consider his influences: Chris Stapleton, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, and Van Morrison. After releasing his debut solo album in 2018, he went on to record several more releases, as well as becoming a fixture on the local solo gig scene. He's a multiple San Diego Music Award nominee, with two nods at the 2025 SDMAS, for Best Americana Artist and Best Americana Song. He released a digital album last year in two parts, Keepers Side A and Side B, and he just dropped a new single for “Love You Without Fail.” The Solana Beach bill includes Cassie B, who is heavily influenced by the funk and pop stylings of the 1970s.
Jesse Ray Smith
The Frights at Observatory North Park
September 11
Surf-punkers The Frights were teens when their recording career was launched in 2013 by SOMA manager Joe Nammo, who released their debut on his Postmark label. “We did go to the same high school as Blink-182,” says Rancho Bernardo High alum Mikey Carnevale, “and every band who came out of our school wanted to sound like Blink. But it wasn’t my style.” Among their most streamed and viewed tracks is “Crust Bucket” (from their self-titled 2013 debut full-length) “Tungs” (originally featured on the album You Are Going To Hate This), “Kids” (a fan-favorite single addressing the chaos of growing up), and their 2016 track “Afraid of the Dark,” which has racked up millions of streams. They’ve gone on to play at Coachella and the BottleRock Napa Valley Festival, and have around a half dozen albums to their credit, including 2023’s Gallows Humour and 2025’s Ready When You Are. Their most recent release is an EP called Five Fucking Singles.
The Frights
My Town: Celebrating Decades of San Diego Music at the Holding Company
September 12 and 13
Taking place over two days, the My Town festival is back to celebrate decades of San Diego music with a number of noteworthy appearances and reunions. The bill for Saturday, Sepember 12, includes punk icons The Zeros celebrating their 50th anniversary, Everready’s first show in over ten years, 1980s punk band Dum Dum Boys, 90s punk rockers The Mice (marking their first performance in around six years), Sex Pistols-Spice Girls mashup Spice Pistols, hardcore punk chick rockers Revolt Chix, Gizzards, Hour of Pearl, Substitute Gym Teacher, Holding Grudges, and Rat Tricks. Sunday September 13 features The Neighbors celebrating 34 years of hyperfast hardcore, politically aware all-vegetarian anti-war punkers Diatribe (known as the first American D-Beat, circa early 1980s), Santa Claus (1985 thrash) War Fever, Doc Hammer (named after one of the talents behind the TV cartoon show The Venture Brothers), Subversive Intent (members of The Eulogy, In Control, Meth Breath, Stay Away), Philistine (members of Waco Fuck/DEA), Moral Genocide (members from Battalion of Saints and Systematic Abuse), Aggravate (ex-Impulse), Lummux Delux (ex-Crossed Out), and Infernal Tide Riders.
My Town event poster
Manganista Record Release at the Rabbit Hole
September 12
Manganista will be celebrating its new record on Escape Hatch Records. The six-track release takes two songs, “Talking to Myself” and “The Chosen One," and reimagines each three different ways. The result is one record with two songs, six tracks, and three distinctly different sides of the band’s sound. The record transforms both songs through rock, reggae, and dub versions. Side A features “Talking to Myself,” “Talking to My Stepper,” and “Talking Dub,” while Side B follows with “The Chosen One,” “Chosen Too,” and “Chosen Dub.” According to Matt Rhea, "The concept takes a cue from the 12-inch singles of the late ’70s and ’80s, when artists like Duran Duran, The Human League and other new wave and post-punk bands used the format to stretch songs into alternate mixes and extended versions. Manganista takes that tradition in its own direction, allowing the same songs to move between rock, reggae and dub across three distinct recordings." Recorded and mixed by Ben Moore at Singing Serpent, the record's alternate tracks feature guest players John Roy (sax), Brandon Niznik (bass), Don Barthelemy (drums), Matt FitzSimmons (trumpet), and Brian Wallace (flute).
Manganista
Stone Temple Pilots at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
September 15
When alt-grunge icons Stone Temple Pilots open for Godsmack in Chula Vista, it will serve as a homecoming of sorts for three of the bandmembers. Guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo, and drummer Eric Kretz co-founded the group in San Diego during the late 1980s, soon earning national and then international attention for their radio-friendly version of the sort of grunge music popularized at the time by Pearl Jam and others. In a 1994 Rolling Stone poll, STP was voted Worst New Band by critics, and Best New Band by readers. The same year, STP’s song “Plush” won a “Best Hard Rock Performance” Grammy. Previous STP singers Scott Weiland and Chester Bennington both passed away, with Jeff Gutt (known from seasons two and three of TV's X Factor) fronting the band since 2017. Their most recent studio album Perdida dropped in 2020, their second full-length to feature Gutt at the mic and the first fully-acoustic LP of the band’s career. They also recently put out a previously unreleased archival track featuring their late singer Scott Weiland: “If I Could Fly,” a demo written in 2000 that was pulled from Weiland's personal archives and given a wider release to mark the ten-year anniversary of his passing.
Stone Temple Pilots
Here's something you might be interested in.
Live Five: Jesse Ray Smith, The Frights, Manganista, Stone Temple Pilots, My Town 2026
Americana-soul, surf-punk, ska-rock, alt-grunge, and celebrating decades of local music in Solana Beach, North Park, OB, Normal Heights, Chula Vista
Live Five: Jesse Ray Smith, The Frights, Manganista, Stone Temple Pilots, My Town 2026
Americana-soul, surf-punk, ska-rock, alt-grunge, and celebrating decades of local music in Solana Beach, North Park, OB, Normal Heights, Chula Vista
Portion of album art for Manganista's latest effort.
Jesse Ray Smith at Belly Up Tavern
September 10
Jesse Ray Smith describes his sound as "heartland rock with heartbreak soul." He plays Americana music with strong touches of soul, classic rock, heartland folk, and even a bit of country. This melting pot makes sense when you consider his influences: Chris Stapleton, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, and Van Morrison. After releasing his debut solo album in 2018, he went on to record several more releases, as well as becoming a fixture on the local solo gig scene. He's a multiple San Diego Music Award nominee, with two nods at the 2025 SDMAS, for Best Americana Artist and Best Americana Song. He released a digital album last year in two parts, Keepers Side A and Side B, and he just dropped a new single for “Love You Without Fail.” The Solana Beach bill includes Cassie B, who is heavily influenced by the funk and pop stylings of the 1970s.
Jesse Ray Smith
The Frights at Observatory North Park
September 11
Surf-punkers The Frights were teens when their recording career was launched in 2013 by SOMA manager Joe Nammo, who released their debut on his Postmark label. “We did go to the same high school as Blink-182,” says Rancho Bernardo High alum Mikey Carnevale, “and every band who came out of our school wanted to sound like Blink. But it wasn’t my style.” Among their most streamed and viewed tracks is “Crust Bucket” (from their self-titled 2013 debut full-length) “Tungs” (originally featured on the album You Are Going To Hate This), “Kids” (a fan-favorite single addressing the chaos of growing up), and their 2016 track “Afraid of the Dark,” which has racked up millions of streams. They’ve gone on to play at Coachella and the BottleRock Napa Valley Festival, and have around a half dozen albums to their credit, including 2023’s Gallows Humour and 2025’s Ready When You Are. Their most recent release is an EP called Five Fucking Singles.
The Frights
My Town: Celebrating Decades of San Diego Music at the Holding Company
September 12 and 13
Taking place over two days, the My Town festival is back to celebrate decades of San Diego music with a number of noteworthy appearances and reunions. The bill for Saturday, Sepember 12, includes punk icons The Zeros celebrating their 50th anniversary, Everready’s first show in over ten years, 1980s punk band Dum Dum Boys, 90s punk rockers The Mice (marking their first performance in around six years), Sex Pistols-Spice Girls mashup Spice Pistols, hardcore punk chick rockers Revolt Chix, Gizzards, Hour of Pearl, Substitute Gym Teacher, Holding Grudges, and Rat Tricks. Sunday September 13 features The Neighbors celebrating 34 years of hyperfast hardcore, politically aware all-vegetarian anti-war punkers Diatribe (known as the first American D-Beat, circa early 1980s), Santa Claus (1985 thrash) War Fever, Doc Hammer (named after one of the talents behind the TV cartoon show The Venture Brothers), Subversive Intent (members of The Eulogy, In Control, Meth Breath, Stay Away), Philistine (members of Waco Fuck/DEA), Moral Genocide (members from Battalion of Saints and Systematic Abuse), Aggravate (ex-Impulse), Lummux Delux (ex-Crossed Out), and Infernal Tide Riders.
My Town event poster
Manganista Record Release at the Rabbit Hole
September 12
Manganista will be celebrating its new record on Escape Hatch Records. The six-track release takes two songs, “Talking to Myself” and “The Chosen One," and reimagines each three different ways. The result is one record with two songs, six tracks, and three distinctly different sides of the band’s sound. The record transforms both songs through rock, reggae, and dub versions. Side A features “Talking to Myself,” “Talking to My Stepper,” and “Talking Dub,” while Side B follows with “The Chosen One,” “Chosen Too,” and “Chosen Dub.” According to Matt Rhea, "The concept takes a cue from the 12-inch singles of the late ’70s and ’80s, when artists like Duran Duran, The Human League and other new wave and post-punk bands used the format to stretch songs into alternate mixes and extended versions. Manganista takes that tradition in its own direction, allowing the same songs to move between rock, reggae and dub across three distinct recordings." Recorded and mixed by Ben Moore at Singing Serpent, the record's alternate tracks feature guest players John Roy (sax), Brandon Niznik (bass), Don Barthelemy (drums), Matt FitzSimmons (trumpet), and Brian Wallace (flute).
Manganista
Stone Temple Pilots at North Island Credit Union Amphitheatre
September 15
When alt-grunge icons Stone Temple Pilots open for Godsmack in Chula Vista, it will serve as a homecoming of sorts for three of the bandmembers. Guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo, and drummer Eric Kretz co-founded the group in San Diego during the late 1980s, soon earning national and then international attention for their radio-friendly version of the sort of grunge music popularized at the time by Pearl Jam and others. In a 1994 Rolling Stone poll, STP was voted Worst New Band by critics, and Best New Band by readers. The same year, STP’s song “Plush” won a “Best Hard Rock Performance” Grammy. Previous STP singers Scott Weiland and Chester Bennington both passed away, with Jeff Gutt (known from seasons two and three of TV's X Factor) fronting the band since 2017. Their most recent studio album Perdida dropped in 2020, their second full-length to feature Gutt at the mic and the first fully-acoustic LP of the band’s career. They also recently put out a previously unreleased archival track featuring their late singer Scott Weiland: “If I Could Fly,” a demo written in 2000 that was pulled from Weiland's personal archives and given a wider release to mark the ten-year anniversary of his passing.
Stone Temple Pilots