50 Historic Local Concerts 1956-2006
Also: War Stories battling over band name, Boy Shakira is all my fault, & “I Found Nirvana (Next To The Foo Fighters)”
WAR STORIES AT WAR “There’s a bunch of makeup wearing weirdos rocking our name,” says DJ Frydae of Boston-based War Stories, referring to a local band using the same name. “I Googled it one night and found ‘em. In turn …
OB: Inside Story of a '70s Counterculture Radio Hero
Inside story of a local '70s counterculture icon & Top 5 Lists
LEGENDARY LOCAL DJ GARY ALLYN: THE O.B. RANGER RIDES AGAIN! “We were going after the progressive rock or the album rock crowd,” says radio DJ and programming vet Gary Allyn about his early seventies on-air gig in San Diego. “We …
Tijuana Bathrooms, and a Tutorial in Rave Culture
Rating TJ's toilet facilities, and a creepy old guy goes to a rave...
Every weekend evening, thousands of people travel southbound across the San Ysidro-Puerta México Port of Entry. The majority will pass right by Plaza Viva Tijuana, a retail commercial center adjacent to the border station, and head straight for the nightclubs …
Battle of the Peeps - the inside story
I didn't set out to become a pornographer...
BATTLE OF THE PEEPS – THE INSIDE STORY OF A PORNOGRAPHY EMPIRE I didn’t set out to become a pornographer. In '84, about to become jobless, I grabbed the Yellow Pages and circled every “bookstore” listing within moped-riding distance of …
Pissed At Dave Mustaine & An Old Guitar’s New Life
New axe to grind with Mustaine & old axe courtesy Bart Mendoza
SOMEONE ELSE IS MAD AT DAVE MUSTAINE Last month, Megadeth mainman and North County resident Dave Mustaine conducted a “Who Will Support Megadeth In Europe?” poll on theliveline.com. A metal band named Warmachine scored highest, earning 21 percent of the …
Inside Story of a Local 1-Hit Wonder
Remember the Monroes?
REMEMBER THE MONROES??? “Could you be the one I’m thinking of? Could you be the girl I really love? All the people tell me so, but what do all the people know!” (The Monroes, “What Do All The People Know”) …
Rock Concerts Are Destroying Your Hearing!
According to hearing experts and the rockers themselves...
From an engineering standpoint, the human ear has more design flaws and potential for breakdown than any other mechanism on Earth. That’s according to audiologists, whose expertise involves evaluating the nature and degree of hearing loss. Since obtaining such expertise …
My Worst Celebrity Encounters EVER!
Gene Simmons, Stan Lee, Axl Rose, Gene Roddenberry, etc.
(repost of an earlier deleted entry) I hear it all the time. "Wow, I wish I had your job - you get paid to have fun and hang out with famous people!" What folks don't seem to understand is that …
Did Andrew Cunanan Kill Local Comic Book Publisher??
City rankings on various year-end lists, and the inside story of an infamous local murder
SOME LOCAL NUMBERS FOR 2007 San Diego ranked #17 in U.S. terrestrial radio market earnings last year, with 45 operating stations generating around $203 million dollars income. The same Arbitron ratings show the two most-listened to local stations are KSON-FM/KSOQ-FM …
Tattoos that rock and Wild Man Fischer finally talks
Local tattooists talk rock, and a rare chat with legendary Zappa protégé Wild Man Fischer
Tattoo shops flourish in San Diego, and pretty much always have. Customers used to be perceived, correctly or not, as coming from predominantly military, blue collar or “outlaw” (bikers and ex-cons) backgrounds. In actuality, practitioners and aficionados come from every …
Birth of a Bandname - 50 Locals Reveal Their Bandname Stories, plus My Brunch With Yoko
Instead of a lawsuit, I was served brunch…
DUFF-O-CIDE "A Duff is a Designated Ugly Fat Friend. They are most commonly spotted within a small group of girls hidden behind a large burrito or super-sized meal. They have a violent temper and must be approached with extreme caution. …
"What's Your Favorite Twilight Zone?" 25 Local Musicos Talk Twilight, plus ShatFest
Plus all the Shat you can eat (and THEN some), and '70s cartoon psychedelia
JON KANIS: "If I had to pick only one of the 156, I'd probably say 'The Dummy' starring San Diegan Cliff Robertson and written by Rod Serling, a contemporary master of the morality play if ever there was one. Honorable …
We Asked 25 Local Musicos "Lennon or McCartney?", plus RIP Ike Turner, FYI Rockin’ Rob’n
Bad blood and new blood -- Goodbye Ike and Hello Rob’n
WE ASKED LOCAL MUSICIANS “LENNON OR McCARTNEY? JAMIE RENO signed a national record deal in 2004 with 33rd Street Records and 10,000 copies of his last record, Survivors’ Songs, were donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, to be given …
Why Britney Spears Hates San Diego (and we're not fond of her, either)
The Access Hollywood promo showed Britney Spears flashing flesh, as a hyperactive voiceover announced “Britney is willing to do anything to top Janet, even if it takes getting nasty in the Onyx Hotel! Coming up – sex in San Diego!” …
Cartoonist Confessions - Secrets Behind Overheard In San Diego & Famous Former Neighbors
Plus bad reviews for the new Hard Rock, Life Between Deadlines, That Old House, more
Overheard In San Diego and Famous Former Neighbors are anomalies in the comic strip world – they’re based on real people, places, and events. Overheard made its debut in early 1996. Originally, I was only the writer – Scott Pentzer …
30 Celebrities Reveal "What I Like (Or Hate) About San Diego"
THIRTY CELEBS REVEAL “WHAT I LIKE ABOUT SAN DIEGO” For around 10 years, almost every time I interviewed a celebrity coming to town, I asked them about San Diego. I wanted to elicit their memories of the city, find out …
Undercover Chronicles 2 – I Was An Undercover Bouncer
(My staff shirts) An estimated 1,500 people attended the 1998 edition of Live on the Bay, where I worked undercover as security. Campland’s sites were more than eighty-five percent full for the event. The only complaints …
Blame the Reader for Boy Shakira
How we discovered & named Boy Shakira, plus a poem about record collecting
BOY SHAKIRA IS ALL MY FAULT During the last season of America's Got Talent, the most controversial contestant was easily Boy Shakira, a heavyset man in a blonde wig and halter top, enthusiastically belly-dancing to both cheers and jeers. Didja …
Undercover Chronicles #1 - I Was An Undercover Ticket Scalper
Louis XIV Downunder allstar jam last week, More Cartoon Rockers & Virtual San Diego
********************************************* *********************************************** YOUTUBE GEMS THIS WEEK I spend hours combing YouTube for the coolest gems, so you don’t have to! First up, here’s Louis XIV in Australia last week, November 11th, onstage with the Vines, Howling Belles, …
The Day Jimi Hendrix Came To Town
Backstage and behind the scenes for a legendary local gig
May 1969: Two hundred years after Father Junípero Serra founded the first California mission on Presidio Hill, San Diego celebrated its bicentennial. The Ferry still shuttled passengers and cargo across the harbor, as it had for over eighty years, but …