San Diego CityBeat • May 23, 2018

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We realize that many readers may have already sent in their ballots. However, for those old-schoolers out there or for those who haven’t yet mailed their ballots, here are CityBeat’s endorsements for the June primary. We tried to be as comprehensive as possible, but if we missed a race, please feel free to hit us up and we’ll tell you what we think.

H STATE OFFICES AND MEASURES H Governor As with many races on the ballot, this one won’t actually be decided until November and there’s a very good chance, thanks to California’s blanket “top-two” primary system, that two Democrats will end up on the ballot in November. However, things have gotten a little more interesting over the past few weeks. Trump has endorsed Rancho Santa Fe carpetbagger John Cox, so that could garner him enough votes from the far-right fringe to move on to the November election. And while most consider it highly unlikely that Cox would win in the general election, we don’t want to take any chances. After all, we do live in a state that elected Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Twice.

This makes it all the more important to get out there and vote for the progressive candidate of your choice. To be honest, there are things we like about all of the respective Democrats in the race, and we’d much rather see two solidly progressive candidates running against each other in November. Of those candidates, we like State Treasurer John Chiang’s no-nonsense attitude toward fiscal matters.

We also like former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s policies when it comes to transportation and addressing California’s rising poverty. The idea of having the state’s first Asian-American governor or the first Latinx governor since 1875(?!) is very tempting. And sure, in a perfect world, Bernie Sanders would have won the presidency and Delaine Eastin would win this year’s primary and go on to become the first female governor of California.

However…

While we have issues with Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, he’s the right candidate at the right time. If Hillary Clinton were president, we might be more inclined to endorse one of the other Dems, but Newsom has a long track record of outspokenness and action when it comes to progressive policies. While his tenure as mayor of San Francisco was spotty and, eh, salacious, he led California’s charge for marriage equality. Eventually, the rest of the country caught up. He is a natural successor to Jerry Brown and, unlike his first run in 2009, he now has the experience to effectively govern. He’ll also have the temerity and the

temperament to take on the Trump administration’s racist and far-right policies. He’s ready.

Lieutenant Governor This race isn’t as much of a spoil of riches as the governor’s race, but it’s important to keep in mind some of the lieutenant governor’s primary duties when it comes to making the decision between the 11 candidates running for the office. These include serving as leader of the State Senate (as its president), as well as sitting on and guiding the UC Board of Regents, the Cal State University Board, the State Lands Commission and the State Economic Development Commission. Given those responsibilities, we’d like to see a name on the ballot in November who has sound economic ideas for the world’s fifth largest economy, as well as some broad ideas when it comes to higher education.

That being said, of the five progressive candidates on the ballot there is not one ideal choice. While we like Jeff Bleich’s experience as a former Obama aide and progressive attorney, we sort of wish he was running for attorney general instead. Much of the same could be said for upstart candidate Cameron Gharabiklou, but we think he set his sights a little high for a first-time candidate. And a vote for former Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin is certainly tempting, but much in the same way that a vote for Jill Stein was tempting.

That leaves Eleni Kounalakis. She is a rising force in the party and one that has the ability to appeal to both far-left progressives and centrists (hence the endorsements from both Sen. Kamala Harris and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi). She has landed a huge list of endorsements from pro-choice, pro-women, pro-environment and pro-LGBTQ organizations. We think she’ll hit the ground running, and we join fellow alt-weeklies like the Bay Area Reporter and the East Bay Express in supporting her candidacy.

Secretary of State Between this race and state treasurer, most voters will likely just pick a name from their preferred party and call it a day. However, the secretary of state oversees the state’s elections, its database of registered voters and is

2018 VOTER GUIDE CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 This issue of CityBeat is really tired from writing all these election endorsements.

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MAY 23, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 3

2018 VOTER GUIDE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 also responsible for the disclosure of campaign financial information. These are things voters should really care about. That being said, it’s still tempting to simply check incumbent Alex Padilla’s name. However, it’s worth looking into Oceanside candidate Ruben Major. He’s the kind of upstart candidate that poses a threat to the Democratic establishment and has some very interesting ideas. So, yeah, we endorse Alex Padilla, but if readers find that Major is more their type of candidate, we wouldn’t begrudge them if they cast a vote for him.

made of his relative inexperience, but he’s wicked smart and has some great ideas on pensions and health care. We think he’s ready and while Ma is certainly qualified, it just seems like another move in what has already been a career in state politics.

State Controller If readers take anything away from this list of endorsements, we hope they at least just remember the pithy descriptions of what the office is actually in charge of. State controller is essentially the state’s bookkeeper. While the treasurer is ostensibly in charge of spending the money, the duties of the controller are much more broad. The office conducts audits on everything from school districts to oil and gas lease royalties. The latter should especially interest any progressive voter. That being said, we see no reason to change course from incumbent Betty Yee, but it’s not like we have much of a choice; The only other option is an Orange County cab company founder who wants to immediately audit the high-speed rail project. No, thanks.

Attorney General This one is a little tough. On the one hand, there’s nothing particularly disagreeable about incumbent (well, of sorts) Xavier Becerra. He’s served as a more-than-competent U.S. representative and was a natural choice when Gov. Brown needed to replace then-Attorney General Kamala Harris in 2016. I mean, the guy has sued the Trump administration more than 30 times, so what’s not to like, right? Right? Well, it’s a bit telling that he failed to secure his own party’s nomination at the Democratic State Convention a few months ago, while his Democratic opponent, Dave Jones, actually secured more delegate votes. While we think Becerra is doing a good job, we agree with Jones that there’s more to the job than resistance in the form of lawsuits. There needs to be more done when it comes to enforcing environmental regulations, gun laws and the opioid crisis.

Dave Jones, who has served two terms as insurance commissioner and leads a consumer protection agency, is a fresh candidate with strong ideals and ideas.

State Treasurer This one is a bit more interesting. There’s no incumbent running, and we’ve been on the fence between the two progressives running. Fiona Ma has much more name recognition thanks to her time as a state assemblymember and her time on the State Board of Equalization. To be honest, she’s kind of a badass and should be running for a higher office at this point. Still, we really like Vivek Viswanathan. A former advisor to Gov. Brown and Hillary Clinton, he’s exactly the kind of progressive newcomer CityBeat readers should be paying attention to. A lot has been

Insurance Commissioner Speaking of Dave Jones’ old job, there’s something truly charming about the campaign of Dr. Asif Mahmood, a PakistaniAmerican physician who has pledged not to take any campaign contributions from insurance or pharmaceutical companies.

But as the Trump administration continues to chip away at the Affordable Care Act, it’s just too dicey at this point to take a chance on anyone but State Senator Ricardo Lara. A rising progressive star who has the opportunity to be the first openly gay statewide elected official, he has the experience, skills and

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connections to take on D.C. and the pharmaceutical industry as California inches slowly toward universal healthcare.

State Board of Equalization, 4th District This state board, which essentially oversees state taxes, was recently stripped of most of its powers by the Legislature. The board is now simply in charge of equalizing property taxes, but there is talk of doing away with it altogether. So winning this seat would be a rather dubious victory, but that being said, we like David Dodson, who has a ton of experience in property appraisals and has worked with the board for over two decades.

Ken Lopez-Maddox just conveniently became a Democrat a few months ago, and carpetbagging local Mike Schafer has basically tried to run for every office available. Do not vote for them.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction This race is not part of the top-two primary system so it’s very likely that whomever receives a majority of the vote here will be elected. That being understood, we would encourage readers to vote for longtime public schools advocate and Assemblymember Tony Thurmond. He may not have as much experience as Marshall Tuck (who we also like), but Thurmond is a former school board member and has a solidly progressive voting record. He has also pledged to fight the Trump administration on education funding.

State Assembly, 71st District Republican Randy Voepel, who has a general dislike of immigrants and cap-and-trade permits for greenhouse gases, currently represents this district. That’s why we strongly encourage all our East County readers to vote for James Elia, a Spring Valley native who has some great stances on income inequality and health care.

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his main talking points for his gas tax repeal campaign. So yeah, vote hell yeah on Prop. 69, if only to piss off Carl. Nice.

State Assembly, 75th District We commend current Republican Assemblymember Marie Waldron for her outspokenness when it came to the sexual harassment scandals in the state legislature, but we are still supporting Alan Geraci, a true progressive to represent Escondido, San Marcos and other parts of North County.

Prop. 70 Back to climate change, Prop. 70 is one of those trickilyworded ones that voters might be tempted to vote yes on, but, as Admiral Ackbar famously yelled, it’s a trap! It’s actually quite stupid. We’d suggest reading the L.A. Times’ great editorial on it, but basically it amends the state constitution so that the legislature would need a two-thirds majority (rather than a simple majority) to spend money raised from the state’s cap-and-trade permits (permits that companies have to purchase in order to release greenhouse gases). It basically makes it so that the majority party in the legislature (presumably Dems) would have to court the minority party’s vote (likely the GOP) in order to spend permit money on important projects. This would likely result in the Dems having to promise to fund pork projects for GOP legislators in order to get their votes. That’s dumb.

And what’s even dumber, it’s only good for one year (2024) and would go back to a simple majority after that. This is the ballot proposition equivalent of WTF?. We honestly can’t believe we spent this much time and ink on it, so just vote no on Prop. 70.

State Assembly, 76th District This is the only assembly seat with no incumbent, as Rocky Chavez has opted to run for Congress. Sadly, the Dems have not endorsed one of the two candidates, but between Encinitas City Councilmember Tasha Boerner Horvath and progressive activist Elizabeth Warren (no, not that one), we like Warren.

State Assembly, 77th District There’s only one Democrat running against Republican incumbent Brian Maienschein in what has become a purplish district. Her name is Sunday Gover, and she’s pretty awesome.

State Assembly, 78th District Do readers really even have to ask? Todd Gloria. Without question.

State Assembly, 79th District Democratic incumbent Shirley N. Weber’s speech at the California Democratic Convention blew us away. We wholeheartedly endorse her.

State Assembly, 80th District Our choice for District 80, Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, doesn’t need much of an introduction. The outspoken Democrat has been drafting up legislation like crazy, and we always like what she’s up to.

State Senate, 36th District This district largely falls in Orange County, but still went blue in 2016. That being said, there’s no reason incumbent Republican minority leader Patricia Bates can’t be bounced from her seat. All voters north of Cardiff should vote for progressive Marggie Castellano.

Prop. 71 Most everyone agrees that this is a pretty common sense yes vote. It basically just amends the constitution so that ballot measures take effect five days after the secretary of state certifies the election results, rather than the day after Election Day. It’s common sense because we now have to take into account mail-in and provisional ballots, so this is a safe way to prevent any confusion.

Prop. 72 This one brings out our inner Ron Swanson for sure. This prop basically just allows for home and property owners to install rainwater-capture systems without it contributing to a higher property tax bill. It rewards homeowners for conserving water, and it’s good for the environment. Duh, vote yes.

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Prop. 68 It’s hard to devise a hypothetical scenario wherein we’d be against the bipartisan Prop. 68, which authorizes the state to sell $4.1 billion worth of bonds for natural resources protection and take steps to adapt to climate change (think more wildfires and floods). Perhaps if we had a president, an EPA or a federal government in general that cared about the dangers of climate change, then we wouldn’t have to worry about it as much. But we do, so an emphatic YES on Prop. 68.

U.S. Senate The amount of people running in this race is enough for any voter to simply just throw their hands up and vote for incumbent Dianne Feinstein. Which is precisely why we’re going to insist that readers vote for State Senator Kevin de León in the primary. It’s not so much that we’re in love with de León. Oh, we have some issues with him for sure, including the fact that he was the state senate president pro tem who oversaw a Senate that was eventually exposed as being rife with sexual harassment. However, we do give him credit for attempting to clean up the Senate before handing the reins over to hometown hero Toni Atkins. But to be honest, we can’t help but feel like we need Feinstein’s drive and experience now more than ever. So why then are we endorsing de León for the primary? It’s a simple game of chess, really. You see (and we wish we were kidding about this), a neo-nazi is climbing the polls and according to a recent SurveyUSA poll, he could come in second in the primary.

And because of those aforementioned top-two primary systems, he could very well be on the ballot in November. While we have no doubt that Feinstein would crush him like a grape in the November election, we’d rather spare her the indignity of even having to debate this parasite (we’re not even going to print his name). She will undoubtedly come out on top in the primary, which means a second place finish for de León would result in two progressive candidates duking it out to see who will be the biggest thorn in Trump’s side come January 2019.

Prop. 69 The U-T’s Joshua Emerson Smith recently wrote an excellent piece on the gax tax and where the money goes when citizens pay that extra 12 cents at the pump. This proposition basically makes sure that the gas tax money is used only for infrastructure and transportation projects. Sure, that should have been written into the law when it was first passed in the State Senate, but this will correct that. Its main opponent, failed mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio, knows that if it passes, it takes away one of

U.S. House of Representatives, 49th District There is arguably no more important national race than the one to replace Rep. Darrell Issa. We’ve been pleading with the four Democrats (Doug Applegate, Sara Jacobs, Paul Kerr and Mike Levin) for months for one of them to drop out of the race, but to no avail. Now, what once looked like a great opportunity for a Democratic pickup in the house is now looking like it will be a two-Republican race in November. State Assemblymember Rocky Chavez is a clear frontrunner, while Dianne Harkey has

State Senate, 38th District Another wide-open race, the man who now holds the seat, incumbent Republican Joel Anderson, is one of the most repugnant politicians to ever come out of San Diego County. Please El Cajon and Escondido, vote for Escondido native and 30-year Cal Fire vet Jeff Griffith.

State Senate, 40th District This is a one-on-one, red versus blue race for representation of National City, Bonita and other parts of East County. It’s likely both candidates will go on to compete in November, so for all intents and purposes, vote for Democrat incumbent Ben Hueso now and in the fall.

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the backing of Issa. There’s also San Diego Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, who now has notoriety thanks to her recent White House visit to discuss her newfound nativism. This means it’s so important, now more than ever, to rally behind one candidate.

And while we could sing the praises of all the Democratic candidates, it’s clear now that we have to endorse Doug Applegate.

If indeed Chavez comes in first in the primary, we need a candidate that can go toe-to-toe with the former Marine colonel in a military-heavy district (Applegate himself is a retired Marine colonel). We think that Jacobs has a bright future in local and national politics, and Levin’s outspokenness at Issa’s town halls last year was thoroughly impressive, but voters have to remember that Applegate came within 1,600 votes of beating Issa in 2016. With a large progressive turnout in November, Applegate could win and finally flip the 49th.

U.S. House of Representatives, 50th District One day, hopefully soon, we’ll all be able have a good laugh at Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter’s farcical tenure as a U.S. Congressmember. Even a member of his own party (El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells) thinks he’ll soon be disqualified from the race and is running against him. Until then, we can only pray that one of the three Dems in the race (Josh Butner, Ammar Campa-Najjar and Patrick Malloy) makes it to the November ballot.

That’s why, as is the case in the 49th District, it’s time to rally behind Ammar Campa-Najjar. On paper, Butner and Malloy would seem to be safer choices, but Campa-Najjar has shown a lot of backbone, fundraising prowess and progressive idealism.

This helped him land the party’s official endorsement at the State Convention in February. If Hunter squeaks out a primary victory, it will still be an uphill battle for Campa-Najjar, but as more of Hunter’s campaign finance shenanigans are exposed, the 50th could be leaning purple by late October.

U.S. House of Representatives, 51st District South Bay and Imperial Valley progressives are more than happy with incumbent Juan Vargas and given his heckling of Speaker Paul Ryan last week, we’re cool with him as well.

U.S. House of Representatives, 52nd District Look, we have some issues with Rep. Scott Peters when it comes to his flip-flopping on issues like net neutrality, and GOP candidate Omar Qudrat stands a real good chance of challenging him in November. There are no Democratic candidates challenging Peters, which is a shame given that there’s six Republicans. So yeah, while we would have liked to have seen some new blood in this race, Scott Peters is our choice.

U.S. House of Representatives, 53rd District Must. Resist. Making. Fun. Of. Morgan. Murtaugh. OK, please don’t vote for the Tomi Lahren clone. Susan Davis all the way here.

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CITY AND COUNTY H RACES AND MEASURES

Board of Supervisors, District 4 Of all the races on the ballot this year, this was the hardest decision we had to make. This is such an important race, as the Board has immense power over how county money is spent on everything from health emergencies (Hep. A, for example) and mental health, to public parks and housing. The race to replace termed-out Ron Roberts has two excellent choices on the progressive side, but what we fear is that Bonnie Dumanis (the only Republican on the ticket) may win the seat outright. This really sucks, especially in light of the Board’s recent decision to back Trump’s anti-immigration lawsuit against the state of California. We need a Democrat on the all-Republican board now more than ever.

We have been thoroughly impressed by Omar Passons since we first met him last year. We’ve watched him grow as a grassroots candidate, immersing himself in the issues and coming out with solid ideas to tackle large problems. He’s prudent when it comes to the county budget, often preaching that there should always be reserves, but that money should be spent on critical projects and emergencies. As a land use and construction at-

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2018 VOTER GUIDE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 torney, he has great ideas on overhauling zoning codes in the underdeveloped and unincorporated areas of the county in order to deal with the housing crisis and not just for middle-income renters, but for our homeless and elderly populations as well.

Still, we cannot give him our whole-hearted endorsement.

Some members of our staff have real issues with Passons that cannot be ignored, and while we would not begrudge others for voting for him, we will be backing Nathan Fletcher. Just as with Passons, we have watched Fletcher not only grow as a candidate, but as a person as well. While others may look to his Republican past and cry “opportunist” or “hypocrite,” we see someone who has fully embraced the progressive agenda and will fight back against his fellow supervisors should they pull any shenanigans like they have recently. But perhaps, more importantly, he has the governmental experience to be bipartisan and to find solutions where there are seemingly none. He is the right candidate for right now.

San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk In case you missed it, we wrote a feature on ethics attorney Matt Strabone, who’s running to unseat longtime incumbent Assessor Ernest Dronenburg. The latter is banking on voter indifference to his multiple controversies (anti-gay marriage, campaign finance violations, reckless spending, etc.). Don’t be indifferent, as this race will be decided in this election. Matt Strabone is ready for the job and will be a valuable public servant in this important office that’s in charge of property taxes, property value assessments and more.

San Diego County Sheriff We could list all the ways in which Dave Myers is more than qualified to be the first new County sheriff, but one need only look at incumbent Bill Gore’s record in office as proof that change is needed immediately. There’s the dozens of preventable deaths in county jails between 2007 and 2012 (the highest in the state).

There’s the department that’s smothered with allegations of sexual misconduct, harassment and assault, which ultimately costs the county millions in lawsuits. (Check out Aaryn Belfer’s column on page 9 for even more Gore shenanigans). Even the U-T’s tepid endorsement of Gore read like a laundry list of failures that Gore has had plenty of time to fix. We agree with Myers that Gore has shown a pattern of reactionary, outdated methods of law enforcement. What’s more, he has mostly shown a retaliatory attitude toward those who have criticized him. He now says he’s open to new ideas, but only because he’s running for re-election. Once he wins, we’re confident it’ll be back to business as usual. It’s time for a change. Dave Myers is that change.

Board of Supervisors, District 5 So long, Bill Horn. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. With that out of the way, any Democrat in this race still faces a tough race in what is still a red district. San Marcos Mayor Jim Desmond looks to be the GOP frontrunner, but Jim Kern is making some headway. This means that Democrats Michelle Gomez and Jacqueline Arsivaud have a fighting chance.

Of the two, we’re backing Arsivaud. In her recent Q&A with the U-T, she showed an impressive knowledge and command of the issues. Her experience in business, philanthropy, environmentalism and land use boards makes her uniquely qualified for the multi-faceted job of county supervisor. Plus, she’s FrenchAmerican so that’s cool too.

San Diego County Treasurer/Tax Collector Honestly, we’d love it if somebody ran against incumbent Dan McAllister, who has held this office since 2002. But he’s running unopposed so maybe write-in Seymour Butts and watch chaos ensue.

San Diego City Council, District 2 We’d like nothing more than to see Lorie Zapf get bounced from her seat. Her NIMBYism and sky-is-falling attitude when it comes to cannabis and short-term vacation rentals is truly annoying. We think Dr. Jennifer Campbell is more than ready to take over. A family medicine practioner and former member of the Clairemont Town Council, she supports common sense approaches to the issues of homelessness, health and even dockless bikes, whereas Zapf seems stuck in a different century. Vote for Jennifer Campbell.

Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 28 The incumbent in this race, Judge Herbert Exarhos, has been on the bench since 1987(!), which is all the more reason to desire someone new. However, his opponent, Escondido attorney Vicki Rothman, once argued conservative position cases on behalf of the U.S. Justice Foundation, a legal advocacy that was founded by disgraced Superior Court Judge Gary Kreep (more on him shortly). Judge Exarhos isn’t perfect, but we’ll stick with him. Plus, he once really pissed off former DA Bonnie Dumanis so he’s got that going for him.

San Diego City Council, District 4 Honestly, we think Council President Myrtle Cole has done a fine job and see almost no reason to not vote for her.

Buuuuuut… watch out for Monica Montgomery. We see bright things for her ahead and wouldn’t mind if readers checked her name instead. Still, Cole has our endorsement. For now.

Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 37 Let us be very clear here: Please vote for literally anyone other than incumbent Judge Gary Kreep. We honestly can’t believe he’s somehow still allowed to run after he was given a public censure last year (the most serious discipline other than removal).

Not to mention the fact that he’s been frequently absent from his downtown courtroom in the past year and was once a prominent “birther” conspiracy theorist. CityBeat has been covering Kreep’s creepy behavior for years (honestly, just do a quick Google search) so please vote for Deputy District Attorney Tim Nader.

San Diego City Council, District 6 Councilmember Chris Cate has had a rough, scandal-plagued year, and we’d like him to see him squirm a little bit for that SoccerCity memo fiasco. Tommy Hough is gaining steam in the district as a chummy, down-to-earth progressive that gets along with everyone. He’s also very passionate about the ongoing homelessness crisis, which makes him our pick.

San Diego City Council, District 8 Councilmember David Alvarez will surely be missed on the council, and all four candidates in this race are Democrats. We like Alvarez staffer Vivian Moreno in this race, although we’d be more than happy to have to choose between her and border activist Christian Ramirez in November.

San Diego County District Attorney Please read last week’s editorial and endorsement of Geneviéve Jones-Wright. We have some reservations, but we think she’ll make for a fine DA and bring some much-needed reforms to the office. Summer Stephan is a fine prosecutor, but she’s just too similar to her former boss Bonnie Dumanis for our tastes.

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San Diego Community College District Member, Board of Trustees, District E This will be a nice placeholder office for current councilmember David Alvarez until he’s ready to run for mayor. That’s not to imply he won’t put all of his efforts into the SDCCD board. Just sayin’ we’re looking forward to 2020.

Chula Vista Mayor Four candidates have stepped up to bat for Chula Vista’s mayoral seat: incumbent Mayor Mary Casillas Salas, Otay Water District board member Hector Gastelum, local teacher Arthur Kende and Chula Vista Parks Supervisor Daniel Schreck.

Our vote will remain with Mary Casillas Salas, a fifth generation Chula Vistan who found herself on the right side of history in 2014, becoming the first Latina mayor not only of Chula Vista, but in all of San Diego County. We predict she and Gastelum will be the top two vote-getters, which will push them on into the November elections. Both are campaigning on the promise to finish development on the bayfront, but the

two candidates strike polar opposite tones. Salas advocates for reducing greenhouse gases, protecting immigrant rights and helping people get off the street through CV’s Homeless Outreach Team while Gastelum is a MAGA drum-beater who plans to strip sanctuary laws and has unapologetically tweeted antiMuslim propaganda, which brought on calls for his resignation from the water board in 2017. Chula Vistans need to stick with Salas.

Chula Vista City Council, District 2 For the first time, voters in Northwestern Chula Vista will be casting their ballot for a geographically-designated city councilmember. This is thanks to a change made to the city’s charter in 2012 that now requires councilmembers to be elected by districts, rather than a citywide vote. Six candidates have thrown their hats into the ring to replace termed-out councilmember Pat Aguilar, and the top two vote getters will move forward to compete in the November races. CityBeat is trying to get Patrick MacFarland to the top. The educator is a political newcomer, but he has a fresh perspective and common-man appeal that has attracted the endorsements of State Sen. Ben Hueso, Senate President pro-tem Toni Atkins and State Assemblymember Shirley Weber.

Measure A Measure A is a half-cent sales tax increase meant to bolster city services. Annually, the measure would generate $17 million that the city would use to increase 911 emergency call response time, increase police patrol, reduce homelessness and more. Of course, nobody likes paying additional taxes. But a half-cent increase is a worthy sacrifice in exchange for padding safety services that were cut during the recession. The measure also states that there will be citizen oversight and independent audits of the funding. A majority is required for it to pass so overwhelmingly vote yes on Measure A. Measure B Measure B, or the Term Limits and Accountability for All Elected Officials Initiative, is a tricky bastard. If passed, the ordinance would repeal the current term limits for the mayor, which is three consecutive four-year terms. The measure would, in turn, impose two consecutive four-year terms on the offices of the mayor, as well as city councilmembers, city clerk and city treasurer. The latter three elective offices currently do not have term limits. In plain text, Measure B sounds like the implementation of a fair system. However, the catch is that Measure B resets the term limits for these offices—meaning currently termed-out National City Mayor Ron Morrison could run for office again. So it should come as no surprise that Morrison is backing Measure B. South Bay readers should not fall for the misleading language.

Chula Vista citizens just voted in 2004 to instill the current mayoral term limits, so they should stay as they are. And if you needed any more convincing, Mickey Kasparian’s labor council and unions have dumped a lot of money into supporting Measure B, making it even fishier. A majority is needed to pass the measure, so here’s hoping a majority vote no on Measure B. Measure C Also known as the Expand and Strengthen Term Limits Initiative, Measure C is only slightly less confusing than Measure B. But it’s worth paying attention to. C is ultimately B’s opposing measure, and would also require a majority vote to pass. Measure C upholds the current term limits for the mayor (which voters approved in 2004), but imposes a limit of three consecutive four-year terms on the offices of city councilmembers, city clerk and city treasurer. Currently, these offices do not have term limits. Measure C also caps the offices of the mayor, city councilmembers, city clerk and city treasurer to a lifetime total of six four-year terms in all of those offices combined. Current National City Mayor Ron Morrison is, of course, against Measure C, because unlike Measure B, it won’t let him run for mayor again in November. Don’t get lost in the jargon; Measure C encourages new faces with fresh ideas to participate in local government. Vote Yes. Don’t want to take this whole issue with to the polls with you? Not to worry. Just go to the last page of this issue and clip out our handy cheat sheet. You can also find a printable copy at sdcitybeat.com.

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JOHN R. LAMB

UP FRONT | OPINION

SPIN

CYCLE

JOHN R. LAMB

Gasp(ar)ing for relevance and other tales If you have a weak candidate and a weak platform, wrap yourself up in the American flag and talk about the Constitution.

—Matthew Stanley Quay

L

ess than two weeks out from the June 5 primary election, and we know what that means: Time for desperate measures from desperate candidates.

Kristin Gaspar, the newest member of the all-Republican county Board of Supervisors, has decided to wrap herself in the fraying coattails of the Commanderin-Tweet. It’s a last-ditch effort to generate some spark in her floundering run to replace the departing Darrell Issa in the 49th Congressional District race.

She’s appeared on Fox News as often as they’ll let her to rail against so-called “sanctuary city” immigration policies in California and even traveled to Washington,

D.C. last week to sit at a big table among other Trump fawners to heap glowing praise on the clown prince of mayhem.

“If you look around this room, your tiny but mighty team, this is what Governor [Jerry] Brown classifies as lowlife politicians. Well, here we are,” she told Trump.

One could argue the value of using the word “tiny” in the presence of the man Spy magazine once labeled a “short-fingered vulgarian,” but we’re not here to nitpick. No pronouncements have emanated since that Roundtable of Hate, so Spin can only conclude that Gaspar decided it was wise to swing wide afield from the mainstream voters in her coastal district in the hopes of pouring some fuel on her smoldering mess of a congressional campaign.

What will be fun to watch after her campaign flames out is whether this decision—clearly endorsed

8 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MAY 23, 2018

by her political guru, Jason Roe (the sharp-tongued, hyper-tanned consultant once dubbed by Voice of San Diego as Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s “elbow”)—will complicate any plans to run for re-election as supervisor in 2020.

Some political observers will privately tell you that Roe has done a terrible disservice to the golden girl of local Republican circles, in that this move stamps her as a Trump disciple in a district not considered a GOP stronghold. One political consultant suggested she well could have “cruised” to re-election victory in two years but will now face an uphill battle thanks to her decision to veer far right.

One veteran political observer suggested that Gaspar’s surprise entry may have less to do with any rational reason to run and more to do with Roe wanting a dog in the hunt for an open congressional seat.

“He’s totally screwed her, I think,” the observer said privately.

Meanwhile, another Roe candidate has decided to take a similar sky-will-fall tactic when it comes to local law enforcement. District Attorney Summer Stephan, appointed by supervisors last year to complete the term of now-terrible supervisorial candidate Bonnie Dumanis, has begun ditching candidate forums with her challenger, Deputy Public Defender Geneviéve Jones-Wright. She’s done this, it

Political consultant Jason Roe has gone full dog whistle in his strategy to get appointed District Attorney Summer Stephan elected over Soros-backed challenger Geneviéve Jones-Wright. seems, so that she can appear instead on right-wing news broadcasts hoping to strike fear in voters considering support for her criminal justice reform challenger.

Appearing Monday on the local pro-Trump conservative One America News Network, Stephan railed against her opponent and the independent expenditures from billionaire George Soros, which have leveled the playing field and caused much flapping among right-wingers.

One minute, Stephan was calling the Soros financial injection “a surprise attack in the dead of night, basically.” The next, when prompted by a softball-tossing commentator, she boasted that she knew the “attack” was coming because “I studied all the other races” across the country where Soros has supported other DA challengers.

Stephan whined that she “started to see the signs” when trying to secure a campaign website domain and discovered that “eight to 10 versions” had already been taken— a dirty-trick technique that Republican operatives have boasted about using in the past.

Playing off a comment from the commentator that her opponent is “anti-law enforcement,” Stephan seemed to suggest that Soros had a role in the election of a top prosecutor in Texas who “had ‘Not Guilty’ tattooed on his chest.” The tattoo is real, but a Christian Science Monitor story from last year noted that Mark Gonzalez, the reformminded DA for Nueces County, did not receive donations from Soros.

But that didn’t stop Stephan from taking a giant leap that her opponent would “legalize prostitution” and promote “an open society,” apparently a dog whistle reference to Soros’ Open Society Foundation, whose stated mission is to seek accountability and openness in government.

“It’s not just like supporting some candidate because you believe in them,” she said in the interview, “but rather finding a candidate who is a proxy for the Soros agenda.”

In response, a Jones-Wright spokesperson told Spin, “I’ll take, ‘Things that don’t surprise me’ for $800, Alex.”

This is where we are in 2018: Serious discussions about immigration policy and criminal justice relegated to scare tactics and goofy sound bites from conservatives hoping to rally their bases while throwing common sense into the dustbin.

Frankly, Spin is wondering why the Soros folks are expending money on boosting their chosen challengers and not dropping carpet bombs on incumbents they want to unseat.

As one political soothsayer noted, “They should have been pounding away at Stephan on her record as a prosecutor, the record of the Dumanis administration and the need for change in the DA’s office.

Those are all good red-meat issues.

But if you were putting a million dollars into television, you could do some major damage.”

In San Diego, tradition suggests that it’s hard enough to defeat an incumbent. That being said, Soros certainly has a right to spend his dough any way he chooses, and in some cases he has succeeded.

Perhaps in the final days of this primary season, the gloves will really come off. And by that Spin means more than all the paper cuts we’ve seen from the avalanche of campaign mailers burying local voters in a whiteout of confusion and false allegiances similar to a Survivor episode.

Stay tuned. Stay alert. And for heaven’s sake, vote!

Spin Cycle appears every other week.

Write to johnl@sdcitybeat.com.

@SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | OPINION

AARYN BELFER

BACKWARDS & IN

The right to vote

E

HIGH HEELS

mailing an inmate of San Diego jails is a relatively simple process. That is until you have thousands of inmates to contact, at which point it becomes a more complicated and time-consuming project.

But that is the task a small group of volunteers (myself included) have taken on over the last two weeks in an effort to get eligible people in county jails registered to vote. As long as they are 18, a U.S. citizen, and they are not on parole or sentenced to a state or federal prison, incarcerated individuals can exercise their constitutionally protected right to vote.

In San Diego County, it’s estimated that between 65 and 70 percent of people in custody meet this criteria.

It is the responsibility of Sheriff Bill Gore’s office to provide those in his care with voter registration and access to voting. However, his department lacks the capacity to make sure all who are eligible are registered.

More insidiously, there appears to be a lack of will—if not a purposeful blockade—to protecting this marginalized group’s civil rights: the Sheriff’s Department Manual of Policy and Procedures lays out a complex route to both getting registered and voting, neither of which can be done without the competent assistance of facility staff. It’s pretty tough to trust that.

We have roughly 5,300 individuals in jail at any given time in San Diego County, with more added each month. These folks have been arrested but not yet had their day in court; they’re just stuck in jail limbo for weeks, months, even years as our (in)justice system plods along.

Infractions can be minor, such as being homeless and having a pocketknife. They can be erroneously invented, such as when Aaron Harvey and others known as the San Diego 33 were incarcerated for nearly a year on false charges. Many remain incarcerated because they can’t afford the price of bail.

Pillars of the Community, an organization in Southeast San Diego focused on supporting and assisting those affected by the criminal justice system, worried ���������������������������������������������� that the sheriff’s office wasn’t going to concern itself with the voting rights of those in its custody. They were right to be concerned.

Last December, Pillars representatives Laila Aziz and Jess Jollett sat down for a meeting with Registrar of Voters Michael Vu and members of his staff. (Assistant Sheriff of Detentions Rich Miller was supposed to be present but pulled a no-show and resigned shortly after in one of two sex scandals plaguing the Sheriff’s office.)

Building a voter registration program in county jails was the goal for Aziz and Jollett who highlighted examples of successful in-custody voter registration drives in Los Angeles, and discussed best practices as they sought approval for a coalition of organizations to enter jails and register eligible voters.

“We couldn’t move on anything because the sheriff wasn’t there,” said Aziz. “Instead, it ended up being a get-to-know you meeting.”

Fiercely dedicated and not easily deterred, Aziz and her team held another meeting earlier this year with Miller’s replacement, Sheriff’s Commander John Ingrassia, who was quick to reject Pillars’ efforts.

“The answer was no, I’m not letting your people come register guys to vote,” Aziz told me. “He said, ‘I’m not letting you in there so that 4,000 people can vote one way.’ Which is not what we are doing. We’re not telling people who to vote for.”

Ingrassia had a detention center’s worth of excuses for disallowing the Pillars team into jails: It takes too much to clear individuals to enter jails (Pillars has people who already have clearance); we don’t have resources to insure impartiality (best practices does this); anyone doing voter registration has to be trained (Pillars has trained volunteers).

After this meeting, Aziz pivoted. She ran a California Public Records Act request for the names, booking numbers and facilities of every inmate. She and her colleagues drafted a manual of SOPs for how to proceed with making email contact with all 3,500 of them, and came up with a three-part strategy for successful outreach.

Inmates would be contacted through email, and then by postcard. Finally they would be shown a Public Service Announcement— developed by and loaned to Pillars from A New Way of Life, a reentry project in Los Angeles—in the actual facility.

“Voter engagement is most effective with in-person interaction,” said Aziz. “If we couldn’t get in front of the folks in custody, we needed to have multiple hits.”

So far, this strategy has been limited to the emails.

Mailing postcards presented a financial barrier. And while Ingrassia said he liked the PSA and agreed to show it, he later reneged and refused to use it.

“The sheriff is an elected official and he [via his subordinate] is actively blocking registration,” Aziz said.

“This is basic disenfranchisement of a population of eligible voters and it’s happening in a lot of counties.”

Pillars of the Community and its coalition members have sent a letter to Ingrassia. “We welcome an opportunity to continue to work with your office,” the end of the letter reads. “However, if we are not given reasonable access to register eligible voters in county jail as required under Elections Code 2158(b), we are ready and willing to seek judicial intervention to clarify your duties and our rights.”

The stakes are high in this election season, particularly for vulnerable communities like those who are in jail. It is anti-democratic for Ingrassia to prevent any eligible voters, even those waiting for trial, from exercising their constitutional right.

Until the Sheriff’s Department does what’s right, I’m off to send some emails.

The stakes are high in this election season, particularly for vulnerable communities like those who are in jail.

@SDCITYBEAT

Backwards & In High Heels appears every other week.

Write to aarynb@sdcitybeat.com.

MAY 23, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 9

UP FRONT | VOICES

RYAN BRADFORD

WELL THAT WAS

AWKWARD

Salton Sea, Salvation Mountain and the journey into American sadness

T

he Lazy Lizard is surprisingly hopping on an early Friday afternoon. Ninety miles east of San Diego, it might as well be the moon. The bar is seemingly reserved for locals, sleep-deprived truckdrivers, outlaws and other night crowds. That is, not reserved for me, my wife Jessica, and our friends Ryen and Steph. There might as well be a record scratch when we enter if there was even music playing to begin with.

“This thing can play any song you want,” says a man as we enter the silent bar. He points to the touchscreen digital jukebox on the wall.

It’s technology that’s been around for awhile, but I don’t have the heart to tell him.

In addition to the jukeboxpointer, there are two other men and the bartender. That’s what I mean by hopping. The men wear the type of clothing that suggests they’re weekend warriors, getting a head start to a weekend full of desert bro-downs and driving their cars in sand. Fuck yeah, sand.

Ryen and I put a fiver in the jukebox and play a mix of REO Speedwagon, Michael McDonald, Foreigner and Rolling Stones. I even throw in a Kings of Leon song because it’s a guilty pleasure and there’s no cosmopolitan shame out here. The men don’t stay long after the music starts and I can’t help but feel offended. Like, hey buddy, I thought we were in this jukeboxthing together.

The Lazy Lizard is just a detour on our way to the Salton Sea and Salvation Mountain. Ryen and Steph don’t really know anything about it except that they’re among my favorite places in Southern California. They’re visiting from Utah and they have no idea what to expect. But really, is anybody ever fully prepared for this particular adventure?

It’s hard to explain my love for the Salton Sea. Yes, it’s weird, but it’s also sad in a distinctly American way. Once considered a resort destination, the sea is now a fetid puddle out in the middle of the desert, one created by man and laid to waste by man. It’s a symbol of the American dream gone awry. It’s possible I feel a kinship with that. Failure, regret, heartache—none of it seems so bad when you’re out there. You know that adage about reading books to feel less alone? That’s how I feel about the Salton Sea. We drive through Nyland and past its abandoned, Greek-pillared bank building—yet another symbol of former greatness. Salvation Mountain appears over the horizon. Both Ryen and Steph utter something along the lines of Um, what?

Looking upon Salvation Mountain is like discovering some giant 8-year-old’s art project, but a giant 8-year-old who’s really into God. The mountain-sized

mass of paint and plaster is so colorful and garish set against the desert landscape that it almost causes a headache to look at it. Raised lettering and religious messages like “GOD IS LOVE” grow out of the paint like holy worms.

The only other people at Salvation Mountain are three high school girls who have invented their own scavenger hunt.

“We need to find some people to photobomb,” they say. “Can we photobomb you?” It seems kind of cheating to ask permission to photobomb, but who am I to knock this sort of good, clean fun?

We feign surprise while they photobomb us.

“Now can one of you kiss us?” they say. “For the bonus points.”

It’s weird. We all feel weird. But we also want them to get their bonus points. Jessica puts her face next to one of the girls and simulates a kiss on her cheek while the others take the picture.

Up the road lies East Jesus which claims to be “the only art museum in Imperial County,” but after Salvation Mountain, it’s hard to know what art is anymore. It’s hard to know what is what anymore. Junk piles become provocative showcases. Death is a motif; representations of bodies—dead and burned—litter the museum. A wall of TVs looms over East Jesus, with painted messages on each dead screen that make you think—shit like “the television will not be revolutionized” and “prop-o-ganda.” The whole place has the feel as if Leatherface suddenly got his MFA. There is a beauty to it, but that’s if you can get over the the fact that it feels like a horror movie.

“I was expecting it to be more Halloween-spooky,” Ryen says after we leave. “Not hide-your-walletspooky.”

We watch the sunset over the Salton Sea and walk on a beach made of fish corpses. We’re breathing in so many toxins, so much pollution. There’s an abandoned chair sticking out of where the water hits land, and I can’t help but picture using it to end their life while looking upon the once-flourishing lake. The thoughts you have out here: bleak as fuck.

We drive to Borrego Springs to spend the night.

When Ryen checks into our hotel, the clerk asks why we’re out here.

“Salton Sea,” Ryen says.

“Sad,” the clerk says before handing over the key.

And the clerk’s right, but that’s exactly why we came out here.

You know that adage about reading books to feel less alone?

That’s how I feel about the Salton Sea.

10 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MAY 23, 2018

Well, That Was Awkward appears every other week.

Write to ryanb@sdcitybeat.com

@SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | FOOD & DRINK

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER

THE WORLD

FARE

Hipster Vietnamese

T

here’ll never be a need to outlaw North Park. Long before then, the place will have sacrificed itself in a supernova of ironic circularity. Or, perhaps, it’ll be consumed in a black hole of its own devising. Until then, though, there could be no better location in town for Shank & Bone (2930 University Ave.).

I’ve tried hipster takes on tacos, and I love pickles and kimchi. Even kombucha and kale are cool. But I’d never thought of Vietnamese food as hipster. Why not?

Southeast Asian cuisine—with its obvious Chinese and French legacy influences— already has a sufficient mix of lefty cred, third world “authenticity” and ironic meta-references to appeal to the soul of any hipster.

Then again, it’s also been there just waiting to be overthought and overdone.

The space at Shank & Bone is airy, open and dominated, naturally, by a huge Shepard Fairey mural called “Revolution Girl” (an ironic twist on a classic bit of Chinese Communist agitprop). To be fair, the artist donated the mural with his fee going to charity.

The restaurant’s ne plus ultra is the Signature Pho: classic Vietnamese beef noodle soup featuring bone marrow, oxtail and shank. The broth has the depth and strength of flavor that comes only from long, slow cooking of the bones (and only a tiny hint of MSG). The noodles (classic pho or flat) are cooked to a perfect al dente. It is a very good bowl of pho that’s a lot of fun to eat but raises the question: Is it really worth $17?

Shank & Bone does a good banh mi bo kho: essentially a cross between pho and a French Beef Bourguignon. The dark, brooding beef broth is lightened by lemongrass, ginger, star anise and hints of curry and allspice. It features carrots, on-

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ions and various tasty cuts of stewed beef and is served with banh mi bread.

There are also a number of familiar Vietnamese classics on the menu: spring rolls, eggrolls and various banh mi sandwiches. All competent, yes, but none reach the level of spectacular. The bun dac biet gets closer. A fun and tasty dish, it’s rice vermicelli noodles and shredded lettuce with pickled julienned carrot and daikon, along with a nuoc cham dipping sauce and grilled pork, chicken and shrimp.

MICHAEL A. GARDINER

Bun dac biet

Banh xeo are classic Vietnamese savory crêpes made primarily from rice flour. The massive, plate-sized crêpes are folded over and filled with shrimp, pork and fresh vegetables. Shank & Bone, though, asks a classic hipster question: Why not tacoize it? Family-style mega-crêpes become three personal tacos, et voilà! And they’re good.

In fact, to be blunt, everything at Shank & Bone is a good take on the original with more bone in the broth, tacoized crêpes and, essentially, more cowbell in every song. Take that pho: It was excellent, but at nearly double the price of the pho dac biet at Pho Hoa in City Heights, one has to ask themselves if it’s worth it.

Sure, the ingredients at Shank & Bone cost more (as does the rent) but is that really worth it on the plate? It’s a personal question for which a personal answer is required, but I think I know what the hipsters will say.

The World Fare appears weekly.

Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

ANATOMY OF A COCKTAIL SCENE #32: Getting suckered at The Brew Project

I

once spent over $300 at a Palm Reader.

I say over $300, because I was slightly, eh, heavily intoxicated and have no idea exactly how much money I gave her at the time. Seeing my state, both emotionally and physically, the palm reader decided to take me for all the money I had on me.

I woke up the next morning with empty pockets and a severe hangover. I felt like a fool. This wasn’t an uncommon feeling to me at the time, but this time I woke up with the knowledge that I’m truly a sucker. I’ll believe anything anyone tells me especially when I’m drunk, and that understanding certainly applies to some babbling old woman who says she can read my future and then sells me a few wax candles for hundreds of dollars in order to save my soul.

Yeah, I guess I’ve always been a bit of a sucker.

The same can now be said for CBD. I know it’s probably more scientifically proven than, say, soul-saving candles, but there also seems like a little bit of blind faith required to start using CBD. For those unaware of what CBD

CB(S)D

as prepared at The Brew Project 2 oz. Swinford Canadian style whiskey 1/4 oz. Fernet Branca 1/4 oz. simple syrup 3 dashes Angostura bitters 15 ml. CBD oil

Stir all ingredients together in a mixing glass and pour into a rocks glass with a large ice cube. Garnish with an orange twist.

BY IAN WARD

is, it’s a cannabis compound that reportedly has medical benefits, but without the stoned feeling. According to Project CBD, it can relieve “inflammation, pain, anxiety, psychosis, seizures, spasms and other conditions without disconcerting feelings of lethargy or dysphoria.”

So sure, I’m aware that citing Project CBD could be considered a questionable source.

However, my first experience with CBD cocktails was, in fact, quite a relaxing, calming and enjoyable one. On the menu at The Brew Project (3683 IAN WARD Fifth Ave.) in Hillcrest are several cocktails that list CBD as an ingredient.

There is the delightful Tropical CBD Lemonade with orgeat and pineapple, as well as a Fernet and Lemonade with CBD on draft. Still, my preference was the CB(S)D, a delicious and straightforward Toronto cocktail made with CBD and Swinford Canadian style whiskey, but disCB(S)D tilled here in San Diego.

For those unfamiliar with the Toronto cocktail, it is a cocktail that is older than your grandparents and can be found in cocktail books dating back to at least 1922.

It is rumored to have originated in Toronto when there was a lot of Italian immigration, hence the Fernet Branca. It has all the grit, bite and spice of the Canadian whiskey, but with an added sweetness and a backbone of menthol and eucalyptus from the Fernet. It’s an amazing cocktail when done right, and Nick Adams at Brew Project does it right. The balance of the ingredients is almost euphoric, or maybe the euphoria came from the addition of the CBD to the cocktail. I’m not sure, but whatever you tell me, I’ll believe.

Anatomy of a Cocktail Scene appears every other week. Write to ianw@sdcitybeat.com.

MAY 23, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 11

EVENTS

SHORTlist

ART

the

THREE YOU HAVE TO SEE

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

SAN DIEGO

JOKING AROUND

San Diego has a solid reputation when it comes to being an incubator for the arts. Whether it’s Tony-award winning theater that eventually moves to Broadway or Grammy-winning musical artists, we’ve long had the dubious honor of breeding some huge talent and productions.

The same can be said for stand-up comedy. Folks like Pauly Shore, Kyle Mooney, Lauren O’Brien and even Jamie Foxx got their start in San Diego, and on any given night, it’s likely an up-and-coming comic is trying their hand at one of San Diego’s many clubs.

In many ways, that’s precisely what the San Diego Comedy Festival [SDCF] originally set out to showcase. Five years in, the fest also brings in some top-tier names to perform at venues across the county.

“It has grown a lot,” says festival director Dan Bublitz. “The first year, I believe the festival was only five days, then the next year we increased it to seven or eight, and now it’s 11 days… This year we are doing shows in 10 different venues across San Diego. Over the years we have also added other programming to the festival such as podcast recordings, workshops and seminars, and improv comedy shows. We’ve tried to have enough programming so there is something for everyone.”

That “something for everyone” outlook is represented in the programming. The festival, which

EAST VILLAGE

SPACE ODYSSEY Leonardo da Vinci, the Wright brothers and various NASA engineers all had their own approaches to conquering unattainable heights over time. Now the San Diego Central Library has commissioned eight local artists to tap into a similar mindset for the new exhibit, A Method for Reaching Extreme Altitudes.

For the exhibit, artists Adam Belt, Matthew Bradley, Sheena Rae Dowling, Andrew McGranahan, Arzu Ozkal, Cheryl Sorg, Jones von Jonestein and Melissa Walter have created works on the topic of space, including pieces inspired by science fiction, the solar system and the human desire to understand the greater universe. The exhibit features pieces in a variety of mediums and opens from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 26 at the Central Library (330 Park Blvd.). Admission is free. sandiego.gov/public-library/visualarts COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Yubin Kang: Flowing Boundaries at Visual Arts Facility, VAF 404, UCSD, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. The closing reception for this research-based, documentary photography exhibition that documents global trade via the journey of alfalfa from sites in Southern California across the Pacific, to China. Closing reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, May 25.

Free. ucsd.edu HA Method for Reaching Extreme Altitudes at San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village. New works from eight San Diego artists exploring space art from scientific to science fiction. Includes work from Adam Belt, Sheena Rae Dowling, Andrew McGranahan, Arzu Ozkal and more. Opening from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 26. Free. 619-236-5800, facebook.com/ events/196737374302021

Lisa Curry and Nicholas Anthony takes place Thursday, May 24 through Sunday, June 3, kicks off with “Robin: The Ultimate Robin Williams Tribute Experience” at the Comedy Palace (8878 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont) on Thursday through Saturday. Other highlights include “Ay, Que Chistosos,” an all-Spanish speaking comedian showcase, as well as the annual, multi-day SDCF Contest, where local and national comics will compete for bragging rights and prize money.

“The contest really is the main part of the festival,” says Bublitz. “80 comedians from across the U.S. and Canada are competing for $1,000 and a recording contract from Uproar Comedy.”

Tickets to the fest range from $125 (for all-access VIP passes) to anywhere between $20-$35 for individual performances. Info at sandiegocomedyfest.com.

HNew Generation at Madison Gallery, 320 S. Cedros Ave. Ste. 200, Solana Beach. Madison Gallery celebrates its new gallery space with this exhibition, featuring works by Olivia Steele, James Verbicky and Robert Montgomery that revolve around the theme of modern communication. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, May 26. 858-523-9155, madisongalleries.com HCurious Objects at North Park Produce, 3139 University Ave., North Park.

A new exhibition by Carrie Minikel showcases work that provokes viewers to contemplate the function of everyday objects and their relationship to the body. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 26.

Free. 619-500-2787, artproduce.org The Funky Strawberry Show at Backfence Society, 110 S. Citrus Ave. Ste F, Vista. A group art show and fundraising event that will showcase strawberrythemed art of all kinds. The festivities are being held in conjunction with the annual Vista Strawberry Festival. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 27. Free. backfencesociety.com

BOOKS

SOUTH PARK

THE OTHER POE He’s a self-proclaimed “whiskeydrinking, floor-mopping, gourmetcooking, wildly prolific writer with a penchant for social commentary.” So, really, what’s not to like? But really, Poe Ballantine is a fiction and nonfiction writer known for his novels and essays whose work has appeared in The Sun, The Atlantic, Kenyon Review and more. On Tuesday, May 29 at 7 p.m. at The Book Catapult (3010-B Juniper St.), he’ll be discussing and signing copies of his newest novel Whirlaway, the comedic story of Eddie Plum who finally escapes a psychiatric hospital after 14 years. The story includes a sordid cast of characters including telepathic dogs, horseplayers and record collectors, and much of the action takes place in familiar locations such as La Jolla, Del Mar and Tijuana. thebookcatapult.com DAVE JANETTA

James Hatch at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The retired member of the Naval Special Warfare Development Group and founder of Spike’s K9 Fund will sign and discuss his new self-help book, Touching the Dragon. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 23. 858454-0347, warwicks.com HPeter Kalmus at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The atmospheric scientist will sign and discuss the nonfiction book, Being the Change, which addresses things regular people can do about climate change. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 24. Free. 858-4540347, warwicks.com HRita Bullwinkel at The Book Catapult, 3010-B Juniper St., South Park. The accomplished writer will be discussing and signing copies of her new short story collection, Belly Up, along with fellow writer Lily Hoang. At 7 p.m. Friday, May 25.

Free. 619-795-3780, thebookcatapult. com Adrienne Young at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The novelist will discuss her new Viking-era fantasy book, Sky in the Deep, along with fellow novelist Mary E. Pearson. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 25.

Free. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Chris Novelozo at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. As part of Warwick’s ongoing Weekend with Locals program, Novelozo will sign and discuss his book, The Place Where the

“Down the Rabbit Hole” by Adam Belt 12 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MAY 23, 2018

Poe Ballantine

H = CityBeat picks

Metaphor Dies. From noon to 2 p.m.

Sunday, May 27. Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com Mark Oshiro and Amy Spalding at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The two writers will sign and discuss their respective new books, Anger is a Gift (Oshiro) and The Summer of Jordi Perez (Spalding). At 2 p.m. Sunday, May 27. Free.

858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Michelle Gable at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The bestselling author of A Paris Apartment and The Book of Summer will sign and discuss her new novel, The Summer I Met Jack.

At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 29. Free.

858-454-0347, warwicks.com HPoe Ballantine at The Book Catapult, 3010-B Juniper St., South Park. The acclaimed author, known for his fiction and nonfiction novels and essays, will be discussing and signing copies of his new novel Whirlaway. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 29. Free. 619-795-3780, thebookcatapult.com

COMEDY HThe San Diego Comedy Festival at The Comedy Palace, 8878 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Kearny Mesa. The fifth annual festival will feature national touring headliners and comedians from all over the world both showcasing their talent and competing for cash prizes. At various times. Friday, May 25 through Sunday, June 3. $10-$75. 858-492-9000, sandiegocomedyfest.com HRobin: The Ultimate Robin Williams Tribute Experience at The Comedy Palace, 8878 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Kearny Mesa. This double headliner show honors the late comedian with performances

by Roger Kabler as Robin Williams and Marc Price, who played Skippy on Family Ties. This show kicks off the San Diego Comedy Festival. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 24 and 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.

Friday, May 25 and Saturday, May 26. $25-$35. 858-492-9000, sandiegocomedyfest.com HAy, Que Chistosos at The Comedy Palace, 8878 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Kearny Mesa. As part of the San Diego Comedy Festival, this is a live exhibition of comedy in Spanish. There will be performances by Fabrizio Copano, Frank Traynor and more. At 8 p.m. Sunday, May 27. $20. 858-492-9000, sandiegocomedyfest.com Stand-up Comedy at Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park. Riff City Comedy presents a night of stand-up featuring headliner Beth Stelling, as well as Ramsay Badawi, Cameron Frost and more. From 8 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 30. $5. 619-284-6784, whistlestopbar.com

DANCE HThe Art of Dance: Fundraising Celebration at The Abbey on Fifth, 2825 Fifth Ave., Bankers Hill. The second annual fundraising gala features fashion, dance and art. Proceeds benefit low-income students who participate in Malashock Dance’s programs. At 5 p.m.

Saturday, May 26. $50-$150. 619-2601622, malashockdance.org The Greatest Show at California Center for the Arts, 340 N Escondido Blvd., Escondido. The Carlsbad Dance Centre is back with its annual recital featuring dancers that will be performing jazz, tap, hip-hop, lyrical and ballet styles. At 11

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 @SDCITYBEAT

EVENTS EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 26 and Sunday, May 27. $24. 800-9884253, artcenter.org Shine Dance Recital at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown.

Neisha’s Dance & Music Academy presents its 20th annual dance recital. The academy’s mission is to encourage kids to lead inspired lives. At 2 p.m. Sunday, May 27. $20-$23. 619-585-1133, sandiegotheatres.org

FILM HReel Science Film Series at San Diego Natural History Museum, 1788 El Prado, Balboa Park. The last in a series of Sci-fi film screenings, audiences will watch the modern classic The Matrix and then participate in a scientific discussion with USD physicist Daniel Sheehan. At 7 p.m. Friday, May 25. $12. sdnhm.org

FOOD & DRINK HSummer Kick Off Party at Belmont Park, 3146 Mission Blvd., Mission Beach and Woodstock’s Pizza, 1221 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach. The San Diego Derby Dolls kick off summer with a night of roller skating through Mission Beach followed by Woodstock’s Pizza. A percentage of funds raised from pizza sales will go toward creating a new facility for the Derby Dolls. From 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, May 25. Free. 619-203-9444, facebook. com/events/242777366288100 Space 4 Art BBQ Party at Space 4 Art Gallery, 340 16th St., East Village.

The live-work artists community will be hosting a BBQ event for all tenants, family and friends. Attendees are encouraged to bring food and beverages to share. From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 25. Free. 619-269-7230. Facebook.com/ events/205348300255421

MUSIC An Evening with Audra McDonald at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown. The six-time Tony Award winner and two-time Grammy winner makes her San Diego Symphony debut. She’s starred in Beauty and the Beast, The Good Wife, Grey’s Anatomy and more. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 24. $30-$95.

619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org HPoulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown. The San Diego Symphony season finale features acclaimed piano duo Christina and Michelle Naughton performing Francis Poulenc’s famous Concerto for Two Pianos. At 8 p.m. Friday, May 25 and Saturday, May 26, and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 27. $20-$98.

619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org

rary Arts San Diego, 1100 Kettner Blvd., Downtown. Art of Elán presents the North American premiere of a musical program that will include works by composers Matt Aucoin, Huang Ruo and Rand Steiger. The program will offer a musical response to the sociopolitical issues of the world today. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 29. $10-$15. 858-454-3541, mcasd.org

PERFORMANCE Nathan Gunn, Flying Solo at Lyceum Space, 79 Horton Plaza, Gaslamp. The famed baritone opera singer performs an original piece of musical theater based on his life and past performances. Written and directed by Hershey Felder. Various times. Thursday, May 23 through Sunday, June 10. $48-$79. sdrep.org Broadway San Diego Awards at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Downtown. Young performers are awarded scholarships to advance their education in musical theater, including two students who will go on to compete at the National High School Musical Theater Awards. At 6 p.m. Sunday, May 27. $41. 619-5701100, sandiegotheatres.org

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD SDPL Short Story Contest: Live Readings & Performances at San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village. Write Out Loud and SDPL presents a night of live readings and performances by the four short story contest winners Aaron Garretson, Jean Seager, Bruce Golden and Eleanor Bluestein.

From 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 25. Free.

619-236-5800, sandiego.librarymarket. com

SPECIAL EVENTS Family Fun Fest at Bolt Brewery, 8179 Center St., La Mesa. Traveling Stories, an organization that provides books to lowincome children, celebrates its eighth anniversary with live performances by singer-songwriter Tyler Hilton, kid-friendly activities, a silent auction and more. From 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 24. Free-$20.

619-269-0438, travelingstories.org Veterans Wreath Remembrance Ceremony at USS Midway Museum, 910 N Harbor Drive, Downtown. A ceremony honoring veterans from World War II, Vietnam War and the Global War on Terrorism with emphasis on the 65th anniversary of the end of the Korean War.

Plus a flyover, live music and more. At 9 a.m. Saturday, May 26. Free. 619-5449600, midway.org American Heritage Car Show at Grape Day Park, 321 North Broadway, Escondido. A display of pre-1974 domestic and imported vintage, classic, hot rod and muscle cars. Plus an awards ceremony, pancake breakfast, beer garden, vendors and more. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturday, May 26. $25. 760-839-4691, escondido.org HFiesta Botanica: Celebrating Balboa Park’s Plants & Gardens at Balboa Park Visitors Center, 1549 El Prado, Balboa Park. The family-friendly event starts off with a wagon parade along El Prado, followed by horticultural-themed lectures, live entertainment, tours of the park’s historic gardens, plant sales and more. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 26. Free. balboapark.org Santee Street Fair & Craft Beer Festival at Town Center Parkway and Riverview Parkway, Santee. The family-friendly street fair celebrates its 10th year with local breweries, more than 300 food booths and vendors, plus art, local entertainment and more. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 26. Free-$25. santeestreetfair.com HUSS Midway Museum’s Legacy Week at USS Midway Museum, 910 N Harbor Drive, Downtown. A multi-day commemoration in honor of Memorial Day, which includes various activities such as a veterans wreath ceremony, benefit concerts, a national moment of remembrance and more. At various times. Saturday, May 26 through Monday, May 28. Free-$112. 619-544-9600, midway.org HSan Diego Crawfish Boil at Chargers Old Practice Field, 9449 Friars Road, Mission Valley. The 30th annual Cajun food fest features all-you-can-eat crawfish, as well as beer, dancing and live music from Cha Wa, Theo & Zydeco Patrol and Euphoria Brass Band. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 27. $14-$100. lsusandiego.org

TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS HArtist Talk: Gallery Selection Artist at Sparks Gallery, 530 Sixth Ave., Gaslamp Quarter. Artists Brady Willmott, Khalid Alkaaby, Marissa Quinn, Paul Hobson and Perry Vasquez discuss their process and inspiration behind their work that’s currently on display at the gallery.

From 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 24.

Free. 619-696-1416, sparksgallery.com

Freedom Benefit Concert featuring Gin Blossoms at USS Midway Museum, 910 North Harbor Drive, Downtown. The ’90s rock band headlines this annual benefit concert that raises funds for local military non-profits and celebrates military families. At 8 p.m. Saturday, May 26. $35-$65. 619-544-9600, midway.org HCrushfest II: Return of the Crush at Helmuth Projects, 1827 Fifth Ave., Little Italy. The music festival returns for its second year with a lineup of bands including Miss New Buddha, Exasperation, Gloomsday and more. The event will also have food and drinks from local hotspots. From 4 p.m. to midnight Sunday, May 27. $5. facebook.com/ events/1696327983748692.

HUndone at the Museum of Contempo-

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MAY 23, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 13

THEATER JIM COX

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Searching for peace

A

production of immense emotional potency, the Old Globe’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, presented in association with American Conservatory Theater (ACT), is not to be missed.

Adapted for the stage by Ursula Rani Sarma and based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner), the play explores the relationship between two Afghan women living in Kabul in the deadly years between 1979 and 2001.

In spite of dehumanizing government restrictions and the unspeakable violence they are subjected to by the husband they share, they strive with all their hearts for dignity and love, while also trying to hold their family together.

Carey Perloff, ACT’s artistic director, oversees a fervent staging at the Globe that includes breathless performances by Nadine Malouf as young Laila and Denmo Ibrahim as the older Mariam. Haysam Kadri is unrelenting as the ruthless husband Rasheed. Original music directed and performed by David Coulter provides piquant backdrop to a story that is shocking in its depictions of brutality one moment and life affirming in the next.

A Thousand Splendid Suns runs through June 17 at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. $30 and up; theoldglobe.org •••

F

rom the top of a bridge in Rockford, Illinois., onetime legendary hip-hop emcee Sam (aka Sam I Am) awaits Fourth of July fireworks.

What the veteran rapper, disdainful of his past and resigned to the lack of a future, is really doing in Nathan Alan Davis’ The Wind and the Breeze is surveying the landscape that is his life. Meanwhile, a circle of young rappers hunger for his support as they pursue their own musical destinies.

Directed at Cygnet Theatre by Rob Lutfy, The Wind and the Breeze is a promising new work from Davis, one rich with personal circumspection and enlivened by the rapping of Terrell Donnell Sledge as Sam and Demetrius Clayton as would-be protégé Shantell. Monique Gaffney, meanwhile, adds both edge and sensitivity as Sam’s knowing cop friend Ronda. To some degree, the play strains to demonstrate its gravity, and fireworks make for an easy

14 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MAY 23, 2018

metaphor. Still, The Wind and the Breeze has a lot to say about fate, friendship and the search for the right place to touch down.

The Wind and the Breeze runs through June 10 at Cygnet Theatre in Old Town. $38-$59; cygnettheatre.com

—David L. Coddon

Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING: The Loneliest Girl in the World: The world premiere musical charts the gay rights movement through the eyes of a young gay man who idolizes singer Anita Bryant until she turns fervently anti-gay. Written by Gordon Leary and Julia Meinwald, it opens in previews May 24 at the Diversionary Theatre in Hillcrest. diversionary.org For Better: Billed as a “romantic comedy for the digital age,” Eric Coble’s play centers on an engaged couple who are spending most of their time together online. Presented by Scripps Ranch Theatre, it opens May 25 at the Legler Benbough Theatre in Scripps Ranch. scrippsranchtheatre.org Next to Normal: Tom Kitt’s moving musical about a suburban family who appear to have an ideal life to their neighbors, but are desperately trying to help their bipolar teenager behind closed doors. It opens May 25 at the Coronado Playhouse. coronadoplayhouse.com Native Gardens: The West Coast premiere of Karen Zacarías’ comedy about a Latinx couple who move into a nice D.C. neighborhood only to find their next-door neighbors aren’t as welcoming as they’d like. Directed by Edward Torres, it opens May 26 at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. theoldglobe. org Les Misérables: The Broadway production of the beloved musical about an ex-convict trying to outrun his past against the backdrop of 19th century France. Presented by Broadway San Diego, it opens May 29 at the San Diego Civic Theatre in the Gaslamp. broadwaysd.com The Father: The West Coast premiere of Florian Zeller’s moving play about a father who may or may not be in the early stages of dementia. Directed by David Ellenstein, it opens May 30 at the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach.

For complete theater listings, visit sdcitybeat.com

@SDCITYBEAT

CULTURE | ART RACHEL MICHELLE FERNANDES

SEEN LOCAL ART FROM THE INSIDE

R

alph Waldo Emerson once said, “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” For the inmates at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, getting a chance to demonstrate the inner workings of their creative minds to the public is an exceptional opportunity.

“I’m just as excited to be here as some of the visitors are,” says poet and inmate Marquis Davis Sr. “Society looks at us as failures and like we have nothing good in us, but as you can see, we make beautiful art.”

On May 10, Project PAINT: The Prison Arts Initiative worked with the prison’s highly unique and experimental yard called The Echo to host its first public art exhibition. Inmates gain access based on demonstrated leadership and cooperative skills. The process for non-incarcerated people to see the show required several weeks advance notice, leaving cellular devices behind and passing through six heavily secured barriers. Once inside, guests were made to feel just as comfortable and welcome as they would at a normal gallery.

In addition, all of the works on display are for sale via the organization’s website ProjectPaint.org as part of its fundraising and outreach efforts. The pieces, which range from detailed portraiture to a clock in the shape of the continent of Africa (made from popsicle sticks, tongue depressors and Elmer’s glue) are impressive to say the least, especially considering the inmates’ limited resources.

Project PAINT

“In here, we’re limited on our materials, our time, our space, basically everything we take for granted in the outside world,” says mixed-media artist and inmate Jonathan Marvin. Marvin, who also served as the emcee for the evening, couldn’t be more enthusiastic about the transformative powers of art making. “I like to say that we’re rewriting our future. Especially in the system, there’s this paradigm that you’re defined by the worst instance of your life. Working through things with art really allows us to transcend that paradigm.”

“A lot of people here are good people. They just made mistakes,” says illustrator and inmate Steven Ross Wescott. “On the street, you get caught up in drugs or alcohol or gangs, and it kind of breaks from who you are. So when you come here, you start being confident in who you are again. Project PAINT is very encouraging. This is a place where you can do this.

This is a regular thing.”

—Rachel Michelle Fernandes

CRAFT WORK

I

n September of 2012, UC San Diego shut down its long-standing creative hub: the Crafts Center.

With workshops and open space for collaboration, the center had become known for encouraging artistic experimentation during its 40-year run, before falling short on funding and eventually being demolished.

Now six years later, there’s momentum to build a new Crafts Center.

SAFDIE RABINES ARCHITECTS AND HKS

UC San Diego Crafts Center “Every single time that we talk to various members that were part of the old Crafts Center and we talk about envisioning a new Crafts Center, it’s really creating this sense of community,” says Russell King, UCSD’s associate director of Strategic Initiatives for Housing, Dining and Hospitality. “It was a community of artists, it was a community of creativity, it connected across different levels of strata, if you will. So part of what we are really trying to do is create, or recreate this home for a creative community.”

A group of artists and locals had originally hoped to reopen the center in its former location, but it proved too challenging, says King. The reimagined,

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eco-friendly space is now planned to take up an 11,000-square-foot space within the Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood, the new home of UCSD’s Sixth College that’s projected to open in 2020.

“We are also using a lot of glass, meaning storefront glass,” says King. “The former Crafts Center was a little bit inward facing, whereas we are trying to architecturally make it outward facing so that you could walk by outside the Crafts Center and actually see people working on pottery, jewelry, ceramics, woodworking and surfboard glassing.”

Book arts and cooking are also being considered as potential classes to be held at the center.

“Engineers and scientists and others tend to be highly creative people, they are thinking differently, they also tend to be multi-talented,” says King. “What I really think this does is it gives an opportunity for the folks that are doing some pretty high level research to come and play and express themselves in a different way than maybe they normally would, or perhaps that they do at home, but we just don’t really get to see that.”

Now that the plans for the building are almost completed, the fundraising begins. King is working with alumni and donors, as well as using crowdfunding, to accumulate $5 million over the next year or so.

However, even if the fundraising goal isn’t met, King says that the project will push forward.

“Ultimately what we’re really trying to do is offset the cost of the capital project, and we’re actually very confident that we’re going to move through this,” he says. “We feel very good about it, and we’re going to build this.”

—Torrey Bailey MAY 23, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 15

CULTURE | FILM

Han to god

Solo

The latest ‘Star Wars Story’ charms but sorely lacks urgency

by Glenn Heath Jr.

V

Howard covers their initial robbery attempt olatile and charming, the space bandit known as Han Solo imbues 1977’s Star Wars with its aboard a gravity defying transport train with sursoul. Played by then bit player Harrison Ford, prising verve. Maybe my overall exhaustion with the character’s unpredictable charisma and morally aerial space battles has reached peak levels, but this ambiguous code deepens George Lucas’ otherwise speedy mountainous chase scene in the snow felt like earnest space opera. For a blockbuster that sometimes a welcome respite from the norm, deftly balancing gets mired in corny dialogue and burdensome plot- multiple planes of action. Similar energy fuels the ting, Han’s knowing smirk could always be counted on gang’s infiltration of an important mining operation, a wacky set piece that gives nervy droid L3-37 (voiced to send the plot back into light speed.

While Mark Hamill obtained first billing as young with panache by Phoebe Waller-Bridge) a rowdy Luke Skywalker, it was Ford who would rapidly become showstopper.

Solo (opening on Friday, May 25) peaks midway a superstar. The reasons are more complex than most would suggest. Foremost, his multifaceted perfor- through its stretched 135-minute running time with mance proved that the dangerous and unpredictable these two impressive sequences. Howard’s worst draelements associated with New Hollywood acting had matic impulses eventually kick in as themes of remainstream crossover appeal. Robert Downey Jr.’s bra- venge and inequality grow more pronounced in what becomes a twist-heavy narrative. It wouldn’t be a Star zen recklessness in Iron Man is a clear descendant.

Wars film without some hamForty years later, Star Wars fisted politics, but the slack is a juggernaut brand synincorporation of the classic onymous with prequels and SOLO: A STAR WARS tyranny vs. freedom dynamic spinoffs, bloated world buildis criminally lazy even by preing and elaborate marketing.

STORY viously set standards.

And for their latest cash grab, Directed by Ron Howard And despite all of the deDisney’s brain trust has unStarring Alden Ehrenreich, rivative banter, screen saver surprisingly decided to recapWoody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke imagery and simplistic moralture some of that Han magic and Donald Glover izing, Ehrenreich’s combinain hopes of convincing a new Rated PG-13 tion of reckless glee and stubgeneration that once—in a bornness endure with the same galaxy far, far away—this franbravura Ford’s did in the origichise had some edge.

Solo: A Star Wars Story, directed by milquetoast jour- nal Star Wars. For those who missed his naïve hoot of a neyman Ron Howard and starring a game Alden Ehren- performance in Joel and Ethan Coen’s Hail, Caesar!, Solo reich as young Han, is a fun if feeble origin spinoff that will prove this insanely talented young actor is worthy exists separate from the nine-episode franchise opus of wider recognition. For once, the capitalist powers but contains multitudinous referential overlap. Part that be have cast the right person for the right role.

But Ehrenreich’s bright presence feels like only a of the film’s appeal relates to its string of meet cutes between Han and iconic characters such as Chewbacca minor victory compared to Solo’s low stakes as both (Joonas Suotamo) and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glov- cinema and a larger extension of the Star Wars myer), along with expository backstory involving Han’s thology. Sequels may be on the way, but those films patented blaster and of course, the Millennium Falcon. will represent just another side-hustle from a media But whatever nostalgia these tender moments of corporation seeking to spread its tentacles faster iconography can conjure evaporates under the weight than the comic book competition. If Disney cared of a derivative heist narrative badly trying to replicate more about content than profit margins, they probthe tension found in Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One, a ably wouldn’t have parted ways with Solo’s original superior “Star Wars Story.” After escaping the impov- directors (The Lego Movie’s Phil Lord and Christopher erished planet of Corellia, Han teams up with a cocky Miller) over creative differences. band of roughnecks led by Tobias Beckett (Woody Harrelson) plotting to steal massive amounts of Coax- Film reviews run weekly. ium fuel for the brutal crime syndicate Crimson Dawn. Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com

16 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MAY 23, 2018

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CULTURE | FILM

Filmworker

Workhorse

I

f given the chance, Leon Vitali might have sacrificed himself so that Stanley Kubrick could have lived. That’s how intensely revered the director of Paths of Glory and A Clockwork Orange was in the eyes of his longtime assistant. Director Tony Zierra explores the two men’s complicated, three-decade entanglement in Filmworker, a stylistically rote documentary that gives a worn out face to professional sacrifice and emotional loyalty.

After performing in 1975’s Barry Lyndon, Vitali became inspired by

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Kubrick’s genius, prompting him to leave his successful acting career behind to participate in all of the director’s future productions.

He quickly proved himself an invaluable workhorse who bounced between departments as varied as casting and editing, while also earning Kubrick’s trust. In turn, Vitali also became worthy of his wrath.

Notoriously temperamental and obsessive, Kubrick would spend years cultivating a single project. Vitali witnessed this process firsthand on The Shining, Full

Metal Jacket, and finally Eyes Wide Shut. Eager to share behind-the-scenes stories and wise anecdotes, he’s the ideal subject for a documentary that challenges classic auteurism.

However, Zierra’s filmmaking chops are sorely lacking by comparison. As Vitali muses about various memories (like the one about R. Lee Ermey’s ascent from technical advisor to scene-stealer), Filmworker clumsily stitches together archival footage and animated reenactments in the most amateurish of ways.

For a doc about Kubrick, one of the most precise film artists ever, it’s unforgivable that the narrative would be so messily conceived.

Vitali’s enduring presence makes Filmworker (opening Friday, May 25, at the Ken Cinema) watchable and sometimes even moving despite these aesthetic shortcomings. As a purveyor of the cinematic arts, he is the rare example of the no quit below-theline warrior that does everything to ensure his production succeeds without ever asking for credit. Such selflessness tends to be conveniently forgotten by the gods of film history. Hopefully that’s not the case here.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

that offers audiences a unique perspective on one of film history’s great artists. Opens Friday, May 25, at the Ken Cinema.

Solo: A Star Wars Story: Another Star Wars movie! Yay! This time, Han Solo (played by Alden Ehrenreich) gets an origin story that includes his first meeting with Chewbacca and first time flying the Millennium Falcon.

The Seagull: Based on Anton Chekov’s famous play, this drama charts the love triangle between three conflicted artists. Stars Annette Bening and Saoirse Ronan. Opens Friday, May 25, at the Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas.

ONE TIME ONLY Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: Matthew Broderick’s star-making turn as a school-skipping smart aleck anchors John Hughes’ classic comedy. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 23, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

The Big Gundown: The Film Geeks SD and San Diego Italian Film Festival present the classic Spaghetti Western, an unrelenting thriller about a Texas bounty hunter charged with bringing a heinous criminal to justice. Screens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 24, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Hin Und Weg: A group of friends take a bike holiday in Belgium only to discover a core member of their entourage is suffering from an incurable disease. Screens at 8 p.m. Friday, May 25, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

OPENING

Casablanca: Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman star as lovers trying to outsmart the Nazis in war-torn North Africa. Screens at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 24 through Sunday, May 27, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

Beast: An impressionable young woman living in a small island community falls for a mysterious outsider in this debut film from writer/director Michael Pearce. Opens Friday, May 25, at the Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas.

Girls Trip: Watch this effortlessly fun comedy about a group of old friends who get crazy in New Orleans and see why Tiffany Haddish has become a superstar. Screens at 7:45 p.m. Saturday, May 26, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt.

Boom For Real: The Late Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat: Never-before-seen works, writings and photographs offer insight into the life of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat as a teenager in New York in the late 1970s. Opens Friday, May 25, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Filmworker: Leon Vitali, the jack-of-all-trades assistant to iconic director Stanley Kubrick, is the subject of this new documentary

For complete movie listings, visit Film at sdcitybeat.com.

MAY 23, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 17

KELLY HUBBARD

MUSIC

From left: Jack King, John Rieder and Nathan Hubbard he members of Parker Meridien aren’t always on the same page.

That’s probably true of most bands, but disagreement and debate is central to the local hip-hop band’s creative process. In fact, halfway through an interview on a Friday morning at Krakatoa in Golden Hill, drummer Nathan Hubbard and emcee Jack King get sidelined in a debate over Prince’s Sign ‘O’ the Times. Hubbard argues it could be trimmed down to a single LP; King says the length and ambition of the double-album is what makes it work.

When Hubbard, King and bassist John Rieder are in the process of writing a song, there’s a similar back-and-forth that happens. Sometimes Hubbard will make a demo that the other two are skeptical of, and sometimes King will suggest that more elements need to be stripped away and pared down before a song is ready. But that to and fro, that open dialogue about what works and what needs to be jettisoned, is ultimately what makes their songs what they are.

More often than not, however, those debates start with someone else’s music.

“Arguing about other records translates

18 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MAY 23, 2018

into it,” King says. “Arguing about which Public Enemy record is better and why. So when we start recording it’s like, ‘Well, let’s have this be tighter like Fear of a Black Planet.’ Those discussions bleed into it.”

The end result of the debates, challenges and disagreements between the members of Parker Meridien ultimately end up as taut, concise and hard-hitting hip-hop tracks, the likes of which can be heard on their debut album, Fists Like Gotti. A half-hour set of liveband boom bap and buttery wordplay, Fists is a strong showcase of the types of funkback flows that Parker Meridien are capable of. And it’s intended to go hard.

“It’s not soft production,” says King. “It slaps. It punches.”

The record flows almost more like a live set than an album per se, and that’s ultimately what the group is aiming for. In fact, it’s kind of an unofficial rule of the band: Nothing is worthy of being committed to being recorded until it’s been performed live.

“We made this decision that we wouldn’t record anything we hadn’t played a few times,” says Hubbard. “We would test it out live. We’d play some stuff in the rehearsal

space, and realize stuff needed to be shorter or needed work. So we’d base it all on those live gigs and how audiences sort of respond to it. There were certain things where I want to go on long, and find out if we pare it down a bit it works better.”

“It’s almost like Motown, where they write the record, play it for a year and then record it,” King adds. “So it’s airtight and has the live feel in the recording.”

Parker Meridien have only been a band since 2016, forming shortly after King joined Hubbard onstage at Seven Grand to do some impromptu freestyling. But the members of the group have been fixtures of the San Diego music community for a long time. King, who also performs as Parker Edison, has been making music with fellow emcee 10-19 The Numberman since 2006. Rieder also makes more of a ruckus as part of the noisy punk duo Secret Fun Club. And Hubbard’s resume is seemingly always growing, his long list of projects

having included Translation Has Failed, The Montalban Quintet and previously drumming in Rafter Roberts’ band.

Because of their combined experience, the members of Parker Meridien have some pretty seasoned chops when it comes to performing and songwriting. But that experience has also given them the perspective to become better collaborators with one another. Sure, they might argue over Public Enemy records or question whether or not each song needs more editing done, but those kinds of debates are all part of the camaraderie of the group. Rather than revolving around one central songwriter or bandleader, Parker Meridien is, as King puts it, “hella democratic,” and though they take their music seriously, there’s no clashing of egos.

“I think we’ve done all the phases already,” King says. “We’ve done the thing where we’re like, ‘I’m the leader, and I’ve got a hot song that we’re going to do.’ Or maybe we’ve done the thing where it’s like, ‘I’m just going to let them try their idea.’ So now it’s the thing where we’re all doing what we kind of want to do.”

“A collaborative band is pretty hard,” Hubbard says. “That’s why I’m a bandleader [in other bands]. Not just musically, it’s everything. ‘Did you book that tour? No? OK.’ It’s way easier if I’m the boss. And clearly I write a lot of music, so that works for them.

I’ve been missing this, where there is collaboration and it’s not just me.”

As veteran artists with quite a few years clocked onstage and in the studio, the members of Parker Meridien have already individually put a lot of compelling music out. But simply by the nature of what they’re doing—a more raw, fluid and funky sound with live instruments in a style of music that traditionally employs samples or programmed beats— they’re constantly challenging themselves.

And they continue to set their goals for the group higher and higher.

“The creation process is so open, and we’re trying to make more visually appealing performances,” King says. “Hopefully you’re getting really solid rap tracks verbally that have genuinely symphonic arrangements. I hope that we are kicking the ceiling up a few more feet.”

Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com. Follow him on Twitter @1000TimesJeff

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MAY 23, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 19

MUSIC

NOTES FROM THE SMOKING PATIO LOCALS ONLY

ect later this year, though they’re still figuring out the embers of Le Chateau and Shark Attack have just logistics of it. However, the EP they just released has announced a new project titled Laurel Leven. been done for a long time, which created some urgency The trio features Le Chateau vocalist Laura Lev- in terms of provoking them to put it out. There’s more enhagen (who’s also a member of Twin Ritual), as well as material that they’re in the process of finishing, but conmulti-instrumentalists Eric Flynn and Pat Heaney. The sidering the amount of time they’ve put into it, Levenhagroup’s new self-titled EP was released late last week via gen says they at least wanted to release some material.

“We worked on it on and off,” she says. “We would get iTunes and Spotify. It’s a beat-heavy synthBRANDY BELL together for a while and do a lot, and then pop group in the vein of Chvrches, and it come back to it later. It probably took six sounds like a natural extension of the three months to a year. I think it’s been complete members’ combined past work. However, for about a year.” it started a little bit by chance, when Flynn In a funny coincidence, the Yanny vs. decided to ask a friend of a friend to join in Laurel audio debate happened to coincide on something he was creating with Heaney with the group’s decision to finally introin the studio. duce the project. It helped to keep the name “Eric and Pat were in the studio workon social media for a few days, but conveing on something together and needed a Laurel Leven nient hashtags aside, Laurel Leven is ready vocalist,” Levenhagen says. “Eric thought of me, even though we’d only met once before. I was like, to become a much more active band in 2018.

“I’m not sure what we were waiting for,” Levenhagen ‘If you’re in the studio, then I should probably go.’ We worked really well together, and ended up deciding to says. “I want people to hear these songs. We’ve been sitting on them for a while.” make it into a bigger project.”

—Jeff Terich The group plans to turn Laurel Leven into a live proj-

M

“Delaine Eastin has a track record of fighting against the right-wing, corporate and monied interests in our e asked local musicians who they’re voting state to create and uphold policy that protects and profor during the June primary and got their take vides for students, the impoverished, immigrants, the on races ranging from Governor to San Diego environment and many others. She is the only grassDistrict Attorney. roots, corporate-free candidate for Governor who will Hadi Fever, The Revolutionary Guard: Jordan Mills, fight to create a California that works for us all.”

House of Representatives (49th District).

Alan Lilienthal, Tulengua: Omar Passons, County “He’s a real, down-to-earth, genuine human being who Board of Supervisors. truly empathizes with struggling, working class families. He “Real leaders listen and engage in community events. receives zero corporate money and is involved in grassroots He grew up in the local foster care system and has seen organizing. We need some way to break the corporate two- sides of San Diego none of us ever will. His nuance and party system that continues to betray working people.” understanding of the issues that face our underserved Normandie Wilson: Geneviéve Jones-Wright, San communities are bar none because he lived through Diego County District Attorney. them. Omar is the real deal.”

“I wholeheartedly endorse her for many reasons, inDemetrius Antuna, Warsaw: Alison Hartson, U.S. cluding her commitment to accountability and justice.

Senate.

Also important is the distinction Jones-Wright makes “Her primary message is real positive progressive between sex workers who work of their own accord change that benefits the people, not the corporate and people who are trafficked; long before the passing establishment. I also like Delaine Eastin for Goverof FOSTA/SESTA, sex workers have been warning of nor. These are just a couple of the great women we the horrific effects this bill would have, and they need to help tilt the scales of both the government were right.” as a whole, and the center/right takeover of the Scott Nielsen, Die MiBbildungen Die MenDemocratic party.” schen: Delaine Eastin, Governor.

—Jeff Terich Delaine Eastin

ENDORSEMENTS FROM THE MUSIC SCENE

W

20 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MAY 23, 2018

AFTER HOURS: ABOUT LAST NIGHT

Free Flow

I

“

’ve lived all over San Diego, La Mesa, Southeast, and I don’t know a lot of places where you can step in and be like, ‘I can speak Spanish here and it’ll be okay,’” says Karlo Roshnaye, who’s lived all over the county for the last 32 years.

For Roshnaye, this also meant an inability to find live Spanish hip-hop. There were venues that would book Spanishspeaking artists, but he hadn’t seen an event specifically dedicated to hip-hop en español in San Diego, he says. So, he started one: De La Flow. The night starts out with DJ Beto Perez mixing merengue, dance music and other genres in with Spanish hip-hop. Then the event moves on into a freestyle session with the hosts (Roshnaye and fellow emcee Chester), before diving into live performances. Throughout the night, there are roughly five-to-seven rappers who perform, including a headliner. And they come from all over, including San Diego, but also Tijuana, Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere. In between, the hosts pop back onstage to keep the night flowing.

“When I’m onstage I basically go back and forth between English and Spanish. But TORREY BAILEY there does come a point in time where I tell everyone, ‘Hey, 9:30 is going to hit and I’m pushing that button and not going back…

That’s the SAP (secondary audio programming) button at the bottom of your Perez, Roshnaye and Chester​ screen,’” Roshnaye jokes.

“Everything you’re going to hear is Spanish from now on.”

He also points out people in the crowd who speak both languages and can answer questions, emphasizing that nonSpanish speakers should feel welcome to stay for the show.

“I really try to normalize it like, ‘We’re speaking another language in front of you, but we’re not saying things about you. We’re literally expressing ourselves.’ So that’s what’s very different, we try to really be okay with speaking Spanish but also be okay with going ‘Hey we’re speaking Spanish, but you guys can be here. It’s music.’”

The third installment of De La Flow, which first launched in November, happens May 30 at the Air Conditioned Lounge (4673 30th St.) as part of the club’s hip-hop-themed Wednesdays. Eventually, he hopes to start a similar night geared toward Farsi speakers. For now, he’s betting on the rise of Spanish hip-hop.

“With the city of San Diego being so close to Tijuana and having our languages and our cultures so mixed, I feel that [Spanish hip-hop] is a big movement to spotlight going into the next couple of decades.”

—Torrey Bailey

About Last Night appears every other week. Got a cool nightlife tip? Email Torrey Bailey at torreyb@sdcitybeat.com.

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MAY 23, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 21

MUSIC MARJIN DEGENAAR

JEFF TERICH

IF I WERE U

SUNDAY, MAY 27

PLAN A: Holiday Music, Nicely, Gloomsday, Bit Maps, Exasperation, Miss New Buddha, Sixes, Trip Advisor @ Helmuth Projects. This is the second installment of Crush Fest, which initially started on Exasperation drummer Dave Mead’s birthday.

This time around it’s loaded with a lot of the best bands in town right now, with a couple touring acts as well, and starts good and early (4 p.m.). BACKUP PLAN: Rey Pila, Strange Phases, Perra Galga @ Blonde.

A music insider’s weekly agenda WEDNESDAY, MAY 23

PLAN A: Angelic Upstarts, The Briefs, Social Spit @ The Casbah. San Diego seems to attract a particularly ample number of punk rock legends. For instance, UK legends Angelic Upstarts have been playing politically-charged punk rock for more than 40 years, and it’ll no doubt sound great up close and personal.

THURSDAY, MAY 24

PLAN A: Rufus Wainwright, Mark and Michael Lennon @ Belly Up Tavern. It’s hard to believe that Rufus Wainwright’s debut album came out 20 years ago, but that record holds up well (the Van Dyke Parks orchestration certainly doesn’t hurt). He’s released a lot more excellent music since then however, which is all the more reason to hear him make his way through that impressive catalog. PLAN B: Draemings, Le Ra, Belladon, New Evil, Miss Lady D @ The Cas-

22 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MAY 23, 2018

bah. The name Draemings looks a little bit like “dreaming,” which is fitting, since the L.A.-based group has a melancholy, ethereal sound. Their brand of spacious goth-pop is gloomy, yet graceful.

FRIDAY, MAY 25

PLAN A: Carla Dal Forno, Tess Roby, HEXA @ Whistle Stop. Australia’s Carla Dal Forno makes dark, weird, atmospheric synth pop that’s sort of hard to classify. It’s sparse and atmospheric, but with traces of industrial. This makes local darkwavers Hexa a natural fit to open the show. PLAN B: Primitive Man, Infernal Coil @ Soda Bar. Denver-based Primitive Man makes music that’s pretty much always absurdly heavy, noisy, gnarly and gross. Those craving total annihilation would do best to seek it out here. BACKUP PLAN: Ariel Levine, Jean Caffeine, Heather Nation, Stephen El Rey Sextet @ Bar Pink.

loaded with great songs, grungy, tuneful or otherwise. BACKUP PLAN: Oxvac, Osk Blatvk, Mystery Cave, CaligEars, Five Paw (DJ set) @ Helmuth Projects.

Carla Dal Forno

SATURDAY, MAY 26

PLAN A: Palberta, Therapy, HEAT @ SPACE. This is an interesting lineup of bands, all of whom kick ass, but don’t all sound alike. Palberta is a no-wavey punk band with weird tunings and textures, and HEAT and Therapy (whom I recently profiled in these pages) are a couple of San Diego’s best hardcore bands. PLAN B: The Posies, Terra Lightfoot @ Soda Bar. The Posies made power pop during a time when everyone was making grunge, though they at least scored one hit with “Dream All Day.” Truthfully, though, their catalog is

MONDAY, MAY 28

PLAN A: BBQ, Beer @ Your House. It’s Memorial Day, which means that the options for going out to see a show are pretty limited. So it’s probably best just to stay at home, grill some burgers and chill.

TUESDAY, MAY 29

PLAN A: Lauren Ruth Ward, Yip Yops, Somme @ Soda Bar. Baltimore singer/ songwriter Lauren Ruth Ward isn’t country, even though there’s a little bit of twang to her sound. And she’s not really folk, though a lot of it is acoustic. It occasionally rocks out, but whatever approach she takes, it’s always worth checking out.

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MAY 23, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 23

MUSIC

CONCERTS HOT! NEW! FRESH!

GZA (Observatory, 6/5), Vance Joy (Harrah’s SoCal, 7/7), Kina Grannis (Music Box, 7/10), Goodnight, Texas (Casbah, 7/11), The Adicts (Observatory, 7/21), Juliette and the Licks (Music Box, 7/21), Shooter Jennings (BUT, 8/8), KRS-One (Observatory, 8/9), Tribal Theory (BUT, 8/17), Audio Karate (Soda Bar, 8/17), TSOL (Brick by Brick, 8/26), Moon Ensemble (Soda Bar, 8/29), Dreamers (Irenic, 9/13), Patrick Sweany (SPACE, 9/22), Grizzly Bear (Observatory, 9/24), Flatliners (Brick by Brick, 10/4), Shannon and the Clams (BUT, 10/10), Alex Clare (Music Box, 10/21), 98 Degrees (Balboa Theatre, 11/18), Bernhoft and the Fashion Bruises (Casbah, 12/12).

GET YER TICKETS Iceage (Casbah, 6/5), Sunflower Bean (Che Café, 6/13), ‘A Ship In the Woods Fest’ w/ Built to Spill, Shabazz Palaces, Bill Callahan, No Age (Felicita Park, 6/16-17), Donavon Frankenreiter (BUT, 6/20), Janelle Monae (Open Air Theater, 6/20), Warped Tour (SDCCU Stadium, 6/22), Seu Jorge (BUT, 6/24), Fear (Observatory, 6/28), Quiet Slang (Soda Bar, 6/29), Counting Crows (Mattress Firm, 7/10), Neurosis, Converge (Observatory, 7/14), Chris Isaak (Humphreys, 7/17), Toad the Wet Sprocket (BUT, 7/17-18), Paramore (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 7/19), Stephen Malkmus

and the Jicks (Casbah, 7/20), Wye Oak (Soda Bar, 7/20), Car Seat Headrest (SOMA, 7/21), Logic (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 7/24), Joe Bonamassa (Humphreys, 7/26-27), The Decemberists (Humphreys, 7/30), American Football, Phoebe Bridgers (Observatory, 8/3), Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam (Open Air Theatre, 8/3), Hop Along (Irenic, 8/5), Willie Nelson (Humphreys, 8/10), ‘X-Fest’ w/ Beck, Death Cab for Cutie (SDCCU Stadium, 8/11), Chris Stapleton (Mattress Firm, 8/16), Deafheaven (Brick by Brick, 8/17), Red Fang, Elder (Brick by Brick, 8/20), J. Cole (Viejas Arena, 8/22), Phillip Phillips (Humphreys, 8/22), The Alarm (BUT, 8/23), Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 8/24), Rodrigo y Gabriela (BUT, 8/28-29), Smashing Pumpkins (Viejas Arena, 9/1), Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (Copley Symphony Hall, 9/1), Leon Bridges (Open Air Theatre, 9/5), The Original Wailers (BUT, 9/6), Ms. Lauryn Hill (Open Air Theatre, 9/9), Murder by Death (BUT, 9/11), YOB (Brick by Brick, 9/14), The Distillers (Observatory, 9/18), Jason Aldean (Mattress Firm, 9/20), The Eagles (Petco Park, 9/22), First Aid Kit (Observatory, 9/25), Deep Purple, Judas Priest (Mattress Firm, 9/26), Loudon Wainwright III (BUT, 9/27), Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band (Humphreys, 9/27), Natalie Prass (Casbah, 9/30), Courtney Barnett, Waxahatchee (Observatory, 10/3), Roky Erickson (Casbah, 10/5), The B-52’s (Humphreys, 10/6), Ozzy Osbourne (Mattress Firm, 10/9), Mew (Observatory, 10/9), The Joy Formidable (Casbah, 10/17), D.R.I. (Brick by Brick, 10/20), Simple Minds (Humphreys, 10/22), The Selecter, The English Beat (Casbah, 11/2), Fleetwood Mac (Viejas Arena, 12/8).

24 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MAY 23, 2018

MAY WEDNESDAY, MAY 23 Angelic Upstarts at The Casbah. Ocean Alley at Soda Bar. The James Hunter Six at Belly Up Tavern. Smallpools at House of Blues.

THURSDAY, MAY 24 Phantogram at Open Air Theatre. Rufus Wainwright at Belly Up Tavern. GBH at Observatory North Park. Colouring at Soda Bar. Billy Idol at Harrah’s SoCal (sold out).

FRIDAY, MAY 25 Primitive Man at Soda Bar. Cash’d Out at Belly Up Tavern. Jesse Dayton at The Casbah. George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic at Music Box. Hawthorne Heights at House of Blues.

Hockey Dad at SOMA. Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo at Harrah’s SoCal.

SATURDAY, MAY 26 The Posies at Soda Bar. Palberta at SPACE. The Glitch Mob at Observatory North Park (sold out). Kimbra, Son Lux at Belly Up Tavern. The Winehouse Experience at Music Box. Bhad Bhabie at SOMA.

SUNDAY, MAY 27 J Boog at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Sofi Tukker at Observatory North Park. MC Chris at Soda Bar. Through the Roots at Harrah’s SoCal.

MONDAY, MAY 28 Subhumans at The Casbah. Tory Lanez at Observatory North Park. Madeleine

Peyroux at Belly Up Tavern. Todd Albright at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, MAY 29 Lauren Ruth Ward at Soda Bar. Xavier Rudd at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). SUR at The Casbah.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 30 Xavier Rudd at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Cloud Catcher at Brick by Brick.

John Mayall at Music Box.

THURSDAY, MAY 31 Lord Huron at House of Blues. D.O.A. at Brick by Brick. Dead Milkmen at Belly Up Tavern. WAND at The Casbah. Lead Pony at Soda Bar. Eli Young Band at Harrah’s SoCal. Company of Thieves at House of Blues.

JUNE FRIDAY, JUNE 1 Anvil at Brick by Brick. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at Observatory North Park (sold out). Mark Farina at Music Box. Greg Laswell at Belly Up Tavern. The Paladins at The Casbah. Noah Cyrus at Del Mar Fairgrounds. Lord Huron at House of Blues (sold out). Beekeeper at The Merrow.

SATURDAY, JUNE 2 Ray Lamontagne, Neko Case at Open Air Theatre. Curtis Harding at The Casbah. Dr. Dog at Observatory North Park (sold out). Betamaxx at Music Box. Alex Lahey at Soda Bar. Sugarland at Del Mar Fairgrounds.

SUNDAY, JUNE 3 Calexico at Belly Up Tavern (sold out).

U.S. Bombs at Soda Bar. Josh Rouse at The Casbah. Power Trip, Sheer Mag at SOMA. Tomorrows Bad Seeds at Music Box. Authority Zero at Brick by Brick.

The Monkees present The Mike and Mickey Show at Humphreys by the Bay. Kabaka Pyramid at Harrah’s SoCal.

MONDAY, JUNE 4 Stephen Stills and Judy Collins at Humphreys by the Bay. Fistfights With Wolves at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, JUNE 5 Rodrigo Amarante at Soda Bar. Iceage at The Casbah. Nicki Bluhm at Belly Up Tavern. GZA at Observatory North Park.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 6 Speedy Ortiz at Soda Bar. The Kooks at Observatory North Park (sold out). The Yardbirds at Belly Up Tavern. Emery at Brick by Brick. Howlin Rain at The Casbah. Capital Cities at Del Mar Fairgrounds.

THURSDAY, JUNE 7 Insomnium at Brick by Brick. Sick of It All at Soda Bar. Blackbird Blackbird at SPACE. Michael Franti and Spearhead at Humphreys by the Bay. James Supercave at Blonde. Kansas at Del Mar Fairgrounds.

FRIDAY, JUNE 8 B-Side Players at Belly Up Tavern. She Wants Revenge at Music Box. Minus

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

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MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24 the Bear at House of Blues. Uli John Roth at Belly Up Tavern. Maps & Atlases at The Casbah. Cozz at SOMA. Yanni at Civic Theatre.

SATURDAY, JUNE 9 The Sword at Belly Up Tavern. Aterciopelados at Music Box. Behold the Arctopus at Brick by Brick. ‘Kate Bush Dance Party’ w/ Baby Bushka at The Casbah. The Hillbilly Moon Explosion at Soda Bar.

SUNDAY, JUNE 10 Jeremy Enigk at Soda Bar. Justin Townes Earle at The Casbah. Turnpike Troubadours at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Blue October at House of Blues.

Yeek at Che Café. Lorena Isabell at Music Box.

TUESDAY, JUNE 12 JD McPherson at Belly Up Tavern. Shy Boys at Whistle Stop. Kesha, Macklemore at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre.

Reuben and the Dark at Soda Bar.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13 Black Milk at Soda Bar. Sunflower Bean at Che Café. Flatbush Zombies at SOMA. Reptaliens at The Casbah. The Calling at Belly Up Tavern. The Cult at Del Mar Fairgrounds.

THURSDAY, JUNE 14 Har Mar Superstar at The Casbah. Chad Valley at Soda Bar. Barenaked Ladies at Del Mar Fairgrounds.

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FRIDAY, JUNE 15 Brownout at The Casbah. The Highwayman at Belly Up Tavern. The Skull at Soda Bar. Eric Burdon and the Animals at Humphreys by the Bay.

SATURDAY, JUNE 16 Veronica May at The Casbah. The Viceroys at Music Box. The Wild Fires at Soda Bar. ‘A Ship In the Woods Fest’ w/ Built to Spill, Shabazz Palaces, Bill Callahan, No Age at Felicita Park. John Butler Trio at House of Blues.

SUNDAY, JUNE 17 Post Animal at Soda Bar. Burna Boy at The Casbah. Day26 at Music Box. ‘A Ship In the Woods Fest’ w/ Built to Spill, Shabazz Palaces, Bill Callahan, No Age at Felicita Park.

MONDAY, JUNE 18 This Will Destroy You at Belly Up Tavern.

Demerit at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, JUNE 19 Get Up Kids at The Casbah (sold out).

Stars at Belly Up Tavern.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20 Janelle Monae at Open Air Theater. Men I Trust at The Casbah. Shelter at Soda Bar. Donavon Frankenreiter at Belly Up Tavern. Eric Paslay at Observatory North Park.

THURSDAY, JUNE 21 Bent Knee at Soda Bar. Kenny Chesney at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre.

FRIDAY, JUNE 22 Belle and Sebastian at Observatory North Park (sold out). Dirty Sweet at The Casbah. Dark Star Orchestra at Humphreys by the Bay. Slenderbodies at Soda Bar. Los Beautiful Beast at Belly Up Tavern. Super Diamond at Music Box.

SATURDAY, JUNE 23 Trampled by Turtles at Humphreys by the Bay. Jungle Fire at Soda Bar. Gary Hoey at Brick by Brick. Long Beach Dub All Stars at Observatory North Park. The Creepy Creeps at The Casbah. Armors at SPACE.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach. Wed: Open mic. Thu: Karaoke.

Fri: The Frets, Broken Stems, Your Favorite Color. Sat: Manic Fanatic. Sun: ‘Punk Goes ‘80s Pop’. Tue: The Tones.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St., Normal Heights. Wed: ‘Hip Hop Wednesday’ w/ Latin Soul, Kahlee, Ric Scales, Odessa Kane, Sante Prince. Thu: ‘SubDrip’ w/ DJ Damon Millard. Fri: ‘House Music Friday’ w/ DJ Matthew Brian. Sat: Spirit Duo, DJs Ideal, Lady Verse. Sun: ‘Radar’ w/ DJ Tyler Detweiler.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Dana Carvey (sold out). Fri: Dana Carvey (sold out). Sat: Dana Carvey (sold out).

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Road, Spring Valley. Wed: Karaoke. Thu: The Great Smoking Mirror. Fri: Veins to Wires, Sally Draper. Sun: When We Met, Hot Brass Injection. Tue: Karaoke.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St., North Park. Thu: Jason Hanna and the Bullfighters. Fri: Ariel Levine, Jean Caffeine, Heather Nation, Stephen El Rey Sextet. Sat: Half Car Garage, Swiss Rolls. Sun: Bloody Mary Bastards, Powerballs, Thunderfist. Mon: Crew D’Etat Brass Band, DJs Mia, Matty.

Belladon, NewEvil, DJ Miss Lady D. Fri: Jesse Dayton, The Johnny Deadly Trio, Stephen El Rey. Sat: ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’.

Sun: ‘Booty Bassment’. Mon: Subhumans, Final Conflict, Karbonite, Records With Roger. Tue: Dark Alley Dogs, Stokka, Natives.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St., Downtown.

Fri: Weiss. Sat: Darius. Sun: Sofi Tukker (DJ set).

Che Cafe, UCSD campus, La Jolla. Fri: Tim Woulfe, Love Triangle, dnll, Secret Spot. Sat: Stray Monroe, Freaks!, The Galactic Backing Track, We Are One.

Beaumont’s, 5665 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla. Fri: Dave Booda and the Leftovers.

Sat: dB Jukebox. Sun: Setting Sons Duo. Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Wed: The James Hunter Six, Nate Donnis. Thu: Rufus Wainwright, Mark and Michael Lennon. Fri: Cash’d Out, Nancarrow. Sat: Kimbra, Son Lux. Sun: J Boog, I Octane (sold out). Mon: Madeleine Peyroux. Tue: Xavier Rudd (sold out).

Black Cat Bar, 4246 University Ave., City Heights. Fri: Funky Thigh Collectors, Dark Globe. Sat: Sundrop Electric, Cabuloan.

Blonde, 1808 W. Washington St., Mission Hills. Wed: ‘Dance Klassique’ w/ Susio, Coco. Thu: Blondie live tribute.

Sat: ‘Through Being Cool’. Sun: Rey Pila, Strange Phases, Perry Galga. Mon: Matt Hollywood, Wild Wild Wets. Tue: ‘T is 4 Techno’.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave., Carlsbad.

Fri: ‘Club Musae’.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., Bay Park. Fri: Smarter Than Robots, The Danger Field, Bitter Kiddos, Neurotic Mirage, The Abstracts, The Rinds, DadHat, Braggers, Blameless, Traveling Hillbilly Corps.

Sat: NU:LOGIC, GHOST M.D., DJ WOLF. The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. Wed: Angelic Upstarts, The Briefs, Social Spit. Thu: Draemings, Le Ra,

Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. Sat: Wild Rumour.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Bay Park. Fri: The National Peer-to-Peer AllStar Jazz Sextet. Sat: Peter Sprague & Larry Koonse.

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown. Fri: DJ Peso.

Sat: Sixx Foota.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave., Downtown. Fri: DJ Bad. Sat: DJ Bamboozle. Sun: Nipsey Hussle.

Hoffer’s Cigar Bar, 8282 La Mesa Blvd., La Mesa. Sat: Karl Cabbage and the J Dog Players.

Hooley’s, 5500 Grossmont Center Drive, La Mesa. Fri: Paul and Margie. Sat: Heart Band.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Wed: Smallpools, Great Good Fine OK. Thu: Lanco, The Brevet. Fri: Hawthorne Heights, Sienna Skies, Hotel Books, Listener, Heavy Things. Sat: Pouya, Wifisfuneral, Shakewell. Tue: Making Movies, Alex Cuba, Marujah.

Humphreys Backstage, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. Wed: Exit 6.

Thu: Kim Jackson. Fri: Viva Santana, Sue Palmer. Sat: R: Tyme, Chet Cannon. Sun:

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

MAY 23, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 25

BY CHRISTIN BAILEY

ASTROLOGICALLY UNSOUND Weekly forecasts from the so-called universe ARIES (March 21 - April 19): There are many interesting things about being alive, none of which you will miss out on by taking the extra two seconds to choose a shampoo and conditioner instead of a 2-in-1.

TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): The more you move in quicksand, the faster you sink.

Of course, doing absolutely nothing about it isn’t going to help much either.

GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): All of the things you want are within your grasp and when those things are hidden under your jacket, they will also be in the grasp of the security guard (also a Gemini) who’s frisking at the concert.

LIBRA (September 23 - October 22): The game The Floor Is Lava from your

childhood is back and this time, the lava is the lies you told the barista about your life to sound more interesting.

SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21): Thank your lucky stars for your weaknesses too.

I mean, just imagine if your teeth were strong enough to eat all your other teeth. Not a good scene.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 December 21): This was edited out of the book for length, but just so you know: You go into a deeper circle of hell for every gift you give that’s “wrapped” in a Best Buy bag.

CANCER (June 21 - July 22): Releasing

CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 19): Let me put your mind at ease: Goblins aren’t real, and if they are then they don’t want to hurt you and if they do you can outsmart them and if you can’t, well, uh oh!

LEO (July 23 - August 22): This week might be hard, but most voids can be filled by walking in loud shoes in a museum or sneezing a fourth time in the movie theater for attention.

AQUARIUS (January 20 - February 18): Perhaps scrolling through the recommended section of the Streaming Service Of Your Choice™ for a feature length amount of time was actually the movie you wanted to watch all along.

a spider from your house into the backyard is no great mercy. In fact, it is usually a wilderness death sentence. But hey, whatever makes you feel good about yourself.

VIRGO (August 23 - September 22):

The languages we use color the way we see the world. Like when you’re on your 3s and 8s, everybody’s a good buddy, but when bear bait is on your donkey, nothing seems 10-4.

PISCES (February 19 - March 20): A single link of chain can do nothing, but link many and you get… something someone is going to cut with bolt cutters in three days and may as well not even have been there. Don’t bother linking!

Astrologically Unsound appears every week. Follow Christin Bailey on Twitter at @hexprax.

MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 Wildside, Missy Andersen. Mon: Fuzzy Rankins. Tue: Missy Andersen.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. Wed: ‘Midnight (In a Perfect World).

Sat: ‘Purps N Turqs’. Sun: Beat Cinema Crew, Brand B, Dayfade.

Lestat’s Coffee House, 3343 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Thu: Tommy Ragen, Halfblood, Nikola. Fri: Star Jungle, Sahara Grim. Sat: Alex Ashley. Sun: Buttons, Hutton Baird, Amaya Lights, These White Pigeons.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave., Coronado. Wed: North Star. Thu: Fish and JG. Fri: Mystique. Sat: Street Heart.

Sun: Joey Harris.

Martinis Above Fourth, 3940 Fourth Ave., Hillcrest. Wed: Carol Curtis. Thu: Amy and Freddy. Fri: Janice and Nathan.

Sat: Sophia Alone. Sun: Ria Carey and Don L. The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., Hillcrest. Thu: ‘Boylesque’. Fri: ‘Trick: XTRA’.

Sat: ‘Siren’. Sun: ‘The Playground’ w/ DJ Heather Hardcore. Tue: The Colour Monday, The Great Silver Sun, The Spiritual Motels.

Mr. Peabody’s, 136 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas. Thu: Dayna Lane. Fri: Cherry Lightnin’. Sat: Shrimper Dan and Bottom Feeders, Celeste Barbier. Sun: Tony Ortega jazz jam.

Music Box, 1337 India St., Little Italy. Fri: George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. Sat: The Winehouse Experience. Sun: Purple Disco Machine.

The Office, 3936 30th St., North Park.

Wed: ‘1,2,3’ w/ DJ EdRoc. Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Fri: ‘After Hours’ w/ DJs Adam Salter, Ayla Simone. Sat: ‘Strictly Business’ w/ DJs Kanye Asada, Gabe Vega. Tue: ‘Trapped’ w/ DJ Ramsey.

26 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MAY 23, 2018

OMNIA Nightclub, 454 Sixth Ave., Downtown. Fri: Armin Van Buuren. Sat: Jayceeoh. Sun: NGHTMRE. Panama 66, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park.

Wed: Gilbert Castellanos. Thu: Lorraine Castellanos. Fri: Mochilero All Stars. Sun: ‘Sundays in the Park’.

Parq, 615 Broadway, Downtown. Fri: Nelly. Sat: ‘Bash on Broadway’.

Proud Mary’s, 5550 Kearny Mesa Road, Kearny Mesa. Wed: Ben Grier. Thu: Tomcat Courtney. Sat: Danny Brooks.

The Rail, 3796 Fifth Ave., Hillcrest. Fri: ‘Hip Hop Fridayz’. Sat: ‘Sabados en Fuego’. Mon: ‘Manic Monday’ w/ DJ Junior the Disco Punk.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave., Hillcrest.

Wed: DJs Kiki, Kinky Loops. Thu: ‘LEZ’ w/ DJ K-Swift. Fri: ‘Electro-Pop’ w/ DJs Hektik, John Joseph. Sat: ‘Euphoria’.

Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave., La Mesa. Wed: ‘Boss Jazz’ w/ Jason Hanna. Thu: Brennan Orndorff. Fri: Three Chord Justice. Sat: Sleepwalkers.

Rosie O’Gradys, 3402 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Wed: Karaoke. Fri: Chloe Lou and the Lidells. Sat: Acoustic Revolt.

Mon: Jazz jam. Tue: Rosa’s Cantina.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave., North Park. Wed: The Gabriel Sundy Jazz Trio. Thu: Jimmy Ruelas. Fri: The Shakes.

Sat: Jimmy Ruelas. Mon: ‘Makossa Monday’ w/ DJ Tah Rei. Tue: Soul Ablaze.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Wed: Ocean Alley, The Morning Yells. Thu: Colouring, Nightly. Fri: Primitive Man, Infernal Coil, Cave Bastard. Sat: The Posies, Terra Lightfoot. Sun: MC Chris, Bitforce. Tue: Lauren Ruth Ward, Yip Yops, Somme.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd., Midway.

Fri: Hockey Dad, Cold Fronts, The Grove Collective, Sitting On Stacy. Sat: Bhad Bhabie, Jay Russo.

SPACE, 3519 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights.

Wed: ‘Make Yourself At Home’. Thu: ‘Broken Beat’. Fri: ‘The Meaning of Love’. Sat: Palberta, Therapy, HEAT. Mon: ‘Eloteria’ w/ Boogieman, DJ Josexxx. Tue: Karaoke.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St., Middletown. Fri: Galantis. Sat: The Glitch Mob (DJ set).

Sun: Duke Dumont.

Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Wed: Paul Gregg.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Thu: Garrett Dale, Davey Tiltwheel, idareyou, Matt Caskitt & The Breaks. Fri: ‘San Diego City Soul Club’.

Sat: ‘Louder Than Bombs’. Sun: Pants Karaoke.

Tin Roof, 401 G St., Downtown. Wed: Evan Diamond Goldberg. Thu: Kenny and Deez. Fri: Chad and Rosie. Sat: Keep Your Soul, Chad and Rosie. Sun: Wild Heart, Scott Porter. Mon: Scott Porter.

Tue: Scott Porter.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave., City Heights. Wed: Daikaiju, Miss New Buddha, Bosswitch. Fri: The Midnight Block, Punk Yacht Club, Vietnam Hardcore, Hyper Active Slackers. Sat: Old Man Wizard.

U-31, 3112 University Ave., North Park.

Wed: ‘Yes Lawd’. Thu: ‘Boom Boxx Thursday’. Fri: DJ Freeman. Sat: DJ Junior the Disco Punk. Sun: Piracy Conspiracy.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park. Wed: ‘Open Oscillator’. Fri: Carla Dal Forno, Tess Roby, Hexa. Sat: ‘Booty Bassment’ w/ DJs Dimitri, Rob. Sun: ‘Fantasy’ w/ DJ Mario Orduno. Mon: DJs Justin Pearson, Matt Marajas, Zack Oakley.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St., Ocean Beach.

Wed: Tropidelic, DJ Carlos Culture. Thu: The Higgs, Shakedown String Band. Fri: Odessa Kane, Locness. Sat: The Routine, Sure Fire Soul Ensemble. Sun: Karaoke.

Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: INDYCA, MDRN History.

@SDCITYBEAT

H H A N DY C H E AT S H E E T

H

E L E C T I O N D AY I S T U E S D AY, J U N E 5 H

H STATE OFFICES AND MEASURES H

State Senate, 40th District: Ben Hueso

Governor: Gavin Newsom

Prop. 68: Yes

Lieutenant Governor: Eleni Kounalakis

Prop. 69: Yes (nice)

Secretary of State: Alex Padilla

Prop. 70: No

State Controller: Betty Yee

Prop. 71: Yes

State Treasurer: Vivek Viswanathan

Prop. 72: Yes

Attorney General: Dave Jones

H FEDERAL OFFICES H

Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara State Board of Equalization, 4th District: David Dodson State Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tony Thurmond State Assembly, 71st District: James Elia State Assembly, 75th District: Alan Geraci State Assembly, 76th District: Elizabeth Warren State Assembly, 77th District: Sunday Gover State Assembly, 78th District: Todd Gloria State Assembly, 79th District: Shirley Weber State Assembly, 80th District: Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher State Senate, 36th District: Marggie Castellano State Senate, 38th District: Jeff Griffith

@SDCITYBEAT

U.S. Senate: Kevin de León U.S. House of Representatives, 49th District: Doug Applegate

San Diego City Council, District 2: Jennifer Campbell San Diego City Council, District 4: Monica Montgomery or Myrtle Cole San Diego City Council, District 6: Tommy Hough San Diego City Council, District 8: Vivian Moreno San Diego County District Attorney: Geneviéve Jones-Wright San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/County Clerk: Matt Strabone San Diego County Sheriff: Dave Myers

U.S. House of Representatives, 50th District: Ammar Campa-Najjar

San Diego County Treasurer/Tax Collector: Dan McAllister

U.S. House of Representatives, 51st District: Juan Vargas

Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 28: Herbert Exarhos

U.S. House of Representatives, 52nd District: Scott Peters

Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 37: Tim Nader

U.S. House of Representatives, 53rd District: Susan Davis

San Diego Community College District Member, Board of Trustees, District E: David Alvarez Chula Vista Mayor: Mary Casillas Salas

H CITY AND COUNTY RACES AND MEASURES H

Chula Vista City Council, District 2: Patrick MacFarland

Board of Supervisors, District 4: Nathan Fletcher

Measure B: No

Board of Supervisors, District 5: Jacqueline Arsivaud

Measure C: Yes

Measure A: Yes

MAY 23, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 27