San Diego CityBeat • Oct 11, 2017

2 · San Diego CityBeat · October 11, 2017

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UP FRONT | FROM THE EDITOR

Unnatural disasters

F

Finally, this week has been all about my or many of us, climate change is often an intangible issue. Something we all favorite aunt up in Santa Rosa. The fires in care about, but easy to ignore since that area have become so widespread and it’s hard to tell when it directly affects us. devastating, that terms like “wine country What’s more, it’s much easier to focus on is- fires” no longer fully encapsulate the affected areas. We’re now simply calling them the sues that impact us now.

When it does affect us though, the im- Northern California fires.

While I hope by the time our readers see pact is undeniable.

Over the last few weeks and months, this, my aunt’s house will still be standing, the I’ve been practically glued to my phone and parents of UT reporter and former CityBeat computer to check in with family and friends Staff Writer Joshua Emerson Smith were not who’ve been the victims of climate-related so fortunate. Walter and Kim Vonhuene were disasters. First, there was September’s Eagle forced to evacuate their Santa Rosa home with Creek and the Archer Mountain Fire in the nothing but their pets and the shirts on their Columbia River Gorge area of Oregon and backs. Readers can find a link to the GoFundWashington. My father and stepmother live Me page to help the Vonhuenes get back on in the area and the Archer Mountain Fire their feet on our Twitter page (@SDCityBeat).

The apocalyptic images coming out of was mere miles from their hilltop home.

“It all depends on the wind,” my dad, a NorCal are indeed heartbreaking, as are the volunteer firefighter, told me via text at the images of devastation from all the storms, SONOMA SHERIFF DEPT. hurricanes and fires that time. “It was a long, arduseem to be in the news evous evening feeding all the ery day. But make no misevacuees.” take: Even though the Eagle Combined, the Eagle Creek and Archer fires were Creek and Archer Mountain caused by a kid with a firefires burned nearly 36,000 work, climate change did acres of forest and homes, play a huge role in those and the former was just one Fire in Sonoma County blazes. 2017 marked the of a dozen fires that enveloped Oregon over the late summer, covering hottest record temperatures in the Pacific cities like Portland in a blanket of ash and Northwest according to the National Weathsoot. Some of the nature trails I walked as er Service. For NorCal, the drought-ending a kid during summer visits are gone forever. La Niña rain dump in the winter only meant Then, just this past week, there was that forests and vegetation were fire-friendTropical Storm Nate. While it didn’t really ly and overgrown once the dry heat set in.

As the 14th anniversary of the devastating register with most Americans until it hit the Gulf of Mexico and began bearing down on 2003 Cedar Fire approaches, it’s important to parts of Louisiana and Alabama, I was al- remember just how susceptible we are to these ready feeling its wrath back when it was but kinds of natural-turned-unnatural disasters.

Just as with issues like gun violence, it’s easy a Tropical Storm.

“Mudslides are hitting us. The roads are to become numb to the images of tragedy. The closed even to the airport. Everything is media hardly helps with this, as number-based flooded,” my mother wrote to me from her science and investigative work often takes a backseat to disaster porn of the worst kind. home in Costa Rica.

We must not become numb. If readers Feeling helpless to console her, I jokingly care about issues of climate change, we must suggested that she find a boat.

“All the boats in the harbor sunk today,” not wait until it directly affects us to try to make a difference. Just as with issues that she replied.

Then the electricity went out and for al- have an immediate impact, such as health most a day I worried about whether she was care and taxes, we must also be vigilant OK. She began to send me Facebook posts when it comes to climate change legislation. documenting the devastation and my heart If we aren’t, it will only be a matter of time sank as I looked at the destroyed beaches, before everyone loses something. homes and stores that made me fall in love

—Seth Combs with that country.

This issue of CityBeat is all about putting some truffle butter on a Chunk Stuffer. Mmmmmm... Delicious.

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OCTOBER 11, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 3

UP FRONT | LETTERS

TRITE SENTIMENTS

As the editorial [“Spare me your thoughts and prayers,” Oct. 4] mentions; in the wake of tragedy, sentiments like “our thoughts and prayers are with you” are repeated ad nauseam. Myriad factors played a part in how we got to this state of affairs—mass media, propaganda, spin doctors, short memories, short attention spans, infotainment instead of news, overexposure leading to the normalization of the abnormal— particularly exposure to sanitized versions of the abnormal, etc. But as I read the editorial, it dawned on me that the trite-sentiment syndrome isn’t just a phenomenon in the wake of tragic incidents and a couple of examples came to mind; “support our troops,” and, “thank you for your service.” As bad as trite sentiments are what’s even worse is that the thought processes of far too many people run no deeper than bumper stickers. How to change that is a conundrum, but when a shyster spouts meaningless phrases like “make America great again” and the next thing you know we have a moron for a president, something needs to change.

Dan Jacobs Mira Mesa

DAY IS DONE

Charlottesville has given Americans another twist of the lens, bringing the American Civil War’s shadows into clearer focus [“Burn it Down,” Aug. 23]. At long last, the symbols of an economic system built upon slave labor are being reevaluated all around the nation, even

4 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

in San Diego, where several monuments have been removed from public property.

The “peculiar institution” lasted over 250 years in the old South. We need to comprehend the full meaning of that. Generations upon generation of white Southerners were born, grew up and eventually died believing all was commonplace and that owning Blacks was a casual right for those who could afford it. That it was nothing to even think about, really, and that Blacks were certainly not in any way equal to any white person and never could be. Why, even the Bible mentioned slaves. The mindset was firm and rooted deep.

For the most part, they were born and died within a radius of maybe 30 miles. Their memories and values came from the same soil. Beliefs are powerful things and not just reserved for religions, mind you. They doubtlessly reflected their basic beliefs in how they lived, many having never been anywhere, and poorly educated and having read few books. And when the growing popularity of the idea of succession [sic] from the Union came through the air, like smoke from a fire, it became electric, the firebrands’ orations raising emotions to boiling. Cooler, more deliberate citizens were no longer heard.

They were mostly regional people of small towns. Rebellion and succession [sic] were in the air, in every newspaper, and the chance for adventure—all young men are ready for some adventure—seized them, and so off they went with the other young men of their communities to help protect their homes and hearths from the “invader” from the north. One grand battle, they initially believed, and we shall throw the

Yankees back and be home before Christmas.

They’d be modern heroes on the same plane with something out of Sir Walter Scott.

Today, it seems so lame, so flimsy… yet, off they marched, later to become dismayed over the Confederate government’s conscription act, among other things. Committed to war, the old South lost over a quarter of a million of its men and those who survived it came home to a ruined land. Many years would pass before the devastation was gone.

The hatred and bitterness went on past that, becoming viciously and murderously unlawful.

Heritage? Few men have ever served a cause so valorously, and yet the cause was one of the worst men have ever served. I admire their courage and devotion and honor their historical military heritage, if I can call it that. It is part of our country, to be certain. If the Confederate flags fly at National Battlefield Parks and at cemeteries, or is presented by reenactors whose painstaking devotion to details is astonishing, or from someone’s private home, that’s fine. I shall not attend anything that would display those colors outside the confines of good sense, although it is a citizen’s right to do so under our Constitution, our touchstone. I would not wish to lend my presence to such a public display.

Beyond the historical heritage, I believe its symbolism changes into something ugly, insensitive and intolerant, and it strongly suggests a lack of responsibility.

Its day is done.

U.S. means the United States, of course. It also spells us. All of us.

Gary F. Walls Alpine

UP FRONT From the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . 4 News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Spin Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Backwards & In High Heels. . . . . . 7 Well, That Was Awkward . . . . . . . 8

FOOD & DRINK World Fare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Anatomy of a Cocktail Scene . . . 10 Final Draught . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

THINGS TO DO The Short List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Calendar of Events . . . . . . . . . 12-15

ARTS & CULTURE Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 FEATURE: Bombing Science . . . . 19 Seen Local. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21-22

MUSIC FEATURE: Dälek. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 About Last Night. . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Notes from the Smoking Patio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 If I Were U. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Concerts & Clubs. . . . . . . . . . 27-29

LAST WORDS Advice Goddess. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

@SDCITYBEAT

NEWS | OPINION

By Jamie Ballard and Seth Combs

THE ISSUE: Mayor Kevin Faulconer announced that the city is opening a transitional camp area for the homeless at 20th and B St. near Balboa Park. The site, which opened Monday, is intended to be a temporary measure until three temporary bridge shelters open later this year. A press release from the mayor’s office says the site will be able to accommodate more than 200 people.

This Lakeside Golden Retriever, who got his big ol’ doggo head stuck in a wall while chasing a ball. Luckily, LKS Engine 2 extracted him and reported that the pooch immediately wanted to chase the ball again.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: “This represents a significant expansion of our homeless service network and is one of the most immediate and effective actions we can take to provide relief to unsheltered people who are suffering and want help.”

—Mayor Kevin Faulconer at a press conference announcing the city-sanctioned site “The sanctioned camps are an admission from our leaders that we failed to provide real solutions.”

—Michael McConnell, homeless advocate (via Twitter)

“This is going to be a model. We’re going to make this place bullet-proof so other communities will say, “‘You know what, we want to put one of those in our neighborhood and address the issues we have.’”

—Bob McElroy, Alpha Project president, whose organization is overseeing the site (San Diego Union-Tribune)

OUR TAKE: It’s good to see the city taking action (finally), but we still have some concerns. Mayor Faulconer and city leaders cannot set their sights on short-term fixes and then pat themselves on the back for solving the problem. There needs to be an equal focus on long-term solutions. There also needs to be effective communication about the site’s availability to the people who need it most.

On the morning it opened, a Homeless Outreach Team officer reported the site was at capacity around 10 a.m., while just a couple of minutes later, an Alpha Project staff member said there was still room. When we called 211 around noon, they said the site wasn’t even open yet. Granted, it was the first day the site was in operation, so some confusion is understandable, but being able to communicate real-time availability is critical if this site intends to actually be any help to homeless individuals.

NEWSY BITS 10/4

10/6

10/7

Gov. Jerry Brown signs SB 54, the “sanctuary state” bill.

FML

@SDCITYBEAT

According to the Sacramento Bee, former Marina, California mayoral candidate Kevin Saunders recently filed a measure to decriminalize psilocybin-containing mushrooms, aka magic mushrooms, aka ‘shrooms. He’ll now need 365,880 voter signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot.

Says Saunders, “Not only are the soccer moms high now, but some of them are taking mushrooms.”

Verdict: We doubt he’ll get enough signatures, but ya never know. Also, what soccer games is this dude going to? Can we come?

10/8

10/9

SDSU football team pays tribute to Las Vegas shooting victims at UNLV game (but still whoops that ass to improve to 6-0).

BEST DAY EVER!

San Diego hosts Infectious Diseases conference (IDWeek) despite Hepatitis A outbreak.

This week’s “It’s Only Censorship if it Happens to Us” award goes to the SDSU College Republicans, who went full #FreeSpeech snowflake when the university, citing security concerns, cancelled an appearance by known racist/Nazi sympathizer/pro-pedophilia personality Milo Yiannopoulos. This is the same org who recently took issue with NFL players kneeling and got all butthurt when an SDSU professor dared to challenge students to examine their white privilege. #irony

A preview of the important and idiotic items possibly coming to a ballot near you.

All the seriousness, silliness and stupidity of the past week

10/5

Trump lobs paper towels like basketballs at hurricane survivors in Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, U.S. territory ups death toll to 34.

HAM OF THE WEEK

San Diego-based company CUBIC announces plan to test facialrecognition systems for subway riders. #BlackMirror.

City Council president Myrtle Cole joins other local Black leaders to kneel at the “Take a Knee for Racial Justice” rally in Lincoln Park.

CDC finds that Hep A outbreak has reached Arizona, most likely brought by a contaminated person from San Diego.

Former mayoral candidate and pariah burrito supreme Carl DeMaio tweets clueless joke about liberals calling for “car control” after car crash in London.

With Mayor Faulconer and Assemblymember Chargers get their first win against Todd Gloria in the equally feckless Giants. If attendance, you listen closely, you’ll hear the Saint John the familiar sound of nobody caring.

Evangelist Church holds special mass centered around LGBTQ inclusion and San Diego fire crews acceptance. prepare for increased risk of fire activity, citing gusty winds and low humidity, and then...

Like clockwork, brushfire burns 12 acres in San Pasqual right near the San Diego Safari Park.

10/10

16 people kneel during pledge of allegiance at Tuesday City Council meeting in support of Raymond Wylie, a local man who is filing a claim this his arrest was racially motivated.

Hepatitis A death toll rises to 18; city enters into contracts to sanitize streets and provide round-theclock armed security for four downtown porta-potties.

El Cajon starts campaign to discourage panhandling, calling it “Real CHANGE, not spare change” GTFO.

OCTOBER 11, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 5

JOHN R. LAMB

UP FRONT | OPINION

SPIN

CYCLE

JOHN R. LAMB

Chris Cate’s Mea Gulpa Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets.

T

—Arthur Miller

hat fading light we see in the distance is San Diego Councilmember Chris Cate’s dimming prospects of being a contender in the 2020 mayoral sweepstakes. Even a 2018 re-election bid for his council seat may no longer be a slam-dunk.

To say the ambitious Republican had a bad week would be akin to proclaiming the current Commander-in-Beef a bit impetuous—in other words, a horrid understatement. Ever since fidgeting through a cringe-worthy press conference a week ago Tuesday in which he unmasked himself as the June leaker of a confidential city legal analysis to SoccerCity backers, Cate’s once-bright political future is anything but certain.

The toughest takedown came Monday from the source of the memo herself, City Attorney Mara Elliott, who back in June, after discovering the leak, asserted that the perpetrator had committed a crime and betrayed city taxpayers. “Given this egregious breach of public trust,” she said at the time, “I further expect that the person or persons responsible will step forward, identify themselves and resign their positions with the city.”

Even Mayor Kevin Faulconer told the San Diego Union-Tribune back then that he’d fire any aide if he found out they behaved similarly. Of course, the mayor is quiet as a church mouse now that a council colleague—and a former aide to boot—has fessed up. Several attempts to seek mayoral comment went unanswered by his office.

But on Monday, Elliott said she now is “very concerned” about

6 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

sharing confidential city information with the councilmember going forward, given Cate’s noregrets take on the matter during his presser last week. In a KPBS Midday Edition interview, Elliott said that concern will persist “until I hear the right words, which are ‘I’m sorry. I made a mistake. I will not do it again.’”

When asked if she trusts Cate, she said, “I do not.”

At his press conference, Cate said he had no intention of resigning over what he described as “at most… a misunderstanding between the city attorney and myself.” He admitted he had been flushed out as the leaker as part of ongoing legal proceedings in a lawsuit filed by activist attorney Cory Briggs on behalf of San Diegans for Open Government.

Cate claimed he provided the memo to Craig Benedetto, a lobbyist representing SoccerCity initiative backers FS Investors, only to get their feedback on a document he felt was substantially similar to a previously released public analysis by the city attorney of the group’s development proposal for the former Qualcomm Stadium site.

(Benedetto has avoided comment.)

“I wanted to get input from them prior to making what is a pretty big decision,” Cate reasoned,

Councilmember Chris Cate will need more than robot words from Tony Manolatos to quell the fiery scorn of City Attorney Mara Elliott. noting the council vote on how to proceed with the Citizens’ Initiative was only a few days away. “I wanted all the facts from all sides.”

Elliott said Cate violated city law, which permits only a council majority to waive attorney-client privilege as required to release such a memo. “Without the protections offered by the privilege,” she wrote in a Union-Tribune op-ed last week, “council members could share the city’s labor negotiation strategy with labor unions. They could share our legal defenses with lawyers who sue us. They could tell landowners how much we’re willing to pay for their property. No secret would be safe.”

In his defense, Cate said “there are a number of instances in the past where documents have been released and cited,” even some “left in alleyways”—an apparent reference to a 2012 CityBeat story detailing the discovery in a North Park alley of discarded files, some marked “confidential,” from the office of former councilmember Scott Peters, now a U.S. congressman.

Cate aide Tony Manolatos is now handling the councilmember’s crisis management and shared links to other confidential documents that have been aired publicly in the past in an apparent effort to bolster the suggestion by Cate’s allies that what he did was no big deal. He also took issue with a city attorney spokesperson who announced that the District Attorney was investigating the matter. The D.A.’s office has declined to confirm publicly that an investigation is ongoing.

“The City Attorney’s spokesman has released confidential information,” Manolatos told Spin. “Her spokesman is neither a lawyer nor an investigator, so how does he know a D.A. investigation exists? Who told him an investigation exists, and why did he think it was his secret to share

with the media? There is a reason agencies do not confirm the existence of investigations.”

The spokesperson that Manolatos is referring to, Elliott Chief of Staff Gerry Braun, said in response, “The head of the District Attorney’s Public Integrity Unit, Paul Azevedo, told this office in June that we could tell the media that his unit was investigating the leak of confidential information. This was also announced in open court this summer during a hearing on the [Briggs] lawsuit.”

Braun also said nine confidential documents, spanning from 1990 to 2007, had been discovered and removed from the city attorney’s website in recent days. He would only describe them as “confidential.”

Instead of simply apologizing publicly, Cate has likely dug a deeper hole from which to extricate himself, and it’s conceivable, given how Briggs operates, that Manolatus will find himself on the receiving end of a subpoena.

Oh sure, there are rumblings of possible recall efforts against the first-term councilmember, but it’s not like the local Democratic Party has anyone in line for a District 6 challenge. We might hear Lori Saldaña’s name mentioned, or someone could beg former Councilmember Donna Frye out of political retirement.

Elliott, meanwhile, thinks the constituents Cate serves need to think hard about his “maturity level” to represent them.

“My job is to protect San Diego.

And so is his,” she told KPBS. “So if I were somebody represented by Chris Cate, I would say to myself, ‘Is this the guy I want looking out for my interests?’”

A serious question, indeed.

Spin Cycle appears every other week.

Write to johnl@sdcitybeat.com.

@SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | OPINION

AARYN BELFER

BACKWARDS & IN

Woman on fire

S

HIGH HEELS

o there I was one morning last week doing my breakfast-cooking, lunch-packing, dogfeeding, dish-washing, homework-reviewing, active-listening and deep-breathing Monday-thruFriday routine. I did all of this in 45 minutes and had a cup of coffee. And reminded the Sullen One four times to brush her teeth. And nagged her to put on her shoes.

“Put your shoes on,” I said. “Please put your shoes on,” I said again. “Ruby, please put on your shoes, honey, this is the third time I’ve asked,” I said.

It’s a carnival act of getting my formerly-compliant baby—now a full-size, willful person with an arsenal of withering side-eye—out the door to school without breaking her spirit. My life, as readers can tell from the above description, offers no respite from the shitshow that is America 2017.

On this day, however, I remained calm because I started my day with a 10-minute meditation, during which I pretended to clear my mind. I remained calm because I go to all of the therapy. I remained calm because of Zoloft. To wit, I’m working very hard at being less anxious; on being less me. I fail and flail so regularly, I feel like I should take stock when I don’t.

And I did a heckuvua job that morning, if I do say so myself.

But the day was young.

In all of my Wonder Womaning, I missed three clear signs pointing to the unraveling ahead: I’d failed to brush my own teeth or get dressed. Oh, and I’d forgotten to plug in my electric car the previous night.

Upon this realization, my Generalized Anxiety Disorder took one giant swipe at all that zen I’d been harnessing. My heart began beating faster.

“Jump in, baby. I have enough juice to get you to school.”

“Are you sure, Mama?” Ruby said. She was skeptical.

“Yup. I can find a charger after that. Don’t worry.”

Ruby dispatched one of the aforementioned sideeyes and popped in her earbuds.

By the time we got to the freeway, sweat was trickling down all my fleshy parts plus my kneecaps. I know it’s bad when my kneecaps go. By the time we got to the second freeway, the range anxiety (a condition electric car users know well) made me want to cry. By the time we got to the third freeway, I knew we weren’t going to make it.

“Shit,” I said, envisioning my vape pen tucked into my medicine cabinet at home. I veered from our route and headed toward the only charging station I know in the area.

The kid started giggling. “It’s okay, Mama.

Breathe.” And then with glee, “I get to miss math!”

And then threatening, “But I cannot. Miss. Art. Mama!

I will be really pissed if I miss art.” She’s been using the word “pissed” lately and contextually, she nails it every time.

I sighed and giggled with her. My brain was telling me to freak. I pushed back. Just because she’s late to math doesn’t mean she won’t go to college, I said to myself.

I pulled into the charging station and reached for my wallet. Of course, there was no wallet where a wallet should have been.

Shit, shit, shit, I thought to myself as I backed away from the charger.

“Mama! Oh my God! What are you doing?”

“It’s OK, we can make it home and get the Mini.”

That would be my husband’s classic car he’s trying to sell so we can afford to buy private health insurance if we even have that option after Trump & Co. are done with us.

Fucking Trump. Fucking GOP. These were my thoughts as I raced toward home—as much as one can race when getting stuck behind first a city bus, and then a dump truck, and then a mobile home. I was trying to stop this downward spiral lest I grind my teeth down to nubs or go into full cardiac arrest. Ruby would definitely miss art class if that happened; she’d be so pissed.

“Do you even know how to drive it?” Ruby asked after I’d let the Mini warm up for a few minutes. Now it was my turn to give the side-eye, because I am the valedictorian of stick shift. In my panic, though, I forgot about the clutch pedal when I threw the car into reverse.

“Oh my God, Mama, what are you doing?” Ruby yelled at me as the car stalled.

“I got this,” I said, starting the car again. “It’s going to be OK.” And this is how we found ourselves rumbling, bouncing, hurtling toward the blinding sun—again—at 125 kilometers per hour. The radio wasn’t working so it was just me in my PJs, the noisy argument between my brain and my heart, and the intermittent bursts of my daughter’s off-key singing from the back seat.

“This girl is on FEYE-Ahhhh…,” she was singing.

That seemed appropriate. Anyone who saw us on the road that day likely witnessed flames coming from my body.

Ruby made it to some portion of her math class and to all of her art class. I rode the clutch in stopand-go traffic, until I made it home and crawled directly to my vape pen.

By the time we got to the freeway, sweat was trickling down all my fleshy parts plus my kneecaps.

I know it’s bad when my kneecaps go.

@SDCITYBEAT

Backwards & In High Heels appears every other week.

Write to aarynb@sdcitybeat.com.

OCTOBER 11, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 7

UP FRONT | OPINION VOICES

RYAN BRADFORD

WELL THAT WAS

AWKWARD

Getting schmoozed by The Offspring’s hot sauce man

H

“

ave you ever been backstage?” asks Chris Daly, marketing director for Gringo Bandito Hot Sauce. I glance through a door that leads to Mattress Firm Amphitheatre’s stage and catch a glimpse of what a 19,000-person crowd looks like from a band’s point of view.

“Um, no!” I say, with the the gee-whiz awe of an eight-year-old who’s just been allowed to see the cockpit of an airplane. It’s minutes until The Offspring’s set time and members of the crew scramble around us. This intimate look at a major production seems surreal considering, only weeks prior, I had no idea that 1.) The Offspring were still touring; 2.) singer Dexter Holland had created a hot sauce and; 3.) it was called Gringo Bandito.

Sometimes, life is just a blessing.

Gringo Bandito had reached out to CityBeat, asking if we were interested in reviewing their product. They also invited us to the concert for an opportunity to “meet the team.”

Whether they meant The Offspring or the hot sauce crew wasn’t clear, but did it matter?

The care package came and lo! Three bottles awaited me, each adorned with a cartoon rendition of Mr. Holland wearing a sombrero, bullet bandoliers and shades. The flavors: Original, Green and Super Hot. Each flavor has a tempered, almost-sweet quality that I’m not used to in a hot sauce. It didn’t “suck” as some of my coworkers warned me, but it’s not like Beyoncé is gonna keep this shit in her bag. There’s also a rather crass personalized message printed on the bottle from Dexter himself assuring his audience that the sauce is “easy on the pooper.” And yes, I’ve already taken to referring to him on a first-name basis.

But one man’s hell nah is another man’s hell sure!

During the week leading up to my fated meeting with “the team,” nary a frozen burrito in my household survived without a liberal splashing of the Gringo. It grew on me.

“How’s your pooper?” my wife would ask.

“Very good!” I would say.

Back at the concert, Chris Daly ushers me, my wife, a couple of teenage fans and some relatives of Dexter Holland (one of them introduces herself as “Aunt [Something]”) to a closed door which leads to The Offspring singer’s meet-and-greet room. The scent of weed floats heavily in the hallway.

“Sublime,” Daly says, referring to the smell and the night’s headliner, and that’s all the explanation anyone needs. I like Daly. Not that I’ve met many hot sauce PR men in my life, but I could imagine them being slick businessmen. Daly, on the other hand, is just an ordinary dude. I can tell that he’s stoked to sling

Gringo Bandito, and to report directly to one of his punk icons.

Finally, the door opens, and a harried stagehand emerges and takes account of our group. It seems that his job is to make the show run on time, and he doesn’t state it explicitly, but his body language screams make this quick.

Dexter Holland stands by himself in the room— imposing at over six feet tall, but looking a little like a deer in headlights. I’m sure these meet-and-greets are nightmares for any performer, so I don’t blame him for looking frightened.

“This is the guy who wrote the Gringo Bandito story,” Daly says upon introduction.

“Actually, I haven’t written the article yet,” I say.

“Oh, sorry,” Daly says.

“What’s your favorite flavor?” Dexter asks. He’s surprisingly soft-spoken—not at all like the cursing voice I had to hide from my parents when I was 10 and secretly purchased the cassette of Smash (still The Offspring’s best album).

“I’m a fan of the original!” I speak in exclamations to compensate for this stilted, awkward conversation.

“I like the Green,” my wife says.

“I hear a lot of people are now liking Super Hot,” Dexter says.

And we all excitedly nod, ultimately affirming that, indeed, all the flavors are our favorites.

“So,” I say, after hot sauce talk is over. “How’s the tour going?”

It’s such a dumb thing to say, because, like, what do I know about music, or tours or really anything? And, to make it worse, the teenage fans are literally just staring at me bogarting the time with their hero, talking about hot sauce and generalities.

We get a picture with Dexter and then leave. “Sorry about that back there,” Daly says. “I thought you had already written the article.” I tell him that it’s OK, and he says, “Well, you want to watch the show from side stage?”

I know Daly is just trying to schmooze me, but I watch him throughout The Offspring’s set: A true fan.

I ask him if he plays any instruments (“A little bit of guitar”), and if he’s ever done any Offspring songs at karaoke (“No,” he says, to which I proclaim: “They’re really hard!”).

When The Offspring busts out “Bad Habit” from Smash, we both sing along to the explicit breakdown: You stupid, dumbshit, goddamn motherfucker! It’s a nice moment. Two dudes, connected by hot sauce, swearing.

If anyone ever has the ability to bottle that moment, you better believe I’d slather a burrito with it.

Nary a frozen burrito in my household survived without a liberal splashing of the Gringo. It grew on me. ‘How’s your pooper?’ my wife would ask. ‘Very good!’ I would say.

8 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

Well, That Was Awkward appears every other week.

Write to ryanb@sdcitybeat.com

@SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | FOOD

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER MICHAEL GARDINER

that is sous-vided to a still-runny-yoked 63-degrees Celsius and served with fingerling potatoes, mustard, potato chip crumble, parmesan and cured egg yolk. Where the beef tartare was improbably about air, this was an intensely grounded dish. The egg, of course, spoke of life itself, while the potato chip crumble and the fingerling potatoes represented earth. But it was the umami elements—the parmesan and cured yolk—that tied it all together both literally and figuratively, evoking powerful forces we feel but can’t quite understand.

Another hit dish is the creation of one of Foshee’s current mentees, Chef-de-Cusine and Eater “Young Gun” semi-finalist Jonathan Bautista (Foshee has a line of noted protégées including Craig Kostow, now the chef of the three Michelin Star Restaurant Soft egg 63 at Meadowood). Bautista takes corn from Rancho Santa Fe’s Chino Farms, combines it with ricotta, egg, various herbs, shallots, garlic and lemon zest and uses it as the filling for a five-layer lasagna. The lasagna is topped with a corn purée sauce swirled with a purée of huitlacoche (corn truffle), corn and squid ink.

Big fish in a big pond One leitmotif at the Modern is the fact the protein may be at the center of the dish, but it’s the n 1998, George Hauer recruited Trey Foshee— vegetables that are the stars. With the yellowtail newly-minted by Food and Wine Magazine as main course, it’s the vegetables—two beans, spinAmerica’s Best New Chef—from Sundance Reach and artichokes—that are most memorable. sort to take over the helm at George’s California With the snapper crudo appetizer, it was the Modern (1250 Prospect St., La Jolla). There’s no charred cucumbers and sea asparagus that really doubting that Hauer has been rewarded, as has owned the dish. And with the Red Wine Braised San Diego. The restaurant has become one of San Beef Cheeks, the key is the way the cheeks’ richDiego’s signature fine-dining spots featuring Fosness was balanced by the potato-horseradish puhee’s unique take on California modern cuisine, rée, pickled cabbage and carrots. which manages to merge farm-to-table ideals with There’s little one could ask of a chef that Foshee a probing imagination. hasn’t accomplished. The Modern’s food is both inBut has the rest of the country noticed? Foshee, novative and delicious, and the restaurant is sucno doubt, has done his part. The Modern is built cessful. What’s more, his team is extremely gifted around tasting menus—either the set 11-course and those that move on are successful in their own Chef’s Tasting Menu or a modular, flexible (and right. And if that wasn’t enough, Foshee works more affordable) four-course affair. The perfect closely with local vendors and local foodstuffs (his starter may be the beef tartare: seasoned, handforaging is legendary and influential). So why are chopped raw beef under a lattice-like levain crisp we the only ones who notice? Where is the James with mustard-fennel kraut, horseradish, pickled Beard nod and the national recognition? ramps and lovage. To some, beef tartare might Maybe it isn’t about Trey Foshee. Maybe it’s sound like a brutal, heavy-handed dish. This, about us. Maybe it’s about San Diego. though, is the opposite of that: light, almost ethereal and with tremendous depth of flavor.

The World Fare appears weekly.

One of the best dishes on the menu is an egg Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

THE WORLD

FARE I

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OCTOBER 11, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 9

UP FRONT | DRINK

ANATOMY OF A

BY IAN WARD

COCKTAIL SCENE chokes, which doesn’t seem to get much love as of late. This is most likely due to the sheer amount of other, newer, bitter spirits now available, but Cy“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. nar is a liqueur that I do cherish.

By any other name would smell as sweet.”

“It’s sort of a daiquiri riff,” said Kindred bar

—William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet manager David Kinsey as he placed the drink upon the bar. ’m certain that most have heard the above quote The Choke and Dagger, however, showed to be at some point in their life, or rather, some mansomething more than a riff on a daiquiri. It providgled, chewed-up version of it. Perhaps it was ed a welcome and round mouth feel, as Cynar has a some idle body that we were standing next to at a tendency to roll over and coat the tongue in a mildly party, a coffee shop or a bus stop. Then, mid converbitter and mentholated mist. It was far more desirsation, they halt and blurt out, “What’s in a name?” able than the generally astringent sensation that At which point I’ve always covers the tongue in a traditional IAN WARD wanted to say, “Lots of things, studaiquiri; slightly stinging, while pid! In some cases, everything.” being bombarded with sweet and Let’s look to the current posour. The Cynar in the Choke and litical climate as an example. For Dagger, on the other hand, subdues the first time in years I heard the the aggression brought on when a term Hydrogen Bomb. Hydrococktail only contains elements of gen Bomb… now that’s a fucking sweet and sour. It makes for a more name. My skin crawls just thinkgrounded and balanced version of ing about it. Now, let’s imagine the everyone’s favorite rum sour. same horrors being ushered in by After a few sips it became another name, say, Marshmallow more evident that, in spite of all Missile. The name doesn’t have of its gripping components, the the same world-ending impact, Choke and Dagger was a surprisdoes it? ingly light-bodied cocktail and Choke and Dagger one that I far prefer to a daiquiri.

“North Korea is now fully capable of producing a Marshmallow In fact, in comparison I wouldn’t Missile!” even reference the daiquiri all. It CHOKE If I heard that coming from the is something all to its own and deAND mouth of a newscaster, I wouldn’t serving of its own name. flinch twice, because names have DAGGER And what about that name? weight. They influence judgement, “At Kindred, we name the As prepared at Kindred and at times lend tangible qualicocktails with the aesthetic of ties to verbal cues. It’s almost as if the space in mind,” said Kinsey, 1 oz. Smith and Cross rum we can feel or smell them. referencing the dark, metal vibe 1 oz.

Cynar This brings us to the Choke and and design of the place. “So I just 1 oz. lime juice Dagger at Kindred (1503 30th St.). get to have a completely different 3/4 oz. cane syrup Upon first hearing the name of the kind of creative process trying to cocktail, I had an idea what I was think of the most over-the-top Combine all ingredients in for, and I was excited for the metal names.” in a shaker with ice. Shake ride. The name suggested that the and strain into a chilled cocktail was to contain a healthy Anatomy of a Cocktail Scene apcoupe glass. Garnish with amount of Cynar, an Italian bitter pears every other week. Write to a lime wheel. liqueur made from herbs and artiianw@sdcitybeat.com

#16: Getting choked up at Kindred

I

10 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

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UP FRONT | DRINK

FINAL

BY BETH DEMMON

DRAUGHT A bursting bubble

I

n the past year, around a half dozen breweries have shuttered, and that’s not even counting those who didn’t manage to open its doors. At least three breweries are courting buyers, Magnetic Brewing was evicted from their Kearny Mesa space and Little Miss Brewing had its permit for an Ocean Beach tasting room denied. After losing over $2 million last fiscal year, Mission Brewery is now offering equity stakes to anyone with $200 or more.

With the number of brewhouses and tasting rooms continuously increasing (148 to 181 in the past year and a dozen more in progress, according to West Coaster’s tally), it’s no wonder a few have collapsed under the weight of capitalist competition.

WISEGUY BREWING COMPANY / FACEBOOK

Short lifespan for Wiseguy Brewing That’s not stopping an ambitious few from giving it a shot and seeking alternative financing options to avoid a multi-million dollar gamble in an already crowded field. That’s precisely what Brewery Igniter is banking on. The H.G. Fenton Company-funded Brewery Igniter chain-style program builds turnkey brewing facilities for a fraction of the upfront cost, but with incredibly high month-to-month overhead. So high, in fact, it has already suffered its first casualty: Wiseguy Brewing in Carlsbad.

“Carlsbad is really hard,” acknowledges Raw-

@SDCITYBEAT

ley Macias, owner of Rouleur Brewing Company, located next door to Wiseguy’s now closed suite in the Brewery Igniter space. “We’re not the only ones having a hard time right now. [Wiseguy] is just the first one to show their cards and go on.”

Wiseguy did not respond to request for comment, but Macias admits Brewery Igniter tenants share some of the blame.

“I’m a big boy. I wrote a business plan, I got financing and funding, but I can’t help but feel that there’s a little bit of false goods being sold to the potential tenants of Brewery Igniter.”

He cites the lack of foot traffic, lack of repayment flexibility and H.G. Fenton’s refusal to support its protest on Carlsbad’s signage ban as early issues. After Wiseguy’s closure, Macias attempted to negotiate new terms with H.G. Fenton but was unsuccessful. A Brewery Igniter spokesperson declined to comment on the rumor that rent prices on all three sites—Carlsbad, North Park and Miramar—are the same, despite completely different consumer demographics. They did, however, offer their condolences to Wiseguy.

Not all Brewery Igniter tenants share Macias’ dismay. Brian Mitchell, owner of Pariah Brewing Company, requested a lease extension for his North Park space from one year to four. Still, he admits there’s room for Brewery Igniter to make adjustments.

“They probably should’ve leaned a bit more [toward long-term sustainability], but they may do that now moving forward after working with the current tenants,” states Mitchell.

For some, the reduced upfront cost is an irresistible alternative for funding a brewery. For others, the oversaturated market means they’ll never be able to replicate Pure Project, Brewery Igniter’s first San Diego brewery and runaway success story.

Macias hopes that shifting trends may encourage Brewery Igniter to re-evaluate its approach when marketing itself to aspiring brewery owners.

“In the end, it’s business. I know they’re planning on building more [Brewery Igniters], but maybe now they will slow down.”

Write to bethd@sdcitybeat.com, check her out on Instagram at @thedelightedbite, or via Twitter at @delightedbite.

OCTOBER 11, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 11

SHORTlist

EVENTS

ART

the

THREE YOU HAVE TO SEE

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

SAN DIEGO

SO LIT

CityBeat readers are a savvy bunch, so meticulously researched history of ‘70s and ‘80s chances are they already knew that October is Na- horror fiction.

Next up on Saturday, Oct. 14, the San Diego tional Book Month, right? Right?

Well, even if they didn’t know, we’re here to re- Central Library (330 Park Blvd.) will host San Diego mind them that October is packed with readings, Beyond the PALE: Stories by Writers of Color, which will include readings from signings, performances and even Mona de Vestel, Stacy Dyson, Lizz an art show. This week is particuHuerta and more on themes of larly packed with events that will “migration, resilience and reconappeal to lit-lovers of all stripes. ciliation.” More info can be found It begins on Thursday, Oct. at sandiego.librarymarket.com.

12 with award-winning author Afterward, head to Barrio Logan’s Tim Z. Hernandez, who will be Athenaeum Art Center (1955 Jupromoting his new book with lian Ave., ljathenaeum.org) at 6 a performance/reading titled p.m. for the opening of Fiesta of “All They Will Call You: FindPrints & Book Arts, a group art ing Woody Guthrie’s Deportees,” exhibition centering on printbased on Hernandez’s extensivemaking and artist books. Particily researched book, which focuspating artists include Clay West, es on the 1948 plane crash that Michele Burgess, Anne Covell and killed 28 Mexican citizens and inTim Z. Hernandez over a dozen more. spired a Woody Guthrie song. The Finally, on Wednesday, Oct. free performance begins at 4:30 p.m. at the Smith Recital Hall in the Music Building 18 at 6 p.m., the Logan Heights Library (567 S. 28th St.) will host the free Chicana Tributes: Activist at SDSU (5500 Campanile Drive, art.sdsu.edu).

On Friday, Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m., horror writer Women of the Civil Rights Movement, a discusGrady Hendrix will make an appearance at Myste- sion with authors and editors Rita Sanchez and Sorious Galaxy (5943 Balboa Ave., Suite 100, mystgal- nia Lopez about their book of the same name. Other axy.com) in Clairemont to sign and read from his prominent Chicanx activists will join the conversanew book, Paperbacks from Hell, a highly detailed, tion, and more info can be found on Facebook.

NORTH PARK

CHULA VISTA

TASTE OF HOME

MAÍZ MAN

North Park is CityBeat’s home and has long boasted some of the best food and beer San Diego has to offer. Still, it’s rare to have the chance to try nearly all of them in a day. Taste of North Park will offer over 50 food tastes from local restaurants such as Tribute Pizza, City Tacos, Nomad Donuts and more. For those looking for hops, there will be samples available from 15 craft brewers including Mike Hess Brewing, Thorn Street Brewery and Modern Times. Samples will be available in a variety of businesses, giving patrons the chance to shop while they sip at places like Artelexia and Pigment. It all comes together on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets are $20 to $50 and can be purchased online at northparkmainstreet.com or day-of at Queen Bees Art and Cultural Center (3925 Ohio St.) and at Bluefoot Bar and Lounge (3404 30th St.).

MARIA WILES

Taste of North Park 12 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

The phrase “you are what you eat” is taken literally in Aldo Martínez Muñoz’s Yo Tlaolli: Corn as Body, Territory and Ideology, a new traveling and debut solo exhibition from the Mexican artist. The title of the show—which was curated by CityBeat fave Sara Solaimani—literally translates to “I corn” and is a combination of Spanish and Nahuatl, a COURTESY OF THE ARTIST language also known as Aztec. Martínez Muňoz chose the vegetable as a medium, metaphor and research topic because of its influential role in Mexican agriculture. The opening will prompt a community discussion of how corn cultivation has evolved through history and ideology, and also North “La palabra Tlaolli / American Free Trade ¿A qué sabe el maíz?”

Agreement’s reperby Aldo Martínez cussions on the crop.

Muñoz The reception is Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Southwestern College Art Gallery (900 Otay Lakes Road). This is a free event. swccd.edu

H7 Steps Forward 7 Steps Back at Mesa College Art Gallery, 7250 Mesa College Drive D101, Clairemont Mesa.

A traveling exhibit of multidisciplinary works by Salt Lake City artist Valerie Kim Martinez, who explores themes of death in Mexican and indigenous cultures in nontraditional ways. Opening from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12. Free. sdmesa.edu/campus-life/galleries-andattractions/mesa-college-art-gallery HPhenotype at Subtext Gallery, 2479 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy. As part of the Medium Festival of Photography, Morgan DeLuna will show some of her ongoing series of self-portraits that explore the relationship between appearance and identity. Opening from 6 to 8 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 12. Free. subtextgallery.com Wizard Visions at Teros Gallery, 3888 Swift Ave., Normal Heights. An exhibit of sorcery-themed works by painter Nicholas McInvale. At 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12. Free. facebook.com/ events/429103770824198 HYo Tlaolli: Corn as Body, Territory and Ideology at Southwestern College Art Gallery, 900 Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista. Aldo Martínez Muñoz’s traveling exhibition explores corn as a medium and its role in Mexican agriculture. Plus a discussion on the crop’s evolution in history and society. Opening from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12. Free. swccd.edu Centuries of Opulence: Jewels of India at Gemological Institute of America, 5345 Armada Drive, Carlsbad.

A showcase of more than 300 years of adornment in India, this exhibit has more than 50 lavish, historical jewelry pieces on loan from a private collection.

From 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13.

760-603-4116, gia.edu/gia-museum HViaje de Ida y Vuelta // Round Trip at Calzada Tecnológico, Tomas Aquino, 22414 Tijuana, B.C., Mexico. An exhibit inside a decommissioned airplane with site-specific installations related to migration. Free shuttle transportation from the border. Opening from 5 to 8 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 13 and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 14. Free. facebook. com/events/2008447369388456 Four Treasures of the Chinese Study at Chuang Archive & Learning Center, 541 Second Ave., Downtown. A live demonstration by Check Ng, Yuen Chik Tam and Lily Yu, three local artists specializing in traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting. Followed by refreshments. Opening from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 14. $5. 619-338-9888, sdchm.org HSD Fundraiser for Mexico and The Caribbean at La Bodega Gallery, 2196 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. An art fundraiser to benefit communities in Mexico and the Caribbean, with a focus on longterm rebuilding and repair. Funds will go toward various grassroots groups in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Opening from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. 619255-7036, labodegagallery.com Monster Minis: Custom Creatures at Thumbprint Gallery, 920 Kline St., La Jolla. A spooky exhibit featuring art by Armando Gonzalez, Cookie Suky, Karl Cossio, Matt Perez, Shawn Michael and several other local artists. Opening from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. Free.

858-354-6294, thumbprintgallery.com Sensuality at The iN Gallery, 1878 Main St, Barrio Logan. An opening reception

H = CityBeat picks

for the sexy art show with featured artists Khalid Alkhaabi, Irina Negulescu and Julia Rasor. There will also be painting of a live model at the event. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. Free. 619-278-8410, facebook.com/ events/101069820635550 HFiesta of Prints & Book Arts at Athenaeum Art Center, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights. The opening reception for a celebration of printmaking and artist books, featuring Desiree Aspiras, Max Elliott, Deloss McGraw, Clay West and more than a dozen others. Opening from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14.

Free. 858-454-5872, ljathenaeum.org HArt Unites: Bright Lights at The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. An evening of goth, post-punk and industrial music art by creators including IIE, Ultima Circo, Dreams Made Flesh and Bell Tower Bats. Visual art by Daniel Ash, Anna Zappoli, Jeff Amante and several others will be available for sale. From 8:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday, Oct. 16. $10. casbahmusic.com

BOOKS HTim Z. Hernandez at Smith Recital Hall, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, College Area. The award-winning author gives a performance about his documentary book All They Will Call You: Finding Woody Guthrie’s Deportees, which tells the stories behind the people of the Woody Guthrie song “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportees).” From 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 12. Free. art.sdsu.edu HGrady Hendrix at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The writer of horror novels such as Horrorstör and My Best Friend’s Exorcism will sign and discuss his new nonfiction book, Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of ’70s and ’80s Horror Fiction. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13.

Free. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Dee Leone at La Jolla Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave., La Jolla. The children’s author will sign and read from her new book, Dough Knights and Dragons.

At 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13. Free. 858454-0347, warwicks.com Jeremi Suri at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The history professor and author will sign and discuss his new book, The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of the America’s Highest Office. At 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 13. Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com Kathleen Kaufman at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave. Ste. 100, Clairemont. The writer of the Contnnumms Trilogy will sign and discuss her new cross-genre novel, The Lairdbalor.

At 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. Free. 858268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Maggie Stiefvater at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave. Ste. 100, Clairemont. The writer of the Raven Cycle Trilogy and the Shiver Trilogy will sign and discuss her new standalone novel, All the Crooked Saints. At 2 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 15. Free. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Alice Hoffman at USD Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Theatre, 5998 Alcala Park, Linda Vista. The bestselling author of Practical Magic, Here on Earth and more will discuss her new book The Rules of Magic. Price includes signed copy of new book. At 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 16. $30.15-$40.15. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 @SDCITYBEAT

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October 11, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

EVENTS EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 Michael Wilken-Robertson at the San Diego Natural History Museum, 1788 El Prado, Balboa Park. The anthropologist and author of Kumeyaay Ethnobotany will discuss interdependence between native peoples and native plants of the Californias, alongside photographer Deborah Small. A book signing will take place following the discussion.

From 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17. $12. 619-2323821, sdnhm.org HRita Sanchez and Sonia Lopez at Logan Heights Library, 567 S. 28th St., Logan Heights. A discussion with the authors and editors of Chicana Tributes: Activist Women of the Civil Rights Movement. Other prominent Chicanx activists will join the conversation. At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18.

Free. facebook.com/events/890098237832564

COMEDY Eddie Izzard at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Gaslamp. The stand-up comedian, actor and political activist will be performing comedy bits and reading from his new book Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death and Jazz Chickens. At 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18. $45-$60. 619-570-1100, sandiegotheatres.org

FILM The Playground at Reading Cinema Town Square, 4665 Clairemont Drive, Clairemont. The opening of local filmmaker Edreace Purmul’s thrilling fable, which won “Best Narrative Feature Film” at the 2016 San Diego Film Awards. Followed by a discussion with Purmul and cast. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12. $12. theplaygroundfilm.com Fiore at Museum of Photographic Arts, 1649 El Prado, Balboa Park. As part of feStivale 2017, there will be a screening of this Claudio Giovannesi feature, which focuses on a romance in a juvenile detention center. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12. $12. sandiegoitalianfilmfestival.com

FOOD & DRINK HTaste of North Park at various venues, North Park. The annual self-guided walking tour will have food samples from more than 50 restaurants and beer tastings from 15 breweries. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. $20-$50. 619-294-2501, northparkmainstreet.com 2017 Baja Chefs on the Point at Stone Brewing— Liberty Station, 2816 Historic Decatur Road #116, Point Loma. Some of Baja and San Diego’s best chefs come together for inspired culinary creations at this fundraiser hosted by the Point Loma Optimists Group to benefit Dewey Elementary School.

From 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15. $150. 619-7505300, pointlomaoptimist.com

HALLOWEEN HThe Haunted Trail Of Balboa Park at Balboa Drive and Juniper St., Balboa Park. A mile-long trail featuring a haunted old plantation, creepy clowns, live scenes of horror and more. From 7 to 11 p.m. through Tuesday, Oct. 31. $25-$37. hauntedtrail. net HThe Scream Zone at Del Mar Racetrack, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. One of San Diego’s largest Halloween attractions featuring a huge House of Horror with rooms filled with scares, as well as a Haunted Hayride. From 7 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays; from 7 to 11 p.m. through Tuesday, Oct. 31. $10-$33. 858-755-1141, thescreamzone.com HThe Haunted Hotel at Haunted Hotel, 424 Market St., Downtown. Voted one of “America’s Best Haunted Houses,” make your way through a Hellevator, a Hillbilly Swamp, a Clown Subway and more. From 7 to 11 p.m. on Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday and 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday through Tuesday, Oct. 31. $19-$29. 619231-0131, hauntedhotel.com

MUSIC HBob Dylan at Harrah’s Resort Events Center, 777 S Resort Drive, Valley Center. I mean, do we really have to tell you why you should see this show? At 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13. $95-$235. 855-234-7469, harrahssocal.com HAcademy of St Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble at UCSD Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. UCSD opens its ArtPower series with a concert from the acclaimed chamber orchestra led by Tomo Keller. The program includes music by Mendelssohn and Shostakovich. At 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13. $9-$59. 858-534TIXS, artpower.ucsd.edu 1001 Symphonic Tales at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown. Sammer Patel leads the San Diego Symphony in a performance of RimskyKorsakov’s adventure-filled masterpiece “Scheherazade.” At 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15. Free-$25.

619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org Cantores at St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 743 Prospect. St., La Jolla. A San Diego Early Music Society concert featuring papal music sung by Diabolus in Musica, a six-piece male chorus. At 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15. 619-291-8246, sdems.org HGilbert Castellanos at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, 2211 Pan American Road E., Balboa Park.

A one-night-only outdoor show with Gilbert Castellanos and The Young Lions series, presented by Panama 66. From 6 to 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18. 619-696-1966, panama66.blogspot.com

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 15

14 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

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EVENTS EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

PERFORMANCE HMarooned in Paradise at various locations. Fern Street Circus will perform their new show in what will be their inaugural “Neighborhood Tour” of parks in San Diego. This week’s performances take place on Thursday, Oct. 12, Saturday, Oct. 14 and Sunday, Oct. 15.

Check website for locations and times.

Free. fernstreetcircus.com My Favorite Murder Live! at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Gaslamp. The popular true crime comedy podcast, hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, hits the stage for a live rendition. At 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13. $31$37. 619-570-1100, sandiegotheatres. org

10 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12. Free. oldtownnightmarket.com HWalk a Mile in Her Shoes at Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade, Harbor Drive, Downtown. Join others at Fourth Avenue and K Street for this tenth annual walk to help raise awareness and funds for the YWCA and its Becky’s House domestic violence program. Men are invited to literally walk a mile in a woman’s pair of shoes. From 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. $30-$150. ywcasandiego.org HFestival of Lights at Spreckels Organ Pavilion, 2211 Pan American Road

E, Balboa Park. The park’s tenth annual Diwali celebration showcases Indian dance and culture. Plus, an exhibit on Indian dolls and Gandhi. From 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. Free$5. sdias.info HSan Diego Modern Home Tour at various locations. View five of San Diego’s finest modern and mid-century homes in this self-guided driving tour benefitting the San Diego Architectural Foundation. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 14. Free-$40. mads. media/2017-san-diego-mads-modernhome-tour

Serbian Festival at St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, 3025 Denver St., Bay Park. This cultural celebration will have live music, a folk dance performance and a Serbian open market. Plus authentic food and games for kids. From 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14.

Free. 619-276-5827, sdserbianfestival. com HBike for Boobs at The Wine Pub, 2907 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. Pink pedalers can bike around Shelter Island at the fifth annual ride supporting The Breast Cancer Fund.

The Wine Pub will have a post-race

event with live music, food and drinks.

At 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15. $25 suggested donation. thewinepubsd.com

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS TEDxSanDiego at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown. This year’s conference theme is ‘Created Futures’ and will explore the potential power of individual and collective efforts to achieve a more enlightened future.

From 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. $100-$135. tedxsandiego.com

HThe Pirates of Penzance at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Gaslamp. San Diego Opera begins its new season with Gilbert and Sullivan’s family-friendly operetta about a young swashbuckler who must choose between love and sailing the seas. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, Tuesday, Oct. 17, Friday, Oct. 20, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22. $30-$300. 619-570-1100, sdopera.org HKaori Suzuki//John Krausbauer// Necking//Judith Hamann at Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights.

Musicians Suzuki, Krausbauer, and Hamann join forces with the band Necking and visual artist Armando De La Torre for a special night of performances. From 7 to 10 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15. Free. 619851-4083, breadandsaltsandiego.com

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD HPalabra: The Blue Light at La Bodega Gallery, 2196 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. CityBeat’s own Edwin Decker will be the spotlight reader at this night of adult-themed poetry hosted by Ted Washington. At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12. Free. facebook.com/ events/1488192211263806 Igor Goldkind at Gelato Vero Caffe, 3753 India St., Mission Hills. The author, poet and lecturer specializes in digital storytelling, computational narrative and speculative realism. Open mic to follow. From 7 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13. Free. 619-295-9269, facebook.com/ events/273409453168192 HSan Diego Beyond the PALE: Stories by Writers of Color at San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., Downtown. An evening of stories, poetry and song from writers of color about their experiences living in San Diego. CityBeat contributor Lizz Huerta will be presenting, along with Anisha Bhatia, Mona de Vestel, Stacy Dyson and more. From 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. Free. sandiego.librarymarket.com HShort Tales from the Mothership at UCSD Geisel Library, 9500 Gilman Drive #0175, La Jolla. A spoken word event, where writers can share fantasy or science-fiction pieces of 250 words or less.

The event will also feature futuristic live music and otherworldly libations. From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17.

Free. 858-822-5758, library.ucsd.edu.

SPECIAL EVENTS Old Town Night Market at Baily’s Old Town Temecula, 18699 Old Town Front St., Temecula. The fall edition of the night market will feature live DJs and local talent, food and drink specials and shopping from local artisans. From 6 to

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OCTOBER 11, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 15

16 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

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OCTOBER 11, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 17

THEATER MATTHEW MURPHY

James Lecesne in The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey

Love and death on the Jersey Shore

T

he Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey succeeds on multiple levels. James Lecesne’s one-man show is a murder mystery presided over by a hardboiled Jersey Shore detective who’s more sensitive than he lets on. It’s also a character study of an eccentric yet typically American community where, when all is said and done, people care for each other. Most profoundly, it’s a story about the need to accept, and sometimes even love, people for who they are.

In the 80-minute performance based on Lecesne’s 2008 young-adult novel Absolute Brightness, he portrays nine characters, from a precocious teen girl to an elderly man who runs a clock shop. They’re all deeply impacted one way or the other by the hate-crime murder of a 14-year-old boy named Leonard Pelkey, who lived among them and, in a short time, touched their lives. A gay boy who wore rainbow-colored sneakers, donned fairy wings in a production by the Buddy Howard School of Drama and Dance, and advised the local ladies on their hair and clothes, Leonard was proud of who he was. A dreamer with a generous heart, he saw the adults around him, one townsperson recalled, not as how they were but who they hoped to be.

Lecesne’s seamless embodying of these individuals’ full idiosyncratic selves is impressive on its own, but he also deftly enacts conversations between them without the distracting awkwardness of trying to switch on a dime from one persona to another. Furthermore, his script balances the gravity of the town murder, and the subsequent grief, with the delightful quirks of the citizens who detective Chuck Desantis interviews. Examples include Otto Beckerman the clock man, the binoculars-wielding mob widow Gloria Salzano and chainsmoker Marion Tochterman.

Lecesne is a co-founder of the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention helpline for LGBTQ youth that is named for his earlier one-man show, Word of Mouth. The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, directed by Tony Speciale, has much to say about being true to oneself and about tolerance. Senti-

18 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

ments every American town could be reminded of, today more than ever.

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey runs through Oct. 29 at the Old Globe’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, Balboa Park. $30 and up; oldglobe.org

—David L. Coddon

Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING: The Nerd: An ex-GI tries to get rid of an unwanted houseguest in Larry Shue’s comedy. It opens Oct. 12 at the Broadway Theatre in Vista. broadwayvista.biz The Tin Woman: Sean Grennan’s new play about a woman who tracks down the family of the late organ donor whose heart she received. Directed by Rob Conway, it opens Oct. 13 at the Lamplighters Community Theatre in La Mesa. lamplighterslamesa.com Of Mice and Men: Two friends, one of whom is mentally challenged, try to make it in Depression-era America in John Steinbeck’s classic story. Directed by Richard Baird, it opens Oct. 18 at the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach. northcoastrep.org

NOW PLAYING: A Piece of My Heart: The story of six women dealing with coming home after experiencing the horrors of the Vietnam War. Based on the book by Keith Walker, it runs through Oct. 14 at the OnStage Playhouse in Chula Vista. onstageplayhouse.org Little Shop of Horrors: The classic comedic musical about a nerdy flower shop employee who develops a bizarre relationship with a talking carnivorous plant. Directed by Shirley Johnston, it runs through Oct. 15 at the Coronado Playhouse. coronadoplayhouse.com

For full listings, visit “Theater” under Culture at sdcitybeat.com

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CULTURE | ART

“Blank walls are a shared canvas and we’re all artists.”

—Carla H. Krueger

here have been many instances over the years of San Diego not getting its artistic due, but there was a particular case in 2011 that really got me upset. Jeffrey Deitch, the parasitic, bespectacled art dealer from New York had just been put in charge of the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA). His first MOCA curatorial was Art in the Streets, a highly touted exhibition on graffiti and street art. The exhibition was all the buzz from coast to coast, with one New York Times arts writer proclaiming Deitch a “risk taker” and that Art in the Streets was “the first major American museum exhibition devoted to street art.”

The problem with the latter statement was that, just a year before, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) had held a thorough and well-received exhibition focusing on street art at its Downtown location. Titled Viva la Revolución: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape, the show not only highlighted many of the same artists that participated in Deitch’s MOCA exhibit, but artists such as Banksy, Shepard Fairey and Space Invader did both commissioned and non-commissioned pieces all around San Diego.

What’s more telling is that Deitch was in attendance when the San Diego show opened. It’s certainly possible that he was simply surveying whether a show on street art could be pulled off in a museum setting, and that he already had the idea himself to try one at MOCA, but in the end, the MOCA show got

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most of the national attention and acclaim.

So yes, while San Diego was, indeed, the first city to host a major museum exhibition devoted to street art and graffiti, our collective relationship with the medium has been slow to develop and remains dubious. While we’re quick to embrace a selfie-worthy mural, actual graffiti, no matter how aesthetically pleasing, is usually quick to go.

Recently, graffiti photo website Bombing Science (bombingscience.com) came to town to take pictures of San Diego’s scene. Fred has been photographing for the Montreal-based site since its beginning in the late ‘90s and has watched San Diego evolve over the years.

“The graffiti scene in San Diego looks pretty active,” says Fred, who remembers coming to San Diego in the ‘90s and seeing a lot more graffiti. “For a North American city of its size, the scene is pretty healthy.

You have the Writerz Blok graffiti hall of fame and two classic streetwear brands, Tribal and Wildstyle Technicians, that are making the city a magnet for international graffiti writers. But the way the city is built and the fact that it is kept really clean is limiting the scene, which is a good thing for some people I guess.”

Fred adds that our sister city has been much quicker to embrace graffiti and street art.

“You have much more graffiti on the street level in Tijuana because it’s a free-for-all. But on the other side you have San Diego with the laid-back vibe and good quality graffiti in many spots. It’s just, well, different.”

For more pictures from the Bombing Science shoot, check out sdcitybeat.com.

OCTOBER 11, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 19

CULTURE | ART

SEEN LOCAL FLIGHT PLAN

W

hen Griselda Rosas saw a decommissioned harsh.” It’s also the location where Mexican presidential plane outside the Instituto Tecnológico de candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio was assassinated while Tijuana, she knew it needed to house an campaigning in 1994. Although the neighborhood’s art exhibit. She commissioned four other artists from reputation was sullied by this incident, Rosas felt it was important to draw the artists and an the U.S. and Mexico to create instalAREN SKALMAN audience there, so she coordinated lations for Viaje de Ida y Vuelta // free shuttles to transport Americans Round Trip, an exhibit surrounding from the border to the exhibit, which themes of travel. is only scheduled for viewing Friday, “It’s a metaphor for the border, Oct. 13 from 5 to 8 p.m. and Saturday, of dreams of traveling, of flying to Oct. 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. different lands and the mobility of Within the plane, there are piecpeople migrating to different things,” es by Skalman and Chris Warr, who Rosas says. “Flying could be a metaboth repurposed parts of the aircraft, phor for many places that are in besuch as oxygen masks, to make abtween or in travel constantly.” stract sculptures. Rosas’ exhibit will None of Road Trip’s participating overtake the inside of the cabin as artists live in Tijuana, however, but well, including filling the once-glass Rosas says that was part of her plan. windows with tile. The remaining She wanted to familiarize them with participating artists include Ander the inconvenient work commute Azpiri and Rizzhel Javier, both of that many Mexicans go through on whom have installations that intera daily basis.

Sculpture for Viaje de act with the plane’s exterior.

“I grew up in San Diego so I went Ida y Vuelta // Round Trip While Rosas and Skalman both say [to Mexico] as a tourist as a kid and

by Aren Skalman their pieces are not overtly political, also in college to do the stereotypical they do relate to the undoubtedly hot thing,” says Aren Skalman, one of the participating artists. “Over the last few years, I went topic of migration and immigration.

“The dialogue between artists who are in both maybe once or twice a year, so not a whole lot. This has kind of become a reason to travel, to go to places countries is really important,” says Skalman. “It’s an act of friendship and a shared love of making art and that are sort of off the beaten path for an American.”

Rosas describes Lomas Taurinas, the neighborhood learning about each other.” where the school and plane are located, as “a little

—Torrey Bailey

DEVIL OF A TIME

I

n 2013, local filmmaker Edreace Purmul was writing a screenplay amid the string of mass shootings that took place across America. The film he was working on was intended to be lighthearted, but current events interrupted.

“I started picking up on a lot of discussions about why people do this,” Purmul says, referring to the shootings. “The biggest question we always ask is why. Once I kept hearing that, I kept really seeing that, as an American populace, we don’t have a definite answer.”

This prompted hours of research at UCSD and SDSU libraries on explanations for malice throughout history. He found that each religion explained these incidents via its own version of a manifestation of the devil and that the story was typically told through a fable.

“I realized I was stumbling into something that had been discussed since the beginning of time,” he says. “I said, ‘Let me use my creativity to give context to these things in our day-today.’ As opposed to crafting a character from scratch, I got out of the way and realized the folktales are very timeless themselves.”

He combined several of these folktales’ storylines to write The Playground, a cinematic fable. However, with all these ideological variations of evil, he had to design his own devil. Purmul says he didn’t want to

20 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

play into Hollywood’s versions, which are typically either terrifying or charming.

“What do I do with the devil?” he asked himself.

“Do I scare everybody? Or do I point it back at you and say ‘It’s your choice what you want to do?’”

Without giving anything away, Purmul opted for a subtle undercurrent of sinful desire that runs through each character in The Playground, which ended up winning “Best Narrative Feature Film” at the San Diego Film Awards last year.

The film debuts at 7 p.m. ThursTORREY BAILEY day, Oct. 12 at Reading Cinema Town Square in Clairemont, followed by discussions with Purmul and the cast.

Premiering only weeks after the devastating Route 91 shooting, Purmul notes that, unfortunately, the ancient folklores and the events that sparked his research remain applicable to modern times.

“There is often a very short winEdreace Purmul dow of time after these incidents that we introspect as a society, and we don’t tend to want to ponder too long on the ‘why’ of it all because of its discomforting nature,” Purmul says. “But that’s where I feel we do need to explore a bit longer to find the answers. I hope The Playground can at least open that window of introspection a little more while still being an entertaining thriller.”

—Torrey Bailey @SDCITYBEAT

CULTURE | FILM

Cutthroat

Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key

“A Giallo Affair” screenings set to open a vein at Digital Gym Cinema

by Glenn Heath Jr.

I

n the grand spectrum of horror subgenres, Italian sexual havoc in a household already brimming with giallo films are the most visually and emotionally bad juju.

Giallo films often sacrifice narrative coherence for kinetic. Post-war, neorealist and German expressionist literature helped lay the narrative ground- stylistic bravura, but Your Vice… manages to balance work for these salacious mysteries, but their jarring the two with confidence. Psychological melodrama cinematic style and relentless pace is representative between the central characters amplifies feelings of of the sinister schizophrenia and repressed rage that betrayal, lust and jealousy. Martino exemplifies these emotions through a consistent array of moody organ was bubbling under the 1960s free-love era.

Filmmakers such as Mario Bava, Dario Argento notes, exaggerated camera moves and quick visceral and Lucio Fulci each contributed versatile variations montages. While the film doesn’t reach the delirious on what become a standard plot combining grisly heights of Argento’s best work, it nevertheless evokes murders, drowsy sex scenes and impassioned acts of giallo’s manic view of a fragmented world collapsing elaborate revenge. No camera angle could dip too far, under the weight of sex and murder.

Your Vice… also contains a fair amount of absurdist and no backdrop had enough vibrant color.

Throughout October, Digital Gym Cinema will humor, mostly involving the evilest black cat ever put be presenting “A Giallo Affair,” weekly screenings of to screen. Oliviero’s devilish feline, aptly named Satan, becomes Irina’s true nemesis, restored prints that showcase stalking her cage full of innocent the genre’s evocative range and white doves and meowing loud wild possibilities. Sergio MartiYOUR VICE IS A enough to draw the attention of no’s 1972 rural nightmare Your LOCKED ROOM visiting police officers. Martino Vice is a Locked Room and Only willfully cuts back to close-ups I Have the Key (Sunday, Oct. 15 AND ONLY I of Satan’s one-eyed glare during and Monday, Oct. 16) offers the HAVE THE KEY the extended climax, an acidic perfect introduction to those reminder that no giallo horror witnessing giallo’s mad hatter Directed by Sergio Martino story is ever truly finished until aesthetics. Set mostly inside the Starring Anita Strindberg, the credits roll. massive country villa of abuLuigi Pistilli and Edwige Fenech In relation to many of its sive, burnt-out writer Oliviero Not Rated contemporaries, Your Vice…

(Luigi Pistilli), Martino’s film takes a more overtly critical confronts the repetition and abview of misogyny and sadistic surdity lurking beneath classic tendencies. Rumbling and grousing like an Italian Hitchcockian suspense.

After opening with a sultry and intimate title se- James Caan, Oliviero is obviously the root of all evil. quence draped in satin sheet lovemaking, the story His combination of arrogance, privilege and insecuquickly turns nasty. Oliviero verbally and sexually rity help turn the phenomenon of writer’s block into harasses his dazed wife Irina (Anita Strindberg) while an outwardly sadistic display of tantrums, alcoholic holding court in front of freewheeling hippie visitors. benders and sexual assault. Yet Floriana and Irina sufNot only does such brazen brutality show the depths fer from their own bouts of pomposity, which inevitaof his depravity, it establishes an imbalanced gender bly foils well-laid plans months in the making.

Giallo is often about keeping characters (and audidynamic consistently challenged throughout by disences) off balance. Your Vice… does so with effortless plays of feminist vengeance.

Not long after this brutishness, a mysterious sick- glee, embracing the frazzled and warped headspace of le-wielding killer begins to slice the throats of multi- people who believe they are immune to fate’s spiteful ple beautiful women. Your Vice… uses these horrifying sense of comeuppance. “A Giallo Affair” continues in the developments to examine the crumbling mental state coming weeks with screenings of the fabulously titled of each character, even after the bloody set-up reveals Don’t Torture a Duckling and Death Laid an Egg. itself to be a first-rate MacGuffin. The plot thickens even more when Oliviero’s seductive niece Floriana Film reviews run weekly.

(Edwige Fenech) shows up unannounced, causing Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com

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OCTOBER 11, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 21

CULTURE | FILM

Loving Vincent

Mad genius

V

incent van Gogh’s enigmatic life, influential work and mysterious suicide have long fascinated filmmakers as diverse as Vincente Minnelli, Robert Altman, Akira Kurosawa and Maurice Pialat. These directors often tried to incorporate the postimpressionist artist’s woozy brush strokes into their cinematic style, but the creators of Loving Vincent do them one better—every single frame is literally hand-painted and heavily influenced by famous works such as “Self Portrait” (1889) and “The Starry Night” (1889).

Co-directors Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman announce this visual feat immediately in the form of opening title cards. Unfortunately, it reads more like a humble brag for press releases rather than

22 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

a genuine declaration of creativity.

The thin narrative follows a young tough named Armand Roulin (Douglas Booth) tasked by his postman father Joseph (Chris O’Dowd) to deliver van Gogh’s final letter to his brother Theo in Paris nearly a year after the artist’s death.

Armand discovers troubling dead ends and inconsistencies before finally settling down in the town of Auvers-sur-Oise where van Gogh killed himself with a pistol shot to the stomach. His investigation turns up a swath of local characters, each with biased perspectives and memories of the artist’s virtues and eccentricities.

If not for its major aesthetic gimmick, Loving Vincent, which opens Friday, Oct. 13, would resemble yet another revisionist take on a historical figure where fidgety jumps in time and point-of-view help deconstruct the Great Man Theory a la Citizen Kane. But to the film’s credit, it never aims for closure or certainty.

More of interest is the way van Gogh unapologetically subverted societal norms in trying to capture the majestic essence of simple landscapes and objects. It seems the filmmakers themselves were trying to achieve the same effect and while not entirely successful,

their efforts manage to underscore the sublime gaps complicating popular accounts of history.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

OPENING Festival of German Film: The seventh annual, two-day showcase of recent German cinema will feature conversations with directors and actors, an opening night party and special presentations. Screens Saturday, Oct. 14, and Sunday, Oct. 15, at Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.

Barracuda: A strange woman comes to Texas to meet her half-sister and stake a claim to the family music legacy one way or another. Opens Friday, Oct. 13, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Bobbi Jene: After a decade of stardom in Israel, American dancer Bobbi Jene returns to the U.S. to create her own boundary breaking art. Opens Friday, Oct. 13, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Chavela: This documentary charts the life and work of artist Chavela Vargas, the iconic ranchera singer whose music became a muse for filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar. Opens Friday, Oct. 13, at the Ken Cinema.

Happy Death Day: A college student does her best Bill Murray impression as she experiences her own death over and over again, trying to solve the riddle of her own demise.

Loving Vincent: Rendered completely through hand-painted images, this mystery tries to unravel the secrets and lies

behind the death of master painter Vincent van Gogh.

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House: Liam Neeson stars as the whistleblower known to Washington Post reporters Woodward and Bernstein as “Deep Throat” who subverted the Nixon Administration during the early 1970s.

Marshall: Depicts the defining early cases of civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall (played by Chadwick Boseman), who would go on to become the first Black Supreme Court Justice.

Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman: A biopic about psychologist William Moulton Marston (played by Luke Evans), the creator of Wonder Woman who had a polyamorous relationship with his wife and mistress.

So B. It: A young woman travels around the country hoping to learn more about her disabled mother’s past. Opens Friday, Oct. 13, at the Angelika Film Centers Carmel Mountain.

The Foreigner: Jackie Chan’s humble businessman with a past takes revenge after his daughter is killed in a terrorist bombing. Co-stars Pierce Brosnan.

Trophy: An in-depth look into big-game hunting, breeding and wildlife conservation in the U.S. and Africa that unravels the consequences of treating animals as commodities. Opens Friday, Oct. 13, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

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

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ERIC KJENSRUD

MUSIC

ä

lek didn’t necessarily invent industrial hip-hop, but they made it a hell of a lot louder. Since the release of their 1998 debut album Negro Necro Nekros, the New Jersey noise-rap outfit has been cultivating a dissonant, dystopian vision through intense beatscapes.

The group follows a template created by pioneering acts such as Tackhead and Consolidated but turn it into something ferocious and terrifying. Long before Kanye West declared himself Yeezus and Death Grips slapped a dick pic on an album cover, Dälek was turning beats and rhymes into a sonic arsenal.

Over the past two decades, that sound has only grown more ferocious. In the early ‘00s, the group signed with Ipecac Records, a label owned by Faith No More’s Mike Patton and known more for its experimental metal and hardcore releases than hip-hop. Through albums such as From Filthy Tongues of Gods and Griots and Abandoned Language, Dälek have made it their mission to take rap into intense, dangerous places, with much of it coming courtesy of production from Mike Manteca and the experimental turntablism of DJ rEK. For his part, emcee Will Brooks often illustrates lyrical portraits of toxic politics, racism and other social ills, which could be seen as inevitable in the age of Trump. Yet this is nothing new for Brooks, who has been capturing his frustrations on tape since the ‘90s. He’s constantly writing songs, he says, in an effort to document a moment in time.

“All I’ve ever strived to do is capture who I am in that moment,” he says. “When I listen to Negro Necro Nekros, that sounds like me in 1997. Does it resonate with me? It resonates with me as far as being a snapshot of who I was then. Am I the same person? I don’t necessarily want to be the same person. People always ask me what my favorite record is. It’s the one I haven’t done yet. It’s the one I’m working on now.”

Brooks says “the urgency of the times” has compelled him to release more music in a shorter amount of time.

As a result, Dälek just released the new album Endangered Philosophies in September via Ipecac, which comes barely a year after 2016’s Asphalt for Eden. And while its bleak visions of a violent, racist society aren’t necessarily a new development for Dälek, they’re relevant reflections of the U.S. in 2017.

The first track, “Echoes Of…,” name checks civil rights

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From left: DJ rEK, Will Brooks and Mike Manteca leaders in a statement of defiance (“We the echoes of Martin, of Malcolm, of Evers, of Hampton, of Seale/My people won’t kneel”), while Brooks paints a tragically familiar portrait in “The Son of Immigrants”: “See my pops surrounded by cops with guns drawn.” It’s far from the first time that Brooks has addressed a society on the brink of chaos, and he isn’t necessarily optimistic about the idea of moving on to other topics anytime soon.

“I think our music is always... I don’t know if political is the right word. More so socially conscious. Just touching on subjects that affect me on a daily basis,” he says. “I think that’s always been prevalent in our music. I remember when Obama got elected and someone was asking me ‘what are you going to do now?’ as if that ended all the problems in the world. ‘What are you going to do now that America is post-racial?’ I had to laugh at that shit. I was telling people if that were true, if the world were fuckin’ rainbows, sunshine and puppies, I’d happily stop writing the music that I make. That’d be wonderful, but I had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn’t be the case.

“Shit in this country has never been rainbows, but people are in some alternate parallel universe now where it’s hard for me to describe what’s going on,” he continues. “But that urgency and that chaos is portrayed in what we do musically.”

Dälek is likewise musically chaotic. The urgency of their lyrical content is matched by the sonic annihilation they create, whether in the form of eerie dark ambient sound-

scapes in “Few Understand” or a dense wall of fuzz in “A Collective Canceled Thought.” Yet their songs are also layered and complex, revealing some surprisingly nuanced elements such as some unexpectedly pretty shoegaze sounds in “Beyond the Madness” or the subtle traces of piano in “Nothing Stays Permanent.” Dälek never hold back, but there’s always more beneath the surface.

“Our records have always been made for multiple listens,” Brooks says. “That’s precisely the idea—where you perceive it differently every time you listen to it. I think that’s kind of the beauty of the music that we make, you can listen to it ten times and hear something differently each time.”

Albums like Endangered Philosophies, along with all of Dälek’s previous records, can be exhausting, overwhelming listens. Yet in dark times, sometimes music this intense can provide a sense of comfort or release, which is exactly why Brooks keeps on doing it.

“This is a very personal project to me in the sense that it’s almost like therapy. It allows me to be a normal person from day to day,” he says. “If people find their own voice in what I’m saying and people I don’t know find truth in the lyrics, and the lyrics and the sound resonate with them, then that’s enough.”

Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com and follow him on Twitter at @1000TimesJeff

OCTOBER 11, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 23

MUSIC

NOTES FROM THE SMOKING PATIO

AFTER HOURS: ABOUT LAST NIGHT COURTESY OF QUEERGIRL

LOCALS ONLY

M

embers of The Album Leaf have launched a new label. The group’s central songwriter Jimmy LaValle started up Eastern Glow Recordings as a deal with INgrooves, a label services company that handles supply chain and distribution or what Album Leaf bass player Brad Lee calls “the guts of the operation.”

Lee is managing the label, which is starting out with some releases of early Album Leaf records that have gone out of print.

“I came on board once the agreement was in place,” he says.

“There are some old records that Jimmy now has the rights to, so I stepped in and said ‘I can help out here and facilitate all of these releases.’ So Jimmy and I have been steering the ship while they do the grunt work.”

The first releases on the calendar for Eastern Glow are vinyl releases of The Album Leaf’s 2003 Seal Beach EP, 2012’s Forward/Return and the 2015 7-inch single New Soul on Oct. 20. A second round of reissues will follow on Dec. 8. After that, there are some other potential releases in the works that haven’t officially

been announced, but Lee says this is enough to keep him busy for the time being.

“I’m the bureaucracy guy,” he says. “I’m signing a lot of forms, dealing with all of the online stuff, a lot of copying and pasting. I make sure the audio files are in the right formats. There’s a lot of people who work DAVID BLACK with The Album Leaf, so I’m just keeping everyone on the same page.”

Lee says that he and LaValle have discussed releasing new records by other artists, so that’s definitely in the long-term plans for Eastern Glow. As the music industry continues to change, the initial test for the label will be to prove an artist-run model can work.

The Album Leaf “I think one thing that’s pretty important is that Jimmy is taking control of his own back catalog,” he says. “With so much uncertainty, we’re bringing this all back under our own umbrella. It’s self-preservation in a way. It gives us a platform in an increasingly bleak landscape.”

—Jeff Terich

EIGHT ACTS TO SEE AT DESERT DAZE

J

ust a short drive northeast of San Diego, the Desert Daze festival is taking place again at the Institute of Mentalphysics in Joshua Tree on Friday, Oct. 13 through Sunday, Oct. 15. I don’t doubt that a lot of San Diegans will be making the trek out to the fest, so for those attending, here are my recommendations for bands to see at the psychedelic gathering.

ROB WILLIAMSON

King Woman Iggy Pop: The former Stooges frontman is still a freak and still releasing solid rock records. He’s a punk rock god and worth seeing before his potential retirement.

24 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

Spiritualized: This long-running UK space rock group’s shows tend to range from hypnotic and laidback to loud and climactic, so get comfortable and be ready for a cosmic ride.

Sleep: This Oakland stoner-metal band are pretty heavy on repetition, so keep that in mind while their wall of Marshall stacks gets the crowd’s torsos vibrating. It’s loud, intense and epic metal.

John Cale: One of the remaining members of the Velvet Underground who’s still going strong, John Cale recently played the entirety of that band’s debut album at a special series of shows. It just might end up in his repertoire again, but the man’s own catalog is incredible regardless.

The Make Up: Ian Svenonious has made a name for himself for being a highly animated rock frontman, and his reunited garage-soul group The Make Up should get every ass in the desert moving.

Boris: I’ve seen Boris at least four times and each show has been a real barnburner. The Tokyo band has been playing heavy, genre-shifting metal and stoner rock for 25 years, and they’re still destroying.

The Budos Band: The Budos Band are one of the funkiest groups around, with a sound that combines The Meters, Fela Kuti and just a little bit of Black Sabbath into one heavy-ass groove.

King Woman: Part doom, part shoegaze and with a heaping dose of goth, King Woman turns bad vibes into some beautifully heavy dirges.

—Jeff Terich

QueerGirl’s launch party at Uptown Tavern

Girls, girls, girls

S

“

ince I’ve been 21 years old, I’ve been going to Gossip [Grill] like three times a week,” says Genevieve Greschler. “Most queer women have the same kind of story.”

Gossip Grill is ostensibly the only lesbian bar in San Diego. And since San Francisco’s Lexington Club closed in 2015, there seems to be fewer and fewer women-only nightlife options all over the state.

That’s a stark contrast to the number of male-dominated gay clubs in California, or even Hillcrest alone.

This limited selection is the reason Greschler and her co-founder Debbie Masliah created QueerGirl, a pop-up party that’s handcrafted to suit a new generation of women. Held at various venues, the parties are a new option for queer women, who Greschler says are often overlooked in nightlife. QueerGirl focuses on that younger generation in several ways, including a shift in music toward house and open-format DJs. “That’s something that is really important to us,” she says. “We want people to come away from our events saying ‘the music was so awesome, I danced so much.’”

Aside from the DJs, QueerGirl events revolve around LGBTQ social media influencers, who attend and host the parties.

“They’re kind of these individuals that a lot of queer females look up to, and they’re positive people within our community. People can actually interact with someone that they follow on Instagram that is a staple in the community,” says Greschler.

These influencers mingle with everyone but are also in charge of beer pong tournaments, games like pin the dildo on the donkey, or—in this month’s case—a twerk-off. The events also feature go-go dancers and other nightlife aspects, even though the events are held on Sundays per the community’s request.

“We’ve just kind of realized our clientele really likes to party on Sundays during the day, and to have a Sunday funday kind of feel.

Knowing your target market and knowing when they’re going to come out is really important.”

The success of the events is noticeable in that QueerGirl events often reach capacity and the fact that organizers have convinced Hillcrest club Rich’s to open up during the day even though the club is traditionally a night venue. On Sunday, Oct. 15, QueerGirl will be at Rich’s (1051 University Ave.) from 3 to 9 p.m. with Whitney Mixter hosting and Von Kiss DJing a three-hour set. In the next few months, Greschler and Masliah plan to push QueerGirl into the nightlife scene as well.

“Any woman out there in the heteronormative community or the LGBT community can attest that sometimes when we are out in nightlife or day parties, we don’t necessarily feel respected or safe,” Greschler says. “A really respectful place where everyone can feel like they can be themselves and not worry about anything—that’s my goal.”

—Torrey Bailey

@SDCITYBEAT

@SDCityBeat

October 11, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 25

MUSIC

JEFF TERICH

IF I WERE U A music insider’s weekly agenda WEDNESDAY, OCT. 11

PLAN A: Lawrence Rothman, Hexa @ SPACE. Lawrence Rothman is a fairly new name, with his debut album just being released this month, but his moody pop style has already won me over. PLAN B: Cattle Decapitation, Revocation, Thanatology, Artificial Brain, Suntorn @ Brick by Brick. It’s hard to go wrong with a night of brutal death metal, and this lineup is pretty stacked, including local favorites Cattle Decapitation and technical wizards Artificial Brain. There’s something for every metal fan, as long as it’s really intense and fast.

THURSDAY, OCT. 12

PLAN A: The National, Daughter @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre.

Go back and read Ben Salmon’s feature from last week on The National, whose new album Sleep Well Beast is another solid entry in a catalog full of poetic, brooding, grown-ass-dude indie rock. PLAN B: Afghan Whigs, Har Mar Superstar @ Belly Up Tavern. The Afghan Whigs made some of the darkest, most soulful and intense rock music in the ‘90s, and they’ve lost none of that edge since starting back up a few years ago. Reunions don’t always work out for the best, but The Afghan Whigs are beating the odds. BACKUP PLAN: The Oxen, The Gift Machine, Grizzly Business @ The Casbah.

eclectic and loud evening. PLAN B: Some Ember, Choir Boy, SRSQ @ SPACE. Moody synth pop with industrial elements is an aesthetic that I can get behind without much convincing. Some Ember is just such a group, with the kind of jams that could get any goth night moving.

SUNDAY, OCT. 15

PLAN A: Vanna, Heart to Heart, Set to Stun @ Soda Bar. Vanna’s a metalcore group with album covers that look like La Croix cans. In other words, millennial angst: I know it all too well.

MONDAY, OCT. 16

PLAN A: Bell Tower Bats, Dreams Made Flesh, Ultima Circo, IIE, DJs Israel, Disorder, Deadmatter @ The Casbah. October is the season for goth, so I recommend filling the calendar with some darkly theatrical bands. L.A.’s Bell Tower Bats have a campy sensibility that nods to the likes of Bauhaus, The Cramps and New York Dolls, and they’re a blast to watch live.

CHRIS CUFFARO

FRIDAY, OCT. 13

PLAN A: Bob Dylan and His Band @ Harrah’s Resort. This is one of the pricier shows of the week, but it’s Bob-fuckingDylan, so I think it counts as an opportunity to treat yourself. The man’s a Nobel Prize winner, people. PLAN B: Rainer Maria, Olivia Neutron-John @ The Casbah. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen more coverage about emo in the last couple years than I did in its heyday in the ‘90s. That’s given an opening to bands like Rainer Maria, who have a handful of excellent indie rock albums full of dreamy guitars and wonderful vocal harmonies.

SATURDAY, OCT. 14

PLAN A: Cult Leader, Dälek, Vermin Womb, Street Sects @ Soda Bar. Read my feature this week on New Jersey noise-rap outfit Dälek, who have been soundtracking a beat-laden dystopia for two decades.

They’re playing with a lineup of hardcore and punk bands, which will make this an

26 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

The Afghan Whigs

TUESDAY, OCT. 17

PLAN A: Torres, The Dove & The Wolf @ The Casbah. Torres has only been releasing music for a few years, but she’s already made a hell of an evolution. While her early songs were more indie singer/ songwriter fare, her new album Three Futures is a big, electronic affair influenced

by Kate Bush and Portishead, and she pulls it off impressively. PLAN B: The Black Angels, Ron Gallo @ House of Blues.

The Black Angels won me over early with the release of their debut Passover, and every time I check back in with them they’re still doing cool, fuzzy psychedelic stuff, including their new album Death Song.

BACKUP PLAN: Cafe Tacuba @ Observatory North Park.

@SDCITYBEAT

MUSIC

CONCERTS HOT! NEW! FRESH!

Exhumed (Brick by Brick, 11/15), L.A.M.F. (BUT, 12/3), Ducktails (SPACE, 12/11), Dave Koz (Balboa Theatre, 12/14), Pato Banton (BUT, 12/15), X (Observatory, 12/22), The Gloomies, Hideout (Soda Bar, 12/23), Willie Nelson (Harrah’s Resort, 1/6), St. Vincent (Observatory, 1/27), Tower of Power (BUT, 1/31), Bully (Casbah, 2/19), Anderson East (BUT, 3/3), The Fratellis (Observatory, 5/4), Celtic Woman (Civic Theatre, 5/18).

RESCHEDULED Real Estate (Music Box, 2/27).

GET YER TICKETS Arcade Fire (Viejas Arena, 10/18), Eddie Izzard (Balboa Theatre, 10/18), Gojira (Observatory, 10/19), Mastodon (HOB, 10/19), City of Caterpillar, Thou (Soda Bar, 10/19), Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie (Humphreys, 10/19), KMFDM (HOB, 10/20), Tegan and Sara (Balboa Theatre, 10/20), Carla Morrison (Humphreys, 10/22), George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic (Observatory, 10/23), Red Fang (Casbah, 10/23), M. Ward (BUT, 10/24), Thievery Corporation (BUT, 10/26), Turnover (Irenic, 10/27), Flying Lotus in 3-D (Observatory, 10/27), Roky Erickson (Casbah, 10/27), Iron and Wine (Balboa Theatre, 10/28), The Drums (Observatory, 11/1), ‘Live Wire 25th Anniversary’ w/ Rocket from the Crypt

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(Observatory, 11/4), Cults (Irenic, 11/5), Hamilton Leithauser (BUT, 11/9), Fall Out Boy (Viejas Arena, 11/15), Gary Numan (Observatory, 11/15), Tera Melos, Speedy Ortiz (Casbah, 11/16), Mayhem (Observatory, 11/17), Boris, Torche (Casbah, 11/17), Diarrhea Planet (Soda Bar, 11/17), Guttermouth (Brick by Brick, 11/18), Mogwai (Observatory, 11/20), New Found Glory (HOB, 11/25), Syd (Observatory, 12/2), Pere Ubu (Soda Bar, 12/8), Jamila Woods (Soda Bar, 12/9), The Slackers (Casbah, 12/12), Chris Isaak (BUT, 12/12-13), METZ (Casbah, 12/13), Julien Baker (Irenic, 12/15), Jay-Z (Viejas Arena, 12/19), Ozomatli (Music Box, 12/22-23), The English Beat (BUT, 12/2223), Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven (BUT, 12/27), Donavon Frankenreiter (BUT, 12/28), Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue (BUT, 12/29-30), Milky Chance (HOB, 1/8), Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (HOB, 1/15), Josh Ritter (BUT, 1/16), Wolf Parade (Observatory, 1/23), Margo Price (BUT, 3/3), Orchestral Manoevres in the Dark (HOB, 3/31), Steven Wilson (HOB, 5/13).

OCTOBER WEDNESDAY, OCT. 11 Marujah at The Casbah. Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile at House of Blues. (sold out). Lawrence Rothman at SPACE. Cattle Decapitation at Brick by Brick. JD McPherson and Nikki Lane at Belly Up Tavern. Alison Wonderland at Observatory North Park (sold out). Holy Wave at The Casbah.

THURSDAY, OCT. 12 John Maus at Soda Bar (sold out). Mutemath at House of Blues. Griz at Observatory North Park. The Afghan Whigs at Belly Up Tavern. Trevor Sensor at SPACE.

The National at Open Air Theatre. Rising Appalachia at Belly Up Tavern.

FRIDAY, OCT. 13 Bob Dylan at Harrah’s Resort. Rising Appalachia at Belly Up Tavern. Rainer Maria at The Casbah. Nothing But Thieves at The Irenic (sold out). Red City Radio at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, OCT. 14 The Aquabats at House of Blues. Dalek, Cult Leader at Soda Bar. Some Ember at SPACE. Jason Mraz at Spreckels Theatre.

Dirty Sweet at The Casbah. Emarosa at The Irenic. Action Bronson at Observatory North Park.

SUNDAY, OCT. 15 Oh Wonder at SOMA. The Aggrolites, The Skatalites at Belly Up Tavern. Dayglo Abortions at The Casbah. Cuco at The Irenic (sold out). Vanna at Soda Bar.

MONDAY, OCT. 16 Bell Tower Bats at The Casbah. LAYNE at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, OCT. 17 Torres at The Casbah. The Black Angels at House of Blues. Mason Jennings at Belly Up Tavern. Café Tacuba at Observatory North Park. Spaceface at Soda Bar.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18 Café Tacuba at Observatory North Park. Arcade Fire at Viejas Arena. Little Steven and the Disciples at Humphreys by the Bay. Eddie Izzard at Balboa Theatre. Allah-Las at Music Box. The Strypes at The Casbah.

Songhoy Blues at Belly Up Tavern.

THURSDAY, OCT. 19 City of Caterpillar, Thou at Soda Bar. The Bronx at The Casbah (sold out). Gojira at Observatory North Park. Mastodon at House of Blues. Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie at Humphreys by the Bay.

FRIDAY, OCT. 20 Tegan and Sara at Balboa Theatre.

KMFDM at House of Blues. Penny & Sparrow at Music Box. The Kooks at Observatory North Park. Michael Nau at Soda Bar. JR JR at The Irenic.

SATURDAY, OCT. 21 Nick Murphy at Observatory North Park.

Echosmith at Music Box. Jimmy Buffett at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre. Tei Shi at Soda Bar. Beats Antique at Belly Up Tavern.

SUNDAY, OCT. 22 A$AP Mob at Observatory North Park (sold out). Carla Morrison at Humphreys by the Bay. Have Mercy at The Irenic. Pigeons Playing Ping Pong at The Casbah.

Yawning Man at Soda Bar. Beats Antique at Belly Up Tavern.

MONDAY, OCT. 23 Red Fang at The Casbah. George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic at Observatory North Park. Knuckle Puck at The Irenic. Frederick the Younger at Soda Bar. Slightly Stoopid at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Regina Spektor at Balboa Theatre.

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

OCTOBER 11, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 27

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27 TUESDAY, OCT. 24 Hanson at House of Blues. Alice Glass at Observatory North Park. M. Ward at Belly Up Tavern. Open Mike Eagle at The Casbah. The Score at Soda Bar.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 25 Delicate Steve at Soda Bar. A Tribe Called Red at Music Box. Messer Chups at The Casbah. Crystal Castles at Observatory North Park. Haley Reinhart at Belly Up Tavern.

THURSDAY, OCT. 26 Thievery Corporation at Belly Up Tavern.

A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie at Observatory North Park. Elettrodomestico at Soda Bar. Paul Cauthen at The Casbah.

FRIDAY, OCT. 27 Luke Bryan at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre. Bloody Beetroots at Music Box. Flying Lotus in 3-D at Observatory North Park. Roky Erickson at The Casbah.

Turnover at The Irenic. Consider the Source at Soda Bar.

SATURDAY, OCT. 28 Iron and Wine at Balboa Theatre. The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die at The Irenic.

The Creepy Creeps at The Casbah. The Darlings at Soda Bar. WYO and Band of Gringos at Belly Up Tavern.

SUNDAY, OCT. 29 Joan Osborne sings Bob Dylan at Belly Up Tavern. Keali’i Reichel at Humphreys

by the Bay. Parachute at The Irenic. Musiq Soulchild at Music Box.

MONDAY, OCT. 30 Steel Pulse at Belly Up Tavern. Zombie Surf Camp at The Casbah. Denim Robot at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, OCT. 31 Black Star at Observatory North Park, 10/31 (sold out). ‘Low End Theory Anniversary’ w/ The Gaslamp Killer at Music Box.

NOVEMBER WEDNESDAY, NOV. 1 Bret Michaels at Belly Up Tavern. Nekromantix at Brick by Brick. The Drums at Observatory North Park. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists at The Casbah. Feels at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, NOV. 2 The B-52s at Belly Up Tavern (sold out).

Yelawolf at Observatory North Park. A Giant Dog at Soda Bar. Gondwana at Music Box. Jolie Holland and Samantha Parton at The Casbah.

FRIDAY, NOV. 3 Greyboy Allstars at Music Box. Azealia Banks at House of Blues. The B-52s at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). The Black Heart Procession at The Casbah. The Devil Makes Three at Observatory North Park. Whiskey Shivers at Soda Bar.

SATURDAY, NOV. 4 Black Heart Procession at The Casbah.

Son Little at Soda Bar. ‘Live Wire 25th Anniversary’ w/ Rocket from the Crypt

28 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

at Observatory North Park. Ekali at Music Box. Max Frost at The Irenic.

SUNDAY, NOV. 5 Truckfighters at Soda Bar. Halsey at Viejas Arena. Cults at The Irenic. Poncho Sanchez at Music Box. My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult at The Casbah. Caifanes at Observatory North Park.

MONDAY, NOV. 6 Noname at Observatory North Park. Kacy Hill at The Casbah. Naked Giants at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, NOV. 7 Lizzo at Music Box. Yelle at The Casbah.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach. Fri: Irieality, Something Like Seduction, Seedheads. Sat: The Voices, The Bird Rockers. Tue: The Shakes.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St., Normal Heights. Wed: ‘Hip Hop Wednesday’ w/ DJ Tramlife. Thu: ‘Libertine’ w/ DJ John Wesley. Sat: ‘Juicy’ w/ Mike Czech.

Sun: ‘Chvrch’ w/ DJs Karma, Alice.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Michelle Buteau. Fri: Michelle Buteau. Sat: Michelle Buteau.

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Road, Spring Valley. Thu: Digisaurus. Sat: Kitty Plague, Neurotic Massage. Sun: Anybody Killa.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St., North Park. Wed: ‘Shock! A Night of ‘80s New Wave’. Thu: Santa Ana Knights, Touchies. Fri: ‘Superstition’ w/ DJs Heather Hardcore, Camilla

Robina. Sun: ‘Rat Sabbath’ w/ DJ Ratty.

Tue: Alvino and the Dwells.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St., Downtown.

Fri: Parker. Sat: Goldroom.

Beaumont’s, 5665 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla.

Thu: Sam Bybee. Sat: Dirty Bird.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Wed: JD McPherson and Nikki Lane. Thu: The Afghan Whigs, Har Mar Superstar. Fri: Rising Appalachia, Gill Landry. Sat: Rising Appalachia, Gill Landry. Sun: The Aggrolites, The Skatalites, San Diego City Soul Club. Tue: Mason Jennings, Emily Afton.

Black Cat Bar, 4246 University Ave., City Heights. Thu: Uptown Rhythm Makers.

Fri: Black Cat Sabbath, The Anomaly. Sat: The Heart Beat Trail, The Touchies, Polish.

Blonde, 1808 W. Washington St., Mission Hills. Wed: ‘Dance Klassique’. Thu: ‘The Sure Shot’. Fri: ‘SPANK’ w/ My Favorite Lover. Sat: Overjoy. Mon: ‘Beyonce vs. Rihanna Tribute Party’. Tue: ‘T is 4 Techno’.

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

Thu: Red Wizard. Fri: ‘Club Musae’.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., Bay Park. Wed: Cattle Decapitation, Revocation, Artificial Brain, Thanatology, Suntorn.

Fri: Lords of Acid, Combichrist, Christian Death, En Esch, Night Club (sold out).

Sat: Maiden USA, Rage Again, Epic: Tribute to Faith No More, Xanadoodz. Mon: Merciless, Ascended Dead, Invocation War, Xantam.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. Wed: Marujah, Spice Pistols, CBot and the Paperwork. Thu: The Oxen, The Gift Machine, Grizzly Business. Fri: Rainer Maria, Olivia Neutron John. Sat: Dirty Sweet, John Meeks, Brainticket DJs. Sun: Dayglo Abortions, Lower Class Brats,

Starving Wolves, Rat City Riot. Mon: Bell Tower Bats, Dreams Made Flesh, Ultima Circo, IIE, DJs Israel, Disorder, Deadmatter. Tue: Torres, The Dove and the Wolf.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Downtown. Fri: Paul Seaforth/Stan Lawrence Quintet. Sat: Joe Garrison and Night People. Sun: Tony Tixier Trio.

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown. Fri: DJ Heartattak. Sat: DJ Mark Da Spot.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave., Downtown. Fri: DJ Amen. Sat: DJ Drama.

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave., Downtown.

Thu: DJ Yodah. Fri: ‘Good Times’. Sat: ‘Rock Star Saturday’.

Hooley’s, 5500 Grossmont Center Drive, La Mesa. Sat: My Cousin Kazi.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Wed: Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile.

Thu: Mutemath, Colony House, Romes.

Fri: Josh Garrels, Strahan. Sat: The Aquabats, Skapeche Mode, Dog Party. Sun: MAX, Rozes. Tue: The Black Angels, Ron Gallo.

Humphreys Backstage, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. Wed: It’s Never 2L8. Fri: Viva Santana. Sat: Robben Ford.

Sun: Psydecar. Mon: Michele Lundeen.

Tue: Mercedes Moore.

The Irenic, 3090 Polk Ave., North Park.

Fri: Nothing But Thieves, Airways (sold out). Sat: Emarosa, A Lot Like Birds, Jule Vera, ALKE. Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. Thu: ‘Digital Cocoon’. Fri: ‘Voyage’.

Sat: ‘Tech Support’. Tue: ‘Goodvibe’.

Lestat’s Coffee House, 3343 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Fri: Lisa Sanders, Birds & Arrow, Mary Scholz, Isaac Cheong, Marie Haddad. Sat: Wolves of

@SDCITYBEAT

MUSIC Eden, Sweet Myths, Cloudside. Sun: Cas Haley, Nick Crook.

Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla.

Thu: JMSN. Mon: Fletcher, Faulkner.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave., Coronado. Wed: In Midlife Crisis. Thu: North Star. Fri: Never 2L8. Sat: Ron’s Garage. Sun: Gonzology. Tue: Gene Warren.

Martinis Above Fourth, 3940 Fourth Ave., Hillcrest. Wed: ‘2020 Vision’. Thu: ‘2020 Vision’. Fri: Brian Nash. Sat: Janice Edwards and Nathan Fry. Sun: ‘Simply Barbra’ w/ Steven Brinberg. Tue: Anthony Fedorov.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., Hillcrest. Wed: The Palmer Squares, Vantablac SOL, Netherfriends, CAliens, OGJ. Thu: ‘Séance’. Fri: David Scuba, Tiago 1, MaxBetta. Sat: ‘Club Sabbat’. Sun: ‘The Playground’ w/ DJ Heather Hardcore. Tue: AJ Froman, Weep Wave, Kimmi Bitter and the Night Howls.

Mr. Peabody’s, 136 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas. Thu: Jim Allen. Fri: Atomic Blondes.

Sat: Jerome Dawson, Wazabe Blue.

Music Box, 1337 India St., Little Italy.

Wed: Tee Grizzley, Lud Foe, OMB Peezy, Sada Baby. Thu: Phutureprimitive, Papadosio, Joe Muscatello. Fri: Betamaxx, Paging the ‘90s. Sat: Goldfish. Mon: Chief Keef, Young Gizmo, D. Dove, Bar1ne the Aux Cord Lord.

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

Wed: ‘One Two Three’ w/ DJ EdRoc. Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Fri: ‘After Hours’. Sat: ‘Strictly Business’ w/ DJs Kanye Asada, Gabe Vega. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’ w/ Tribe of Kings.

OMNIA Nightclub, 454 Sixth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Mr. Brown. Fri: Tommy Trash.

Sat: Morgan Page.

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Panama 66, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park.

Fri: Dani Bell and the Tarantist. Sun: Creepxotica. Mon: Tue: Parq, 615 Broadway, Downtown. Fri: London on Da Track. Sat: Justin Credible.

Plaza Bar at Westgate Hotel, 1055 2nd Ave., Downtown. Wed: Thu: Fri: Gilbert Castellanos. Sat: Allison Adams Tucker.

Mon: Julio de la Huerta.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave., Hillcrest.

Wed: DJs Kiki, Kinky Loops. Thu: DJ KSwift. Fri: DJs Moody Rudy, Kidd Madonna. Sat: DJs Taj, Dirty Kurty, K-Swift. Sun: DJs Cros, Bret Law. Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave., La Mesa. Wed: ‘Boss Jazz’ w/ Jason Hanna. Thu: Chloe Lou & Davies. Fri: True Stories. Sat: Tori Roze & the Hot Mess.

Rosie O’Gradys, 3402 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Sat: Dom Katz.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave., San Diego. Wed: Boomtown Stingers. Thu: Jimmy Ruelas. Fri: Jeff Crosby. Sat: Kendrick Dial & Lyrical Groove. Mon: ‘Makossa Monday’ w/ DJ Tah Rei. Tue: Clinton Davis Duo. Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Wed: Holy Wave, Camera, AGE. Thu: John Maus, Holy Shit (sold out). Fri: Red City Radio, Odd Robot, Sic Waiting, Protagonist. Sat: Cult Leader, Dalek, Vermin Womb, Street Sects. Sun: Vanna, Heart to Heart, Set to Stun. Mon: LAYNE, Soren Bryce, Somme, Family Thief. Tue: Spaceface, Spencer Yenson and the Squatters, Love Glow.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd., Midway.

Sat: Kidjuda, Cozy & Raredell, Mainsail, Stick Bitz, Be All End All, Beyond My Afterlife. Sun: Oh Wonder, Jaymes Young.

SPACE, 3519 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights.

Wed: Lawrence Rothman, Hexa. Thu: Trevor Sensor, Peter Oren. Sat: Some Ember, Choir Boy, SRSQ. Sun: ‘Make Yourself At Home’. Mon: ‘Eloteria’.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St., Midtown. Fri: Monte Booker. Sat: Denney. Sun: ‘H2O’ w/ Oona Dahl.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Fri: JasonxVoorhees, Mandala, Ash Williams, Legions. Sat: The Do-Its, The Outtasites, Alvino and the Dwells.

Sun: Pants Karaoke. Mon: ‘Sin Fronteras’ w/ Mr. Wrong.

Tin Roof, 401 G St., Downtown. Wed: The Void Nation. Thu: ‘Paging the 90s’. Sat: Kenny and Deez, Coriander. Sun: Allegra Duchaine. Mon: Lauren Leigh and Sam. Tue: Kyle Castellani.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave., City Heights. Wed: Space Wax, Caustic Casanova, Beira. Fri: Black Pussy, The Midnight Ghost Train, Beira. Sat: Dum Cumpsters, Slum Summer, Hurricane Kate.

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

Wed: ‘Yes Lawd’. Thu: ‘Boom Boxx Thursday’. Fri: DJ XP. Sat: DJ Bacon. Tue: ’31 Flavors’.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park.

Sat: DJ Dennis ‘The Menace’ Borlek. Tue: ‘Videodrome’.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St., Ocean Beach.

Wed: The Smash Up, DJ Carlos Culture.

Thu: Aceyalone, Abstract Rude, Atlantis Rizing, 10-19, Open Optics. Fri: Trouble in the Streets, Higgs, Psydecar. Sat: Fuzz Junkies, Mad Scientist Surfing Machines.

Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: Jefferson Jay Band.

OCTOBER 11, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 29

LAST WORDS | ADVICE

AMY ALKON

ADVICE

Pay Pal

GODDESS

An older male friend keeps paying for me—buying me meals and clothes. Am I making a mistake in accepting? I’ve repeatedly made clear that I have no romantic interest in him. I’m a struggling artist, and he’s highly successful.

We’re basically BFFs, talking and laughing every day. He occasionally jokes that I should be “giving up the sugar to the sugar daddy,” but I roll my eyes and say, “Hush!” I think he’s teasing me, but could he be playing the long game?

—Worried Welcome to the “never say never” school of hope. My Chinese crested, Aida, is also enrolled—hoping with all her tiny purse-doggy might that rare metal-eating termites will make the kitchen table leg collapse, causing her to be caught in a brief but intense hailstorm of bacon.

There are some asymmetries between men and women in the effort required to get some action out of the opposite sex. Some

men will engineer elaborate plots to try to wear a woman’s “nuh-uh, never gonna happen” into a “maybe just this once.” A woman, on the other hand, doesn’t have to plot. Assuming she’s reasonably attractive, she can probably just make extended eye contact with a man while eating a banana.

This difference reflects what evolutionary psychologist David Buss explains as men’s and women’s conflicting evolutionary goals. It’s in a man’s evolutionary interest to, as they say, shoot and scoot (possibly passing on his genes without putting out any further time, energy, or resources).

However, because women can end up all “baby on board,” they evolved to look for emotional commitment and the ability and willingness to “provide.” (A woman’s psychological bottom line: “Can this wild man be turned into a minivan purchaser with a dad bod?”)

Buss notes that these sex differences in evolved mating psychology show up in the different ways men and women try to deceive each other. Scammy men tend to ex-

30 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · OCTOBER 11, 2017

I’m a 28-year-old guy, and I read your column on how men and women are clueless about who’s supposed to pay and when. I’ve had dates be insulted when I wouldn’t take their money and others insulted when I did. Is there an optimal strategy for the first few dates?

—Lost

“smash the patriarchy,” but when the check comes, she reaches in her purse and pulls out a tube of lip gloss.

As I pointed out in that column you mention, sociologist Janet Lever and her colleagues find one striking commonality between men and women: intense confusion about who should pay and when. For example, nearly 60 percent of women said they “always” offer to help pay, even on the first date. Meanwhile, 39 percent of women wish men would reject their offer to pay—but 40 percent say it bothers them when men don’t accept their money. Argh, huh?

Because female emotions evolved to push women to feel bad when they’re with a man who shows no signs of being a “provider,” I think it’s wise for a guy to pick up the tab on the first few dates. The researchers concur, explaining that “men who fail to pay risk being viewed as lacking economic resources or as being uninterested, unchivalrous, or— worse yet—cheap.”

That said, your investment should be more symbolic than substantial, and you keep it that way by following my threepoint advice for the first few dates: Make them cheap, short and local. This means, for example, getting to know a woman over happy-hour drinks—as opposed to the kind poured by a sommelier (flanked by his two assistants) who comes to your table right after the team of loan officers helps you finalize your paperwork.

Meet the flexible feminist. She can do an hour and a half straight on why we need to

(c)2017, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

aggerate their “resources” (probably a sizable chunk of the Ferrari rental business) in hopes of suckering the ladies into the sack.

Scammy women, on the other hand, tend to feign “willingness to have sex in order to secure nonsexual resources”—as in, “Sorry, Bob. I had my knees welded shut recently. I guess I forgot to mention that. But thanks for the $300 dinner!”

In your situation, however, nobody’s deceiving anybody. You’ve repeatedly made clear that there will be no sexcapades. He’s got an amusing dining companion and a dear friend. When we care about people, we do nice things for them—offer them a bite of our sandwich or our disposable income.

Sure, he’s probably still clinging to wisps of hope. But in time, he should accept that if the day comes when you suddenly grab him in your arms, it’ll be because he’s got a small piece of chicken caught in his windpipe and he’ll die unless you give him the Heimlich maneuver.

Check, Mate!

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October 11, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 31