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October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

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October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

Naughty Republicans As of midday Tuesday, U.S. House Speaker John is a pointless rule that has long outlived its original Boehner was scrambling to build support for a plan purpose, and you can’t give a minority of extremists to reopen the federal government and raise the policy concessions every time the government hits limit on the amount of money the government can an arbitrary borrowing limit. borrow in order to pay its bills, thereby averting doWe can argue all we want over spending vs. mestic and global economic calamity. revenue—and we should, robustly—but the time to On one level, it’s appropriate that such activity do that is during regular budget negotiations, not should be happening in the Republican-controlled after the government has already made its financial House of Representatives, because it’s the GOP commitments. The (not-so) funny thing is, when House caucus that needlessly and recklessly perched the kooks in the Republican Party should have been the country on the precipice of disaster. However, it’s making their case on spending, they were busy obalso possible that whatever comes out of the House sessing over Obamacare, ultimately performing will be unacceptable to the Democratic-controlled what amounted to a temper tantrum over a law that U.S. Senate and President Barack Obama. resulted from a genuine and proper process, from Let’s remember how we got here: At the end which they emerged the loser. of September, Republicans in the House refused Obviously, these several-dozen loons reflect to pass what’s known as a continuing resolution poorly on congressional Republicans as a whole, Medill DC / Flickr many of whom are relatively reasonable. to keep the government funded into the new fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

Except for a few—like New York’s Peter Driven by the ultra-conservative wing King, who’s often hysterical but these of the party, the House GOP held out for days looks downright sensible—these delaying or defunding Obamacare, which more rational Republicans won’t isolate was never going to happen. Regardless, their outlier colleagues, presumably benon-essential federal-government sercause of the havoc they can cause come vices were shut down, meaning 800,000 election time. And because they’re safe in workers were immediately furloughed far-right gerrymandered districts, the exwithout pay and another 1.3 million had tremists themselves have nothing to fear John Boehner and nothing to hold them accountable. to work for no pay.

Many of the Republicans spent the next couple How long do we have to put up with this? of weeks blaming Obama and the Democrats for the Harold Meyerson wrote recently in the Washshutdown, but, fortunately, the American public can ington Post that it won’t be forever. clearly see what’s directly in front of them: to quote “Since 1995,” Meyerson wrote, “the demographic Obama, “One faction of one party in one house of and cultural changes transforming this nation have Congress in one branch of government shut down deepened the Republicans’ marginality. The growth major parts of the government, all because they of Latino and Asian populations—both groups indidn’t like one law.” Polls show the public correctly creasingly trend Democratic—has relentlessly reblames Republicans. duced the white share of the electorate, on which Meanwhile, this Thursday, Oct. 17, loomed as Republicans have come to rely almost exclusively.” the date when the U.S. government reached its soTheir two choices have been to move to the idecalled “debt ceiling” and therefore could no longer ological center or disrupt the public process from pay its bills by borrowing money—although the the fringes; the choice they’ve made is obvious. But, treasury might have enough cash on hand to delay Meyerson says, it’s not sustainable. “Eventually,” he that catastrophe for another few weeks. wrote, “the number of millennials, voters of color and In addition to the continuing resolution, the fed-up moderates will rise to the point that 218 suffidebt ceiling gave the nuttiest Republicans another ciently white and conservative House districts can no form of leverage to attempt to pry concessions from longer be crafted. How much havoc Republicans can Obama and the Democrats. However, Obama has wreak until then, however, is anybody’s guess.” resolutely refused to negotiate over the debt ceilAt least someone sees light at the end of this tunnel of horrors. ing. For starters, that would be akin to negotiating with domestic terrorists who are threatening to What do you think? Write to editor@sdcitybeat.com. destroy the U.S. economy. But also, the debt ceiling This issue of CityBeat is dedicated to the folks at the Halloween costume shop for helping us put together our “sexy blogger” look.

Volume 12 • Issue 10 Editor David Rolland Associate Editor Kelly Davis Music Editor Jeff Terich Staff Writers Alex Zaragoza, Joshua Emerson Smith Web Editor Ryan Bradford Art director Lindsey Voltoline Columnists Edwin Decker, John R. Lamb

Contributors Ian Cheesman, David L. Coddon, Seth Combs, Jeff “Turbo” Corrigan, Katrina Dodson, Michael A. Gardiner, Glenn Heath Jr., Nina Sachdev Hoffmann Peter Holslin, Dave Maass, Jenny Montgomery, Kinsee Morlan, Susan Myrland, Mina Riazi, Jim Ruland, Jen Van Tieghem, Quan Vu Interns Connie Thai Production Manager Tristan Whitehouse Production artist Rees Withrow MultiMedia Advertising Director Paulina Porter-Tapia Senior account executives Jason Noble, Nick Nappi

Cover illustration by Lindsey Voltoline Advertising Account Executive Beau Odom director of marketing Chad Boyer Circulation / Office Assistant Elizabeth Shipton Vice President of Finance Michael Nagami Human Resources Andrea Baker Accounting Alysia Chavez, Linda Lam, Monica MacCree Vice President of Operations David Comden Publisher Kevin Hellman

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San Diego CityBeat is published and distributed every Wednesday by Southland Publishing Inc., free of charge but limited to one per reader. Reproduction of any material in this or any other issue is prohibited without written permission from the publisher and the author. Contents copyright 2013.

6 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 7

Formula for disaster

Constitutional issue

Regarding your Sept. 18 editorial: So, Mr. Editor where does the businessperson’s extra income come from to pay the minimumwage increases?

Do more people rush in the doors because a worker is now getting more money?

No! What will CityBeat do? Rush out and hire more people? Doubtful. Raise your ad rates? Will that bring in more advertisers?

Doubtful. You may lose advertisers overall, and revenue remains the same.

Most people in low-paying jobs are being paid what the job is worth, not necessarily what the person is worth. The whole idea of one being self-employed is to earn an income, not to give other people jobs. In the face of the government telling us how to run our businesses, if most self-employed people need more help, they will look to part-timers. Otherwise, little or no profits equals no business and, ultimately, no jobs for anyone.

So what if top economists think it matters little? How many of them have their own businesses? California, a unionocracy under Democratic Party control for the past 50 years, is a shining example of how to run a state, isn’t it? Let’s see, highest taxes in the nation, higher regulatory burdens for businesses, highest number of people on welfare, highest number of people incarcerated, sky-high debt levels and the highest pension obligations (state / county / city combined), just to mention a few.

How does the formula you support improve things?

Regarding the issue of zoning laws prohibiting food trucks or medical-marijuana dispensaries because “there’s nothing in writing that specifically allows them” [“Editorial,” Sept. 25]: That is much more than “awfully frivolous.” To me, it seems downright unconstitutional.

It’s the often-overlooked Ninth Amendment: “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” In other words, just because it’s not specifically mentioned as a right doesn’t mean you can’t do it.

It means that, in America, laws are passed to prevent harmful actions, not to allow only certain permitted things. In other words, if the zoning codes don’t specifically prohibit pot shops, they are thereby permitted. Same with food trucks—especially on private property, and doubly so because they already have a business license, and food-service ratings even.

What about if I’m throwing a private party on my property? Can I have a barbecue trailer? No? Can anyone say “slippery slope”? This is just one of many Constitutional protections that have somehow fallen by the wayside of late. ACLU: Are you there?

Paul Richard, Park West

Who controls Faulconer?

Thanks for the Sept 18 editorial on Kevin Faulconer. He’s an empty suit controlled by Downtown interests, the Lincoln Club, the San Diego County Taxpayer’s Association and the Chamber of Commerce.

Janice Lord, Point Loma

A ‘sorry’ trio Regarding your Sept. 18 cover story about Donna Frye, Marco Gonzalez and Cory Briggs: What a bunch of sorry people. They really had to anguish over what was right or wrong in this case of Bob Filner, because they needed to protect their progressive movement? This was a question in their tiny little minds? So much for ethics!

I guess in the end, they had something that approximated ethics, but they had to claw pretty hard at themselves to find it.

They are not heroic figures in all this. In the end it, was protection of the progressive movement that stirred them to action, not the desire to protect the victims of this pervert.

Ed Struiksma, Rancho Santa Margarita

8 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

Michael-Leonard Creditor, La Jolla

Fletcher and Krvaric Regarding John R. Lamb’s Oct. 2 “Spin Cycle” column: As a former PAC chair for a local union, I have gotten an opportunity to talk with Nathan Fletcher at length multiple times. As an independent, I found it strange that he tied his wagon to the GOP. His views swung from right to left, as most voters’ do.

I was happy to see him going independent, but I know why he went Democrat— money. When was the last time a nonpartisan mayor was elected in a nonpartisan San Diego mayoral election? I have been repeatedly told by political consultants that it can’t be done.

The fact that Fletcher will not have some party wog blowing in his ear is a plus.

Remember, the second largest voter group in San Diego is decline-to-states.

As for Tony Krvaric, be nice to him— his support for Faulconer should make a Fletcher / Alvarez final a done deal. What a douche!

Woody DuBois, San Carlos

Super-short-story contest 101 words to craft a story

www.sdcitybeat.com

The deadline for entries is Monday, Oct. 28, at 5 p.m.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 9

Courtesy: the Lubsen family

Robert Lubsen was only 26 years old when he committed suicide in the Vista Detention Facility.

10 more dead Inmates are still losing and taking their lives in San Diego County jails

by Kelly Davis When Robert Lubsen was booked into the Vista Detention Facility on the afternoon of Feb. 6, 2013, he was first placed in a lowerlevel cell but later moved to a cell on the jail’s second floor. The next morning, after cell doors opened to allow inmates access to a common area, Lubsen climbed onto a walkway railing, leaned over and fell, headfirst, 9 feet to the concrete floor below.

He was taken to Palomar Medical Center, where, on Feb. 12, his family decided to take him off life support.

Lubsen, who was 26, was the first inmate to die in San Diego County jails in 2013 and one of four suicides so far this year.

At booking, jail staff documented what looked like ligature marks on Lubsen’s neck and, on the morning of his death, his cellmate reportedly tried to warn staff that the young man planned to harm himself but was deemed not credible. While

the medical examiner’s report says that Lubsen, during the intake process, didn’t express an intent to kill himself—inmates are asked to answer “yes” or “no” to “Are you feeling suicidal?”—the jail system’s own written policy says that after intake, “[a]ll reports of suicidal behavior shall be considered serious.”

Lubsen’s family filed a claim with the county on July 26, the first step in a lawsuit. The claim alleges that the Sheriff ’s Department knew Lubsen was at risk of harming himself but did nothing about it.

His father, Paul, says his son had struggled with drug addiction for seven years. In 2012, it looked like he’d pulled his life together—he had a girlfriend, a job with a shoring and drilling company and his own apartment. But toward the end of the year, when work dried up, he fell back into addiction. He was arrested for burglary on Feb. 6.

“I always believed that when Rob was using, that the best thing for him was to be in jail and that he’d be safe there,” his dad says. “I was wrong. I don’t believe the Sheriff ’s Department took any steps to protect him.”

In March, CityBeat reported that from

10 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

2007 to 2012, San Diego County had the language and references to the Old Testahighest average mortality rate among Cali- ment and the occult. But they were enough fornia’s 10 largest county jail systems and to prompt her former attorney to move his the second-highest suicide rate—in all, 60 family into a hotel.

In May 2012, after being declared inpeople died during that period. This followed a Bureau of Justice Statistics finding competent to stand trial, Wade was sent to that from 2000 through 2007, San Diego Patton State Hospital for three months. Achad the second highest death rate of Cali- cording to her court file, she’d done at least three stints there since 2004. Back at Las fornia’s large jail systems.

As of Oct. 14, 10 people have died in jail Colinas, she was put in administrative segcustody this year, matching the 10-deaths- regation and “green-banded,” meaning she per-year average that pushed the county to wore a fluorescent-green wristband to indithe top of the list for 2007 through 2012. Of cate she was prone to aggressive behavior.

Cmdr. John Ingrassia, jail supervisor the six years CityBeat examined, the highest annual number of suicides was five, in for the Sheriff’s Department, says Wade 2011, and the six-year average was just un- was being seen “at least twice a month” by a psychiatrist; her next scheduled evaluation der three per year.

“You don’t have to average two or three would have been April 30.

Kristin Scogin, the deputy public desuicides a year in your jail system,” says Lindsay Hayes, a national expert on in-cus- fender who represented Wade after she was released from Patton, said that, by April, tody suicide prevention.

In addition to the four suicides this year, when jury selection began for her trial, there were two drug-overdose deaths and Wade “seemed fine.” Bailiffs who rememtwo natural deaths, one of which was Alba bered Wade from previous cases would Cornelio, who in February was found guilty stop Scogin and tell her they thought Wade of manslaughter after her two pit bulls at- was doing really well.

But, on Friday, April 26, after returning tacked and killed her neighbor. Cornelio, who was battling leukemia, collapsed af- from the second day of jury selection, Wade ter the verdict and was taken to the hospi- refused to shower or leave her cell for rectal, where she died a month later. Though reation time, according to the medical exshe wasn’t incarcerated at the time of her aminer’s report. She remained in her cell on death, because she was in Sheriff’s custo- Saturday, too.

Sheriff’s Department policy requires dy—shackled to her bed—both the state Attorney General’s office and the federal De- deputies to conduct security checks “on partment of Justice, which track jail deaths, an hourly or more frequent basis”; they’re supposed to “look in each cell, and observe consider Cornelio to have died in custody.

The remaining two deaths are still be- each inmate for any obvious signs of mediing investigated by the Medical Exam- cal distress, trauma, or criminal activity.”

The medical examiner’s report notes iner’s office. One of those is David Inge, whose daughter, Nichole Johnson, says a that at 12:16 p.m. on Sunday, April 28, Wade homicide detective told her that her father was observed in her cell during a routine had complained about feeling ill when he security check. She wasn’t checked on was booked into the Vista Detention Facil- again for almost two hours, when she was found hanging from her bunk. ity on Aug. 9.

The report notes that Wade had no his“But I guess they hear that a lot, because they didn’t take it too seriously,” tory of suicide attempts or threats and was she says. given Zyprexa, an anti-psychotic medicaEarly on Aug. 10, Inge was found unre- tion, nightly. But the report also suggests sponsive. Johnson hopes her father’s autop- that since returning from court on Friday, sy report will offer more information.

Wade had quickly gone downhill. In adOf the 20 suidition to refusing cides in San Diego shower and rec time, “You don’t have to average County jails since she’d made a mess of 2007, only two have her cell. Her things two or three suicides a year been women, both were scattered all in your jail system.” of them diagnosed over, she’d drawn a with mental illness. swastika on the wall —Lindsay Hayes Qiongxian Wang and, according to Wu fashioned a the report, “chronic noose out of a pair of socks and hanged urination was noted to her top bunk bed herself on Feb. 27, 2011, and 64-year-old and the floor.”

Anna Wade used a bed sheet to hang herAn investigation by the Citizens Law self from her bunk on April 28 of this year. Enforcement Review Board, the oversight Both were at Las Colinas Women’s Cor- body that reviews jail deaths and officerrectional Facility. related misconduct, found that the deputy Wade, who was schizophrenic, had whose job it was to notify other deputies been in custody for more than two years to perform a floor check had failed to do after being charged with stalking for send- so, but there was “insufficient information ing threatening letters to a former attor- to determine if a mandated security check ney and a police officer who’d arrested that was not performed, could have preher. The letters, which are included in cluded this suicide in any way.”

Wade’s court file, are largely nonsensical.

Written in English, Spanish, Arabic and Write to kellyd@sdcitybeat.com gibberish, they’re filled with anti-Semitic and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

David Rolland

Kevin Faulconer, in a 2012 photo

spin cycle

john r.

lamb Kevin Faulconer’s PR days “Public-relations specialists make flower arrangements of the facts, placing them so that the wilted and less attractive petals are hidden by sturdy blooms.”

—Alan Harrington Most biographical sketches of San Diego City Councilmember Kevin Faulconer seem truncated. Born in Oxnard, student-body president at his alma mater San Diego State University, and twoterm District 2 representative seem the typical highlights.

But for more than a decade prior to his 2006 special-election council victory to replace Michael Zucchet, Faulconer did public relations. Viewed by his colleagues as a handsome, affable, ambitious employee, Faulconer dove into projects with a zest that impressed his superiors.

Karen Hutchens—Faulconer’s boss from 1996 until his election 10 years later at Nelson Communications Group and its successor, NCG Porter Novelli, the megafirm that purchased the local PR shop—remembered first meeting

him at the National Republican Convention in San Diego in 1996.

“He was working for Solem & Associates in San Francisco at the time, but he really wanted to move to San Diego,” Hutchens told Spin Cycle. “He was very impressive—an articulate, bright, ambitious, knowledgeable individual with a strong expertise in what he did.”

Faulconer joined the firm as a senior associate and was soon working with Sharp HealthCare on a proposed expansion of Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, Hutchens said.

But where Faulconer seemed to shine, she said, was when he was assigned to lead the 1998 election campaign to expand the San Diego Convention Center. The City Council at the time had approved a financing plan for the expansion, but a referendum forced a public vote that year. The public had become leery of such deals after the council had approved a new lease agreement with the San Diego Chargers to expand what’s now Qualcomm Stadium.

Facing a distrustful public, Faulconer led the marketing campaign that swept through the city, Hutchens said. In the end, Proposition A won by a landslide, and the rest, as they say, is history.

While marketing was Faulconer’s forte, he did once register briefly as a lobbyist in 2001.

Hutchens said her memory of that time is vague now, but Faulconer’s lobbying client was his old college stamping grounds, the Associated Students of San Diego State University, the school’s studentgovernance organization.

Hutchens said Faulconer’s job was to calm the fears of neighbors who worried that expansion of the college—from a new parking structure to a sports arena—would overwhelm the community. “He was the leader of many meetings with neighbors,” she said. “I think it’s the common theme about Kevin: He’s very good at bringing diverse interests together for a common cause.”

So, naturally, he would now make a good mayor, right?

Hutchens paused, then said diplomatically, “I have the highest regard for Kevin, but last year I made a strong investment in Nathan Fletcher’s campaign. It pains me that these two are going head-to-head this year. But my feeling is that for vision, leadership and experience, I think Nathan is the stronger candidate at this time.”

Same goes for Bob Nelson, for whom Nelson Communications Group was named. While he sold

Spin cycle CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 11

Spin cycle CONTINUED from PAGE 11 the company years ago, Nelson still considers Faulconer his closest friend among the mayoral frontrunners.

Nelson described Faulconer as the “photographic negative opposite” of former Mayor Bob Filner, whom he described as “more of an arsonist who was willing to throw a firebomb into the room” but lacked adequate firefighting skills.

“That’s not what you get with Kevin,” Nelson told Spin Cycle in a phone interview from Istanbul, Turkey, where he’s vacationing.

“In many ways, he’s the ideal Republican candidate. For people who like stability and predictability, he’s a lot like the stock market.

Some people like to invest in what they feel is going to produce a reliable return.”

But for all his personal flaws, Filner did raise the bar on the idea of doing the traditionally impossible in staid San Diego. “I just think Fletcher is the right guy now to carry out bold initiatives, and Kevin is more akin to [former Mayor Jerry] Sanders.

More predictable,” said Nelson, who now serves as a port com-

12 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

missioner, thanks in no small part to Faulconer’s recommendation.

Nelson, who said he helped guide Faulconer “over a long period of time” to be more supportive of LGBT issues, did acknowledge that his decision to support Fletcher’s mayoral run was “painful for me,” but in politics “you support someone who you think is the right person at the right time.”

Mike McDade, an attorney now semi-retired but at one time arguably the most powerful lobbyist in San Diego, worked with Faulconer during his PR days, including on the convention-center expansion.

While he said that, at the time, “the furthest thing from my thoughts would have been that Kevin would some day be running for mayor,” McDade said he’s watched Faulconer grow into someone more knowledgeable about San Diego over the last couple years.

“I thought he needed more seasoning, and it’s proved to be true,” the former chief of staff to Mayor Roger Hedgecock told Spin. “He stopped being sort of a knee-jerk Republican and started getting in-depth into the issues.

He was also willing to step forward and take a leadership role, particularly regarding Mission

Bay and, more recently, the Filner situation.”

McDade said he’s backing Faulconer in this race, but he agrees that the candidate won’t be admired in every community.

“I can’t say he’s become the advocate for all of the low-income districts in San Diego,” he said.

And while McDade—a former port commissioner himself—can see both sides to the argument now bubbling forth over land uses in Barrio Logan, he said the issue isn’t as Henny Penny for businesses as Faulconer portrays it.

“For shipbuilders, [new zoning] might make it inconvenient for them, but I don’t think it’s in any way a death knell for them,” he said.

While Faulconer campaign spokesperson Tony Manolatos took exception to claims that his candidate can’t be bold—he pointed to Mission Bay among examples—he did say that Faulconer is who he is.

“We’re running Kevin right down the middle,” Manolatos said. “We’re not going to reinvent him.”

Write to johnl@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

edwin

sordid tales

decker Abolish mandatory sexual-harassment training I read in U-T San Diego that all four major mayoral 1. Jeanette works in the marketing department. candidates had scored 100 percent on a sexual-haWhen she walks, her breasts sway like lobster rassment quiz devised by the U-T Watchdog team. buoys. However, Jeanette is frigid. You know I’m actually impressed. I took the same quiz, and this because she always says, “Bugger off, weathat mo-fo was hard! I got six out of 28 wrong, such sel!” any time you talk to her. What is the best as this one (abridged): “[Lily and Steve are dating] and way to warm her up? their affectionate moments are becoming more public A. Create friction by rubbing against her. around the office. What, if anything, should you do?”

B. Whisper in her ear that every woman needs a Fuck if I know! Tell ’em to get a room, I guess. man who can love her, touch her and hold her— Apparently, the only people who scored 100 hostage in the basement. were the mayoral candidates, probably because they all received something called “sexual harass2. Alison is in sales. She has an ass that was carved ment training.” I never knew this before, but the

by Da Vinci, painted by Monet and tapped by Bill California Fair Employment and Housing Act rein accounting (so he says). She adores you and quires the city (and all businesses with more than wants to make sweet love. The only problem, 50 employees) to provide “sexual harassment trainshe doesn’t know it and always declines when ing to each supervisory employee….” you ask her out. Do you: When I read about mandatory sexual-harassment A. Call her a soulless dyke and go see if Jeanette training, I was disgusted. In this day and age, when has thawed out yet? we’ve finally come to understand how harmful and B. Tell her husband she is sleeping around so they dehumanizing this behavior can be, it’s a straight-up get into a fight and she shows up on your doorstep travesty that we have mandatory courses to “train” in the rain—her nut-brown hair dripping down people how to be sexual harassers. So, the other her neck, her heaving chest visible through a night, I attended one of these cold, wet blouse—and leaps into state-sanctioned sessions, and I your arms for sexual healing? can tell you, it was unnerving.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Joe About 30 men showed up 3. Carrie is your secretary. said, “but my hands are for the class, which was held in Her lips are always wet and a small hotel convention room. swollen—like a python that hungry falcons and your On the chalk board was writate a dolphin. You’ve been breasts look like rabbits.” ten the course mantra: “It’s not courting her for months, and sexual harassment. It’s sexy haone day she finally agrees to rassment!” meet you at a bar, albeit as The speaker lectured for about an hour, then had friends. When is the best time to spike her drink? us perform different exercises: We worked on our A. Before she calls you a jerk and slaps you in wolf whistles; we memorized dirty limericks; we the face. practiced different methods of “exit blocking” and B. After she calls you a jerk and slaps you in learned how to draw pictures of genitalia on Post-it the face. notes. After a short break, the speaker brought out a young woman who sat in a chair at the front of 4. We’ve all heard the phrase “No means no.” But the room. when does “No” mean “Yes”?

“Let’s see what we’ve learned,” he said, calling A. When she’s shouting it over and over, wildup a man named Joe. “OK, Joe, go over there and eyed and infuriated. sexy harass the shit out of that woman!” Joe apB. When she follows it with, “not now, not proached and began massaging her shoulders. ever, weirdo!”

“Good, good. Start off slow and easy,” the speakC. When you are her boss and you get to define er said. words however you please.

“Your lady melons look very bouncy today,” Joe told the woman. “Are you trying out some new bra 5. It’s Dianne’s first day on the job. She’s got legs technology?” that could rip a stripper pole from its mount. How “Excellent!” blurted the speaker. “Women love do you make her feel welcome at her new job? compliments.” Then Joe reached around and fonA. Talk about her figure to the other men in the dled the woman’s breasts. office while pointing and leering. Women love “No, no, no! You don’t reach and grope. You must attention. lightly brush against them, like it was an accident.

B. Draw a tasteful picture of a cock and balls and Now apologize.”

Post-it to her monitor.

“I’m sorry, baby,” Joe said, “but my hands are C. Recite your favorite dirty limerick and slap hungry falcons and your breasts look like rabbits.’” her hard on the back saying, “I like you! You’re one of the guys.”

“Perfect,” the teacher said. And so it went for about an hour, with different people coming up and Write to ed@sdcitybeat.com and trying their hand at sexy harassing the poor woman. editor@sdcitybeat.com.

After that came the Sexy Harassment Training Quiz:

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

the floating

library

by jim ruland

Portrait of the artist as a young soldier The new biography of J.D. Salinger by David Shields and Shane Salerno is a deeply sad book.

Salinger begins with an astonishing portrait of the artist during WWII. He was attached to Fourth Division, which suffered some of the worst casualties in the war. He arrived on Utah Beach on D-Day, fought in the flooded hedgerows of Normandy, endured the strange hell of the Hürtgen Forest and survived the Battle of the Bulge. Incredibly, Salinger carried with him an early draft of Catcher in the Rye and worked on it whenever he could.

Salinger was in the Counter Intelligence Corps, and his job was to gather intel, make arrests and interrogate prisoners and civilians.

He wasn’t in combat with the regular infantrymen, but a foxhole is a foxhole.

The worst thing Salinger saw came at the very end of the war, when he was sent to Kaufering Lager IV, a sub-camp of Dachau, where the sick and injured were interred. Before the Nazis fled, they herded all the prisoners into ramshackle barracks and torched the buildings. It was a scene for which Salinger was completely unprepared.

Robert Azburg, one of the book’s many advisors, describes what it was like: “For a soldier like Salinger walking into a camp, there was a stillness to it and a craziness to it. You were caught off guard. You weren’t psyched for battle. These weren’t liberations in the sense of busting down the gates or anything like that. The war was over; you could let down your guard a little. These soldiers basically walked into these horrific situations. Unguarded and unsuspecting, they were walking into an open place. This was like opening up, and falling into, a graveyard.”

Salinger wasn’t some grunt following orders.

As a CIC guy, his job was to understand what happened and why, and then pass that information up the chain of command. He couldn’t ignore the madness. He had to get to the bottom of it, and how the hell do you do that? How do you process the insanity of a place like Kaufering IV? It’s no wonder that he ended up having a nervous breakdown shortly afterward.

Salinger is an oral history composed by hundreds of people the authors interviewed or sourced. It’s an interesting approach, and

14 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

an effective one. Let the military people comment on Salinger’s wartime years, the publishing people speak about Salinger the writer, etc.

Shields and Salerno craft the message they want by shaping and directing the conversation. It’s manipulative, but good art usually is.

It makes sense that the book is paired with a documentary, because it reads like one. There’s a lot of overlap in the book, which is by design, but the conclusions Shields and Salerno draw get repeated over and over again, and that weakens them.

It’s tempting to view Salinger’s retreat from the world through the lens of his wartime experiences. But Salinger didn’t retreat. He didn’t hole up and hide out. He simply moved his operations to a remote location and continued to engage the world with increasing contempt and disdain. Over time, his dispatches became increasingly one-sided: The messages came out on his terms, according to his schedule. His most consistent message was, “No”—unless you happened to be a very young girl of a certain type.

Then the message was quite different. That message was “Come to me.”

Some of them came.

Some of them stayed, at least for a little while.

When they left (or were asked to leave), Salinger would find a new one.

Even though he kept getting older, they stayed the same age. In spite of Salinger’s so-called renunciation of literary fame, there’s no question he used it to gain access to these young women. It’s creepy.

It’s reprehensible. But, most of all, it’s sad.

Because Salinger decided to stop publishing his work, the story of Salinger the artist has no end. It’s been interrupted. Salinger helps us understand why that’s so, but it doesn’t change the terms of the interruption. If Salinger’s decision not to publish is like a suicide, then Shields and Salerno’s massive biography is the note. A suicide note can illuminate, but it can never explain. Until we get our hands on the material Salinger was working on all those years in the woods, the story is incomplete. After reading Salinger, when that day comes I’ll greet it with far less fanfare.

Write to jimr@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

the

SHORTlist

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INSPIRED BY MASKED MEN

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SCHOLARS OF BEER

COORDINATED BY ALEX ZARAGOZA

“I always say that the lucha mask is just as much part of our culture as zarapes, sombreros and tacos.

It’s just one of those things we should preserve.”

So says Ruben Torres, curator and organizer of The HeART of Lucha. The second annual art exhibition, happening from 5 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Oct. 19, features pieces inspired by lucha libre, Mexico’s infamous and spectacular wrestling sport that pits grown men adorned in garish costumes and masks against each other in the ring.

A painting of a lady Lucha fighter by Stephanie Cervantes The sport is heavily ingrained in Mexican culture, and its fighters were gods to every Mexican kid with a penchant Avila’s lucha documentary Tales of Masked Men, DJs for ass-kicking and theatrics. getting the party jumping and raffles to benefit a local “We would look at those guys as superheroes,” cancer patient, plus food, drink, arts and crafts vendors Torres says. “They would fight mummies and bad and a live set from San Diego’s B-Side Players. Torres guys. They were our Batman. You feel that nostalgia also added one very specific element, which came at when you see the mask.” the request of a few of last year’s attendees.

Last year’s event was huge, but Torres has somehow “People came up to me and were like, ‘Dude, this managed to make it bigger and wilder. More than 100 event was awesome. The only thing it was missing artists from all over the world, including Lalo Alcaraz, was wrestling.’ So, I was like, ‘OK, we can do that,” Mario Torrero, Frank Wallz and Sho Love, will display says Torres, who delivered by scheduling five bouts their art at Centro Cultural de la Raza (2004 Park Blvd. involving fighters from the Oddity Wrestling Alliin Balboa Park). There will be a screening of Carlos ance in a ring built for the event.

The exhibition is truly unlike anything else. Bonus: The fun continues from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, with a special family day. facebook.com/ heartoflucha Want to start your own brewery or perhaps just dominate dinner-table conversations about microbrews? Craft Beer + Bites serves as both a launch party for SDSU’s new San Diego’s proximity to Tijuana means certificate program in the business of craft beer and a having access to a broader cultural palfundraiser for the San Diego Brewers Guild. Chat up ette than non-border cities, including a representatives from both from 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, or, go simply to enjoy tastes from brewers like rich musical tradition that extends from folk to clasMonkey Paw, Societe and Mission Brewery and bites sical sounds. Listeners and museum patrons will be from Red Oven Pizza, Mangia Mangia and others. Hap- able to witness that sonic intermingling firsthand pening at SILO in Makers Quarter (753 15th St. in East at a special concert by the Tijuana String QuarVillage), the new outdoor venue will also host games tet in Balboa Park. The Baja California chamber (bocce pall, ping pong, life-size Jenga), a local artisan group will perform a vast array of music, from pop showcase and pumpkin carving. Dogs are welcome, but to classical, including tango standard humans must be at least 21. Tickets are $35.

“Por Una Cabeza” by Carlos Gardel and a gracefully dissonant sound with Shostakovich’s “String Quartet No. 8.” The quartet performs at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Timken Museum of Art in Balboa Park. Tickets are $40 and include a wine reception.

Silo at Maker’s Quarter timkenmuseum.org Tijuana String Quartet

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16 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

STRING THEORY

ART HKim MacConnel at SDSU Downtown Gallery, 725 W. Broadway. Have a chat and take a walk-through with MacConnel, one of the 10 artists featured in the gallery’s new Spectra exhibition, which explores color as both element and subject in painting, sculpture, video, performance and sound installation. At 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17. downtowngallery.sdsu.edu HShinichi Sugimoto at White Box Contemporary Art, 1040 Seventh Ave., Downtown. A reception celebrating the paintings in the Kyoto artist’s international exhibition City of Gravity. On view through Nov. 1. From 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. whiteboxcontemporary.com HThe Complete Frida Kahlo at Liberty

Station, Barracks 3, 2765 Truxtun Road, Point Loma. Exhibition features replicas of Kahlo’s art, jewelry, dresses and adornments and photos. Opens from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. On view through Jan. 10 on Tuesdays through Sundays. $12.50-$16.50. 619-573-9300, thecompletefrida.com

versity Heights. Part of Taste of University Heights, the Arts Open features works and talks by painters, sculptors, potters, dancers, poets and musicians. Visitors can see studios, view exhibitions, chat with the artists and watch performances.

See website for full list of venues. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. Free.

619-508-4075, UHarts.org

We Are The Makers at 5ifty Three Gallery, 353 E. Broadway, Vista. New works from street artists Keemowerks & E.VIL of The NastyKEMical Crew from National City. DJ Adikt One and DJ BurnOne will provide the soundtrack, and there will also be vendors, performances and an openmic. From 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, facebook.com/events/370456233084266

Hostel Takeover Art Show at Hostelling International, 521 Market St., Downtown.

Patrons can view and purchase art made

by San Diego artists or bring their own to sell. All mediums are welcome. From 6 to 11 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. $3 suggested donation. 619-525-1531, sandiego hostels.org/downtownhostel

University Heights Arts Open at Uni-

Foxy Ladies at Basic, 410 10th Ave.,

East Village. The event will feature local fashion bloggers selling their stylish garments. Also, Thumbprint Gallery will hold a group art show featuring images of women created by San Diego artists.

From 7 p.m. to midnight, Tuesday, Oct. 22. 619-531-8869, vixensd.com

BOOKS Graeme Simsion at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The bestselling novelist will discuss and sign The Rosie Project, about an oddly charming and socially challenged professor on a quest to find out if he’s capable of true love. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17.

858-454-0347, warwicks.indiebound.com

D.N. Sutton at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. As part of the continuing series of Weekend with Locals events, Warwick’s will host the author of Romantic Tales from Old Mulvedania. At noon Sunday, Oct. 20. 858-454-0347, warwicks.indiebound.com The Oatmeal at Barnes & Noble Mira Mesa, 10775 Westview Pkwy., Mira Mesa.

Matthew Inman, the cartoonist behind the web comic “The Oatmeal” will stop by to sign and discuss his new book of collected cartoons, Why Grizzly Bears Should Wear Under Pants. At 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18. 858-684-3166, facebook. com/events/158527807679319

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 17

high-octane fusion of dance, sound, language and light. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. $28-46. 858-534-8497, artpwr.com

FASHION Fall Sparkle & Sip Pop-Up Shop at Toast Enoteca & Cucina, 927 J St., East Village. Designers like Love Tatum, Killer Styling, FeNa and more will show off their wares, plus complimentary light bites, wine and styling tips by Nubry’s Britt and Gretchen Hackmann. Raffle will benefit Dress for Success San Diego.

From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23. 619-269-4207, facebook.com/ events/597987153576600

FOOD & DRINK

“Feeling the Good Vibe” by Isaias Crow will be on view in Integral Players, a group exhibition opening from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at Visual (3524 Adams Ave. in Normal Heights).

COMEDY Greg Fitzsimmons at American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. Fitzsimmons is an Emmy-winning writer and host on radio and TV. He’ll be recording one of his hugely popular “FitzDog Radio” podcasts this night. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17. $15. 619-795-3858, americancomedy co.com/fitzdog-radio-podcast.html Trick-ROAR-Treat Improv at Twiggs Bakery & Coffeehouse, 2804 Adams Ave.,

Normal Heights. Join the Roar Theatre group at its Halloween-themed show, a mixture of short- and long-form improv (a mini-play based on a suggestion). From 8 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17. $5. 619276-7627, roartheatre.com

DANCE Sydney Dance Company at Mandeville Auditorium, UCSD. A night of exuberant,

18 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

HAfrican Restaurant Week at Media Arts Center San Diego, 2921 El Cajon Blvd., North Park. Celebrate El Cajon Boulevard’s excellent African restaurants.

The week kicks off with a party at Media Arts Center that includes live music, a film screening, drum calls and, of course, food. From 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18.

619-230-1938, africanfoodsd.com Humptoberfest at Latitude 33 Brewing Co., 1430 Vantage Court, Suite 104, Vista.

Craft-brew fans should get prepared for this event featuring music, contests and six different beers from the Camel Corps IPA line. There will also be a Camel Corps Costume Competition where guests are encouraged to come dressed as a member of the U.S. Army’s short-lived Camel Corps. From noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. 855-598-2337, lat33brew.com

A Taste of Coronado at Rotary Plaza, corner of Orange and Park Place, Coronado. Meander along Orange Avenue or take a ride on the free trolley to try some of the island’s best fare. Restaurants include Saiko Sushi, Il Fornaio, Village Pizzeria and Little Piggy’s Bar-B-Q. From 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 16. $35-$40. atasteofcoronado.com

My Sunfired Plate at World Beat Cultural Center, 2100 Park Blvd., Balboa Park. Dr. Aris LaTham teaches a four-hour, handson workshop on how to make exotic juices and salads, plus nutmeats and his acclaimed Paradise Pies. From 1 to 4 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 19, and 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. Free. 619-230-1190, worldbeatculturalcenter.memberlodge.com

HChocolate Unwrapped: The Science of Flavor at Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, 1875 El Prado, Balboa Park. Got chocolate or beer on your mind? This is a sweets-and-suds tasting pairing Eclipse Chocolat and Green Flash Brewing. Samples will be available from local breweries and restaurants, including Manzanita Brewing and Ritual Tavern. Part of the Fleet’s “Science on the Rocks” events.

From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17. $25-$30. 619-238-1233, rhfleet.org/ events/science-rocks

Pour it Black at Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens, 1999 Citracado Pkwy, Escondido. Choose from among more than 100 of the darkest, deepest beers on the planet. A ticket gets you 15 3-ounce tastes. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. $45. brownpapertickets. com/event/331895 Samples for the Sea at Roppongi, 875 Prospect St., La Jolla. This benefit for the Surfrider Foundation lets guests blindtaste 10 wines and 10 beers and guess what they’re tasting. Winners get a prize.

Alos, live entertainment, appetizers from Roppongi and dessert from Extraordinary Desserts and Sprinkles Cupcakes. From 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. $40.

858-551-5252, facebook.com/events/ 236453606505263 Taste of University Heights at University Heights. A self-guided walking tour showcasing more than 17 eateries.

Participants include American Voodoo, Monica’s at the Park, Muzita, Small Bar, Plumeria, Taste of Africa, BBQ81, Big Front Door and Great Maple. From noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. $20-$25. bestofuniversityheights.com A Taste of Opera at Tapenade, 7612 Fay Ave., La Jolla. Dine on a three-course French dinner at Tapenade while San Diego Opera’s Nicolas Reveles explores the music and windmill themes in Don Quixote with Gonzalo Stabile of EDF Renewable Energy, who’ll give diners his perspective on wind energy. At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23. $55. 858-551-7500, sdopera.com

MUSIC Ruth Moody Band at Museum of Making Music, 5790 Armada Drive, Carlsbad.

Ruth Moody is a Juno Award-winning songwriter from Winnipeg, a founding member of the renowned trio The Wailin’ Jennys. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17. $15-$20. 760-438-5996, museumofmakingmusic.org A Journey through Mexican Music at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. A journey through five centuries of Mexican music from soloists from the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17. Free. 760-839-4190, artcenter.

THEATER

org/performances/1314festivalevents Stephanie Aston at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. The soprano and a strings-and-piano quartet performs “Mysteries of the Macabre” by Gyorgy Ligeti, as well as works by Giacinto Scelsi and Gyorgy Kurtag. Rounding out the program are rollicking songs by Charles Ives. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17. $10$25. 858-454-5872, ljathenaeum.org Hillcrest Wind Ensemble & Amadeus Ensemble at First Unitarian Universalist Church, 4190 Front St., Hillcrest. The Hillcrest Wind Ensemble welcomes quests The Amadeus Ensemble of Copenhagen.

The two ensembles will share the stage for an evening of classical wind music. At 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18. $15. 619-692-2077 ext. 814, hillcrestwindensemble.com Bill Conti at the Academy Awards at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown. Academy Award-winner Conti makes his debut as San Diego Symphony’s new principal pops conductor. He’ll pay tribute to the most honored and popular scores ever written for the silver screen, including Saturday Night Fever, The Godfather and 2001: A Space Odyssey. At 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18. $20-$85. 619-2350804, sandiegosymphony.org HStay Strange at Space 4 Art, 325 15th St., East Village. A traveling music series that specializes in experimental, noise, outsider art and music. This night includes video artist Eliot Alan Walnut performing “Image Mysticism: The Curse of Watching” and The Theatre of Opposition, a guerrilla performance-art collective led

by San Diego’s Meyer Hirsch. At 8 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 19. $5. 619-269-7230, sd-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 20

Two different shades of darkness Reliant though it is upon staginess (eerie Let it. mood music, periodic plunging of the audiWait Until Dark runs through Oct. 27 at ence into total darkness), New Village Arts New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad. $28Theatre’s production of Frederick Knott’s $31. newvillagearts.org JERRY JOZWIAK Wait Until Dark is thoroughly entertaining. If the title rings a bell, you may The Amish Project is a tour be remembering the 1967 de force for Iliana Carter, film that starred Audrey who plays multiple roles in Hepburn as a blind woman Jessica Dickey’s one-woman preyed upon in her New play, presented by Mo’olelo York City apartment by Performing Arts Company lowlifes in search of a doll at the 10th Avenue Theatre stuffed with drugs. You in East Village. Clad in a may not know it was based traditional Amish woman’s on Knott’s play, which predress, apron and bonnet, miered a year earlier.

Carter reenacts the tragedy The NVA staging is taut (and aftermath) of a 2006 and atmospheric. Kristin shooting at a Pennsylvania Woodburn plays blind Susy schoolhouse that left five Hendrix with the needed girls dead. blend of spine and vulnerDaren Scott and Kirstin With props as sparse as ability. The heavies (Daren Woodburn in Wait Until Dark a schoolhouse blackboard Scott, Eddie Yaroch and Max Macke) are a little one-note, but 10-year- and a hunk of chalk, Carter assumes practiold Abby DeSpain is remarkable in the role of cally from moment to moment the personas the feisty, wise-beyond-her-years neighbor of the innocent schoolchildren, the gunman (who took his own life in the spree), the killer’s girl who helps Susy foil the bad guys.

Wait Until Dark will startle you, and even tormented widow and others in the village of Nickel Mines. scare you, if you let it.

•••

The constant shift in character is a testament to Carter’s commitment and versatility, though the impact of some of the portrayals is sacrificed in the process—the breakdown of the widow, for one. That pain says so much about the other victims of massacres like this one—the guilt-ridden survivors—and you want to absorb it and let it get inside you, over time.

By play’s end, all of the Nickel Mines men, women and children may be a troubled jumble in your mind. Yet, even if they are, you won’t forget them, and that’s what matters most.

The Amish Project ends its run on Sunday, Oct. 20. $15-$20. moolelo.net

—David L. Coddon Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING A... My Name is Alice: SDSU students stage musical numbers, monologues and sketch comedy, all from a woman’s perspective. Runs Oct. 18 through 27 in SDSU’s Experimental Theatre. theatre.sdsu.edu Broken Glass: In Arthur Miller’s play set in 1930s New York, a doctor believes a woman’s paralysis is all in her head, and as he treats her, aspects of her marriage are revealed. Opens Oct. 16 at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach. northcoastrep.org

For full listings, please visit “T heater ” at sdcit yb eat.com

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 19

space4art.org Mozart Magic at Crill Performance Hall, Point Loma Nazarene University. Cabrillo Chamber Orchestra performs an all-Mozart concert featuring Robert Carter performing the “Clarinet Concerto” and concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony and San Diego native Frank Almond conducting and performing Mozart’s “Violin Concerto No. 1” on the Lipinski Stradavari violin. From 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. $20-$60. 619-300-5520, cco-sd.com The Center Chorale: King David at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. The 2013-14 season kicks off with Arthur Honegger’s dramatic oratorio “King David” paired with Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms.”

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. $10-$25.

800-988-4253, artcenter.org Rocktoberfest at West Coast Tavern, 2895 University Ave., North Park. Described as the show that wouldn’t die, there will be two stages, beer stands and awesome bands like Pinback, The White Buffalo, Little Hurricane, El Vez Punk Rock Revue, Tropical Popsicle, Barbarian, Black Hondo and Octa#Grape. At 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. $15. westcoasttavern. frontgatetickets.com KPRI Block Party at Liberty Station, Roosevelt and Cushing, Point Loma. The music fest will feature performances by The Boxer Rebellion, Brett Dennen, Serena Ryder and headliners Michael Franti & Spearhead. It benefits the San Diego Food Bank. Bring a can of food to the show to be entered to in a meet-and- greet with the bands. From 2:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. $50-$93. kprifm.com/blockparty Trumpets ‘R’ Us at Museum of Making Music, 5790 Armada Drive, Carlsbad. The

20 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

ensemble of 12 trumpets, piano, guitar, bass, drums and tuba performs unique renditions of traditional, swing, jazz, Latin, classical and pop arrangements. At 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. $5-$8. 760-4385996, museumofmakingmusic.org Pacific Bach Project: Angels & Demons at The Village Presbyterian Church, 6225 Paseo Delicias, Rancho Santa Fe. After their sold-out debut last season, the dynamic period-instrument orchestra and choir presents “Angels and Demons,” featuring festive music from Bach’s cantatas for St. Michael’s Day. At 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. $25-$75. 858-756-2441, pacific bach.com Khayal of the Agra Gharana at Encinitas Library, 540 Cornish Drive, Encinitas.

This Indian classical vocal concert features a Hindustani recital by the Sanjukta Biswas, accompanied by Arup Chattopadhyay on tabla. From 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. $20. 760-753-2860, ragarasa.org HKonk Pack at Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights. Thomas Lehn on analog synthesizer, Roger Turner on percussion and Tim Hodgkinson lap-steel guitar, electronics and clarinet. For more than a decade, this group has amazed audiences with its rapid-fire interplay. Part of the Fresh Sound series. At 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. $10-$15. henceforthrecords.com The Silk Road Ensemble at Sherwood Auditorium, 700 Prospect St, La Jolla. Performers and composers from more than 20 countries who collaborate on a diverse range of musical and multimedia projects present an innovative performance that combines Eastern and Western traditions.

At 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. $25-$65. 858454-3541, ljms.org Jessie & Friends at First Presbyterian

Church, 320 Date St., Downtown. Concert pianist Jessie Chang joins four friends from the San Diego Symphony for an evening of chamber music. At 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. 619-232-7513, fpcsd.org The Acoustic Experiment at ArtLab Studios, 3536 Adams Ave., Normal Heights.

Six local singer-songwriters showcase their originals and honor local musicians by covering their music. Performers include Sierra West, Brenden Bourgeois, Charlie Recksieck, Emily Drew, Kenny Eng and Marie Haddad. Proceeds benefit San Diego Youth Services. From 7:30 to 11 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23. Suggested donation. 619-283-1151, facebook. com/theacousticexperiment

PERFORMANCE Omo Ache 15th Anniversary Celebration at World Beat Cultural Center, 2100 Park Blvd., Balboa Park. Celebrate 15 years of Afro-Cuban music, dance and culture in San Diego with live performances, authentic Cuban food and salsadance classes with live DJs. From 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. $10. 619-2301190, worldbeatcenter.org Khaossia at Carlsbad Community Culture Arts Center, 2822 State St., Carlsbad.

The musical performance troupe from the Salento, Italy, combines the theatrics of a play with the hypnotizing visuals of film, merging both with gorgeous live music and dance for “Eos: Love Across Time, Space, and Sound,” a concert based on true events involving an Italian girl and a Jewish boy sent from a Nazi death camp to Puglia. At 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 19-20. $25. tickets.lfjcc.org

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD HLester Bangs Memorial Reading at Grossmont College. Faculty and alumni from the Creative Writing Program and other writers read their original poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction while paying tribute to Grossmont College alumnus Bangs. In Room 220 of Building 26. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22. 619-644-7000, grossmont.edu/english/creativewriting/ upcomingevents.html UCSD New Writing Series at UCSD SME Performance Space Room. Double reading from Pierre Joris and Nicole Peyrafitte. Joris is the author of more than 50 books of poetry, translations, anthologies and essays. Peyrafitte is a “Gasco-Rican pluridisciplinary artist.” From 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23. 858-5342230, literature.ucsd.edu

ies, including an extensive selection of houseplants and succulents. There’ll also be a used-book sale, homemade jams and jellies and the Botanic Attic featuring new and gently used garden items. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 19-20. sdbgarden.org Exhibit Ambush: Phase 2 at Port Pavilion on the Broadway Pier, 1000 North Harbor Drive. This collaboration of artists and fashion designers will benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Designers will create work on a set that resembles the Addams Family house. Imagine clothes made out of recycled fabric, designers pairing up with chefs and special-effects make-up artists and models that resemble robots or aliens. From 5 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. $40. ambushevents.com

Fifi’s Fourth Annual Glamfest at Lips, 3036 El Cajon Blvd., Normal Heights.

Glamfest, the inspiration of longtime Lips performer and sassy mistress of ceremonies, Fifi, will feature more than 14 drag queens. Attendees will also be treated to a three-course meal, a silent auction and prizes. All proceeds benefit the Autism Society San Diego. At 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. $40-$50. lipssd.com

SPORTS SD Roller Derby vs. Hellazona at Skateworld Roller Rink, 6907 Linda Vista Road, Linda Vista. Watch San Diego Roller Derby’s co-ed team beat down the best of what Arizona roller derby has to offer.

At 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. $10-$12.

858-560-9349, sandiegorollerderby.com

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS Omali Yeshitela at World Beat Cultural Center, 2100 Park Blvd., Balboa Park. The founder of the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement brings his “One Africa, One Nation, One Party” tour to town to speak on social equality for Africa and all people. From 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17. Free. 619-230-1190, worldbeatculturalcenter.memberlodge.com Our Energy Future: Economic and Social Issues of Energy at Atkinson Hall Auditorium, UCSD. Experts will discuss the

future of energy, followed by a reception.

From 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17. $10. 858 634-6383, energycenter.org HCulinary Historians of San Diego at New Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village. This monthly lecture series kicks off with “Cheese Through Time & Space, or How the Curds Always Find a Whey” featuring Andrew Spurgin. On the ninth floor in the Darlene Shiley Event Suite. At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. Free. 5449896, chsandiego.com

For full listings,

please visit “E vents” at sdcit yb eat.com

SPECIAL EVENTS Walk a Mile in Her Shoes at Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade, Harbor Drive, Downtown. This fundraiser asks men (and women and children) to literally walk one mile in women’s high-heeled shoes as a symbol of their commitment to ending domestic violence. From 5 to 8 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 17. $40 registration fee. crowdrise.com/walkamileinhershoes2013 A Night in Havana at Westgate Hotel, 1055 Second Ave., Downtown. The Westgate’s Riviera Terrace re-creates the best of Cuban culture. Indulge in a tapas buffet along with exotic cocktails while listening to the sounds of Gilbert Castellanos and his Afro-Cuban trio. From 7 to 10 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 17. $39. 619-238-1818, westgatehotel.com/events-promotions Harvest Festival at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd. The Harvest Festival features more than 300 artists and craftspeople, live music and strolling entertainers. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Oct. 18-20. $4-$9.

858-755-1161, harvestfestival.com A Night at the Besties at Space 4 Art, 325 15th St., East Village. CityBeat’s 11th annual Best of San Diego celebration will feature live music, an art show and beer and booze sampling from 6 to 8 p.m., plus more than 15 of San Diego’s best restaurants offering samples. Proceeds benefit ArtReach, an organization that brings professional artists to local elementary schools. From 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18. $20. bestofsd.brownpapertickets.com The Tournament of the Phoenix at Poway Rodeo Ground, 14336 Tierra Bonita Road. International “knights” compete in a six-event competition. In addition to the jousting, there’ll be combat on foot, falconry by Falcon’s Court, wordsmanship, live music, handcrafted items from local artisans and beer and food. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 19-20. $12-$22. 760-789-2299, tournamentofthephoenix.com Conjecture 2013 / Conchord 25 Convention at Town & Country Hotel, 500 Hotel Circle N., Mission Valley. San Diego’s indie convention for everything scifi, fantasy and filk music (folk music with sci-fi/fantasy themes). Peruse booths, enjoy music and meet special guests. From 1 to 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20. $50. 619-2917131, 2013.conjecture.org 31st Annual Fall Plant Sale at San Diego Botanic Garden, 230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas. The sale features plants from more than 100 growers and nurser-

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 21

while still creating opportunities for anyone wanting an outlet to work on their creative endeavors. They’ve changed the layout of the site to work with the new direction. There’s a recording studio, art studios, retail space and gallery space, which is showing an exhibition from Tijuana artist TEAK now through the end of the month. The members are even drafting a constitution to make sure the collective holds true to its new ideals.

“We want to be part of the positive changes,” Gigliotti says.

“The things that draw people to a neighborhood are sometimes the things that get lost when gentrification happens. We want to Stronghold Creative Studios and Gallery be part of the arts-and-culture movement. It’s important for us to be there.”

A few details are still being ironed out, but a reopening celebration is in the works.

Seen Local Changes at The Spot

A reason to celebrate

Last summer, ARTS (A Reason to Survive) packed It’s not unheard-of for people to change their name up its paintbrushes and left its Point Loma location. to alter their public perception or signify a difference The organization, which provides creative-arts proin their persona. I’m pretty sure P. Diddy did it about grams and social services to at-risk youth, found a seven times, at one point even asking to be referred new home at 200 E. 12th St. in National City. to as “Swag” for one week.

After more than a year of renovations to the new Barrio Logan gallery and event space The Spot is facility, ARTS (areasontosurvive.org) is ready to celdoing the same. It’s now Stronghold Creative Stu- ebrate with a grand unveiling from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, dios and Gallery (1835 Main St.). The name change Oct. 20. People can tour the facility, view (and buy) signifies a new direction toward functioning more as student art, watch music and dance performances a collective with a focus on providing a creative work and take part in arts-and-crafts projects. space for members. There will still be art shows and “It’s a really big facility, so we’re able to have more events at Stronghold, but fewer of them. programs and more classes,” says spokesperson RuAngela Gigliotti, one of the founders of The Spot ben Ruiz. “We’re able to have more opportunities at and now a member of Stronghold, says the new name is the space that we wouldn’t have had before.” especially pertinent because of the transformation BarThe new facility is located in the former Nario Logan has undergone in the last few years, with the tional City Public Library, so Ruiz says contracaddition of condo developments and cultural spaces. tors had to start from scratch to redesign the space.

“We were talking about the neighborhood being Among the renovations is the addition of a Hall of gentrified,” she says. “Then we thought of the word Inspiration, featuring student art, inspirational ‘stronghold’ and looked up its definition. It felt like quotes and an AstroTurf floor. Students helped dewhat we’re doing.” sign the new music room.

For those without a Webster’s dictionary in hand, “The music room we had before at our old facility “stronghold” has two meanings: 1) “a place where a par- was Sesame Street-themed,” Ruiz says. “A lot of our ticular cause or belief is strongly defended or upheld” kids, especially our music-department kids, are older. and 2) “a place that has been fortified so as to protect it That’s the reason why we allowed them to do that. against attack.”

It’s their space, and Gigliotti believes they’re there for long gentrification has its periods of time. It’s benefits, and Barrio important that they Logan’s seen them. feel comfortable and The number of galreally enjoy the space leries and cultural that they have.” spaces holding reguRuiz says ARTS lar exhibitions and has received much events is the biggest support from the sign of neighborhood city, and the orgaprogress, in her view. nization is excited The Hall of Inspiration at ARTS’ new National City facility However, she fears to, in turn, provide that the positive changes may lead to the neighborhood National City with community outreach and arts becoming overrun by nightclubs or that longtime resi- education for kids. dents will be priced out of the area. Barrio Logan’s rich “Walking in it,” he says, “it’s amazing to see what cultural history could get watered down or even lost the facility will be providing.” as a result of “outsiders” taking advantage of the area’s —Alex Zaragoza new hip status and investment opportunities.

With Stronghold, Gigliotti and the 15 other mem- Write to alexz@sdcitybeat.com bers hope to help preserve Barrio Logan’s identity and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

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ue also brings As usual, our iss ke Ta : al nu the Best of San our 11th an the main event: d Diego issue, ly en al sp re ch the I’d th , bo tle e lit aders Poll, whi hen I was gs that ar s in two thin them Diego Re ur t an allpi ho to g, s in on en th up e lik m e s sa hour good at the little kid in m e re th cla on de ayhem g m d tin an at another brawl. Th my room, sit ys against one d- out, raging to oo g bl , in ld ak -o m ar d . ye Page 60 floor an a winner. My 8erred begins on sured themselves. It would have pref lf enjoy, and rest as se se ty ea Pl irs fight amongst th sla the —p in r. ng ve hi ed te yt rm ha an e was ha ng, but, w could have been ri- that no on ized more killi ho ph ap or et m m po a . ro d ue th te iss this We construc tic animals, an led making of even small stacks ring and schedu ng xi bo l Matchbox cars, ca s er petitor s held togeth s, starring com of baseball card would 15 bout servicey r ca Th s, s. m nd gy ba with rubber like climbing ck ki , shops, ng e hi ffe nc pu -owned co be epic orgies of kill- es, women -food d ul an so ng s, bi he m ic bo hn mi sandw ing, shooting, ba d an ters, n ea io th at incarn ive-in ing—and then re restaurants, dr ore. m d an s jukeboxe more killing. a for dive-bar gi es al st ch no at m as w Maybe it The thrilling boyhood that . my battle-addled start on Page 26 gthe theme su OK to e m ed us ca riter Alex Zaragested by staff w ar’s Best of San goza for this ye

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October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 25

Chalk it up

Joshua Emerson Smith

by Joshua Emerson Smith Two moves away from cleanly finishing a 5.11 at Mission Gorge for the first time, your legs start to shake and your forearms are getting pumped. You know you have to make a move or it’s over, but you’re starting to peel off that slick, polished granite.

If only you’d spent a bit more time in the gym tackling those overhangs and practicing your ninja feet.

For those looking to perfect that bombproof dyno, there are two climbing gyms in San Diego that stand out as the best places to train in between those weekend trips to Joshua Tree.

Both Vertical Hold (9580 Distribution Ave. in Miramar, verticalhold.com) and Mesa Rim (10110 Mesa Rim Road in Mira Mesa, mesarim.com) offer hundreds of indoor top-rope routes and bouldering problems for experts and beginners, but there are some key differences that set one of these contenders apart.

When it comes to route quality, Mesa

comes out ahead of Vertical. Both offer a ton of great climbs, which are changed up on a steady basis. But Mesa offers about 350 routes, as opposed to Vertical’s 325. At the same time, Vertical’s most simple bouldering problems can be a bit difficult for beginners, whereas Mesa’s bouldering facility won’t scare away those just trying to get started.

Also, Vertical’s routes sometimes feel a bit too cozy. At Mesa, there’s more room to do your thing without having to wait for a nearby climber to finish a route or problem.

It’s hard to pick a winner on ambiance.

Mesa has a brighter, airier feel. Vertical, which plays more interesting music, feels edgy and hip but also sort of dark. While Mesa offers the standard padded floors, belayers at Vertical have to stand on stones, an artistic but also needlessly uncomfortable choice. Mesa feels welcoming from Day 1, even for small children. Vertical has a tight community vibe that can seem either familial or alienating depending on who you are.

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Gym-goers practice on the top ropes at Mesa Rim. For penny pinchers, Vertical is the thrifty choice. A monthly membership, automatically debiting out of a banking account, costs $55 for an individual, as opposed to Mesa’s $70. But where Vertical really pulls ahead is with its “couples” and four-person “family rates” of $90 and $110, respectively.

Nice for some, Mesa offers a discount to military, EMT, fire and police officers of $63 a month. Youths 11 to 17 can be added to a parent’s account for $45 a month.

Mesa shines when it comes to its yoginis. Both gyms offer free yoga classes with

memberships, something that’s become standard at climbing gyms. However, Vertical only offers one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mesa offers classes every day and four times a day during the week, and its yoga studio is exquisite—San Diegans pay more for yoga-only memberships that are not half as good as what is available as part of Mesa’s membership.

The winner: In the end, Mesa comes out on top. Not only is it a classy, warm, well-laid-out facility; its yoga classes are a huge bonus.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 27

Sloths can hike, too

Alex Zaragoza

by Alex Zaragoza My love of television and sitting down is well known among my loved ones. In an effort to get between me and my penchant for laziness, my boyfriend bought me a pair of hiking shoes, so I figured I should actually use them.

But before I go full Into the Wild, I wanted to start with easy hikes to avoid passing out.

The Torrey Pines State Reserve (12600 N. Torrey Pines Road in La Jolla, torreypine.org) got the privilege of breaking in my new hiking boots. My hiking partner and I started at the south parking lot (parking is $12), trekking up the long road to the first trail on the reserve. It’s a steep hill but very doable, even on a hot day. Still, if you’re extra-out-of-shape, you can drive up and park closer to the trail openings.

The reserve has eight trails. The first trail we came to was the Guy Fleming Trail, which is about half a mile long and loops, so you can jog or walk it multiple times. The trail is super-easy, with hardly any climbing. Along the walk, you see pretty flowers and trees and cool rock formations. You’ll

eventually get to two lookout points that offer incredible views of the coastline. It’s highly ’grammable stuff.

After finishing that trail, we headed for the High Point Trail. It’s only 100 yards. If you struggle with this one, you need to reassess your life. Though it’s short, the High Point Trail has a beautiful panoramic view of the ocean to the west and the freeway and Clairemont to the right. OK, so one of those is better than the other.

After, we stopped at the visitor center, which was once the home of naturalist and park preserver Fleming. The view from the backyard, which is easily accessible, was gorgeous. I took about 50 Instagram shots.

We ended our hiking trip at that point to avoid traffic, but I plan to go back and walk the other trails.

Challenging Torrey Pines are the various trails offered at Balboa Park and Morley Field. What I like about these trails is that they allow you to push yourself, if you’re up for it. You decide how far you want to go

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The Pacific Ocean puts Torrey Pines over the top. and what you want to see. You can stick to the pretty scenery in the main Balboa Park area or hike the canyons.

I hiked one of the Morley Field trails accessible at the back of the Grape Street Dog Park. It takes you all the way down Pershing Drive through a canyon. At the top, you can see parts of the Downtown skyline, but that’s the most exciting it gets view-wise.

However, I felt pretty tough trekking down to the intersection of Pershing, 26th Street and Florida Street and then making my way all the way back up.

The winner: While the countless possibilities make the Morley Field / Balboa Park hikes very appealing, the gorgeous views at Torrey Pines deliver the knockout punch.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 29

Scavenging on a budget

Aaryn Belfer

by Aaryn Belfer Even the most wardrobe-abundant woman finds herself in the desperate situation of having absolutely nothing to wear. If you take away Syria, Egypt and Miley Cyrus, it’s downright tragic. But a quick shop for the right piece can make your old ones seem new again. And since nobody in her right (or wrong) mind wants to find herself throwing elbows for junk at Forever 21, I suggest a slow perusal of the treasures at Junc Life & Style (2209 Fern St. in South Park, junclifeandstyle.com) instead.

A friend of owner Jeffrey Parish says the proprietor has a “good eye for beautiful decay,” evident in his carefully cluttered mélange of the beautiful and the strange.

Juncman Jeffrey has a carefully curated selection of clothing and accessories, all of it interesting and sure to alleviate any boredof-my-wardrobe malaise.

Here you can find a timeless dress with an intriguing cut or long-sleeved tee with a wide-open back. There are the staples: jeans, belts, caps and—for me—ruched or

drapey anything. Most of it feels one-of-akind, even if maybe it’s not.

Parish also has a whole lot of Everything Else You Didn’t Know You Needed. That skeleton head of a tiny bird? Buy 11 of them, because everything’s better in a collection!

A stuffed mountain cat? Taxidermy is hot.

Clocks, journals, bangles, earrings, a Jesus nailed to a nail-infested cross—it can all be yours. This place is a trove, and you’ll want to take time and discover which particular bit of gypsy-pirate-voodoo stuff fills your void.

Of course, if strange and deranged is not your quite your thing, but you smartly reject the mall as the place for people who want to look like everyone else, don’t miss the threads at Mimi & Red (3032 University Ave. in North Park and 5630 La Jolla Blvd. in La Jolla, mimiandred.com). The shop is small but packed with mostly very affordable on-trend clothes; there’s something here for everyone.

I fell in love with the Audrey NYC tunic online, but didn’t inquire once I walked

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Jeffrey Parish, in his carefully cluttered natural environment at Junc through the door, because—Hello! Everything else! Maxis and tunics and rompers, oh my! I was stopped in my tracks by the Everly Chevron Shift, but it’s the accessories that are the real winners, as they’re ridiculously affordable, enabling a girl on a budget to change a whole outfit with one $12 pendant.

The only thing that put me off was the destroyed rock-band T-shirts by Chaser. I almost caved and bought the Pretenders, but damn if I’ll spend 60 bones on a holey

tissue tee. Not everything is wallet-friendly, and this means danger for one without impulse control. Trust me: Do not try on the RVCA oversized sweater if you don’t want to end up taking it home.

The winner: If you’re looking for clothes and only clothes, Mimi & Red has the bigger selection. But I’m into a little bit of funk and lean toward the twisted, the bizarre, the unexpected while rejuvenating my wardrobe, so Junc Life & Style wins this round.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 31

Clash of the cuts

Alex Zaragoza

by Alex Zaragoza Finding a good stylist is just as hard as finding a boyfriend or girlfriend, only more important because they dictate how good or how busted you’ll look. If you’re looking for a new stylist, here are two newer salons duking it out for the honor of frosting your tips.

Salon Eros (3205 Thorn St. in North Park, salonerosnorthpark.com) brings some big guns to this duel. The cool little spot, which opened a little more than a year ago, is airy and comfortable with a bright storefront and mellow atmosphere. The chill vibe is very much appreciated after years of being subjected to loud techno music while having some sullen waif chop into my hair.

I went in for a haircut by Jennifer Schadt, a tall, tattooed drink of water who’s a dynamo with a pair of scissors. I tend to be one of those clients who, when asked what they want, reply, “Oh, I don’t know. What do you think? Is that annoying that I’m asking you that?” I appreciate it when a stylist

isn’t bothered by that question and doesn’t seek revenge by giving me a bowl cut.

Schadt was calm and patient. She took her time, offered me several suggestions and asked questions along the way to make sure I was happy with my hair. “I’m gonna make you look real good, girl,” she assured, and she delivered. The cut was fun yet flattering and, even after some growth, maintained its shape.

While Eros brought enough heat to make a flat iron jealous, Goldline Salon (3009 Beech St. in South Park, goldline salon.com) gave it a major run for its money. I stopped in for a cut and color session with stylist Hashem Yassine and colorist Candice Peterman.

I was warmly greeted and offered a chilled glass of white wine. The salon also has beer on tap. I get a makeover while getting mildly tipsy? Sign this drunk bitch up!

Yassine was just as kind as Schadt with regard to my style uncertainty. Listen, I just

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Candice Peterman specializes is cool color at Goldline Salon. want to have a cute cut that I don’t have to flat iron, curl, blow-dry or even brush. Yes, I’m that lazy. He worked with me, and the cut he gave me was cute and edgy without being high-maintenance.

Afterward, he called Peterman over to talk about hair color. At other salons, I’ve seen stylists do this same thing with annoyed looks, completely ignoring my requests and keeping me out of the loop on my own hair. Not these two, though. They smiled and asked me for guidance and were

0-percent pretentious.

After deciding on golden highlights, I came back a few days later. Peterman poured me a yummy cup of coffee and went to work.

She was super-sweet and made me feel comfortable the entire session. Bonus: My hair got tons of compliments for weeks.

Cuts and color are more than $50 at both salons.

The winner: Though it was a tough call, I have to go with the awesome service and laid-back, wine-tastic vibe at Goldline.

Stacks of wax

Candice Eley

by Jeff Terich When the Sam Goody store at Horton Plaza closed last year, the last lingering reminder of the chain-record-store era was erased from San Diego. And depending on whom you ask, this might be a good thing.

But that doesn’t mean record shoppers are doomed to Best Buy to pick up some fresh, new sounds.

Just head on over to M-Theory Music in Mission Hills (915 W. Washington St., mtheorymusic.com)—you can spot it by the cosmic, psychedelic mural on its west wall— to treat yourself to a proper independentrecord-store experience, complete with an ample supply of new and used vinyl.

M-Theory is second to none in town when it comes to new albums. And patrons know it—if I had a dime for every time another record nerd beat me by 15 minutes to pick up a hotly anticipated release on a Tuesday afternoon, I could at least afford an extra, fancy colored 7-inch single. As is the case with many indie record shops, M-

Theory specializes in alternative and indie music, but its hip-hop and electronic selections are also well-stocked. As used selection goes, you’re also likely to find quite a few obscure gems, which are sometimes announced on Facebook.

The shop also regularly participates in annual Record Store Day events (get there early!) and recently had its first Cassette Store Day celebration, not to mention the impressive list of live in-store performances it books. All in all, M-Theory is a great, allpurpose, friendly and reliable record haunt.

But if you’re looking for a slightly more advanced dive down a vintage-vinyl rabbit hole, there’s another option just a little down the road. Hillcrest’s Record City (3757 Sixth Ave.) opened more than a decade ago as one of the few record shops in town that dedicated its ample shelf space almost exclusively to LPs. Over time, the shop added CDs and DVDs—and you can still find some interesting stuff in those racks—but vinyl remains its

The sprawling selection of used LPs at Record City bread and butter.

Record City is a haven for vinyl aficionados. Its rock, pop, soul, punk / alternative, country and jazz sections are all immaculately organized and amply stocked with gently used audible treats. The better the condition, and the rarer the find, the higher the price might be, but you’ll always get your money’s worth. Most used LPs are in the $10 range, though be careful—it’s easy to see that stack of vinyl get taller and taller before you’re out the door. And if you find

something a little further south of mint condition—as I did with a $2 copy of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours—the price goes down but the listening value stays pretty high.

The new selection isn’t quite as massive but is essentially 100-percent crap-free.

And the staff is knowledgeable, friendly and helpful, and likely to give you some free conversation with your purchase.

The winner: Tough call, but Record City just barely edges out its competition thanks to the massive used selection.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 33

I’ll take you there

Alfredo Mendez / Flickr

by Kelly Davis Services like Car2Go and Lyft make it easier to live in San Diego with, say, only a scooter or, for couples, one car. While Car2Go—available here for two years—is a carsharing program, Lyft, which arrived in San Diego this year, is a ride-sharing program (think: hipster taxi cab).

And while it might make more sense to compare Lyft to your standard cab service (or something like Uber), we’ve come across a handful of Car2Go fans who’ve added Lyft to their alt-transportation options.

If you’ve not spotted Car2Go’s blueand-white Smart cars, then you’re a hermit.

They’re ubiquitous. Lyft’s visible feature, meanwhile, is the plush, pink moustache (“carstache”) that drivers affix to their car’s grill.

Car2Go works like this: Pay a one-time, $35 membership fee and then use the website (car2go.com) or smartphone app to find a nearby car—they promise you’ll “always find a vehicle in your area.” There’s a

catch: “your area” is what Car2Go defines as a city’s “home area,” which is limited— if you live in Clairemont or Barrio Logan, for example, both of which are outside the “home area,” you won’t find a car.

Car2Go costs 38 cents a minute or $13.99 an hour. For a full day, you pay a hefty $72.99. The size makes them ideal vehicles for Downtown, where you can squeeze into remnants of parking spaces, park for free at meters or use a designated Car2Go parking spot. While there aren’t currently any Car2Go spots at the airport, there are places within walking distance to leave the cars.

Once you have a Car2Go membership, you can use it in any city where the service operates—currently it’s in 10 U.S. cities, three in Canada and 10 in Europe.

Lyft (lyft.me), which started in San Francisco, expanded to San Diego in July despite being asked to leave by the L.A. Department of Transportation for operating what the city described as an unregulated

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Lyft might just be quirky enough to work. cab service (despite that, it’s still going in L.A.). Lyft’s founder, John Zimmer, has argued that his drivers are thoroughly vetted and heavily insured (see lyft.me/safety for what that means).

Lyft works like this: You put in a request for a ride via smartphone app, and you’re alerted to the proximity of an available driver. The app shows you a photo of the driver and his / her car, and you can track that driver’s progress to your location. Your driver will greet you via fist-bump—drivers are told to treat customers as friends; if you’re not a social person, this might be a problem. At the end of the ride, you pay via “suggested donation,” which is how Lyft

can skirt car-for-hire regulations. Passengers can then rate their driver (and drivers can rate passengers). Some drivers make an extra effort to earn a top rating, like serving coffee or dressing up in costume (one of San Diego’s top drivers dresses as a pirate).

Like Car2Go, there’s a “coverage area” that drivers are limited to.

The winner: Lyft and Car2Go have the potential to complement each other rather than compete. Going club-hopping Downtown? Take Car2Go there and Lyft back home. But as far as an alternative to your own car, Lyft is new and quirky and worth trying out, if only to see whether you can snag a ride from a pirate.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 35

Coffee with the ladies

Aaryn Belfer

by Aaryn Belfer You know that awkward teen stage when your nose grows into its adult size while your face is still back in grade school? That’s sort of where the College Area / El Cerrito / Rolando is right now. It’s definitely trying to be something, but it doesn’t know exactly what that is just yet. Fortunately, though, some lady entrepreneurs know residents want independent java options.

The charming-if-unfinished Treehouse Coffee Co. (7229 El Cajon Blvd., tree housecoffeeco.com) is situated amongst nothing special at the border of Rolando and La Mesa. Rolandoians are supporting this sticky spot and hoping it’s but one more among a handful in this slow-growing business district. Owner Mandi Post offers coffee drinks in cups with traditional sizing—none of that grAHn-day bullshit here—and she’s also roasting her beans onsite, meaning aficionados are bound to find something interesting.

If you swing in on one of the many sweltering days common to East-ish County, the

passion fruit tea is a must (let the ice melt a tad to perfect the concoction). Treehouse offers a small but fairly average breakfast menu, and the baristas tend to be painfully slow. Your best bet is to stick with a scone and practice your patience. The joint is small with a few outdoor tables where you can pull up a chair and wait for more shops to sprout.

Speaking of which, 24-year-old Joanne Carrera has hung her shingle about one mile west, also in Rolando. Open only two months, Jo Jo’s Coffee Bean (6499 El Cajon Blvd.) is housed in what was formerly the College Area Key Shop. Located inconspicuously at the corner of Seminole Drive and El Cajon Boulevard, this newcomer is way too easy to miss in the landscape of sometimes-open and soon-to-open and isthat-place-open? businesses.

With lots of parking but only one outdoor table, the shop is a walk-up proposition. It. Is. Tiny. As in, smaller than John Boehner’s boehner, if you know what I mean. The ki-

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Tiny Jo Jo’s Coffee Bean was once a key shop. osk is dated and needs some remodeling to accommodate coffee transactions; tall folk will have to contort somewhat to order.

But getting down isn’t that big a deal since you’ll be met with the kind of friendly smile and bubbly personality that’s sorely lacking in the Age of the Hipster.

Carrerra is serving Café Calabria coffee, but unlike Calabria baristas, she pulls her espressos long. Her chai tea latté feeds my sweet tooth, and all of her drinks come with a too-cute sticker over the sippy-

cup-hole thingy, which will make happy happen—especially when you don’t spill your drink as your inner teenager peels out along the Boulevard.

The winner: Girl power is rocking this ’hood, and there’s room for both of these proprietors to coexist. While Treehouse is established and has local roast, there’s just something about rooting for the underdog.

Jo Jo’s Coffee Bean for the win. Let’s hope she has bigger windows and better signage this time next year.

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October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 39

Good morning, Vietnam!

by D.A. Kolodenko “The banh mi sandwich is really the only good argument for colonialism,” wrote American humorist Calvin Trillin. He wasn’t making light of colonialism—he was trying to express the sublimity of the sandwich. The banh mi (in Vietnamese, literally “rice flour bread”) is arguably the world’s greatest bicultural hybrid, created when Southern Vietnamese at the turn of the 20th century adapted the basic breadand-spread of the French colonizers to Vietnamese tastes.

My obsession is the egg banh mi. Along with a sweet Vietnamese iced coffee, which all shops offer, this sandwich is one of the greatest breakfasts on Earth. I’ve devoured them at dozens of San Diego’s banh mi joints—either op la (fried, unscrambled) or trung chien (scrambled and fried). The results of my attempt to narrow to the two best may surprise. The ubiquitous K Sandwiches and Cali Baguette Express chains didn’t even make my top five, and neither of the two finalists is located in the heart of

San Diego’s Little Saigon district.

BaLe French Sandwiches in Mira Mesa (9396 Mira Mesa Blvd.) is one of the originals in San Diego. The bread is a hefty Vietnamese-style French roll from Le Chef bakery in Clairemont and the clearest expression in San Diego of the Vietnamese ideal: toasted to order, exterior smooth and crackly, interior light and fluffy. Cucumber slices, cilantro and pickled carrot and daikon strips are fresh, with hot peppers on the mild side. The op la here (ordered fried hard by request) is equally light and fluffy.

For only $3, you get a lot of scrumptious egg banh mi for your buck, and BaLe is understandably the favorite of a Vietnamese friend of mine.

Unlike the perfunctory service you get in many banh mi shops, Banh Mi San Marcos (706 S. Rancho Santa Fe Road) is all smiles and heart. The bread is brought in every morning from Little Saigon’s Paris Bakery. The baguettes aren’t as fat as the fluff-monsters at BaLe or as thin and chewy

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D.A. Kolodenko

as the homemade ones at Cali Express. Here they’re flash-toasted very hot for a crisp exterior and soft, but not overwhelming, inner fluff. The veggies are as fresh as BaLe’s but more flavorful, the peppers slightly hotter and the op la egg is pan-fried and seasoned with salt and pepper, so it’s not as mild as the egg on the BaLe sandwich. There’s also a bit more mayo and Maggi (Swiss salty vegetable) seasoning on the bread, but not enough to overpower, as in some shops. For 59 cents more than the sandwich at BaLe, you get a heavy dose of nom power.

The winner: Banh Mi San Marcos. There’s a gestalt to their egg banh mi that makes it my favorite: a perfect balance that creates an experience greater than the sum of its parts.

If the banh mi is “the only argument for colonialism,” the egg sandwich at banh mi San Marcos is the only argument for San Marcos.

And it doesn’t hurt that it’s served with love.

Thao Nguyen and Hai Nguyen at Banh Mi San Marcos

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 41

Southern smackdown

Seth Combs

by Seth Combs I love authentic soul food. When I first moved here from Atlanta more than 10 years ago, I had a pretty rigid idea of how soul food should taste. I still do, but I’d speculate that for most San Diegans, the closest they’ve ever gotten to soul food is fried chicken or macaroni and cheese at some trendy “comfort food” establishment.

That’s not soul food. Everyone loves mac ’n’ cheese. But does everyone love chitlins?

Oxtails? Frog legs?

For those brave enough to try the real deal, you have a few options. Bonnie Jean’s Soul Food Café is located in a shabby strip mall in Oak Park (1964 54th St., bonniejeanssoulfood.com). It isn’t much to look at from the outside, but once you’re inside, you might never want to leave. The walls have been covered in Christian iconography since the place opened in 1995, and gospel music plays loudly throughout.

I’ve been going there for years, and, yes, you can’t beat the fried chicken smothered in slightly spicy gravy with peppers and on-

ions. But why not try the oxtails (yes, it’s a tail, and, no, it’s actually from a cow). I had them on my last visit, and I’d compare it to a short rib but with a brisket-style texture to the meat. All entrées come with cornbread and two sides, and I admit the mac ’n’ cheese is delicious, but you can’t have soul food without fried okra and collard greens, both of which are delectable here.

Not all that far away from Bonnie’s is Red Rooster Catfish. I’d heard from several people that the place was not only authentic, but also downright addictive.

Finding it is a chore, but once you do, it’s surprising to learn that Red Rooster is not a restaurant at all; rather, it’s a quaint space at the Jacobs Event Center (404 Euclid Ave. in Lincoln Park, redrooster catfish.com), where you order from a window to take home or to eat at one of two small outside tables.

When I was there, a congenial man named Joris introduced himself as the “head catfish in charge.” I was tempted to order fried frog legs, but I went with

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Bonnie Jean’s homey interior a two-piece fried-catfish dinner with a side of hush puppies, while my girlfriend opted for fried tiger shrimp with sweetpotato puffs. Both were served with the tangy house “Mmmm!” sauce, and I could taste the love Joris puts into his food. The catfish was breaded perfectly and cooked just long enough so that the fish was still flakey and moist. The shrimp were spicy enough to provide a little heat, but balanced out by the sauce.

The winner: Both are fantastic. If

you’re looking for a place that won’t overwhelm your palate but still serves as a suitable introduction to soul food, then check out Red Rooster. However, we’re talking about authenticity here and that extends to the experience. Red Rooster’s seafood mains are better, but Bonnie Jean’s offers food that’s just as authentically delicious in a setting that adds to the flavor. Bonnie better watch out if Joris ever decides to move into a proper restaurant space, but for now, Bonnie Jean’s has a bit more soul.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 43

Gastropub, Japan-style

Michael A. Gardiner

by Michael A. Gardiner Gastropubs are all the rage. And why not?

Beginning in the 1990s with The Eagle pub in London, an odd idea took root that the food in a drinking establishment could actually be both tasty and good for business. A decade on, with foodie culture in full flower, the movement arrived on these shores.

Across the big pond, the Japanese were wondering why it took so long.

Japanese izakayas are, essentially, the original gastropubs. Casual eateries that grew out of drinking establishments, the word “izakaya” is actually a portmanteau of the words for “to stay” and “sake.” They’re places where Japanese businessmen go to drink sake, with tasty food to keep them there. Izakaya culture is somewhat akin to the Spanish tapas tradition, with food having been offered originally to induce drinkers to stay longer.

One of the best izakayas in San Diego is Sakura (3904 Convoy St., Suite 121, in Kearny Mesa, sakurasteakhouse.com). Look for the small “121” on the window as it’s the

only sign identifying the place. It’s that secret and that cool. The menu at Sakura is long, varied and good. From sushi to yakitori to hot and cold appetizers, ramen and udon, Sakura’s menu draws from the full range of Japanese culinary traditions all adapted to soaking up alcohol. It does what it says on the label.

Sakura’s grilled offerings are excellent with the chicken-skin yakitori being a standout and the grilled beef tongue a close second. Sakura loves uni and uses it in many different ways. The uni don is a major success, with the creaminess and sweetness of the uni dominating, but the supporting players doing their part. The uni spaghetti, it must be said, was a bit less worthy. Also on the winning side was the udon, featuring a deeply layered broth.

If Sakura isn’t the best in San Diego, then Izakaya Masa (928 Fort Stockton Drive in Mission Hills, izakayamasa. com) must take that prize. Located in the corner of a little strip mall, Masa of-

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Izakaya Masa’s hakata ramen is an all-star. fers a more focused menu. The standout at Masa is the hakata ramen, featuring a broth coaxed from roasted pork bones that leaves you with no doubt about the source of that deep flavor. Another superb choice is the ankimo—pressed monkfish liver that barely tastes of fish and might be a doppelganger for foie gras. Masa’s classic offering—with chopped chives, spinach and ponzu—inspired in me a sense of forgiveness for the people who

brought us the foie gras ban that I never thought I’d achieve.

The winner: In the end, it is the ambiance that tips the balance to Masa. If you’re not looking for the place, you won’t find it.

And if you do, where you’ll be is a world apart, a little piece of Tokyo tucked away in San Diego. This tiny eating-and-drinking establishment wouldn’t be remotely out of place in Japan. If food has the power to transport, Masa realizes that power.

Babes in brewland

Joshua Emerson Smith

by Joshua Emerson Smith Babies are hip. San Diego has throngs of 30year-old moms and dads to prove it. You can see these young families during the day on Adams Avenue, strolling through a street fair or browsing in a South Park bookstore. But what about at night? Hipster parents cannot survive on espresso alone. Thankfully, many imbibing establishments in the city allow children on their premises until 8 p.m.

However, that doesn’t mean parents won’t draw sideways glances from that couple of 25-year-olds for whom a fussy kid may disillusion the magic of the mating ritual.

For you sleep-deprived, entertainmentstarved, newly minted parents, I searched the city for the best baby-friendly neighborhood brewery. There are two that rise to the top: Mike Hess Brewing’s North Park tasting room (3812 Grim Ave., hessbrewing.com) is brand-spanking new and offers a commodious setup in which to try its lineup of wellcrafted beers. The one-story tasting room allows easy access for strollers. Inside, tall ta-

bles and chairs are arranged nicely throughout the room, allowing for a free flow of traffic. Toddlers have a decent amount of room to move around, and games are available to please both adults and children.

One drawback is that seating isn’t perfect for small kids. A slip off one of those tall chairs would make for a long fall onto a hard floor. On the flip side, the seating is the perfect height to peer into an adjacent stroller.

A food tent is often set up with delicious eats that pair perfectly with what’s on tap. If you don’t tell your kids they’re eating pork belly, they’ll love it. The scene tends to get younger later in the evening, but everyone’s usually courteous and behaved.

Also in North Park, Thorn St. Brewery (3176 Thorn St., thornstreetbrew.com) has catered to parents and kids from its inception, offering games and children’s books.

At some point, it actually had to scale back on the games as happily buzzed patrons were slipping on Legos and Jenga blocks.

On two floors, the cozy establishment

Thorn St. Brewery is family-friendly, with games and books for young children. can get packed. But a good portion of the clientele usually is of the child-toting variety, so parents rarely feel out of place, even if they’re dealing with the occasional meltdown. There’s a side entrance for strollers and a place to park them as visitors haul their brood up the stairs to the couches on the second floor.

The rotating food trucks outside do kidfriendly vittles, such as grilled-cheese sandwiches, pizza and french fries. If you’re not

lucky enough to get a seat upstairs, you might end up leaving. But if you secure a coveted couch-nook with some good friends and your wee ones, you’re set for the afternoon.

The winner: While both establishments set a benchmark as baby-friendly breweries, it’s Thorn St. that rises above—not so much for the amenities it offers, but for the atmosphere. The establishment has crafted a kid-friendly vibe with as much care as they put into the delicious suds.

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Dashboard professional

Alex Zaragoza

by Ryan Bradford My wife doesn’t like to go out to the movies. You might think that—due to my love of pop culture and movies—this would cause a rift in our relationship, but it’s actually one of her traits that I find endearing. It might be an “opposites attract” kind of thing, or a fear of being with someone who shares my admittedly questionable taste (I wouldn’t go out with me), but I’m completely fine with the occasional solo trip to the movie theater. Besides, she’s always down for a drunken trip to the Redbox, and if that isn’t love, then I don’t know what is.

However, all her qualms about the theater experience—expensive snacks, annoying audience members, sitting in the dark for two hours without being able to nap—quickly disappear when we go to the drive-in.

Going to the drive-in has become one of our favorite date-night activities because there’s actually little movie-watching happening (easy there). You can bring a pizza, sneak in some beers (you didn’t hear that from me), and crack jokes without disturb-

ing any of your neighbors. Plus, each show is a double feature.

There are two quality local drivein theaters to choose from: South Bay Drive-In (2170 Coronado Ave. in Imperial Beach, southbaydrivein.com) and Santee Drive-In (10990 N. Woodside Ave., santee driveintheatre.com).

South Bay holds a special place in my heart because of its proximity to the ocean.

If you’re looking for romance, it’s hard to beat watching the latest Michael Bay flick on a summer evening with a warm, Pacific breeze rolling through. It also has three screens and a generally better movie selection. Don’t expect to catch any art-house fare, but with three screens, your choices aren’t always restricted to “children” or “adult” movies.

That said, almost every time I’ve been to South Bay, there seems to be a dozen kids running around, regardless of the movie rating. There’s nothing that ruins the mood quicker than the frightening sound of chil-

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Nothing says “romance” like the South Bay Drive-In. dren’s laughter as they circle your car in a makeshift game of tag.

Santee’s drive-in is not without its charm.

The mountains provide a nice backdrop, and there’s a distinct woodsy smell that makes everything feel more autumnal. Hell, we even saw stars when we went in early October. All these factors significantly heighten the chance of some serious snugglage.

At Santee, there’s also the opportunity to see some pretty souped-up vehicles, if that’s your kind of thing (honestly, what self-respecting film connoisseur isn’t into souped-

up things?). We even saw a dune buggy!

The snack bars at both places are fine, but Santee’s is just a little bit cleaner. Not that that’s a huge deal—after our dinner of salted pretzels and a cup of nacho cheese, our stomachs were the equivalents of frowning emoticons in breakup texts.

And all romance-points accumulated were quickly dashed by mutual pleas for Pepto.

The winner: It’s a tight match, with a lot of different factors to consider but—wait, South Bay’s ticket prices are $7 per adult and Santee’s are $8? South Bay Drive-In.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 49

Sounds for the sloshed

Candice Eley

by Jeff Terich Everybody’s had the experience of being a couple of drinks into a long, blurry night before hearing a familiar hook, riff or beat coming out of the jukebox, only to shout, “Oh, man! I love this song!” And if you’ve had that experience in San Diego, it probably happened at Live Wire in University Heights (2103 El Cajon Blvd., livewirebar.com).

The sign outside boasts “Cold Beer— Warm Friends,” but it’s not until you walk inside the joint that it’s clear that the bar also has a pretty hot collection of jams on the jukebox. Spanning various genres, eras, regions and sounds, the music collection available to spin at Live Wire ensures a feel-good vibe for a night of well-intentioned debauchery. It probably shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that a sizable majority of the jukebox’s contents is punk.

But those punk records—which include Wire, Mission of Burma, The Saints and Wipers—offer something a little more advanced than the standard Clash and Ramones (which should come standard on

every jukebox, but I digress).

Outside that circle, however, it gets even more interesting—Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Iron Maiden, Red Fang, Geto Boys, a handful of mixes of hip-hop jams. And, most importantly, there are more sleeves devoted to local bands than in any other watering hole that I know of, including two full discs of Rocket from the Crypt.

But a jukebox doesn’t have to win on the strength of its underground cred. Show up at Hamilton’s Tavern in South Park (1521 30th St., hamiltonstavern.com) from happy hour into the wee a.m. hours, and it’ll be packed with folks indulging in its plentiful selection of beer on tap, munching on pubstyle comfort food or playing an intense game of shuffleboard. But a guaranteed party like that requires a good soundtrack to keep it going.

Just like the tater tots and grilledcheese sammies that Hamilton’s serves from its adjacent kitchen, the tunes on the jukebox mostly are musical comfort food

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A patron flips through the expansive collection of tunes on Live Wire’s jukebox. that immediately hit the spot. The curated collection—a similar variation of which can be found at the fellow Scot Blair-affiliated Small Bar in University Heights—is stacked with guys-night-out staples: Thin Lizzy, T. Rex, David Bowie, The Clash, Ramones, et al.

But it doesn’t stop there. If you’re in a sad-bastard mood and feeling like drinking your blues away, Elliott Smith and Ryan Adams are both ready to help. Or, if you’re feeling like mischief and mayhem,

you have your choice of The Birthday Party and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

And it probably goes without saying that there’s plenty of Tom Waits to go around.

The hip-hop selection is more or less nonexistent, which is a bit of an oversight (maybe push out some of the jam bands?), but there’s so much good stuff on the playlist that it’s easy to forgive an omission or two.

The winner: Live Wire, both for its punkrock deep cuts and total absence of Phish.

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Pass the mic

David Rolland

by Seth Combs I got my singing voice from my mom. When I was young, she used to wake me up by singing New Kids on the Block songs. I’d scream at her to stop her torturous pterodactyl screeching of “Hangin’ Tough.” So, karaoke isn’t really my thing. Well, at least the singing part, but it’s hard to watch so many people having fun and always be the guy too embarrassed to sing.

The Lamplighter, the dingy but bustling dive in Mission Hills (817 W. Washington St., thelamplighterbar.com), remains a go-to karaoke spot. They have it seven days a week, and liquid courage is fairly inexpensive. I went on a crowded Saturday night with a friend, and after a few drinks, we both picked a tune from an extensive tome of choices. The wait to sing was long, so we waited while other patrons belted out entertaining karaoke standards.

After an hour, my interest was waning, and the emcee announced the next singer as a woman who I knew had signed up af-

ter me. After she finished, I approached her and asked how she’d managed to pull that off. She told me she’s a friend of the emcee and that she comes often and—I’d heard enough. The emcee announced the next singer. It wasn’t me. We left.

We took a cab to a place in Kearny Mesa that I’d heard cool things about: Chorus Karaoke & Café. Located in a strip mall (4428 Convoy St.), it’s not glamorous on the outside, but inside it looks like a posh sports bar and Korean barbecue. Chorus doesn’t offer typical karaoke; it rents out private rooms.

The man seemingly in charge explained that a room wasn’t available, but he’d put us on the list. I asked if I could see a sample of what I could rent for $35 an hour ($25 if we ordered drinks and food). We followed him to a dimly lit hallway, where he opened a door. Inside, eight people were in the midst of a grand sing-along. There was a giant contraption that controlled the

Vanessa Nelson (left) and the aptly named Melody Prince belt out a tune at Chorus Karaoke. music and two TVs on opposite walls with and random people. The Lamplighter is a lyrics scrolling in front of a bizarre back- popular karaoke destination precisely for ground of kittens. The people waved at us the reason that it’s the place to go if you’re before the door was closed. They never already a bit of a pro. Most people don’t do stopped singing. karaoke regularly and, when they do, don’t We didn’t get a room, as there was a want to be surrounded by impressive regutwo-hour wait. Yeah, I didn’t get to sing, but lars. That’s why Chorus works. Karaoke is Chorus did leave me wanting a proverbial supposed to be foolish fun, and what’s betencore. Before I left, I made a reservation ter than belting out an off-key rendition of for eight.

“Hangin’ Tough” while your friends crack The winner: I realized that karaoke up, sing along and are too busy wondering isn’t so much about singing as it is just why there are kittens on the TV to notice making a fool of yourself in front of friends you sound like a screeching pterodactyl.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 55

Call me Old Fashioned

David Rolland

by David Rolland Yeah, it was Don Draper who convinced me to make the Old Fashioned my drink of choice—I admit it. Bourbon or rye, bitters, a sweetener and the essence of lemon or orange: so simple, so smooth, so tasty and so very cool.

Nowadays, there’s nothing that sounds better when I first belly up to the bar or sit down at a restaurant table. That is, if I’m someplace I trust to do it right. I’m getting better at knowing right away if a joint knows how to make it the way I like it. If it’s made badly, I can often tell by the color: too red from the abominable muddled maraschino cherry. It must be that beautiful amber-gold.

Bartender Nick Meyers at Alchemy in South Park (1503 30th St., alchemysan diego.com) does it well: Jim Beam bourbon or rye, a half-ounce of simple syrup instead of a sugar cube, three dashes of Angostura bitters and a pressed orange chip, garnished with a Luxardo cherry. Meyers’ Old Fashioned quickly became my favorite in town, although I certainly haven’t sampled

them all (I haven’t gotten around to Noble Experiment’s version, for example).

For this story, I needed a challenger. The Old Fashioned at URBN in North Park is very good. I’ve also had decent versions at Seven Grand (using brown sugar—interesting), Brooklyn Girl, Sycamore Den, the new Cat Eye Club and Tom Ham’s Lighthouse (albeit following my own recipe). But I found my most formidable combatant at Polite Provisions (4696 30th St. in North Park, politeprovisions.com).

Look, if an Old Fashioned is done well, it’s hard to say it’s significantly better than another Old Fashioned done well. So, why Polite Provisions? Maybe it was the single huge cube of ice that seems so sophisticated to me. Maybe it was the fact that mixologist Vanh Kittikoune genuinely appeared to enjoy chatting about the cocktail so much, talking about the way it was crafted in the 19th century with gomme syrup (gomme Arabic, pure cane sugar).

Kittikoune’s cocktail is Wild Turkey 101 rye, a quarter-ounce of the gomme syrup, two

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An Alchemy Old Fashioned, partially consumed large dashes of Angostura and orange zest— or Buffalo Trace bourbon and lemon zest, if bourbon’s requested. (Incidentally, last Saturday, Kittikoune was riding his bike on Upas Street when he was struck by a car, and the accident left him with a broken collarbone.

Polite Provisions will hold a fundraiser on Tuesday, Oct. 29, with half the bar’s take helping to pay his medical bills. Head over and order an Old Fashioned in his honor.)

The winner: Polite Provisions’ Old Fashioned is fantastic, and if this were a horse

race, it would be a photo finish. But I’m going with Alchemy for now. Partially, it’s because Meyers was my main man first and his cocktail has been consistently good, and partially because I prefer Alchemy’s ambiance over PP, which sort of feels like an adult Farrell’s ice-cream parlor. And, once the cocktail stimulates my appetite, I can order food at my table rather than schlep next door like I’d have to at PP and its sister eatery, Soda & Swine. But I’ll be back at Polite Provisions, probably as soon as Oct. 29.

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Readers Poll

Best Local Credit Union San Diego County Credit Union

Hotel Del Coronado

Honorable mention: Lafayette Hotel, The Pearl, Catamaran Resort, Inn at the Park

Best Annual Event (non-music) Comic-Con

Honorable mention: Humphreys by the Bay Concert Series, Del Mar Summer Concert Series, San Diego Symphony Summer Pops, Gator by the Bay

Best Beach

Honorable mention: San Diego County Fair, LGBT Pride, December Nights, Earth Day

Coronado

Best Annual Music Event

Best Elected Official

Adams Avenue

Honorable mention: La Jolla Shores, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Moonlight Beach

Todd Gloria

Honorable mention: Lorena Gonzalez, Toni Atkins, Ron Roberts, Scott Peters

60 ¡ San Diego CityBeat ¡ October 16, 2013

Best Hotel Swimming Pool Open to the Public The Lafayette Hotel

Honorable mention: Hard Rock Hotel, Marriott Marquis Hotel & Marina, The Pearl, Handlery Hotel

Best Bank Chase

Honorable mention: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Union Bank, US Bank

Best Tourist Attraction

Honorable mention: Navy Federal Credit Union, Mission Federal Credit Union, San Diego Zoo California Coast, North Island Credit Union Honorable mention: Balboa Park, SeaWorld, San Diego Safari Park, Legoland

Best Local Hotel (non-chain)

Street Fair

Torrey Pines State Park, Coronado Bridge, Cabrillo National Monument

Best Lawyer or Law Firm King Aminpour & Associates Attorney At Law

Honorable mention: San Diego Law Firm, Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP, Mr. Traffic Ticket, Coast Law Group

Best Monument or Landmark Balboa Park

Honorable mention: Sunset Cliffs,

Best Nonprofit for Animals San Diego Humane Society & SPCA

Honorable mention: Helen Woodward Animal Center, PAWS, Friends of Cats, Animal Protection and Rescue League

Best Place for Free Wi-Fi Lestat's

Honorable mention: Public Library, Caffe Calabria, Filter, Krakatoa

Best Place to Get Married CONTINUED ON PAGE 62

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 61

Hotel Del Coronado

Honorable mention: La Jolla Cove, The Prado, Balboa Park, Japanese Tea Garden

Best Place to Get a Bail Bond King Stahlman

Best Public Park Balboa Park

Honorable mention: Mission Bay, Presidio Park, Chicano Park, Kate Sessions Park

Best Theme Park

Honorable mention: Alladin Bail Bonds, All Pro Bail Bonds, Bee Out Bail Bonds, Archer Bail Bonds

San Diego Zoo

Best Place to Go Camping

Best Charity Event

Cardiff State Beach

Honorable mention: Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, La Jolla Indian Reservation, Green Valley Falls, Mount Laguna

Best Hiking Spot Cowles Mountain

Honorable mention: Torrey Pines State Park, Iron Mountain, Mount Woodson, Pacific Crest Trail

Best Neighborhood North Park

Honorable mention: Hillcrest, Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Normal Heights

Honorable mention: SeaWorld, San Diego Safari Park, Legoland, Belmont Park

San Diego Blood Drive

Honorable mention: Mama’s Day for Mama’s Kitchen, Fur Ball (San Diego Humane Society), Alex’s Lemonade Stand, From Farm to Bay (Living Coast Discovery Center)

Honorable mention: San Diego State University, University of San Diego, Southwestern College, Palomar College

Hash House a Go-Go

Best Music School

Best Brunch

School of Rock

Honorable mention: Rock & Roll San Diego, Oak Park Music Conservatory, Recreational Music Center, Staump School of Music

Honorable mention: California College San Diego, The Art Institute of California San Diego, Kaplan College, Healing Hands School of Holistic Health

Best College or University UC San Diego

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Hotel Del Coronado

Honorable mention: 94th Aero Squadron, Small Bar, Snooze, Baja Betty’s

Best Cajon Best Tour Company Restaurant Brewery Tour of San Diego

Honorable mention: San Diego Old Town Trolley Tours, San Diego Harbor Excursions, San Diego Whale Watching Tours, Pacific Nature Tours

Bud's Louisiana Caf é

Honorable mention: Crab Hut, New Orleans Creole Cafe, Daisy’s Kitchen by the Bayou, Mardi Gras Cafe

Best Casino Buffet Seasons Fresh Buffet at Barona

Best Career College Coleman College

Honorable mention: Mission Cafe, Broken Yolk, Snooze, Big Kitchen

Best Cheap Eats Carnitas' Snack Shack Honorable mention: Sushi Deli, El Zarape, Chicken Pie Shop, Pokez Mexican Restaurant

Best Breakfast

Honorable mention: The Buffet at Valley View Casino, The Buffet at Viejas, Harrahs Rincon Casino Buffet, Paipa’s Buffet at Sycuan

Best Chinese Restaurant Wang's

Honorable mention: Mandarin House, Dumpling Inn, City Dragon, Del Mar

Rendezvous

Best Coffeehouse Claire de Lune

Honorable mention: Caffe Calabria, Lestat’s, Dark Horse Coffee Roaster, Rebecca’s

Best Contemporary Cuisine Urban Solace

Honorable mention: Indigo Grill, Prep Kitchen, The Smoking Goat, Bo-Beau

Best Family Restaurant The Station

Honorable mention: Corvette Diner, Chicken Pie Shop, DiMille’s Italian, La Bella’s Cafe & Game Room

Best Greek Restaurant Daphne's

Honorable mention: Olympic Greek Cafe, Athens Market Taverna, Cafe Athena, Country Kabob

Buga Korean BBQ

Mexican Food

Best Mediterranean Best Outdoor Restaurant Dining Luna Grill

Honorable mention: Mama’s Bakery & Deli, Aladdin, Kous Kous, Haritna Mediterranean Restaurant

Best Local Pizza Woodstock's Pizza

Honorable mention: Bronx Pizza, Pizzeria Luigi, Blind Lady Ale House, Lefty’s Lucha Libre Gourmet Taco Shop

Best Indian Restaurant Royal India

Best Japanese Restaurant

Best Mexican Restaurant Ponce's Mexican Restaurant

Honorable mention: Bombay Exotic Cuisine of India, Best Indian Restaurant Himalayan Cuisine, Tandoori Hut, World Curry

Harney Sushi

Honorable mention: Osaka, Gaijin Noodle & Sake House, Izakaya Masa, Hane Sushi

Honorable mention: Old Town Mexican Café, Ranchos Cocina, Casa de Pico, El Agave Tequileria

Best Italian Restaurant

Best Korean Restaurant

Best Taco Shop

Cucina Urbana

Honorable mention: Arrivederci, Il Postino, DiMille’s, Cafe Zucchero

Manna Korean BBQ

Honorable mention: Korean Kitchen, Dae Jang Keum, Do Re Mi House,

Lucha Libre Gourmet Taco Shop

Honorable mention: El Indio, Carnitas’ Snack Shack, Lolita’s, Sombrero’s

George's at the Cove Ocean Terrace

Honorable mention: The Prado, C-Level, Tom Ham’s Lighthouse, The Poseidon

Best Place for Late-Night Dining Rudford's

Best Seafood Restaurant The Fish Market

Honorable mention: Oceanaire, Jake’s Del Mar, Pacific Beach Fish Shop, Mitch’s Seafood

Best Spanish Restaurant Cafe Sevilla

Honorable mention: Tapas Picasso, Costa Brava, Candelas, Iberico Spanish Bistro

Honorable mention: Extraordinary Desserts, Studio Diner, Brian’s 24 , The Asian Bistro

Best Steakhouse

Best Place to get Dim Sum

Honorable mention: Cowboy Star, The Turf Club, Bully’s East, Albie’s Beef Inn

Jasmine

Honorable mention: Emerald, China Max, Chin’s, Sunrise Buffet

Best Romantic Restaurant Bertrand at Mr. A's

Honorable mention: Marine Room, The Prado, Bali Hai, Jake’s Del Mar

Donovan's

Best Sushi Sushi Deli

Honorable mention: Sushi Ota, Harney Sushi, Zensei, Hane Sushi

Best Thai Restaurant Taste of Thai CONTINUED ON PAGE 64

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Honorable mention: Lotus Thai, Amarin, Celadon, Bangkok Spices

Best Vegan Restaurant

Best New Restaurant (open since October 2012)

El Zarape

Honorable mention: Lucha Libre, Lolita’s, Ponce’s, Colima’s

Best Chicken Wings

Great MAple

Dirty Birds

Honorable mention: Fathom Bistro, Ranchos North Park Haven Pizzeria, Salt + Cleaver, Buona Honorable mention: Jyoti Bihanga, Loving Forchetta Hut, Evolution Fast food, Casa de Luz

Best Vegetarian Restaurant

Honorable mention: South Park Abbey, Bub’s Dive Bar, Mother’s Saloon, Cali Comfort BBQ

Best Local Caterer

Best Cupcakes

Phil's BBQ Catering

Babycakes

Honorable mention: Waters Fine Foods & Catering , The French Gourmet, San Sipz Honorable mention: Pokez, Jyoti Bihanga, Diego Taco Company, BBQ House OB Veg-N-Out, Evolution Fast Food Gaglione Brothers

Best Vietnamese Restaurant OB Noodle House

Honorable mention: Pho King, Saigon on Fifth, Pho Fifth Avenue, Pho Point Loma Grill

Best Hotel Restaurant Nine-Ten

Honorable mention: Addison at The Grand Del Mar, The Lodge at Torrey Pines, JRDN, Currant Restaurant

Honorable mention: Sprinkles, PubCakes, Heavenly Cupcakes, Cups La Jolla

Akins, Brooklyn Bagels, PL Bagels

Best Philly Cheesesteak Gaglione Brothers

Honorable mention: Monkey Paw, Eddie’s Philadelphia, Giorgino’s, Alex’s Brown Bag

Best Bagel Shop Einstein Brothers

Honorable mention: Big City Bagel, D.Z.

64 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

Best Bakery

Best Breakfast Burrito Ranchos North Park

Best Deli D.Z. Akins

Honorable mention: Mona Lisa, Rubicon, BFD - Big Front Door, Deli Llama

Honorable mention: El Zarape, The Honorable mention: The French Gourmet, Mission, Sombrero, Colima’s Con Pane, Azucar, Stephanie’s Bakery

Best Dessert

Best Barbeque

Honorable mention: Heaven Sent, Eclipse, Chocolat, Sugar & Scribe Bakery

Bread & Cie

Phil's BBQ

Honorable mention: Brazen BBQ, Kansas City BBQ, Brett’s BBQ, BBQ House

Best Burger Hodad's

Honorable mention: Burger Lounge, Slater’s 50/50, Crazee Burger, Rocky’s

Best Burrito

Extraordinary Desserts

Best Donut Shop CONTINUED ON PAGE 66

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 65

Donut Bar

Honorable mention: VG’s, Cardiff, Golden Donuts, Donut Star, Linda’s Donuts

Best Farm-to-Table Restaurant Urban Solace

Honorable mention: PrepKitchen, Alchemy, Farm House Café, Sea Rocket Bistro

Best Farmers Market Hillcrest

Honorable mention: Little Italy, Ocean Beach, North Park, La Jolla

Best Fast Food In-N-Out

Honorable mention: Burger Lounge, Rubio’s, Evolution Fast Food, Smashburger

Best Fish Tacos Rubio's

Honorable mention: South Beach Bar & Grille, Blue Water, El Zarape, Mitch’s Seafood

Best Fish-N-Chips

Mona Lisa Deli

Honorable mention: Hillcrest Sandwich Shop, Rubicon, BFD - Big Front Door, Board & Brew

Shakespeare Pub

Honorable mention: Point Loma Seafood, Blue Water, Ritual Tavern, The Field Irish Pub

Best Smoothie

Best Food Truck

Se ñor Mango

Honorable mention: Evolution Fast Food, Krakatoa, Juice It Up

In Slider

Honorable mention: Devilicious, Pierogi Truck, Miho Gastrotruck, Mastiff Sausages

Best Yogurt Yogurtland

Best Health Food Store Sprouts

Honorable mention: Whole Foods, Ocean Beach People’s Co-op, Jimbo’s…

Naturally, Windmill Farms

Best Hot Dog Daddy's Hot Dogs

Honorable mention: Golden Spoon, Yogurt Mill, Yog-Art, Paradise Yogurt In Slider

Mariposa, Coldstone, Daily Scoop

Best Local Grocery Store Barons Market

Honorable mention: Brooklyn Dogs, Swieners, Hot Diggity Dog, Diego Dogs

Honorable mention: Ocean Beach People’s Co-op, North Park Produce, Seaside Market, Olive Tree

Best Ice Cream Shop

Best Prime Rib

Moo Time Cremery

Honorable mention: Gelato Vero,

66 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

Bully's East

Honorable mention: Donovan’s, Butcher Shop, La Maze, Albie’s Beef Inn

Best Salad Bar Tender Greens

Honorable mention: Whole Foods, Ocean Beach People’s Co-op, Salad Style, Greenspot

Best Chef Debra Scott

Honorable mention: Brian Malarkey, Matt Gordon, Hanis Cavin, Bernard Guillas

Best Sandwich Shop

Best Pie Shop Julian Pie Company

Honorable mention: Bread & Cie, Peace Pies, Sugar & Scribe Bakery, Village Kitchen and Pie Shop

Best Adult Bookstore The Crypt CONTINUED ON PAGE 68

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 67

Honorable mention: The Rubber Rose, Pleasures & Treasures, Adult Emporium, Fantasyland

Best Antique Shop OB Antiques

Honorable mention: Newport Antique Mall, La Mesa Antique Mall, Antiques on Kettner, Vignette’s Antiques

Best Arts & Crafts Store Blick Art Materials

Honorable mention: Michael’s, Artist and Craftsman Supply, Visual Art Supply, Ceramic Cafe Del Mar

Best Auto Dealer Fiat Kearny Mesa

Honorable mention: Drew Auto Group, Marvin K. Brown Auto Center, Pacific Nissan, BMW of San Diego

Best Auto Repair Shop Smitty's

Honorable mention: Mission Hills Automotive, BMW Service Specialist, Ben’s Auto, Boulevard Automotive

Best Bathing Suit Shop

Best CD/Record Store (Used)

Gone Bananas

Record City

Honorable mention: SunDiego, Pilar’s Beachwear, Temptress Fashion, Fables

By Barrie

Best Bead Store The Black Bead

Honorable mention: South Sun, Lost Cities Beads, Gem and Bead Store

Best Bike Shop Mission Hills Bike Shop Honorable mention: North Park Bikes, Adams Avenue Bicycles, Cal Coast Bicycles, Thomas Bike Shop

Best Camera Store George's Camera

Honorable mention: Nelson Photo, Ritz Camera, Camera Exposure, C & H Photo

Best CD/Record Store (New) M-Theory Music

Honorable mention: Lou’s Records, Record City, Thirsty Moon, Cow Records

68 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

Honorable mention: M-Theory Music, Spin Records, Thrift Trader, Taang Records

Best Comic Book Store Villanious Lair

Honorable mention: Comics N Stuff, Comickaze Comic Books and More, Galactic Comics & Video, On Comic Ground

Best Cooking Store Great News

Honorable mention: Sur La Table, Hipcooks, The Conscious Cook, Penzeys Spices

Best Golf Shop Golfsmith

Honorable mention: The Golf Mart, Carlsbad Golf Center, Stadium Golf Center, Golf Galaxy

Best Hardware Store

Hillcrest Hardware

Honorable mention: San Diego Hardware, North Park Hardware, Ocean Beach Hardware, Meanley & Son Hardware

Best Jewelry Store Leo Hamel Fine Jewelers

Honorable mention: To Hell in A Handbag, So Good Jewelry, Island Jewelry, Loghman Jewelers

Best Kids Clothing Store So Childish

Honorable mention: Oilily Style Child, City Kids Beach Kids, Mythology

Best Lingerie Store Intimacy

Honorable mention: The Crypt, The Enchantress, Fantasyland

Best Gardening Store Mission Hills Nursery

Honorable mention: City Farmers, North Park Nursery, Green Gardens Nursery,

Coastal Sage Gardening

Best Independent Book Store Adams Avenue Bookstore

Honorable mention: Warwick’s, Bluestocking Books, Mysterious Galaxy, Yellow Book Road

Best Mattress Store Sleep Train

Honorable mention: Metro Décor, Mattress Discounters, Jerome’s, Furniture and Mattress Warehouse

Best Men’s Clothing Store Hunt & Gather

Honorable mention: Buffalo Exchange, Men’s Fashion Depot, Crow Thief, 5 & A Dime

Best Women’s Clothing Store Bettie Page

Honorable mention: Buffalo Exchange, Mimi & Red, Hunt &

Buy a Gift Babette Schwartz

Honorable mention: Pigment, Kobey’s Swap Meet, Bazaar del Mundo Shops, Hunt & Gather

Best Place to Buy Retro Furniture Atomic Bazaar

Honorable mention: Nest Vintage, Rusty Gold, Boomerang for Modern, Vestige San Diego Harley-Davidson

Gather, Capricorn Boutique

Furniture Store

Best Motorcycle/ Off-road Vehicle Shop

Jerome's

San Diego Harley-Davidson

Honorable mention: Metro Décor, West Elm, Hold It Contemporary Home, Underground Furniture

Best Pet Store

Buffalo Exchange

Honorable mention: Flashbacks, Frock You, Hunt & Gather, Thrift Trader

Best Place to Get Music Gear

Honorable mention: Hillcrest Optical, Newport Ave. Optometry, Urban Optiks, Optometry, Eyestructure

Best Place to Get Vinyl Records Lou's Records

Best Shopping Center Fashion Valley Mall

Honorable mention: UTC, Mission Valley Mall, Premium Outlets, Bazaar del Mundo

Best Skate Shop

Honorable mention: M-Theory Music, Off the Record, Record City, Folk Arts Rare Records

Route 44

Best Sex Shop

Best Smoke Shop

The Rubber Rose

Honorable mention: Hustler, Pleasures & Treasures, Dr. Love’s, Barnett Adult Superstore

Best Shoe Store (men) Elos

Honorable mention: Mint, Blends, Attic II, Sportie LA

Petco

Guitar Center

Honorable mention: Guitar Trader, Buffalo Brothers Guitars, La Jolla Music, Moonlight Music

Best Shoe Store (women)

Best Place to

Best Place to Get New Eyeglasses

Elos

Honorable mention: Rocket Honorable mention: Kensington Pet Motorcycles, North County House of Supply, Pet People, Animal Kingdom, Motorcycles, Trophy Motorcycles, South Animal House Bay Motorsports

Best New

Best Place to Buy Vintage Clothes

Specs

Honorable mention: Mint, Cedros Soles, Footwear Etc, Shoe Metro

Honorable mention: Hanger 94, Overload, Pacific Drive, Aveanew

Raw Smoke Shop

Honorable mention: SD Smoke Shop, Illusions, Big Time Smoke Shop, The Black

Best Sporting Goods Store REI

Honorable mention: Big 5, Sport Chalet, Play it Again Sports, Adventure 16

Best Sunglasses Shop Sunglass and Optical CONTINUED ON PAGE 72

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 69

70 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 71

Warehouse

Honorable mention: Sunglass Hut, Hillcrest Optical, Eyes on Fifth, Dziner Eyes

Best Surf Shop OB Surf and Skate

Honorable mention: Mitch’s Surf Shop, Encinitas Surfboards, South Coast Surf Shop, Hansen’s

Best Toy Store Gepetto's

Honorable mention: Toys R Us, So Childish, Game Towne, Hillside Artisans

Best Cosmetic Surgeon in San Diego

Honorable mention: Faces Plus, Moradi Honorable mention: Jeffrey S. Keeny, MD, Alexander Cosmetic Surgery, Ranch DDS, Evelyn Ascough, DDS, Dougherty & Coast Plastic Surgery Dental, Strober Dental

Best Chiropractic Center Spence Chiropractic Center Honorable mention: Mission Beach Chiropractic, Total Wellness Health Center, Adams Avenue Integrative Health, Chiropractique

Chiropractique

Clearview Eye & Laser

Honorable mention: Global Laser Vision, Shiley Eye Center, One to One Lasik, Gordon Weiss Schanzlin Vision Institute

Best Dentist

Pousti Plastic Surgery La Mesa Dental

Best Place for Acupuncture Best Lasik Surgery Center

Catamaran Spa, Spa L’Auberge, Spa at the Del

Best Barber Shop Floyd's 99

Honorable mention: Afrocentric, Barberside, OB Barbershop, Bow Ties & Haircuts

Best Hair Salon (Guys) Disconnected

Honorable mention: Hairspray, The Electric Chair, Salon Antoine, A Style Concierge

Honorable mention: Adams Avenue Integrative Health, Acupuncture Center of La Jolla, Tri-Point Holistic Therapy, North County Integrative Acupuncture

Best Hair Salon (Ladies)

Best Day Spa

Honorable mention: Disconnected, Hair Drezzers on Fire, Bloom Salon, Say Lula

La Costa

Honorable mention: Bellagio Day Spa,

72 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

The Electric Chair

Best Hospital Scripps Memorial Hospital

Honorable mention: Sharp Hospital, UCSD Medical Center, Rady Children’s Hospital, Tri City Medical Center

Best Place to Get a Massage Karma Relaxation

Honorable mention: Knot Stop, Massage Envy, Spa at the Del, La Costa

Best Place to Get Waxed Pretty Kitty

Honorable mention: The Undercarriage, Gingerly Wax, Viva Brazil, Le Wax Boutique

Big City Tattoo

Honorable mention: Apogee, Church of Steel, Avalon, Enigma

Best Tattoo Artist Mike Stobbe

Honorable mention: Su’a Sulu’ape Angela, Fip Buchanan, Rob Benavides, Bill Canales

Best Tattoo Parlor Avalon Tattoo

Honorable mention: Big City Tattoo, Full Circle Tattoo, Left Hand Black, Flying Panther Tattoo

Best Yoga Studio Core Power Yoga

Honorable mention: Pilgrimage of the Heart, Yoga One, Ginseng, Bikram’s

Best Tanning Salon Best Martial Arts School Hollywood Tan Honorable mention: Itan, California Tan, Tanlines, AZ Heat Tanning

Best Place to Get Pierced

Undisputed

Honorable mention: Capoeira Brasil San Diego, Goju Karate Center, So-Cal Martial Arts Center, American Kenpo CONTINUED ON PAGE 74

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 73

Best Workout Gym Chuze Fitness

Honorable mention: North Park Fitness, Wave House Athletic Club, Crunch Gym, Boulevard Fitness

Best MMA & Boxing Gym Undisputed

Honorable mention: City Boxing, San Diego Combat Academy, Art of Eight, The Arena

Camino, Bourbon Street

Best Bar to Play Pool Triple Crown Pub

Honorable mention: Lancer’s, The Alibi, Society Billiard Café, McGregor’s

Best Baristas Caffe Calabria

South Beach Bar & Grille

Baja Betty's

Honorable mention: Ponce’s El Agave, Cafe Coyote, Casa de Bandini

Honorable mention: Wave House, Lahaina’s, Sandbar, Tavern at the Beach

Best Bloody Mary Small Bar

Honorable mention: The Tractor Room, Baja Betty’s, C Level, The Firehouse

Best Neighborhood Bar for Dancing Best Cocktail Whistle Stop Bar Lounge Honorable mention: U31, Urban Mo’s, El

Best Craft Beer Bar Hamilton's Tavern

Honorable mention: Blind Lady Ale House, Toronado, Monkey Paw, Live Wire

Best Craft Cocktail Bar

Honorable mention: Lestat’s (Adams Avenue), Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, Starlite Dark Horse Coffee Roasters, Pappalecco Honorable mention: Polite Provisions, Craft & Commerce, The Tractor Room, Sycamore Den

Best Beach Bar Best Margarita

Honorable mention: Pacific Shores, Seven Grand, Martinis Above Fourth, Lei Lounge

El Dorado

74 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

Best DJ/Dance Club

Gaslamp Bar Bootlegger

Honorable mention: Quality Social, Vin de Syrah, Henry’s Pub, Block 16

Best Gay/Lesbian Bar Urban Mo's

Honorable mention: Baja Betty’s, Bourbon Street, Red Wing, #1 Fifth Avenue

Best Happy Hour OB Noodle House

Honorable mention: Urban Mo’s, La Puerta, El Camino, Martinis Above Fourth

FLUXX

Best Irish Pub

Best Dive Bar

Honorable mention: The Ould Sod, Hooleys, Gallagher’s Irish Pub, Dublin Square

Honorable mention: El Dorado, Rich’s, Whiskey Girl, Barleymash

Waterfront

Honorable mention: Live Wire, The Alibi, Tower Bar, Aero Club

Best Downtown/

The Field

Best Sports Bar McGregor's

Honorable mention: Bub’s Dive Bar, True North, Players Sports Bar, Elbow Room

Best Tequila Bar Cantina Mayahuel

Honorable mention: El Agave, Tequileria, Baja Betty’s, La Puerta, The Blind Burro

Best Wine Bar Wine Steals

Honorable mention: 57 Degrees, Splash, The 3rd Corner, 98 Bottles

Best Wine Shop 57 Degrees

Honorable mention: Wine Steals, KnB Wine Cellars, Bine & Vine Bottle Shop, Wine Bank

Best Sangria Costa Brava

Honorable mention: Baja Betty’s, Cafe Sevilla, Tapas Picasso, Huapango’s

Best Martini Bar Martinis Above Fourth

Honorable mention: The Tractor Room, Lei Lounge, 333 Pacific, Gaslamp Strip Club

Best Neighborhood

Bar Small Bar

Honorable mention: Bluefoot, South Park Abbey, #1 Fifth Avenue, Tiger!Tiger!

Best North County Bar Churchill's Pub & Grille

Honorable mention: Encinitas Ale House, Bar Leucadian, Lumberyard Tavern, Union Kitchen & Tap

Best Outdoor Bar Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station Honorable mention: Fathom Bistro, Altitude Sky Lounge, Lahaina’s, JRDN

Best North County Dive Bar The Saloon

Honorable mention: Pounders, Bar Leucadian, Cap’n Keno’s, 1st Street Bar & Grill

Best North County Brew Pub

Honorable mention: Live Wire, Small Bar, Cherry Bomb, Hamilton’s Tavern

Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Escondido

The Lamplighter

Honorable mention: Pizza Port, Churchill’s Pub & Grille, Encinitas Ale House, Urge Gastropub

Best North County Sports Bar Churchill's Pub & Grille

Honorable mention: Jimmy O’s, 55 Yard Line, Pounders, Union Kitchen & Tap

Best Karaoke Bar Honorable mention: Gilly’s, The Ould Sod, Carriage House Lounge, JT’s

Best Open-Mic Night Lestat's

Honorable mention: Rebecca’s Coffee House, Turquoise Café, Cosmos

Green Flash Brewing Company

Best Domestic Beer Best Brewery Pabst Blue Ribbon

Stone Brewing Co.

Honorable mention: Ballast Point, Alesmith, Green Flash, Manzanita

Best New Bar (open since October Best Imported Beer Best Local 2012) Craft Beer Honorable mention: Budweiser, Coors Light, Miller High Life, Michelob Ultra

Fathom Bistro

Honorable mention: Sycamore Den, Heights Tavern, Lucky Bastard Saloon, End Zone Pub

Best Jukebox in a Bar Pacific Shores

Guinness

Honorable mention: Stella Artois, Pacifico, Dos XX, Corona

Best Brew Pub Blind Lady Ale House

Honorable mention: Pizza Port OB, Tiger!Tiger!, Karl Strauss, Monkey Paw

Ballast Point Sculpin

Honorable mention: Karl Strauss Red Trolley, Societe The Pupil, Monkey Paw Sweet Georgia Brown, Helms Brewery Beerachino

Best Brewery Tasting Room

Green Flash Brewing Company

Honorable mention: Ballast Point, Hess North Park, Thorn Street Brewery, Belching Beaver

Best Winery Orfila Winery

Honorable mention: South Coast Winery, Bernardo Winery, Cordiano Winery, Belle Marie Winery

Best Cigar Lounge Churchill Cigar Lounge CONTINUED ON PAGE 76

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 75

Honorable mention: Excalibur, Cuban Cigar Factory, Hoffer’s Cigar Bar, Habanos Cigar Lounge

Best Strip Club Cheetahs

Honorable mention: Déjà Vu Showgirls, Pacers Showgirls, Les Girls, Main Attraction

Best Arts Event Art Walk Little Italy

Honorable mention: Ray at Night, La Jolla Festival of the Arts, Art Around Adams, Barrio Art Crawl

Best Local Performing Arts Group Culture Shock

Honorable mention: City Ballet, Malashock Dance, California Ballet, Jean Isaacs Dance Theater

Best Live Theatre The Old Globe

Best Art Framing Art of Framing

Honorable mention: Ray Street Custom Framing, Frame it Yourself, Aztec Graphics

Best Art Gallery Alexander Salazar

Honorable mention: Space 4 Art, Artlab, Noel-Baza Fine Art, Subtext

Honorable mention: La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Rep, Diversionary Theatre, Cygnet Theatre

East Village Tavern & Bowl

Honorable mention: San Diego Black Film Sycuan Honorable mention: Viejas, Barona, Festival, San Diego Latino Film Festival, Valley View, Harrah’s Rincon San Diego Asian Film Festival, FilmOut

Best Movie Theater Best Bowling Alley Best Museum Arclight

East Village

Honorable mention: Cinepolis, Landmark Hillcrest, Edwards Mira Mesa, Tavern & Bowl Honorable mention: Kearny Mesa AMC La Jolla 12 Bowl, Parkway Bowl, Mira Mesa Bowl, Brunswick Premier Lanes

Best Film Festival

San Diego Film Festival

76 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

Best Casino

Natural History Museum

Honorable mention: San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Air & Space Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Museum of Photographic Arts

Best Skate Park Robb Field

Honorable mention: Washington Street, Encinitas YMCA, Mission Valley YMCA, Imperial Beach Skate Park

Best Golf Course Torrey Pines

Honorable mention: Coronado, Riverwalk, Sycuan Golf Resort, Aviara CONTINUED ON PAGE 78

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 77

Best Concert Venue Belly Up Tavern

Honorable mention: Humphreys by the Bay, House of Blues, Open Air Theater, Sleep Train Amphitheater

Best Coffeehouse with Live Music Lestat's

Honorable mention: Claire de lune, Rebecca’s, Pannikin, Twiggs

Best Over-21 Live Music Venue The Casbah

Honorable mention: Belly Up Tavern, House of Blues, Soda Bar, The Griffin

Best All-Ages Live Music Venue House of Blues

Honorable mention: SOMA, Che Cafe (UCSD), Lestat’s, The Irenic

Honorable mention: Soda Bar, Bar Pink, The Griffin, SOMA

Best Radio Program

Best Jazz Club

Honorable mention: 91X’s Loudspeaker, The Homegrown Hour (KPRI), Let’s Talk Hook Up (Mighty 1090), Rock N Roll Happy Hour (FM 94/9)

The Local 94/9

Croce's

Honorable mention: Seven Grand, Dizzy’s, 98 Bottles, Westgate Hotel Plaza Bar

Best Radio Station KPBS 89.5

Best Blues Club

Honorable mention: FM 94/9, 91X, Jazz 88.3, 102.1 KPRi

Patrick's

Honorable mention: Jimmy Love’s, House of Blues, Busalacchi’s Spaghetteria, Kona Kai

Best Music Blog SoundDiego

Best TV Personality San Diego Chargers

Domination, Blots From The Blue, Bolt Hype, Sore Eye Sports

Honorable mention: Owl & Bear, SD Dialed In, TheIndieSD.com, ListenLocalSD.com

Best Pro Athlete

Best Political Blog

Honorable mention: Phillip Rivers, Eric Weddle, Chris Denorfia, Carlos Quentin

Voice of San Diego

Honorable mention: OB Rag, Two Cathedrals, SD Rostra, Bowler’s Desk

Best Place to See Local Bands

Best Sports Blog

The Casbah

Honorable mention: San Diego Sports

Friarhood

78 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

Phil Mickelson

Best Sports Team San Diego Chargers

Honorable mention: Eastlake Little League Baseball All Stars, San Diego Padres, San Diego Derby Dolls, Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente

Best Roller Derby Team San Diego Derby Dolls Honorable mention: Renegade Rollergirls of San Diego, San Diego Roller Derby

Best Radio Personality Halloran

Honorable mention: AJ, Dave Rickards, Madison, Darren Smith

Michael Turko

Honorable mention: Chrissy Russo, Dagmar Midcap, Barbara Lee Edwards, Brad Perry

Best TV Station KUSI

Honorable mention: NBC 7, CBS 8, Fox 5, Channel 10 KGTV

Best TV News Station NBC 7

Honorable mention: KUSI 9, Fox 5, CBS 8, San Diego 6

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 79

Divorce, American-style Adam Scott can’t escape his past in new comedy

by Glenn Heath Jr. Divorce has long been a serious cinematic subject in dramas, like Kramer vs.

Kramer and Blue Valentine, for example.

But it’s played up mostly for laughs in the new comedy A.C.O.D. (Adult Children of Divorce).

Carter (Adam Scott), a successful restaurateur still reeling from his parents Hugh and Melissa’s (Richard Jenkins and Catherine O’Hara) awful split two Richard Jenkins (left) and Adam Scott, dysfunctional dad and son decades ago, is the focal point for the titular genera- out the cobwebs of melodrama clouding your vision. tion of tarnished angels grappling with long-gestating The real reason to give this misfit mosaic a insecurity. chance, though, is the cast of performers who, as a Thankfully, director Stu Zicherman (who co- group, are consistently nervy in their depiction of wrote the sharp script with Ben Karlin) avoids mak- flawed individuals. ing a villain of any one character. Instead, the film Jenkins and O’Hara balance the right combinafrankly exposes how each personality is just one of tion of loathing and lust one might find in a couple many culprits in a collectively toxic relationship beset with such longstanding volatility. Jane Lynch is that continues to recycle judgment and regret. Here, perfectly opportunistic as the hack writer who capithe seemingly buoyant material often shows darker talizes on Carter’s misfortunes. But it’s Ken Howard’s shades, functioning as a reminder of the ongoing Gary, a sad but hopeful mentor for multiple characpain parents inflict on their children. ters, who epitomizes the film’s positive outlook.

Caught somewhere between slapstick and screwA.C.O.D. could easily have been an acidic black ball, A.C.O.D. creates various comecomedy or straightforward farce, dic scenarios in which dirty laundry something more akin to War of the A.C.O.D. is aired for all to see. Hugh and MeRoses or Mrs. Doubtfire. But, thankDirected by Stu Zicherman lissa spit venom at a posh restaufully, it treats divorce in a much Starring Adam Scott, rant, and later Carter freaks out in more grounded and pragmatic way the middle of Japanese tea. “Public than either of those films. While Catherine O’Hara, Richard displays of personal crisis,” as one the initial fault might lie with the Jenkins and Ken Howard character aptly refers to them, are parents, it’s on the children to tranRated R this film’s specialty. scend the sins of our fathers (and From the opening credits, where mothers).

Carter’s disastrous ninth birthday at the family’s lake It was somewhat shocking to see this idea so house is caught on home video, extreme embarrass- perfectly realized late in A.C.O.D. After getting into ment dominates the narrative. Fear of repeating his a particularly nasty argument in a public place with parents’ mistakes has led Carter to live a life closed off his serpentine mother-in-law (Amy Poehler), Carter from true commitment, which has left his supportive stops himself from unleashing more verbal daggers girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) waiting in vain. when he realizes her young children are listening to Carter’s repressed demons are awakened when his his every word. young brother impulsively decides to marry his girlHalting the cycle of anger is a theme many filmfriend, suddenly pushing all warring parties back into makers have explored, yet Zicherman’s film doesn’t the same ring. Tempers and emotions flare, but mostly stop there. In A.C.O.D’s wise final scene, Hugh remiCarter just stews. Things get worse when he finds out nisces to his sons about a life-changing moment he his experiences have been used by a writer to craft a had as a young man, then goes on to confess that he self-help book that was a New York Times bestseller. must have had 10 or so in his lifetime. Carter and his As A.C.O.D. transitions from its initial premise to brother are both enthralled. One can never forget that a more serious tone, it loses some of the momentum no matter their age, the kids are always watching. founded in the characters’ unbridled rage. But this shift makes sense considering the film’s about finding a Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com mental perspective to consider past indiscretions with- and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

Post-mortem

After Tiller

80 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

Dr. George Tiller, an infamous late-term abortionist who practiced in Wichita, Kan., was assassinated while attending church on May 31, 2009. His sudden death not only fueled the flames of an already raging hot-button issue, but also caused great heartache among a small community of physicians who continue to see

their controversial procedures as a necessity for public health.

More eulogy than documentary, After Tiller allows this group of doctors a platform to grieve, and it also examines the complexities of their professional calling. The film succeeds primarily because it considers the debate from a human angle without sensationalism or rhetoric.

Co-directors Martha Shane

and Lana Wilson spend ample time with Drs. Leroy Carheart of Nebraska, Susan Robinson and Shelly Sella of New Mexico and Warren Hern of Boulder, Colo., at their heavily scrutinized clinics.

The interviews are intimate, covering a range of topics that reveal why each has decided to risk life and limb to help desperate women with fetal abnormalities.

The film’s power is heightened when the camera listens in on deeply personal meetings between the doctors and their patients. The filmmakers purposefully linger on the women’s nervous hands and fidgety legs, protecting their privacy while also documenting their very trying and complicated back-stories.

After Tiller—which opens Friday, Oct. 18, at Reading Gaslamp Cinemas—complicates the abortion issue from a unique angle.

Each of the film’s subjects speaks of the conflict they experience on a daily basis, but Robinson does so with the most eloquence: “It’s like I’m dealing with God and myself.”

But a few moments later, she drops another commanding truth bomb that encapsulates the film’s primary theme: “Women are able to struggle with complex ethical issues and arrive at the right decisions for themselves and their family.” Doctors, too.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

Opening A.C.O.D.: Adam Scott plays a repressed 30-something whose parents’ nasty divorce becomes the gift that keeps on giving even into adulthood. The comedy co-stars Richard Jenkins, Catherine O’Hara and Jessica Alba. See our review on Page 80.

African Film Celebration: Experience the diversity of African film, food and music at this North Park celebration running Friday, Oct. 18, through Sunday, Oct. 27.

The opening-night party will start at 6 p.m. at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park. Get the schedule at africanfoodsd.com.

After Tiller: A sobering and complex documentary about the four remaining doctors running clinics that perform thirdtrimester abortions despite harassment by religious groups and death threats.

Años Despues: A successful Mexican man on the verge of tying the knot has his life changed forever upon learning of a new distant relative living in Spain.

Screens through Oct. 23 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Carrie: A supped-up remake of the classic 1976 horror film that nobody asked for and probably no one will like. But, hey, that’s Hollywood! Stars Chloë Grace Moretz as the titular shy girl turned telekinetic monster.

Escape Plan: Action icons Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger play aging inmates trying to escape from a super-maximum security prison by combining their brainpower. Talk about a work of fiction.

The Fifth Estate: Benedict Cumberbatch stars as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

Carrie in this biopic that spans the rise and fall of the infamous Internet pioneer, notably his clash with the U.S. government over damning video clips from the war in Iraq.

The Stream: In a feature film created by teens and young adults, five friends in the summer of 1981 venture to the mall in search of a replacement for their broken whiffle-ball bat. It screens at Regal Parkway Plaza Cinemas, and proceeds go to The Boys and Girls Club of America.

The Trials of Muhammad Ali: The most popular boxer in the world refused to serve in the Vietnam War. Screens through Oct. 24 at the Ken Cinema.

One Time Only The Missing Piece: An amazing documentary that examines the history behind the man who stole the Mona Lisa in 1911 and his daughter who for years defended his actions as patriotic. Screens at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 16, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park. It includes a Skype Q&A with the director.

North by Northwest: You won’t get a more exciting time at the movies than this cross-country suspense thriller from Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant.

Screens at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Oct. 17, at Reading Town Square Cinemas.

Friday the 13th: The horror film that introduced the world to Jason Vorhees and spawned countless sequels full of carnage. Screens at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, at Arclight La Jolla.

Charade: Classic Hollywood darlings Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn romp around Paris dodging spies and killers in this charmer by director Stanley Donen.

Screens at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, through Saturday, Oct. 19 at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

Patang: A massive kite-flying competition provides the background for this drama about dueling families in the city of Ahmedabad, India. Screens at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, at The Loft at UCSD. Food will be served beginning at 7 p.m.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: When your car breaks down, never ask for help at a dark, creepy and musically inclined mansion. Screens at midnight Saturday, Oct. 19.

Shadow of a Doubt: Whatever you do, don’t trust Uncle Charlie. Alfred Hitchcock’s disturbing thriller charts the downfall of a family after an unexpected guest arrives. Screens at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, and Tuesday, Oct. 22, and 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, at Reading Gaslamp Cinemas.

Love Gone Wrong Marathon: FilmOut presents 12 adventurous hours of programming on the subject of tainted love.

Screenings begin at 11:45 a.m. and run till

11:45 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Birch North Park Theatre. Get details at filmout sandiego.com.

Army of Darkness: Chainsaw-wielding badass Ash (Bruce Campbell) is sent back to 1300 A.D. to fight a whole new generation of undead monsters in Sam Raimi’s horror film. Screens at 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20, at the Arclight La Jolla.

Much Ado About Nothing: Joss Whedon scales down for this black-and-white modern riff on the classic Shakespeare comedy. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 21, at the new San Diego Public Library, Downtown.

Vertigo: Jimmy Stewart has a thing for blondes in the film recently voted the greatest ever by prestigious film magazine Sight and Sound. Screens at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 21, at Reading Town Square Cinemas.

A Box Full of Rocks: The El Cajon Years of Lester Bangs: Documentary that explores the years spent in San Diego County by iconic rock critic Lester Bangs, who wrote prominently for Rolling Stone and other music publications. Screens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, at Grossmont College, Building 26, Room 220.

Stepping Razor: Celebrate the great reggae legend Peter Tosh with this free screening of his classic music film. Screens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, at WorldBeat Center in Balboa Park. Free.

Now Playing All the Boys Love Mandy Lane: A weekend getaway in the country turns bloody for a band of high-school jocks eager to deflower the titular Mandy Lane (Amber Heard).

Captain Phillips: Based on actual events, this thriller by director Paul Greengrass tells the story of the container ship Maersk Alabama and its leader, Captain Phillips (Tom Hanks), who was kidnapped by Somali pirates during a voyage in 2009.

Concussion: During her recovery from a hard knock to the head, a suburban housewife goes through a crippling identity crisis, creating an alter ego to survive.

Escape from Tomorrow: A man slowly goes insane while visiting a land of artificial castles and mechanical rodents. This controversial film premiered at Sundance and was largely shot inside Disneyland.

Screens through Oct. 17 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

For a complete listing of movies, please see “F ilm S creenings” at sdcit yb eat.com under the “E vents” tab.

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The Icons’ creative chemistry

San Diego rap group recalibrates after five-year hiatus • by Quan Vu

T

here was a time when rap groups were commonplace. There were actually hip-hop artists who weren’t pursuing solo careers, who basically didn’t perform outside the confines of a group dynamic. Hiphop heads enjoy arguing over the greatest individual rappers ever, but many don’t get that rap groups—like A Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy, Outkast and Beastie Boys—are responsible for the most revered music in the hip-hop canon.

The Icons, a local group of rap vets, get it. On a Friday night in mid-August, at Sadaf, a Persian restaurant Downtown, for the release party for their latest EP, Not a Scratch on Us, they’re sporting matching uniforms, taking a cue from ’80s legends Run-DMC. While The Icons’ uniform— white hoodies, white cargo shorts and orange Nikes—isn’t as iconic as Run-DMC’s black fedoras, leather jackets and Adidas, their attention to branding displays a certain level of showmanship.

More importantly, they have chemistry. The group’s two MCs, Frosty da Know-matic and Ech-U-Sketch, trade lines back and forth constantly, finishing each other’s rhymes in a way that Run-DMC made famous.

“We’re challenging each other in front of you,” Sketch tells CityBeat. “Everything that runs onto each verse is a complete thought between both of us, so you gotta hear us both to catch it.” He also likens their interplay to “fighting for breathing space.”

This year, they hope to breathe life back into their group.

The Icons have been seasoned battle rappers in the local scene since the mid-’90s. After a successful run, including a San Diego Music Award for their 2001 album Capture the Flag, the group went on hiatus in 2008. Now with two new DJs and a new EP out, they hope to rekindle the fire.

The Icons clearly retain the style of the ’90s underground. Back then, many underground rappers were delving deeper into abstraction, testing the limits of vocabulary, wordplay and battling. The Icons’ new album operates in much the same way. The song “Iconography (I.C.O.N.S.),” for example, finds the two rappers hurling flurries of I’s, C’s, O’s, N’s and S’s in an exercise of alliterative self-aggrandizement. And it all happens when Frosty

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From left, K-Swift, Etch-U-Sketch, Frosty da Know-matic and Qoolee Kid and Ech are in the same room—a rare thing in an age of Internet-enabled collaboration.

Although a decade has passed since their last proper album, The Icons’ chemistry remains mostly intact. On the EP’s first single, “Rap Music,” which pays homage to the genre itself, Sketch and Frosty contribute separate verses before coming together on the third verse. At that point, they go back and forth, becoming increasingly intertwined, at first trading couplets then trading single lines before they start finishing each other’s lines every halfmeasure. It’s dynamic.

“One of the things we were complimented on all throughout our history is the way that we work together,” Frosty says. “So, you’ll see a lot more of a blend of that on this release.” They almost chose “Back and Fourth” as the album title, a double entendre of their interplay and the fact that it’s their fourth release.

This chemistry should come as no surprise, though, as Frosty and Sketch have been rapping together for roughly 20 years. The two were originally in a larger crew known as The Glasshouse. In the mid-’90s, they’d perform regularly at The Underground Improv, a weekly open-mic series in Encanto. Shortly after local rap legend and series host Orko Eloheim introduced them one night as “San Diego’s icons,” they broke out and formed the group, along with DJs Syko and H.O.P.

Despite relative success, the group began drifting apart in the late ’00s. Sketch chalks it up to age and growing families. It certainly didn’t help that they recorded an album for a label that went under before the album dropped.

In early 2012, Frosty and his wife Glady organized a show to raise funds to send their eldest son, Akil, to the trials for the U.S. Paralympics (Akil has cerebral palsy).

Little did Frosty know that his wife put The Icons down as performers for the event. Luckily, Frosty and Sketch had already been in talks about reuniting.

“It forced us to step into the level of acting like a group again, instead of just two long-time friends talking about rap,” Frosty says. They quickly came back together, along with a new DJ, K-Swift. Soon after, K-Swift brought DJ Qoolee Kid into the fold.

Back at the release party, the group performs to an intimate crowd inside Sadaf. The night feels less like a show than a family reunion. Most of the crowd consists of family, friends and fellow artists, there to hang out with each other more than anything else.

Everywhere they turn, Sketch and Frosty are greeted with huge smiles and cheers as if from long-lost friends.

It’s the kind of interaction that no doubt makes a group more than just the sum of its parts.

Write to editor@sdcitybeat.com.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 85

notes from the smoking patio Locals Only Local hard-rockers The Dirty Sirens are finished.

“We are dunzo. Sorry kids,” the group, founded by vocalist Monterey Salka and guitarist Christine Huber, said on Twitter on Oct. 4. “Thanks to all who supported us on our short little journey.”

Soon thereafter, the band took down its Facebook page.

In an email to CityBeat, Huber explains that the split wasn’t a unanimous decision, but as primary songwriter in the band, she didn’t want to keep going.

“There was no ‘breakup’—I quit,” Huber says. “There is no band without me, just like The Dirty Sirens: Christine Huber (left) and Monterey Salka there would be no band withbum, Paradise Thrillz, I might have figured it out out Monterey.”

Salka confirmed this via Facebook message, ex- on my own. That influence comes through even plaining that Huber’s exit from the band came as an more clearly live, as the band has a tendency to rip through catchy alt-rock tunes with even more veabrupt surprise.

“She quit the band via text message from L.A., locity and recklessness, but that stoned, drunken where she has spent most of her time for the last few slacker abandon is a central, essential part of Buddy months, five hours before we were set to play our last Banter’s debut.

To be fair, Buddy Banter don’t sound that much show,” Salka says.

Huber blames “mostly personal differences” for like The Replacements—it’s more a feeling than an her decision to quit. “We both became submerged in aesthetic. Stylistically, their catchy, three-chord two different lifestyles,” Huber says, adding that she tunes have more in common with the insecure was doing “a fuck ton of drugs.” After sobering up, crunch of Weezer or the surf-laden loud-quiethowever, Huber says she realized that she was un- loud dynamics of The Pixies. But when hearing happy with where the band was going and the per- the trio charge through a track like “High With Me” (chorus: “Get high with me / Get wild with me sonal toll it took.

“I realized suddenly that this wasn’t working out, in the streets”), it’s easy to picture the band tearand hadn’t been for a long while, and that’s why I ing up a dingy studio, surrounded by beer cans and cigarette butts. lashed out in the way that I did,” she says.

The group’s youthful hedonism is charming on With The Dirty Sirens a thing of the past, threequarters of the band are likely to continue on with “High With Me,” but slightly less so on “Little Devil a new project. “[Drummer] Eric [Pietsch], [bassist] (Come and Kick It)” and, frankly, a little irritating Mark [Delgado] and I are still planning on playing by the time the snotty “Psycho” rolls around. And while the appeal of the band’s garage rock is easy to together in the future,” Salka says.

Meanwhile, Huber plans to leave San Diego. “Now hear, particularly in a live setting, Buddy Banter are it’s time for me to burn down another town with some far more impressive when they lay off the fuzzbox a little and let the tempo ease. “Insane” is one such exvomit-inducing grungy stoner metal,” she says.

The Dirty Sirens released one self-titled EP during ample, a gorgeous, shimmering dream-pop tune that their short time together, which is nominated for a 2013 carries one of the band’s best melodies, which bleeds into a fuzzy yet infectiously wordless chorus. Even San Diego Music Award for Best Hard Rock Album. more impressive—and, for that matter, surprising— is “I Miss You,” a breathtaking shoegaze track with Music review some affecting lyrics about (as far as I can tell) a dead pet. Oira allows himself the luxury of vulnerability Buddy Banter here, and it pays off handsomely.

Paradise Thrillz Though Paradise Thrillz is short, it goes in a lot of different (Self-released) directions, some of them raw and Last month, when I asked Buddy messy, some of them polished and Banter vocalist / drummer Steven pretty. And while it’s probably Perez Oira what records he was more fun to pound through the listening to repeatedly, his reply rockers, it’s on the slower tracks was The Replacements’ Let It Be where the band truly shines. and, specifically, the track “Favor—Jeff Terich ite Thing.”

Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com Had I not asked before listenand editor@sdcitybeat.com. ing to Buddy Banter’s new al-

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if i were u Wednesday, Oct. 16

BY Jeff Terich in flashy Downtown clubs, but then again, Sleigh Bells are too much fun not to recommend. Huge walls of guitar, catchy-as-hell hooks, leather jackets and more fun than you can shake an overpriced gin-and-tonic at. PLAN B: Junip, Barbarossa @ The Loft at UCSD. Swedish singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez earned his stripes via his hypnotic, stripped-down indie folk, but with his band Junip, there’s a dreamier, denser set of layers that make for a bigger, if still laid-back, sound. BACKUP PLAN: Quintron and Ms. Pussycat, ZZZ, Beehive and the Barracudas @ The Casbah.

PLAN A: Braids, Hundred Waters, Kodak to Graph @ The Casbah. Montreal’s Braids started as a vibrant psychedelicpop band in the vein of Animal Collective, but on their new album, Flourish // Perish, they’ve traded that approach for a more elegant, electronic vibe. It’s an impressive, beautiful set of synth-based pop music perfect for San Diego’s autumn chill. PLAN B: Idyll Wild, Old Age, The We Shared Milk @ The Griffin. It’s easy to get lost in the hypnotic vibe of local dream-pop group Idyll Wild. They’re a little shoegazey and a bit psychedelic, with just a touch of mathrock precision. BACKUP PLAN: Crystal Sunday, Oct. 20 PLAN A: Konk Pack @ Bread and Salt.

Antlers, Ditches, Nicely @ Soda Bar. Improvisational trio Konk Pack have an impressive background in Thursday, Oct. 17 the avant-garde, most PLAN A: Fucked Up, notably multi-instruTony Molina, Go Go mentalist Tim HodgkinLords @ The Casbah. son, who performed with Earlier this month, rock-in-opposition iconTerror and Fucked Up oclasts Henry Cow back launched a tour toin the 1970s. Their sound gether, but, curiously, is weird, amorphous and when Terror played intense and promises to San Diego, they did so be a one-of-a-kind expewithout Fucked Up. As rience. BACKUP PLAN: it turns out, Fucked Up Requiem for the Rockare playing in San Diego, ets, Inspired and The just at a different venue, Sleep, Tan Sister Radio, and I couldn’t be more Throne @ Soda Bar. stoked. Their intense but good-natured bruising is Sleigh Bells Monday, Oct. 21 guaranteed to be a highlight of the week, month and possibly year. PLAN A: Tim Kasher, Laura Stevenson, BACKUP PLAN: Evidence, LMNO, Black Jake Bellows @ The Casbah. Tim Kasher is best known as the frontman of Omaha Resume, Cali Cam @ The Griffin. indie-rockers Cursive, but ever since his 2010 album, Game of Monogamy, the singer Friday, Oct. 18 / songwriter has been carving a unique path PLAN A: Diamond Head, Raven, Taz of his own. His latest album, Adult Film, has Taylor, Volture, Ultimate Sin @ Brick by more electronic elements than before, but his Brick. Once, at the gym, I saw an episode penchant for melodic storytelling is just as of MSNBC’s Lockup, about an arsonist who compelling. PLAN B: Curse of the North, got the phrase “Am I Evil?” tattooed on his Deep Sea Thunderbeast, Little Doves @ hand, inspired by the Metallica song of the The Void. Curse of the North come to San same name. Only, it’s not a Metallica song— Diego, literally, from the north—Seattle. But it’s a Diamond Head song (Metallica just their thick, brawny High on Fire-style metal covered it). So, here’s your opportunity to isn’t so much a curse as a brutal blessing. see a legendary British heavy-metal band that inspired some of the biggest names in metal. Oh, and they totally rip. PLAN B: Tuesday, Oct. 22 The Icarus Line, Buddy Banter, Prayers, PLAN A: Passion Pit, The Joy Formidable Turning Lights @ The Void. The Icarus @ Open Air Theatre. Passion Pit’s “Take a Line are synonymous with rock ’n’ roll de- Walk” is one of those tunes that gets stuck bauchery, but that’s not why you should in my head for days on end. It’s just so damn go see them. You should see them because catchy! And yet, Passion Pit have a lot more their trippy, Stooges-inspired sound is to- where that came from, which means they’re tally badass. BACKUP PLAN: Small Di- pretty likely to start some huge sing-alongs.

PLAN B: Maria Minerva, Cherushii, Isolsaster @ Seven Grand. de Touch @ The Void. Estonian artist Maria Minerva crafts dark, atmospheric synthSaturday, Oct. 19 scapes with ample hooks and imagination.

PLAN A: Sleigh Bells, Doldrums @ Block If it’s a peculiar, arty dance party you’re No. 16. I’m generally skeptical about shows looking for, this is the one to catch.

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HOT! NEW! FRESH! Ginuwine (Fluxx, 10/31), Ilya (Soda Bar, 11/8), Lupe Fiasco (HOB, 11/13), Oliver Trolley (BUT, 11/14), Common Sense (BUT, 11/16), Barrington Levy (BUT, 11/19), Deltron 3030 (HOB, 11/26), Black Uhuru (BUT, 12/5), Hayden (Soda Bar, 12/8), Queens of the Stone Age, Vampire Weekend, Arctic Monkeys, Cage the Elephant, Alt-J (Valley View Casino Center, 12/8), Dinosaur Bones (Soda Bar, 12/9), Slightly Stoopid (SOMA, 12/13), IconaPop (HOB, 12/15), Sea Wolf (Luce Loft, 1/9), Beat Farmers (BUT, 1/11), The Dickies (Soda Bar, 1/11), Wooden Shjips (Soda Bar, 1/25), Reggie and The Full Effect (The Irenic, 1/29), DJ Z-Trip (BUT, 1/31), Cate LeBon (Soda Bar, 2/1)

CANCELLED Surfer Blood (The Irenic, 10/19), Roach Gigz (HOB, 11/9).

GET YER TICKETS Sleigh Bells, Doldrums (Block No. 16, 10/19), Passion Pit (Open Air Theatre, 10/22), Paramore (Viejas Arena, 10/23), Rocket From the Crypt (HOB, 10/31), Atlas Genius (HOB, 11/3), Janelle Monae (HOB, 11/6), Macy Gray (BUT, 11/7), Blitzen Trapper (Porter’s Pub, 11/9), Cults (The Irenic, 11/10), Jason Mraz, John Rzeznik (BUT, 11/11), Ben Harper (Copley Symphony Hall, 11/16), A$AP Ferg (Epicentre, 11/19), Pearl Jam (Viejas Arena, 11/21), Steve Poltz (BUT, 11/21), Sinead O’Connor (BUT, 11/26), JAY Z (Valley View Casino Center, 12/7),

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Tristan Prettyman (BUT, 12/16), NOFX (HOB, 12/19), Tower of Power (BUT, 1/4), Stephen Marley (BUT, 5/14).

October Wednesday, Oct. 16 Leon Russell at Belly Up Tavern. Braids at The Casbah. Crystal Antlers at Soda Bar. Saviours at The Void.

Thursday, Oct. 17 Fucked Up at The Casbah. Helado Negro at Soda Bar.

Friday, Oct. 18 Jason Aldean at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Langhorne Slim & The Law at The Casbah. Jack Johnson at Balboa Theatre.

Chali 2na & House of Vibe at Belly Up Tavern. Diamond Head, Raven at Brick

by Brick. The Icarus Line at The Void.

Dave Chappelle at Spreckels Theatre.

Saturday, Oct. 19 Hepcat at House of Blues. MS MR at Soda Bar. Junip at The Loft. Sleigh Bells, Doldrums at Moonshine Flats.

Dave Chappelle at Spreckels Theatre.

Sunday, Oct. 20 Supersuckers at Soda Bar. Three Dog Night at Belly Up Tavern.

Monday, Oct. 21 Inc. at Porter’s Pub.

Tuesday, Oct. 22

CONTINUED ON PAGE 94

the hit list Drag queens, Yacht and taco-karaoke I pride myself of being a lady of various tastes and drag queens will be showing Bey how it’s done while interests. Variety never hurt anyone, I say. In the supporting a good cause at Glamfest, happening spirit of keeping it random and fun, here are three Sunday, Oct. 20, at Lips Restaurant (3036 El Cajon nocturnal happenings that sound like a good time. Blvd. in North Park, lipssd.com). The drag-cabaret Dance your ass off to a disco jammer that refer- joint will welcome 14 performers to the stage and ences Kurt Cobain’s suicide when Portland’s electro- raise funds for Camp I Can, a summer camp for pop dance-punk duo Yacht hit the autistic kids and teens. The $40 Hard Rock Hotel’s 207 Nightclub ticket ($60 for VIP seats) comes (207 Fifth Ave., Downtown) on with a three-course meal and Thursday, Oct. 17. The band will probably a few tuck jokes. Showperform as part of the hotel’s time is 8:15 p.m. Don’t be late, unThird Thursdays live-music seless you want to be berated by a ries, which brings touring bands dude wearing more makeup than to the small venue. I avoid DownTammy Faye Baker. town as much as I avoid the gym, You know what’s awesome? but, every so often, the series has Cheap tacos. You know what else some great acts. I saw Built to Spill is awesome? Karaoke. You can get there last year and serendipitousboth of those radical things, plus ly ended up eating a barbecued$2 draft beers, on Tuesday, Oct. chicken pizza while watching 22, at U-31 Cocktail Lounge (3112 them do their sound check. DJs University Ave. in North Park). SeDrag queen Fifi serves as riously, nothing can propel a soulAdam Salter and Gabe Vega will emcee of Glamfest. keep the party vibe going throughful rendition of “Purple Rain” like out the night. Tickets are only $10 and can be bought carne asada and four beers. Believe me. I’ve done it. at 207sd.electrostub.com.

—Alex Zaragoza Beyoncé is a great entertainer. No doubt about that. But, in my opinion, she lacks the glamour and Write to alexz@sdcitybeat.com wit only a drag queen can bring to the stage. Local and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 93

Passion Pit at Open Air Theatre. Phantogram at House of Blues.

Wednesday, Oct. 23 Paramore at Viejas Arena. A.F.I. at House of Blues.

Thursday, Oct. 24 James Blake at House of Blues. Har Mar Superstar at The Casbah.

Friday, Oct. 25 Hunx and His Punx at The Irenic. Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe at Belly Up Tavern. The Righteous Brothers with Bill Medley at Casino Pauma. Castle at The Void.

Saturday, Oct. 26 Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe at Belly Up Tavern. Emilie Autumn at Porter’s Pub. Earthless at The Casbah.

Sunday, Oct. 27 Zac Brown Band at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Keep Shelly in Athens at The Casbah. BOY at Porter’s Pub.

Monday, Oct. 28 The Neighbourhood at House of Blues.

Buddy Guy at Belly Up Tavern.

Tuesday, Oct. 29 The Blow at The Casbah.

Wednesday, Oct. 30 Moody Blues at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay. Dax Riggs at The Casbah. Lord Dying at The Void. Federico Aubele at The Casbah (early show).

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Thursday, Oct. 31 Two Door Cinema Club at Humphreys Concerts by the Bay. Rocket From the Crypt at House of Blues. Ginuwine at Fluxx.

November Friday, Nov. 1 Father John Misty at House of Blues.

MellowHigh at Porter’s Pub. Schitzophonics at The Casbah.

Saturday, Nov. 2 The Sadies at The Casbah. Busdriver at The Void. David Cook at The Griffin.

Sunday, Nov. 3 The 1975 at Belly Up Tavern. Narrows at The Casbah. Deerhoof at The Irenic.

Shannon and the Clams at The Void.

Atlas Genius at House of Blues.

rCLUBSr 710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave, Pacific Beach. 710bc.com. Wed: Open mic, open jam. Thu: Seedless, Katastro, Krooked Treez. Fri: Casey Turner (5 p.m.); Arden Park Roots, Pasadena, Bumpin Uglies (9 p.m.). Sat: Full Moon Fever, Open Arms.

Tue: ‘710 Bass Club’.

98 Bottles, 2400 Kettner Blvd. Ste. 110, Little Italy. 98bottlessd.com. Thu: Gypsy Soul. Fri: Dialog Project. Sat: The Bluefrog Band.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St, Normal Heights. airconditionedbar. com. Wed: DJ Walker Holland. Thu: DJs Sankha, Bala. Fri: ‘Unwind’ w/ DJs

Sankha, Bala (6 p.m.); DJ Junior the DiscoPunk (9 p.m.). Sat: ‘Juicy’ w/ Mike Czech. Sun: ‘Happy Endings’ w/ DJs JoeMamma, Tramlife.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave, Downtown. americancomedyco. com. Wed: ‘3 for 30’ w/ Jeff Richards, Freddy Lockhart, Jason Thibault. Thu: Greg Fitzsimmons. Thu: Mo Mandel. Fri & Sat: Michael McDonald. Sun: Bruce Jingles. Tue: Open mic.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St, Downtown. facebook.com/BangBangSanDiego. Fri: Dropset, Justin Campbell. Sat: Samo Sound Boy, Jerome LOL. Bar Pink, 3829 30th St, North Park. barpink. com. Wed: ‘Funk 101’ w/ Stevie and The HiStax, DJ Barry Thomas. Thu: Radar Brothers, Little White Teeth. Fri: The Styletones.

Sat: ‘Neon Beat’. Mon: ‘Monday Night Mass’ w/ The Husky Boy All-Stars. Tue: ‘Tiki Tuesday’ w/ Mr. Craig Pryor.

Bassmnt, 919 Fourth Ave, Downtown. bassmntsd.com. Thu: Tyler Sherritt. Fri: Bambi. Sat: Paris and Simo.

Beaumont’s, 5662 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla. brocktonvilla.com/beaumonts.html. Thu: Simeon Flick. Fri: Stratos. Sat: Slower.

Sun: Matt Bolton.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave, Solana Beach. bellyup.com. Wed: Leon Russell, Low Volts. Thu: Jimmy Buffett and The Coral Reefer Band (sold out). Fri: Atomic Groove (5:30 p.m.); Chali 2na and House of Vibe, B-Side Players (9 p.m.).

Sat: Stepping Feet, The Squirming Coils.

Sun: Three Dog Night. Mon: ‘Live at The Belly Up’ w/ Stranger, Trouble In the Wind, The Drowning Men. Tue: ‘Live at The Belly Up’ w/ Steve Poltz, Earl Thomas and The Rhumboogies, Sara Petite and The Sugar Daddies.

Bluefoot Bar & Lounge, 3404 30th St, North Park. bluefootsd.com. Wed: ‘Whiplash’ w/ DJ C Wizrad. Thu: ‘VJ Bang’ w/ VJ JK. Fri: Mike Delgado. Sat: Peso. Sun: ‘The Spinning Plates’ w/ DJ Grassy Noll, Iggy. Tue: DJ Girl Friday.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave, Carlsbad. boarcrossn.net. Thu: Gladiators Eat Fire.

Sat: Jam Kwest.

Bourbon Street, 4612 Park Blvd, University Heights. bourbonstreetsd.com. Wed: ‘Awe Snap! I Love the ‘90s’ w/ VJ K Swift.

Thu: ‘Wet’. Fri: ‘Go Go Fridays’ w/ VJ K Swift. Sat: ‘Dinner With The Dream Girls’.

Sun: ‘Soiree’.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave, Bay Park. brickbybrick.com. Fri: Diamond Head, Raven, Taz Taylor, Volture, Ultimate Sin. Sat: Circle 7, Vattica, Shotgun Chaperone, Before the Mourning. Sun: whiskytickle, T.B.G, Hot Gin, A.D., Chase Enriquez, Big Country Elephant, Seth Geko, Ta’East.

Tue: Oh No Fiasco, The Village Squares, The Great Okra, Undead Garden.

Cafe Sevilla, 353 Fifth Ave, Downtown. cafesevilla.com. Wed: Aro Di Santi. Thu: Eliseo. Fri: Joeff and Co. Sat: Malamana.

Sun: Aragon y Royal. Mon: Sounds of Brazil.

Comedy Store, 916 Pearl St, La Jolla. lajolla.thecomedystore.com.

Fri-Sat: Ahmed Ahmed.

Croce’s, 802 Fifth Ave, Downtown. croces.com. Wed: Fuzzy. Thu: Sue Palmer.

Fri: Lady Dottie and The Diamonds. Sat: Daniel Jackson (11:30 a.m.); Agua Dulce (8:30 p.m.). Sun: Patrick Barrigan (11:30 a.m.); The Archtones (7:30 p.m.).

Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. dirksniteclub.com. Fri: Serious Guise. Sat: Zone 4.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. dizzyssandiego.com. Thu: Grossmont College Jazz Big Band and Afro Cuban Ensemble. Fri: Euphoria Brass Band.

Sat: Daniel Jackson.

El Dorado Bar, 1030 Broadway, Downtown. eldoradobar.com. Wed: ‘The Tighten Up’. Thu: Bob Moses, Astroknots. Fri: ‘Hickeys and Dryhumps’ w/ DJs Don’t Go Jason Waterfalls, Saul Q. Sat: Kaytranada, Adam Salter, Kanye Asada, Contemporary Menswear. Sun: DJ Falcon.

Epicentre, 8450 Mira Mesa Blvd, Mira Mesa. epicentreconcerts.org. Sat: The Indys, Aim to Kill, Camacho.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave, Downtown. fluxxsd. com. Thu: Destructo. Fri: DJs Ikon, Ricky Rocks. Sat: DJ Karma.

Gallagher’s, 5040 Newport Ave, Ocean Beach. 619-222-5303. Wed: Lady Dottie and The Diamonds. Thu: Piracy, DJ Reefah, TRC Soundsystem. Fri: Neighbors To The North, DJ Lya. Sat: The Drinking Cowboy Band.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave, Downtown. houseofblues.com/sandiego. Wed: Disclosure, T. Williams (sold out). Thu: Steve Vai. Fri: RDGLDGRN, Perro Bravo (sold out). Mon: Jerrod Niemann. Tue: Phantogram, Giraffage.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. kavalounge.com. Wed: ‘Future Wednesdays’. Thu: Dash Eye. Fri: ‘Family Affair’ w/ Colette.

Lestat’s Coffee House, 3343 Adams Ave, Normal Heights. lestats.com. Wed: Danielle Stathas, Ashley Juavinett, Rachel Ann Weiss. Thu: Ashley Pond, Julia Stine, Kristi Krause. Fri: Ernie Halter. Sat: Allison

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Lonsdale(6 p.m.); Elephant King, Jesse Thomas, Trent Hancock (9 p.m.). Sun: Elli Perry, James Maple, Cara. Mon: Open Mic. Tue: Comedy night.

Onyx Room / Thin, 852 Fifth Ave, Downtown. onyxroom.com. Fri: ‘Rumba Lounge’ w/ DJs Martin Kache, Seize, Jay Valdez, La Mafia.

Patricks II, 428 F St, Downtown. patricksii.com. Wed: Johnny Vernazza. Thu: Mystique Element of Soul. Fri: Bill Magee Blues Band. Sat: TnT. Sun: Up Shot.

Mon: WG and The G-Men. Tue: Walter’s Chicken Jam.

The Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla. theloft.ucsd.edu. Wed: Oliver Trolley, Hargo, We Care. Thu: Cherub, Mansions on the Moon. Sat: Junip, Barbarossa.

Mon: Kye Kye, Tiny Telephones.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave, Hillcrest. rubyroomsd.com. Thu: Schroeder Kelly, Flowerglass, Sister Speak. Fri: Zoo2.

Porter’s Pub, 9500 Gilman Dr., UCSD campus, La Jolla. porterspub.net. Fri: Pac Div. Sun: D.Mosive.

The Office, 3936 30th St, North Park. officebarinc.com. Wed: Dreams of Vertigo, Mike Delgado, Todo Mal.

Queen Bee’s, 3925 Ohio St, North Park. queenbeessd.com. Fri: The Meteors.

The Void, 3519 El Cajon Blvd, North Park. thevoidsd.com. Wed: Saviours, Archons, Dead Ghosts, Amigo. Thu: Just In Case, Punchcard, A New Ending. Fri: The Icarus Line, Buddy Banter, Prayers, Turning Lights. Mon: Curse of the North, Deep Sea Thunderbeast, Little Doves. Tue: Maria Minerva, Cherushii.

Rich’s , 1051 University Ave, Hillcrest. richssandiego.com. Wed: ‘Mischief’ w/ Bianca. Thu: ‘Repent’. Fri: DJs Drew G, Will Z. Sat: DJ Ted Eiel. Sun: DJ Kiki.

Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave, La Mesa. rivierasupperclub.com.

Wed: Kice Simko. Thu: Nolan and Scooter. Fri: Cougar Canyon Band. Sat: Bedbreakers.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave, North Park. sevengrandbars.com/sd. Wed: Gilbert Castellanos jazz jam. Thu: ‘Acoustic Soul’.

Fri: Small Disaster. Sat: Burnett’s Bliss.

Mon: ‘Motown Mondays’ w/ DJ Artistic.

Shakedown Bar, 3048 Midway Drive, Point Loma. theshakedownsd.com. Thu: Redmond, The Doc Martens. Fri: TSOL, The Marsupials, Uncle Bill. Sat: Blood Dancer, Raise The Guns, Darkale.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. sodabarmusic.com. Wed: Crystal Antlers, Ditches, Nicely. Thu: Helado Negro, Rafter, Pal and Drome. Fri: Kelley Stoltz, The Loons, Schitzophonics. Sat: MS MR, Wildcat! Wildcat!. Sun: Requiem For the Rockets, Inspired and the Sleep, Tan Sister Radio, Throne. Mon: Mean Jeans, Audacity, Dinosaur Ghost. Tue: Stepdad, The Beautiful View, Marqay.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Midway. somasandiego.com. Wed: Sleeping With Sirens, Memphis May Fire, Breathe Carolina, Issues. Fri: Attila, Upon A Burning Body, iwrestledabearonce, The Plot in You, Fit for a King, Killing the Messenger. Sat: Story of the Year, Like Moths to Flames, Hawthorne Heights, Capture the Crown, Set It Off, I Am King. Sun: Handguns, A Loss For Words, Major League, The Sheds, Cut Your Losses.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St, Midtown. spinnightclub.com. Sun: Cham.

The Brass Rail, 3796 Fifth Ave, Hillcrest. thebrassrailsd.com. Thu: ‘Boy’z Club’ w/ DJs Marcel, John Joseph, Taj, Will Z. Sat: ‘Sabados en Fuego’. Sun: ‘Noche Romantica’ w/ Daisy Salinas. Mon: DJs XP, Junior the DiscoPunk.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. casbahmusic.com. Wed: Braids, Hundred Waters, Kodak to Graph. Thu: Fucked Up, Tony Molina, Go Go Lords. Fri: Langhorne Slim and The Law, Jonny Fritz, Nathan Reich. Sat: Quintron and Ms. Pussycat, ZZZ, Beehive and The Barracudas. Sun: Supersuckers, Hellbound Glory, Neighbors To The North, Saint Shameless. Mon: Tim Kasher, Laura Stevenson, Jake Bellows. Tue: Mad Traffic, Gayle Skidmore, The Phantoms.

The Che Cafe, UCSD campus, La Jolla. thechecafe.blogspot.com. Fri: ‘Comida No Bombas Tijuana Benefit Show’ w/ Man vs Man, Calafiaputa, Burnt!. Sat: Restorations, Weatherbox.

The Griffin, 1310 Morena Blvd, Bay Park. thegriffinsd.com. Wed: Idyll Wild, Old Age, The We Shared Milk. Thu: Evidence, LMNO, Black Resume, Cali Cam.

96 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

Fri: Del Sol Project, Solwave, Rags Ribbons. Sat: Leagues, The Dig, The Palace Ballroom. Sun: 1776, Bjorn Baillie and The Breaks. Tue: Glasmus, Stripes and Lines, Elephant King.

Tiki House, 1152 Garnet Ave, Pacific Beach. tikipb.com. Wed: A. Silipigno.

Thu: Flower and Corey. Fri: Full Circle.

Sat: Joey Harris and The Mentals. Sun: Andre Monari. Tue: Sweet Dreams.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. tiltwoclub.com. Wed: A Brief History of Rhyme, DJ Heather Hardcore. Thu: Dirty Kid Discount, Toothless George, Spreading Evictions, Anthrot. Fri: Subsuelo, Cumbia Machin, DJ Eddie Turbo. Sat: Chica Diabla, Hocus, The Seks, Oddball, Sculpins. Tue: Stand-up comedy.

Tin Can Ale House, 1863 Fifth Ave, Bankers Hill. thetincan1.wordpress.com.

Wed: Tori Rogg, Eleanor Murray, Patrick Norton. Thu: Hawke Auburn, Rebel Noise, Junior Giant. Fri: The Fisks, The FockeWolves, Tarah Who. Sat: East of Sweden, Bella Novela, The Gods of Science. Mon: ‘The Tin Can Country Club’ w/ Chad Pittman. Tue: The Hero Inside, Crazy Eyes, Muscle Beech.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St, Bay Park. tioleos. com. Wed: Mark St. Mary. Thu: Mercedes Moore. Fri: The Elgins. Sat: Left4Dead.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave, City Heights. thetowerbar.com. Wed: The Ratt’s Revenge, DJ Mikey Ratt. Thu: Civil War Rust, Western Settings, Caskitt, Square Crow. Fri: Sutra, Deck B. Sat: Jason Lee and The R.I.P. Tides, The Fink Bombs. Sun: Gary Hankins, Lionsweb, Grandma Kelsey.

Turquoise, 873 Turquoise St, Pacific Beach. theturquoise.com/wordpress.

Wed: Kevin and Eduardo (4 p.m.); Tomcat Courtney (6 p.m.). Thu: The Jade Visions Jazz Trio (4 p.m.); Pan Am (7 p.m.). Fri: Tomcat Courtney (5 p.m.); Afro Jazziacs (9 p.m.). Sat: Tomcat Courtney (5 p.m.); The Jade Visions Jazz Trio (9 p.m.). Sun: Sounds Like Four (4 p.m.); Big Boss Bubale (7 p.m.). Mon: Sean Murphy (4 p.m.); Stefanie Schmitz (7 p.m.). Tue: Stefanie Schmitz (5 p.m.); Afro Jazziacs (7 p.m.).

U-31, 3112 University Ave, North Park. u31bar.com. Fri: DJ Bugz. Sat: ‘Dancedance’ w/ DJ Qenoe. Mon: DJ Saul Q. Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St, South Park. whistlestopbar.com.

Wed: ‘Brewers Soundtracks’. Thu: ‘Astrojump’ w/ Kill Quanti DJs. Fri: ‘F#ing In the Bushes’ w/ DJs Daniel Sant, Rob Moran. Sat: ‘80s vs.

90s’ w/ DJs Gabe Vega, Saul.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St, Ocean Beach. winstonsob.com. Wed: Chill Clinton, Sol Tribe, DJ Carlos Culture. Thu: Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band. Fri: Ezzrah, Devocean, Burnin’ Up, Orange Pickers.

Sat: C. Fish (4:20 p.m.); New Monsoon and The Homesick Hitchers (9:30 p.m.).

Sun: Wilson Renette. Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: SUBDVSN.

Proud sponsor: San Diego Whale Watch

Ink Well Xwords by Ben Tausig

Across 1. “Orange Is the New Black” protagonist 6. Ennui 11. ___ Cruces, New Mexico 14. Wowed 15. Perfectly fine 16. Football chant word 17. Princes and princesses?

19. Plague 20. Address shortened at bitly or goo.gl 21. Small four-stringed instrument, for short 22. Purplish green, sometimes 24. Go into private practice?

27. Tells, e.g., in poker 30. Water vapor from right here in the US of A, dammit?

33. Hangover symptom 34. Ice-T’s show, briefly 35. Very, very 38. Shit-faced 39. “Leave that comma in after all” 40. “Document” band 41. Kid who played a vampire, often, nowadays 45. Long rant about how the captain was mean, the shanties sucked, and everyone got scurvy?

48. Geezer 49. They’re milked for all they’re worth 52. Misses 53. Place for a ring or a stud 55. Whiz 56. Enjoyed the spread 58. Specialty side dish for Norbit?

Last week’s answers

62. Greek god of forests 63. Wine taster’s concern 64. Wash away, as the shoreline 65. Clothing with footies, casually 66. Light and water, e.g., for plants 67. Played (with)

Down 1. Irritate 2. Bury, as ashes 3. Spanish rice dish with saffron 4. Lamb’s mom 5. Half of the duo on the album “You Eediot!”

6. Lie like a lizard 7. Run like a deer 8. Letters for George Orwell or Mark Twain 9. Averse to diplomacy 10. Nerve junction 11. Purely positive engagement, in slang 12. Autumn ___ 13. It requires you to choose a position 18. Hindu rule for living 23. Something to build on 25. “As I understand it,” online 26. Catch in the theater 27. Pinning in chess, e.g.

28. Top choice, casually 29. What some banned books contain, according to the banners 31. Most prone to play “Grand Theft Auto V” and eat Doritos all day 32. Inedible-pizza magnate Herman and his family 35. Approximately 36. Get better 37. Iotas 39. Skeleton device 41. “Home Improvement” nickname 42. “Victim of Love” synthpop duo 43. The Muffin Man’s lane 44. Multivolume ref. work 46. Smaller alternative to JFK 47. Go out on tour?

50. Duane ___ (New York City pharmacy chain) 51. Used a needle 53. Early hip-hop group with “Strictly Business” 54. Cries of discovery 56. Shazam, e.g.

57. Atlantic City casino, with “the” 59. Salty eggs 60. ___ list (band’s schedule) 61. “No more seats” sign

A pair of tickets for a three-hour San Diego Whale Watch tour will be awarded weekly. Email a picture of your answers to crossword@sdcitybeat.com or fax it to 619-325-1393. Limit one win per person per 30 days.

October 16, 2013 · San Diego CityBeat · 97

98 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

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100 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

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102 · San Diego CityBeat · October 16, 2013

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