February 17, 2012
On the Internet at www.MissionValleyNews.com
Volume VI – Number 2
Election Mission Valley
Rik Hauptfeld
THE LOONS
raises his independent voice for District 7 Genevieve Suzuki
photos by Lorenzo
The Loons are at the spearhead of a nouveau mouvement to bring back the '60s influence in local music. by Vince Meehan
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he Loons have been leading the charge in a new wave of '60’s nostalgia that has swept San Diego recently, and there’s a good reason for that. Mike Stax is the lanky lead singer who fits the role of rock and roll frontman to a tee. The way he sees it, there’s a perfectly good reason for the authenticity of The Loons retro sound. "You see, Anja and I grew up listening to the great bands of the '60s and '70s, and I never got into anything else," says Mike. "For us, this is not a tribute or a re-creation, this is what we’ve always done, whether it was cool or not." Anja Dixson is the bass player for The Loons and also Mike’s wife. Both grew up in Europe and met while Anja was playing London with her German girl-band. Later, Stax was offered a position as singer for the band The Crawdaddys here in California after writing them a fan letter, and Anja came out soon later. Stax was drawn to The Crawdaddys due to their '60s rhythm & blues style, and played with them until he formed The Loons in 1996. "You see, I’ve always loved '60s rand '70s rhythm & blues, nothing else. In the late '70s when punk took over, I really didn’t get into it,"said Stax. "Then the '80s came along with it’s MTV and hair-metal, but I still jammed the blues. So today when we play out live, we are not a reenactment of that music scene, we are it."
District 7 candidate Rik Hauptfeld is running a grassroots campaign. Hauptfeld doesn’t have big contributors nor is he aligned with large organizations. “We need a change and a more independent voice,” he said. Hauptfeld said there are many people who feel the same way. When he attended a recent Allied Gardens Community Council meeting, he was buoyed by the number of people who approached him after his speech, which included an explanation of his independent status. “It was tremendously encouraging for me,” he said. “We’re about the community – we don’t have a bunch of money behind us.” As an independent candidate, Hauptfeld said he is maximizing free resources to get his message out there. “In our opinion, the web – social media – is our great equalizer because they’re free,” said Hauptfeld, who added that his Facebook likes and Twitter followers continue to increase.
See LOONS, page 9
See HAUPTFELD page 4
County Aims to shut down Organic Farms New Ordinance would effectively make organic farming impossible. On Feb. 29, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors will consider a new ordinance aimed at controlling regional eye gnat populations. Many of the restrictions outlined in the ordinance would have negative impacts for local organic farms. Responding to an unspecified, growing number of resident complaints, Supervisors Dianne Jacob and Pam Slater-Price have requested a "tougher strategy" for dealing with the eye gnat problem
by Vince Meehan
they see as caused and perpetuated by organic farms. Be Wise Ranch, located on an agricultural preserve in the San Pasqual Valley near Escondido, is one organic farm that would be impacted by this ordinance. Founded in 1977, Be Wise Ranch is one of the oldest and largest organic farms in the region and provides fresh produce to over 3,500 customers through its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. The farm is also a supplier for Whole Foods, Jimbo’s Naturally and Baron’s Market.
Local organic farms such as the Be Wise Ranch would be forced to use pesticides if the ordinance passes.
See ORDINANCE, page 14
Find out what's in with Luigi Vera The Fashion King!
Page 15
Scott Peters runs for Congress! Page 3
Find out what the police are doing to clean up the San Diego Riverbed Page 4