Pacific San Diego Magazine, April 2011 issue by Pacific San Diego Magazine

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sl o t h ( s l ô t h , s l t h , s l t h ) n . Aversion to work or exertion; laziness; indo l e n c e .

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( S I N ) D U S T RY N I G H T: D i s coverSD’s Drag Fashion Show - “Faux Yo u r s e l f ” Tu e s . A pr i l 19 - 9P M

SEVEN MONTHS, SEVEN SINS. E D E N S A N D I E G O . C O M

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editor’s note

Just be cause

uring a family vacay to San Diego from the City of Brotherly Love in 1978, we drove to Disneyland for a day. Amazing! I loved the rides, sights and snacks—all of it. I was eight and big into cartoons. Thinking about meeting Goofy and going home with a caricature of myself—tangible proof that I was, if for but an instant, a toon—still gives me goose bumps. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I headed down to the annual St. Baldrick’s charity shave-a-thon at Quality Social in the Gaslamp to watch some friends get their heads shaved to generate awareness and fund research for childhood cancer. Nearly 50 local men and three women sacrificed their locks for children’s cancer. Their efforts, combined with the take from the bar, resulted in a whopping $25,000 donation to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation. My friends tried to convince me to go bald, but I wasn’t having it. I hadn’t raised money, so what would be the point? I was about to leave the event to meet the photographer and illustrator who documented this issue’s blind date (see “Caricature Witness,” page 72), when I looked over at the shaving station. Sitting on a bar stool by the DJ booth, a man about my age was going under the clippers. He was smiling from ear to ear. In front of him, a seven-year-old boy was jumping up and down with such unbridled glee, you’d think he was at the Happiest Place on Earth, and Mickey Mouse had just told him the funniest poop joke of all time. As swaths of hair tumbled from the man’s head, the boy doubled over with laughter, then stood up to giggle and point at his father some more. When I looked back at man, he was smiling even harder—now with tears in his eyes. The man’s name is Corey. His exuberant jumpingbean of a son, Trevor, I learned, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare children’s cancer, when he was three. All 200 people in the room seemed to be crying or trying not to. The love Corey has for Trevor, and vice versa, was palpable, but it was Trevor’s pure joy that moved me

most. At that moment, it wasn’t about cancer; it was about Dad being hilarious. I got my head shaved five minutes later. Honestly, I don’t know exactly why I did it. It just felt right. It was for a great cause, to say the least. Later that evening, bald, I was having dinner with the aforementioned illustrator, Court Jones, while the blind daters were eating on the opposite side of the restaurant. And while I was working on my appetizer, Court was working on the caricature of me shown below. Oscar Wilde once said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” For me, my caricature from Disney and Court’s new one are examples of art imitating life. The former reminds me of my own childhood elation. I suspect the latter, like the original, will continue to give me goose bumps, serving as a reminder of Trevor’s contagious smile. If my ridiculous bald cartoon motivates anyone to shave their head next year, I guess that would be life imitating art—and welcome confirmation that this ridiculous haircut brings awareness to more than just my scalp.

TOP: Trevor, with dad Corey, was the star of the show.

David Perloff, Editor-In-Chief

TREVOR has been in remission since 2009. His family started a nonprofit called TrevorsToyBox.org, the mission of which, Corey says, “Is to heal through happiness, by giving toys, games and arts and crafts supplies to children in hospitals to make their stay more enjoyable.” ST. BALDRICK’S events have raised more than $90 million in 11 years. For more info, call 888.899.BALD (2253) or visit stbaldricks.org.

Every day in April, let PacificSD shower you and the rest of our reader family with love in the form of $50 gift certificates from the San Diego superstars shown here. For a (very good) chance to win, play the game of the day at one of San Diego’s most popular social media gathering places: facebook.com/pacificsd. Thanks for playing from PacificSD, the magazine that loves you back.

pacificsandiego.com { April 2011}

MIDDLE: Shameless plug—Jamie Sigler, of J Public Relations, cut a “J” into the back of my head. BOTTOM: Time to buy a hat. (Photos by Tim King)

staff

VOL.5

ISSUE 4

APRIL 2011

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

David Perloff PUBLISHERS

David Perloff Simone Perloff EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Pat Sherman

C R E AT I V E DIRECTOR

Kenny Boyer

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Brandon Hernández

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Briana Currie Dave Good Paul Harkins Catharine Kaufman Cookie “Chainsaw” Randolph Christy Scannell Kiran Umapathy

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Brevin Blach brevinblach.com Jeff “Turbo” Corrigan turbo.fm Rob Hammer r o b h a m m e r p h o t o g r a p h y. c o m Stacy Marie Keck stacymariesd.com

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Alyson Baker alyson@pacificsandiego.com Tim Donnelly tim@pacificsandiego.com

Call PacificSD at 619.296.6300 or visit pacificsandiego.com today to benefit from dramatic countywide exposure via print, web and social media.

contributors Brevin Blach Brevin Blach has had a love affair with the camera for more than 12 years. It has taken him around the world, from the beaches of Brazil to the studios of New York City. He has shot campaigns for the prestigious Sauvage, Salinas and Despi swimwear lines, and captured the passion of celebrities and athletes such as Tiger Woods, Antonio Gates, Rob Machado, Jason Mraz, Jewel and Harrison Ford. Blach’s work has appeared nationally and internationally in Cosmopolitan and Hello! magazines. A regular contributor to PacificSD, he divides his talents between lifestyle, editorial, features and fashion photography. His style relies on a simplicity that captivates and leaves a lasting impression. When he’s not busy coaxing magic through his lens, Blach enjoys chasing his four–year-old son around and relaxing with family. View more of Blach’s work at brevinblach.com.

ROB HAMMER Born in Albany, New York, Rob Hammer studied criminal justice at Norwich University in Vermont, having “no better idea at the time.” He moved to San Diego in 2006, holding down a series of random office jobs—despising every one of them. Deciding that he couldn’t work for other people, Hammer began pursuing photography, his longtime hobby and passion (as well as that of his grandfather, also a professional photographer). After spending two years in Denver as a fulltime freelance photographer, Hammer moved back to San Diego, where he continued to produce his characteristically edgy and dramatic images of athletes, musicians and businesspeople. In his spare time, Hammer loves to travel. When not on assignment, he is working on a long-term project documenting the plight of the homeless, called “Anything Helps.” Get a taste of “Hammer Style” at robhammerphotography.com.

KIRAN UMAPATHY Born in London and raised in Connecticut, Kiran Umapathy ventured west to San Diego after finishing his business studies at Boston University. Since moving to California, he has become a key contributor to the creative inspiration blog, Holiday Matinee (holidaymatinee.com), and has gone on to speak at local schools and Pecha Kucha events, where young designers and creative types meet and exchange ideas. With an affinity for live music, the outdoors and the ridiculous, Umapathy can be found anywhere, from local live music venues and Torrey Pines trails to Improv Everywhere’s No Pants Trolley Ride. Follow him on Twitter @sixoclockshado.

P A C I F I C S D

P R O M O T I O N San Diego

San Diego

KNOW BODIES

MAIL CALL! M

Who has the hottest body in San Diego? Let’s see...

P h o t o b y B r e v i n Bla c h • M o d e l : A m b e r S e y e r • L o c ati o n : Ha r d R o c k H o t e l S a n Di e g o

pacificsandiego.com { April 2011}

Is it the top-quality audience, precision demographic targeting, aggressive pricing, unmatched customer service, powerful results, added value, expert marketing advice, online support or the social media exposure that keeps PacificSD’s advertising partners so happy they stay in the magazine for years in a row?

Yes. Even in a recession, even when they’ve canceled their other advertising, PacificSD’s advertising partners stay in this magazine. They love it. We love them. Let us love you. Call 619.296.6300 or visit pacificsandiego.com for a custom-tailored, hyper-effective multimedia campaign today. When business is good, there’s a lot of love to share. You’ll see.

PacificSD’s Facebook page or check out the galleries at pacificsandiego.com. BE HOT: Compete in PacificSD’s Hotbody Contest by emailing your best three photos (no more, please) to hotbody@pacificsandiego.com.

San Diego

If you’re not receiving PacificSD in the mail each month, join the nearly 20,000 that do by purchasing a subscription at pacificsandiego. com. It’s just $9.99 per year for the postage, and we’ll send you invites to our soirees, exclusive offers, info about upcoming events— and all the A-list trimmings. If you don’t have a mailbox, please keep picking up copies of PacificSD from wherever you scored this one—unless you swiped it from a friend’s house, in which case, buy a subscription…still just $9.99 a year. ;-)

SEE HOT: “Like” yourself some pics on

San Diego

IT ALL ADS UP

PacificSD’s Hotbody Contest is afoot (among other body parts). The Finest City’s finest physiques—yoga instructors, drill sergeants, personal trainers, surfers, bikini models, go-go dancers, lifeguards and the guy and girl next door—have been submitting their hottest pics for public perusal. They’re competing (you can, too) for cash, prizes and the chance to be on the cover of PacificSD’s BODY ISSUE, coming in July.

04. 1 1

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features page

artbeat From painters to jewelry makers, San Diegans get to the art of the matter

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m o s t m o d e r n a rt c o n t e s t p a g e 4 8

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On the cover: in PacificSD’s Art contest, O nThe t hwinning e co v submission er : The winning submission MostModern in PacificSD‘s MostModern Art Far East, by Far Hillcrest as chosen the magazine’s contest, East, by artist HillcrestSean artistBrannan, Sean Brannan (pictured by at left), as chosen by Facebook family and this year’s panel of judges (see page 48). the magazine’s Facebook family and this year’s panel of judges (see page 48). ABOVE: second-place winner, Jellyfish cruiser, by South Park’s Ramona Szczerba, is comprised collage, hand-cut imagery, watercolor and shell accents. T h is ofpa g e : Second-place winner, Jellyfish, by South Park artist Ramona at left (top to bottom): Speed, byofNicole by Cube Works, at Szczerba. The piece is comprised collage,Deline; vintage,Jimi hand-cut images, a handAlexander Fine Art; Tweet Street bird house, a project of the American painted watercolor background and shell accents. Institute of Graphic Arts’ San Diego chapter.

contents

04 . 1 1

pa c i f i c s d

departments CURR E NT S

page

2 5 D ifferent S trokes Hundreds of painters, sculptors and other artists converge on Little Italy

5 6 S lei g ht of H am North County business creates a feast of fakes for TV and film

2 8 P ermanent M arkers Female tattoo artists create in living color

6 0 Growin g U p Vertical gardens are helping space-starved chefs vegetate

A D iamond in the R ou g h The finer side of America’s favorite pastime

3 4 Git ‘ er D une Local women head to Morocco for an intense, off-road adventure 3 8 E spresso L ane Cyclists race where the rubber meets the rigatoni 4 0 S prin g C hic - in The Finest City’s Sunday best

6 2 F ish T ales / ’ S up in the A I R R The story of Harney Sushi / new social dining and nightlife concept opens 6 4 M ar y M e Fall in love with a cocktail you can sink your teeth into GROOV E

6 7 P erfect S torm Local buzz band blows back into town with new CD 6 8 O n a B ri g hter N ote … Beach area artist creates vibrant works to live music 6 9 H ouse C alls The place is rockin’ when DJ Frankie M comes knockin’ 7 0 B roken A rted Bartender’s dark design pays homage to the lovelorn 7 2 C aricature W itness Dating as art, a first-hand account CAL E NDAR

7 8 F our . E leven April event listings ROAD TRIP S

8 2 S ea W ith Your E y es Four photographers and a picture-perfect escape

TA S T E 22

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Hundreds of painters, sculptors and other artists converge on Little Italy B y P a U L H A R K INS

rasping a filly’s tail can result in a bone-crushing hind kick, but attendees at the 27th annual ArtWalk can safely clutch a giant horsehair brush to express their inner Picasso. The collaborative project, under the auspices of Cardiff by the Sea artist Rosemary KimBal, is one of several opportunities for attendees at this year’s event to immerse themselves in art. The two-day festival, to be held on the weekend of April 30 and May 1, is expected to draw upwards of 120,000 people and will feature the work of more than 300 artists, as well as performances by more than 30 musical groups and 10 dance troupes. Painters, ceramic artists, sculptors and glassblowers will display and sell their work within a 16-block section of Little Italy, off India Street. “The event has developed an international reputation,” says Sandi Cottrell, the event’s managing director. “It’s just a complete indulgence of your senses.” On Saturday, KimBal will lead collaborative demonstrations of the 3,000-year-old Chinese art of sumi-e, a Zen-inspired technique that includes a tai chi warm-up to unblock participants’ creative flow before they make their mark with a giant horsehair brush. On Sunday, writer and photographer Kira Corser will introduce ArtWalkers to her vision of “creative action” by having them paint dove murals for her “Art is the Next Peace” project.

Mission Federal ArtWalk When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. April 30 and May 1 Where: Streets of Little Italy Info: missionfederalartwalk.org

c o u r t e s y Ra y m o n d Elsta d

Little Miss Cupcake b y Nelso n D e L a N u e z

Rosemary KimBal demonstrates her version of the 3,000-year-old, Zen-inspired art of sumi-e, which she calls the “dancing brush.” pacificsandiego.com

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PERMANENT MARKERS FEMALE TATTOO ARTISTS CREATE IN LIVING COLOR

B y C a th a r i n e L . K a u f m a n Ph o t o s b y St a c y K e c k (unless otherwise noted)

s the popularity of indelible ink and the proliferation of tattoo shops peaked over the past couple decades, millions went under the needle. And while sticking it to them used to be the work of men alone, these days, women are in on the action, too. These three San Diego tattoo artists go a lot further than skin deep, crediting their success to having “a gentler hand,” offering “better listening skills and patience”—and knowing when to say, “No!”

B r ia n a S a r g e n t B u j u T a t t o o Mission Hills BujuTattoo.com

COUNTERCLOCKWISE (from top right): Buju Tattoo’s Briana Sargent works on a side job; Sargent gets sketchy with tattooist Jasmine Wright; three selections from Sargent’s permanent record.

Buju Tattoo was named after owner Briana Sargent’s blue Brindle Pit Bull, who multitasks as the Mission Hills shop’s mascot and therapy dog. The place is filled with funky Victorian antiques, crystal balls, quirky old photos and other kitschy touches. Mint chocolate chip-colored floors and light green walls give the space a soft, girly ambience, which Sargent says is a far cry from the hairy armpits, popcorn ceilings and hockey player smiles of the typical man’s seedy tattoo shop. Sargent supports her fellow female artists by attending women-only expos, and by hiring some of the women she meets, including Buju tattooist Ashley Doherty. Realizing that a tattoo can sometimes have negative, even devastating implications down the line, Doherty once refused a woman’s request to have her forehead tattooed. “If they’re not heavily tattooed, they just don’t grasp the commitment,” Doherty says. (Continued on Page 30 )

S ee more photos at

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S usa n Ki d d e r F l es h S k i n G r a f i x T a t t o o Imperial Beach fleshskingrafix.com

Raised in Japan, where tattoos were taboo, Susan Kidder was drawn to the mystique of body art from an early age. She eventually broke into the male-dominated field through a serendipitous encounter with the owner of Avalon Tattoo II in North Park, who offered her an informal apprenticeship. Kidder says being in the gender minority gives her an edge in the industry. She credits the popularity of female tattooists to “better listening skills and patience,” which allow them to capture the true essence of the tattoo. Working out of Flesh Skin Grafix Tattoo in Imperial Beach, Kidder says that couples generally request a female tattooist, in some cases because the men may not want their significant others handled by another man. Kidder and her female co-workers have also noticed that guys wanting to have their privates tattooed also seem to request female inkers. Go figure. Kidder regards tattooing as “an ancient right; a bond that links every ethnic, religious, spiritual and gender group.” Her father, once vehemently opposed to her giving or receiving tats, now proudly sports three of her designs—and is hounding her for a fourth.

Just Ink About It T attoo trivia Lip tattoos only last a maximum of five years and have to be retouched frequently. “Heir-ass” Paris Hilton had a tattoo of her former boyfriend’s name (Nick Carter) removed from her right butt cheek via laser treatments. Hawaiian Queen Kamamalu (1802-1824) was the first female known to get a tongue tattoo. Many tattoo artists refuse to tattoo pregnant women, since tattoo ink contains trace amounts of lead and other potentially dangerous metals. British septuagenarian Isobel Varley was recognized by Guinness World Records as “The Most Tattooed Senior Woman.” She has complete body coverage and 50 piercings.

L isa F asul o

Winston Churchill’s mother, Lady

T h e T a t t o o Le a r n i n g Ce n t e r

Randolph Churchill (1854-1921),

Pacific Beach tattoolearningcenter.com

had a snake tattoo around her wrist, a popular aristocratic fad of

Tattooist Lisa Fasulo, who majored in art at SUNY Cortland, founded the bi-coastal Tattoo Learning Center, a hands-on, twoweek intensive trade school for budding artists, with locations in Pacific Beach and Albany, New York. Fasulo says people perceive female tattoo artists as being more sensitive to a client’s pain and tending to work with “a gentler hand.” She says that some men and most women are more comfortable being inked by another woman. “Much like a spa treatment, the procedure involves handling, shaving, touching and wiping,” she says. Fasulo’s most sensitive assignment was to tattoo a nipple on the reconstructed breast of a mastectomy patient. She has appeared in more than 50 tattoo publications and is currently filming a reality TV show scheduled to air this summer. 30

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the period. Halle Berry’s sunflower derriere tattoo is intended to camouflage the name of her ex-husband, ballplayer David Justice. In honor of Barbie’s 50th birthday, in April 2009, Mattel launched “Totally Styling” Barbie, with a set of tattoos, including a lower back, “tramp stamp” of Ken’s name. Among Angelina Jolie’s assorted ink is a literary quote by Tennessee Williams: “A prayer for the wild of heart that are kept in cages.”

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A few years ago, I got a stack of mail and left it sitting for a few days. Finally sifting through it, I discovered the annual Hall of Fame gift catalog from Cooperstown. In it I saw this magnificent original painting by the wonderful artist Bill Purdom. Knowing the catalog had been out for a while, I felt certain that some uber-Mantle fan like Billy Crystal or Bob Costas had already snapped it up. I dialed the 800 number with a mixture of excitement and dread. Then, after reading the item number back to me, the operator said the painting was still available. I didn’t believe her. I mimicked Joe Pesci, questioning Marissa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny: “Are you suuuuure?” She was, and I got it. This is Mickey Mantle hitting one of only two home runs that reached the upper-deck façade at the original Yankee Stadium (nobody ever hit one completely out of the park). It’s May 30, 1956, the year Mantle was at the height of his artistic powers, winning the Triple Crown with a .353 batting average, 52 homeruns and 130 runs batted in.

COOKI E “ CHAIN S AW ” RANDOLPH Cookie “Chainsaw” Randolph paints word pictures weekday mornings at 100.7 JACKfm on the Dave, Shelly, and Chainsaw Show.

A diamond in the rough The finer side of America’s favorite pastime

T You ’ d hate to see a perfectly g ood transse x ual romance ruined like that because some rookie didn ’ t know the fundamentals . 32

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

he “Art of Baseball.” I wonder if there is such a thing, considering that baseball consists of little more than a gathering of men who occasionally burst into flurries of action during an otherwise mundane three-hour period of standing, sitting, cursing, chewing, spitting and package adjustment. Seeing as how this monotonous process accounts for such an overwhelming majority of the game’s duration, however, it only figures that, unless you master the art of standing, sitting, cursing, chewing, spitting and package adjustment, you’ll never make it in baseball. If a baseball man were to chew, spit and curse simultaneously, in the direction of an umpire, he’d be ejected, since most of what he’d be saying and chewing would arrive upon the ump. This behavior is considered “art” only when the baseball man does this intentionally, in order to inspire his troops to, well, stand around with more…vigor. The men who excel at this art are known as “managers,” who, for some reason, still wear players’ uniforms—only with much more fabric around the midsection. The manager wearing the player’s uniform is an art form exclusive to baseball—we’re not going to see the Chargers’ Norv Turner coaching in full pads or Lakers manager Phil Jackson courtside in a tank top. Another art form that takes years to develop is one that calls for a thick, even layer of Dixie Cups and sunflower seed

shells on the dugout floor, no matter how close a trash can may be. Ballplayers understand that spitting shells into a Dixie Cup with the purpose of placing it into the trashcan later will completely destroy their ability to hit a baseball. In the case of chewing tobacco, a true artist can spit his team’s logo onto the Astroturf from 10 paces away. This takes years of practice. No wonder only Chernobyl has registered a higher concentration of toxic soil than the hallowed ground where former Phillies center fielder Lenny Dykstra used to discharge his salivaries on a nightly basis. The man was the Jackson Pollack of baseball. Now you know why so many major leaguers have Stanley Steamer on monthly retainer. As for package adjustment, if you don’t think this is an art form, you are a woman. Chaz Bono is finding this out as we speak—and he’s got a lot of catching up to do, since most behavioral learning occurs during adolescence. If he shifts the wrong way in a movie theater seat while making the big reach-around move on his girlfriend, he’ll inadvertently jerk her into a headlock while buckling forward in pain. You’d hate to see a perfectly good transsexual romance ruined like that because some rookie didn’t know the fundamentals. Most males have this mastered by age nine. This could be why, with the possible exception of Barry Bonds’ preop, nad-shrinking hormone therapy, we’ve never had a transgender make it all the way into the big leagues.

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GIT ‘ER DUNE

Local women head to Morocco for an intense, off-road adventure B y DA V E GOOD

ABOVE: Emily Miller (driver) and Wendy Fisher in the 2010 Rallye Aicha des Gazelles, piloting a Hummer H3 BELOW: The brutal off-road race continues

c o u r t e s y M ai e n g a

nlike the romantic backdrop of the 1942 Ingrid Bergman film, Casablanca, the real Morocco is a harsh, dry kingdom of ripping sandstorms, where temperatures in the desert soar into the ridiculous. Nomads live in the shadows of 60-foot dunes, and mischievous monkeys will jump into a vehicle if its driver stops long enough. Romantic? Not so much. Nevertheless, each year, during an all-woman, off-road race known as the Rallye Aïcha a des Gazelles, this unforgiving expanse of red sand becomes a test of female endurance and womanly grit. Joining this year’s race, March 19 through April 2, are Emily Miller from Encinitas and Tricia Reina from Carlsbad. If four-wheeling through treacherous dunes in a barely modified truck weren’t punishing enough, race organizers up the ante by making the rally an exercise in getting lost. “You’re not allowed to have cell phones—no GPS, and no support crew,” says Miller, a three-time Rallye driver who likens the 10-day trek to a game of chess. “You’re given a compass, some old and out-of-date maps from the 1950s, a ruler and a calculator.” (Continued on Page 36)

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Moonlight beach Paddleboard & SUP Race

SATURDAY, 5.14.11 ENCINITASRACE.COM/MBPS

ENCINITAS

SPRINT TRIATHLON & 1-Mile Open Water Swim SUNDAY, 5.15.11 ENCINITASTRIATHLON.COM

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Miller, a petite, 44-year-old blonde with ice-blue eyes, owns a North County sports marketing company. In her spare time, she competes in, and frequently wins, off-road races. In 2009, she took the checkered flag in the Vegas to Reno challenge. That same year, she bested Ivan “Iron Man” Stewart to win the stock class in the grueling Baja 1000, the mother of all off-road races. Baja is all about speed, Miller says, but with one big caveat: Mexican race fans lay booby traps. “The rule down in Baja is that, if you see a bunch of people out in the middle of nowhere standing around the racecourse, slow down,” Miller says. “They build hidden jumps; they dig ditches.” The first Moroccan Rallye, organized in 1990 as a campaign to combat gender bias and prejudice, has become one of France’s premier motorsport contests. Each year, more than 200 women participate—professional athletes, movie stars, famous singers, even the princess of Morocco. The women pair up in teams consisting of a driver and a navigator, staging in France and transferring by boat across the Mediterranean to Tangier. That’s where the real action begins. A typical race day starts at 5:30 a.m. and continues until dark. “A lot of time is spent digging out of terrain that nobody in their right mind would try to drive through,” Miller says. Countering conventional motorsports logic, the fastest car doesn’t always cut it. Winning in Morocco is about cunning and endurance. “The goal,” Miller says, “is to reach each checkpoint along the course in the least amount of kilometers.” Competing in the Rallye requires serious coin. Registration, accommodations and the rental fee for a truck costs in the neighborhood of $30,000—and there is no prize money to help recoup expenses. Funds generated by the Rallye are used to provide medical care to poor people in the Moroccan badlands. While being a global racer could put a strain on some relationships, Miller says her husband is supportive. “He’s using the Morocco race as an opportunity to go surf some of the best breaks in northern Africa, and then meet me at the finish line,” she says. For race results and to learn how Miller and Reina fared, visit pacificsandiego.com.

c o u r t e s y Da n Camp b e ll - L l o y d

ABOVE: Emily Miller and Wendy Fisher mark checkpoints on a map during the 2010 Rallye Aicha des Gazelles RIGHT: Sunrise highway—the race begins daily at 5:30 a.m.

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courtesy Gran Fondo USA

ESPRESSO LANE: WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE RIGATONI Cyclists GEAR UP FOR an Italian-themed ride and festival b y B R IANA C U R R IE

ver the operatic strains of Pavarotti and the roar of Ferraris, an estimated 3,500 cyclists will say Ciao! to the urban landscape, pedaling away from Little Italy on the 105-mile Gran Fondo Colnago bike ride. The third annual Italian-themed cycling event, which gets rolling April 10, includes a two-day Piazza Gran Fondo expo April 9-10, featuring gourmet Italian food, culture and entertainment, cycling exhibits and a beer garden. The Gran Fondo (“great endurance” or “long distance”) begins in the 1700 block of India Street, beneath the iconic Little Italy sign. The race is led by a pack of Ferrari automobiles, Ducati motorcycles and several limited-edition, bright red Ferrari bicycles made by Italian cycle manufacturer and sponsor, Colnago. “You’re talking $15,000-plus for a bicycle,” says event co-founder and Encinitas resident Rob Klingensmith. “They’re not just beautifully engineered, but they’re painted in these elaborate paint schemes. They are, in essence, works of art.” The course starts along Harbor Drive, then goes past the convention center, under the Coronado Bay Bridge and through National City to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. From there, athletes competing in the 53-mile Medio Fondo ride will return to the finish line at the expo. Cyclists participating in the Gran Fondo will head northeast from Chula Vista through the scenic backcountry to Alpine. Aid stations are provided every 20 to 50 miles along the course, and mobile tech units offer mechanical support. The event is designed to be a cross between a 100-mile cruise and a race. Though organizers do not issue finish times, “King and Queen of the Mountain” prizes are awarded in each age group for those with the best time riding up a brutal, six-mile stretch of Honey Springs Road in Jamul. “It definitely brings out the best climbers,” Klingensmith says. “It’s a very challenging ride.” Though the event is expected to sell out, 200 registration slots are reserved for the final week. Those wishing to join the ride may sign up through April 9. A portion of proceeds benefits the American Melanoma Foundation.

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

Gran Fondo Colnago Ride When: Sunday, April 10, 7:15 a.m. start time

ABOVE: Starting line at 2009’s Gran Fondo 105-mile bike ride. BELOW: Olympic and two-time world champion cyclist, Paolo Bettini, headlined the ride

Where: 1700 block of India Street, Little Italy Registration: $120 Piazza Gran Fondo Expo When: April 9, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; April 10, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Where: County Administration Building, 1600 Pacific Highway Admission: Free Info: granfondousa.com

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SPRING CHIC-IN

The Finest City’s Sunday best B y A L YSON B A K E R Ph o t o s b y J EFF “ T U R B O ” CO R R IGAN

t’s an overcast Sunday in P.B. and La Jolla, as PacificSD storms the streets to see who’s wearing what. Then the weather breaks. Our style barometer detects San Diegans chasing the clouds away with splashes of color, hot boots and strategic layers. Mere steps from the sand, some even sported suits—and we’re not talking swim, wet or birthday. When beachwear begs the question, “Beach where?” you gotta be in S.D.

Cassandra A., 23, Linda Vista Dress from Target, jacket from AMVETS thrift store, glasses from Seattle, thrift store bag, jewelry handmade by Cassandra herself

Sarah G., 24, Bird Rock Pants and shirt from Forever 21, sweater from iTAN, shoes from The Closet (Pacific Beach), tattoo by Lucky Stars of San Jose

Peng S., 23, La Jolla Prada suit, Urban Outfitters sunglasses

Jake J., 25, La Jolla Outfit from various thrift stores, jeans from friend, tattoos done by himself

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Tiffanee F., 30, Normal Heights Blood and Guts bag, Urban Outfitters boots, vintage tee from Hunt & Gather (University Heights), Jeans from NYC, glasses purchased at the San Diego Zoo, hair by Christine at Jet Rhys salon

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Kirsten K., 29, Hillcrest Steve Madden boots, Cotton On pants, Tory Burch sunglasses

Charlie G., 26, Clairemont Guess jeans, sunglasses purchased at gas station, beads from bathroom at the Ivy (Andaz)

art beat

photography by brevin blach

story by pat sherman

(unless otherwise noted )

F rom painters to jewelr y makers , S an D ie g ans g et to the art of the matter

(unless otherwise noted )

s the local art scene nurturing the next Michelangelo, Monet or Leibovitz? Either way, there’s little doubt its creative output would tickle Dali’s ‘stache and make the Mona Lisa bare her Chianti-stained teeth in utter bliss. From avant-garde to the fine art vanguard, San Diego’s art scene is teeming with raw and accomplished talent, including these Finest City impressionists, surrealists, illustrators, mixed-media makers and metal and glass masters.

heavy mettle H ardworkin g g lass and metal artisans take the heat A delicate, glass-blown vessel and a sturdy cast-iron sculpture may seem worlds apart, but they have something in common: both are shaped by intense heat and artistic vision. San Diego is home to a small army of accomplished glassblowers and metalworkers, including a thriving community of glass artists in North County and a group of metal casters taking the heat at the UCSD Crafts Center.

James Stone, Stone and Glass studio

Bernardo Winery

For James Stone, a former video production salesman turned glass artist, bigger is better. The artist’s towering glass-and-copper seascapes reveal his passion for ocean conservation. “About five years ago, I took a dive vacation to Grand Cayman and I was shocked at the devastation to the reefs and the total loss of diversity,” says Stone, who studied at Palomar College and at the Pilchuck Glass School started by Dale Chihuly, whose works include a 2,100-square-foot, hand-blown glass ceiling at the Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas. Two of Stone’s works are on display at the Chula Vista Nature Center’s Art Aquatic exhibit, showcasing a combination of sea life and glass art through Sept. 5 (chulavistanaturecenter.org). One of the pieces, the backdrop for a 150-gallon fish tank, is titled “Sheephead: Size Does Matter,” in recognition of the detrimentally overfished California sheephead. A nearly complete, 50-foot glass and metal mural at Stone’s studio, located at the Bernardo Winery in Rancho Bernardo, is titled “Last Call Before We Eat Them All,” portraying the fish that man is eating into extinction.

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

RIGHT: The ocean-inspired glass art of James Stone BELOW: Stone gets fired-up in his Rancho Bernardo studio

stoneandglass.com

Garry Cohen

Glass Ranch, Escondido

garrycohenstudio.com

A longtime instructor in Palomar College’s glassblowing program, Garry Cohen opened Glass Ranch studio in the picturesque community of Del Dios, near Lake Hodges. Cohen and his wife, Cherrie, earn a living by selling their brightly colored bowls, vases and other gifts. The income affords the couple the luxury of being able to create more divergent pieces for their own interest, including a skeletal glass hand clutching a human heart and surfboards covered in glass mosaic. “I’ve been working with old 78 records that have been altered and made into these sculptural forms,” says Cohen, who offers glassblowing demonstrations and tours of Glass Ranch’s grounds. “We’re trying to elevate our sculpture garden all the time to offer people a great experience.”

NICOLE DELINE

c o u r t e s y M e lissa I n e z W al k e r

ABOVE: Garry Cohen at work in his Del Dios studio BELOW: Weather (cast iron) by John Brockley

nicoledeline.com

UCSD metal sculpture instructor Nicole Deline uses steel to create fantastical shapes reminiscent of the works of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi and filmmaker Tim Burton. “You think of buildings and strong structures, but when you add heat, (steel becomes) completely malleable, and you can make these whimsical curves,” Deline says. “It’s sort of making the steel look feminine, sort of contrary to what your notion of it is.” To give her pieces a harder, more masculine feel, Deline uses weathering steel, a combination of alloys that develop a rusty appearance when exposed to the elements. See Deline’s five-foot sculpture, entitled “Mag-a-net,”on display at the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas (sdbgarden.org) through April 18.

Rich Stewart

John Brockley

artslant.com

John Brockley’s cast iron and steel sculptures capture an uncanny expressiveness in the repose of postmortem mammals. Each is suspended by what appears to be a frame like those used to hold the pieces of model airplanes in place. “I always liked the design of those matrixes,” Brockley says. “I was basically (offering) a model for something that had no instructions, so you’re kind of left to your own devices to make something out of it.” To capture detail in the animals, Brockley viewed dozens of photographs of hunters posed next to their kills—from deer to mountain lion. “It was kind of a weird resurrection of the animal that they had just killed,” he says.

LEFT: Nicole Deline finishing a work of steel art at the UCSD Crafts Center RIGHT: One of Deline’s whimsical steel works

art-hell.com

A metal casting instructor at the UCSD Crafts Center, Rich Stewart creates bronze and cast iron works that juxtapose themes of religion, mass-marketing and mortality. Though working with bronze is a fairly seamless process, Stewart says iron is much less reliable, requiring a team of craftsman and often temperamental furnaces. “It’s a pretty violent sort of mold-pouring activity—a very dangerous dance,” Stewart says. “The metal just kind of explodes out of the bottom of the furnace at 2,500-degees Fahrenheit or more.” Stewart’s piece, “Right Tool for the Job,” features the likeness of Mickey Mouse on a crucifix, conveying how once pure ideas can be subverted to justify a personal or collective cause. “Digging My Grave,” inspired by the William Elliott Whitmore song of the same name and the work of Andy Warhol, is Stewart’s selfdescribed “funerary piece.” The sculpture depicts a shovel digging into a mound of name-brand soaps. An empty space in the back of the piece, inscribed with Stewart’s name and date of birth, awaits his ashes and departue date. “I figured I had to build my final piece and then I could move backwards from there,” Stewart says.

Right Tool for the Job (cast iron) by Rich Stewart

pacificsandiego.com

artbeat Alexander Salazar Fine Art

640 Broadway, Downtown

alexandersalazarfineart.com As Alexander Salazar celebrates the oneyear anniversary (April 2) of his gallery on Broadway, the fine art dealer continues to take bold and successful chances on emerging local artists. Alexander Salazar Fine Art has featured everyone from Andrew Myers, who creates intricate portraits with metal screws, to Tenold Peterson, whose medium of choice includes wood and sheep skulls. “I like to see how creative people can be (when they’re) using weird things,” says Salazar, who holds a master’s degree in art history from Harvard University. “Everybody wants to enjoy the next big thing, and figuring that out is never going to be easy,” he says. “If you represent a stable of artists that are new and emerging and not already filtered, then you have a better chance of uncovering or discovering somebody.” Salazar says he saw a definite lack of support for San Diego artists, and sought to fill the void with his gallery. “People tend to want to collect from artists that are in New York, Paris and London, without looking at what’s here,” he says. “I’ve even heard stories of people going to New York to buy from an artist that’s local.” As part of his effort to support emerging local artists, Salazar offers a free artist-inresidency program. “Every month, it’s a different artist from San Diego that doesn’t have gallery representation or doesn’t have an art studio,” he says. “I have a small space next to the gallery where I basically give them the key and say, ‘Here, go paint.’ “It’s a very challenging for them, because I pressure them into manning up or actually creating. It is just amazing what they’re able to do when they actually have somebody supporting them like that.”

show and sell L ocal g alleries push artistic boundaries and promote emer g in g artists Canvassing the region’s galleries, museums and art spaces—from Ray Street in North Park to Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach—it’s apparent that San Diego’s creative class has more to offer than spoutingwhale watercolors and sunset snapshots (though they make awesome out of the everyday, too). PacificSD profiled four artistic hubs as further evidence that San Diegans have their imaginations on the pulse.

ABOVE: Art dealer Alexander Salazar poses next to an oil/flashe painting by Alison Rash BELOW: Union Jagger, 23 x 28, made of Rubik’s Cubes, at Alexander Salazar Fine Ar

Planet Rooth Design Haus

3334 5th Avenue, Bankers Hill

planetrooth.com, barrellymadeit.com

Known in part for having helped launch North Park’s popular monthly art event, Ray at Night, Gustaf Rooth moved his studio from North Park to Bankers Hill last year. Now on Fifth Avenue, he continues to bring San Diego’s arts community together with events that arouse the visual and aural senses. At his new, craftsman-style home studio, the Swedish-born carpenter, painter, sculptor, musician and poet has been focused on building eco-conscious furniture with reclaimed bourbon barrels from Port Brewing Company in San Marcos and used wine barrels from Thornton Winery in Temecula. “When I discovered the properties of the wine barrels, which can be made into beautiful, aesthetically pleasing furniture, I just went for it,” Rooth says. “In this day and age, where things are expensive and our resources are being depleted at a rapid rate, nothing could be more perfect than using these barrels that have so much wood.” Rooth lives on the top floor of his new home, which was built in 1898. The bottom floor houses his workspace, a gallery, a boutique and a framing business. “Our motto is to preserve our planet and provide a venue where artists can come together to create, learn, aspire and exchange ideas for the up-cycling of reclaimed materials,” he says

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

FAR LEFT: Gustaf Rooth, creating his barrel chairs at Planet Rooth Design Haus BELOW: Tools of the trade

Quint Contemporary Art

7547 Girard Avenue, La Jolla

quintgallery.com

c o u r t e s y T o d d J o h n s o n / Q ui n t C o n t e mp o r a r y A r t

In 1981, Quint Contemporary Art owner Mark Quint started an artist-in-residence program that drew artists from around the world. The program led to the creation of inSite, a collaborative project between San Diego and Tijuana artists. Gallery director Ben Strauss-Malcolm says he is excited to work with groundbreaking local artists such as San Diego’s Kelsey Brookes, a surfer and former biologist who once helped track the West Nile Virus for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On May 14, Quint will reopen in larger digs off Girard Avenue in La Jolla, next to the iconic Harry’s Coffee Shop. “The gallery is now doubling in size, so we’ve got a lot more exposure,” Strauss-Malcolm says. “Something like 30,000 cars pass by on Girard Avenue every day.” The first exhibit in Quint’s new space is titled “Behind What It’s In Front Of,” featuring sculptures and videos by former San Diegan Roy McMakin, inspired by the paintings of celebrated minimalist John McLaughlin (1898-1976). ABOVE: Untitled, by Roy McMakin, found material, oil paint RIGHT: Ben Strauss-Malcolm, director of Quint Contemporary Art in La Jolla

Lux Art Institute

1550 South El Camino Real, Encinitas

luxartinstitute.org

Part gallery, part museum, Encinitas’ Lux Art Institute is nearly as much a work of art as the pieces showcased inside of it. In addition to receiving awards for architectural design, the building also earned LEED certification for environmental efficiency. For its artist-in-residence program, Lux typically recruits established artists from outside San Diego. “The mission of Lux is to make the creative process accessible and personally meaningful,” says gallery spokesperson, Grace Madamba. “There are artists who the San Diego community might not otherwise have access to or be able to engage with.” Most recently, Lux invited Los Angeles artist Alison Saar to create a life-size, copper-gilded figure out of wood. Upcoming residencies include South African sculptor Claudette Schreuders, whose painted timber figures reflect her youth as a woman under apartheid rule.

LEFT: Lux Art Institute’s Orchid Award-winning exterior ABOVE AND RIGHT: Works by Lux’s recent resident artist, Alison Saar, incorporating bronze, wood, tar, tin, copper, gold leaf, wool, steel fiberglass, coal, baseball bats and other materials

pacificsandiego.com

artbeat public exhibition

by christy scannell

C it y ’ s plan to cut fundin g for art in communit y spaces an ‘ emotional’ mistake , artist sa y s Quirky fiberglass cows have paraded through La Jolla, whimsical birdhouses found their perch on Cortez Hill, and several plantings of Urban Trees have sprouted along the Embarcadero. Now, public art in San Diego is going to the dogs—or, more precisely, to Fido’s flat. “Bowhaus,” an installation of 101 creative interpretations of doghouses, is the fourth community art outreach project from the local chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). Artists from amateur to accomplished may apply for a shot at creating a doghouse for display and possible auction. Petco is the title sponsor, and a portion of proceeds will be donated to local animal advocacy organizations. “Art is so subjective,” says AIGA board member and Bowhaus project chair, Nicole Knox. “We wanted this to be a bridge that uses our local artists to showcase design in a way that anyone can relate to.” Slated for a September unveiling, Bowhaus is a nod to the early 20th century Bauhaus art movement that meshed art with architecture and technology. It follows AIGA’s other public art efforts, including the Urban Art Trail, a series of painted murals and utility boxes in downtown’s East Village; the Tweet Street birdhouses on Cortez Hill; and Benchmark, a collection of creative benches, now at Liberty Station. A call for artists opens this month for Bowhaus, and organizers are still scouting a location to

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display the doghouses. Knox says initial community response to the project has been reassuring. “It’s been a rough four years for businesses and organizations, but you can tell the timing is right because it is striking a chord with people right away, and they engage immediately,” she says. Making the connection between people and art is AIGA’s core mission, Knox says, and it is what sets public art apart from gallery or museum art experiences. “Some people are inclined to seek out galleries—and that’s great—but the everyday person might never do that, so public art is a way to infuse art into life in ways people might not typically interact with,” she says. “It provides a crossroads for community and design.” Amos Robinson knows about the impact public art can have. A local metal sculptor—he is a featured artist at this year’s Mission Federal ArtWalk in Little Italy—Robinson was relaxing at home with his wife one Sunday when a woman visiting from Washington called. “She was down at the (San Diego) Embarcadero with her girlfriends, and they called just to say how much they appreciated my work there. It’s stuff like that that makes me a big fan of public art and what it can do,” Robinson says. The women were viewing “My Bike,” which depicts a bicyclist in mid-air, strands of stainless steel hair flying back in the San Diego Bay breeze. It’s one of five sculptures Robinson has created

for the Port of San Diego’s rotating “Urban Trees” installation. Now in its seventh year, the annual exhibit includes 30 commissioned tree interpretations along Harbor Drive, from Hawthorn Street to the Cruise Ship Terminal. “I want to bring something to the public that is positive,” says Robinson, a self-taught artist and former designer of industrial air pollution control equipment. “I don’t care for dark art; I want my art to be fun, put a smile on your face or bring back a memory from your youth.” Like Robinson, Jeffery Laudenslager had no formal art training, yet the Encinitas-based artist’s public and commissioned kinetic sculptures—3-D sculptures that move via wind, motor or human touch—are some of the most notable in the county, having won several Orchid awards from the San Diego Architectural Foundation. Laudenslager’s 36-foot “Archimage” stands guard at the Torrey Reserve business complex in Carmel Valley and is viewable from the I-5 freeway and the nearby Ruth’s Chris Steak House. His “Skyscapes” kinetic wall sculpture greeted visitors to Lindbergh Field’s Terminal 2 from 1998-2004. Currently, he is working on “Quishi,” a 35-foot kinetic sculpture commissioned for the entrance of San Luis Obispo’s historic downtown area. While public art can take many forms, kinetic sculptures are ideal for the outdoor aesthetic, Laudenslager says.

“With kinetic sculpture, you get a very satisfying, tai chi kind of experience, like watching slowmoving mechanical objects,” he says. “It just adds another dimension to it.” The immobile quality of most public art worried artist Blair Thornley as she was designing 16 panel illustrations—some as tall as 46 feet—to grace the upper perimeter of the North Park parking garage near the intersection of University Avenue and 30th Street. The works, which she completed gratis for her North Park neighborhood, were commissioned by the San Diego Redevelopment Agency and took more than a year to complete. Thornley, a professional illustrator whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and other publications, drew the humorous pen-and-ink pictures at regular publication scale, trying to imagine how the enlarged final panels would appear to people looking up at them from the street. But it wasn’t until they were installed that she saw how distance and the angle of sunlight can play with the art, alleviating her fears about how the public would relate to her work. “It’s been really amazing to see how parts peek out from around the corner as I walk toward them, or how different aspects seem to light differently the closer or farther away I am,” she says. “I wanted it to interact with the viewer and it seems to do that.” That interaction between

S ee more photos at

pacificsandiego.com CLOCKWISE (from top): Amos Robinson’s kinetic sculpture, My Bike, part of the Port District’s Urban Trees 5 installation along the Embarcadero; Tuffy’s Ark, a prototype for AIGA San Diego’s BowHaus project by Frank Mando; AIGA Tweet Street bird house; one of Blair Thornley’s 16 panel illustrations crowning the North Park parking garage (photo courtesy Wolfgang Hastert)

artists and the public could soon be diminished if a proposal from Mayor Jerry Sanders’ office to suspend public art funding—a plan the mayor says would save the city $1.6 million through 2012—is approved by the San Diego City Council. The council’s Budget and Finance Committee discussed the mayor’s plan in February but is waiting for more information from the mayor’s office on impacts and savings before the full council considers the item. Amos Robinson calls the mayor’s plan an “emotional” decision. “Maybe not everyone gets worth from public art, but when I do a public art piece, it’s not just me in the studio—it’s the thousands I spend at local businesses for supplies. Probably 80 percent of what I spend goes right back into the community,” he says. “If we support things like public art, we are supporting the community in many ways, including financially.” Robinson calls the Port’s $5 million plan to create a light show on the Coronado Bridge, now stalled as it awaits a funding source, “a non-productive use of (public art) resources.” The Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building, among other sites, already use that concept, he says, so San Diego is passing up a chance to use that money for a more distinctive project. “Public art, if chosen well, can be a great investment and draw for a city,” he says. “If you are taking public money, you need to do the best for the public.”

“ P ublic art is a wa y to infuse art into life in wa y s people mi g ht not t y picall y interact with . I t provides a crossroads for communit y and desi g n . ” —AIGA board member, Nicole Knox

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S upportin g S an D ie g o artists with food and fame

hen PacificSD put out a call for painters, potters, illustrators and other midnight-oil burners, our readers and their creative network got busy, submitting more than 400 works in our second annual art contest. THANK YOU all for the overwhelming response. We wish we had space to share every brush stroke and shutter click from this amazing consortium. Four local art professionals graciously shared their expertise as judges: graphic artist Kristen Lucci, a senior designer at Jacob Tyler Creative Group and board member of the San Diego chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts; craftsman Gustaf Rooth, owner of Planet Rooth Design Haus; art dealer Alexander Salazar, of Alexander Salazar Fine Art; and John Wilson, executive director of the Timken Museum in Balboa Park. The judges met at PacificSD’s makeshift gallery (in the hallways of our office in Old Town), where they enjoyed an artful feast, courtesy of Eden and ChileCo Catering. Each of their seven favorite entries (as well as those of Ben Strauss-Malcolm, director of Quint Contemporary Art) was added to a final pool of contenders that included the top 30 vote-getters from our Facebook contest gallery (facebook.com/pacificsd). After a lively discussion and thorough consideration of these cumulative submissions, the judges selected first- through fifthplace winners, as well as five honorable mentions. You’ll no doubt see our winning artists out painting the town red, as each will receive his or her share of $1,500 in gift certificates to the restaurants, bars and nightclubs featured in this magazine.

Far East (mixed media collage on panel, 16” x 20”) Artist: Sean Brannan, 42, Hillcrest seanbrannan.net

F i r s t Pl a c e

s e c o n d Pl a c e

(Reprinted here and on the cover)

(Reprinted here and on the table of contents)

Sean Brannan: The approach I take to painting is to access the subconscious through the creative process. I believe that in the creation of art, or an image, one gains understanding of themselves by realizing that part of us which is otherwise inaccessible. My recent body of work is created using a semi-transparent photo adhesive paper imported from Asia. These new paintings, which I refer to as “Thickets,” due to their dense bamboo-like appearance, are created by layering strips of the paper that have been hand-painted, pre-printed, or by using image transfers. The paper is collaged in a manner that uses balance, contrast and color to create an instinctual yet harmonious aesthetic.

Ramona Szczerba: Sometimes the practical thing just won’t do, and that is how Aurelia ended up with her stunning Jellyfish Cruiser. In her search for a little something to knock around her undersea town in, she stumbled upon the J3000 Series Sychphozoa Turbo Cabriolet and felt her heart turn to jelly. The test drive did Aurelia in—the elegant design, the handcrafted etching on the nautilus shell body and the feeling of tentacles blowing through her hair when she really opened up the 800-seahorse power engine. She had to have it! Sure, she’s had to put in a little more overtime, but it’s been worth every sand dollar, and the fish heads that turn as she zips by in her Jellyfish Cruiser make her smile each and every time. I hope she does the same for you.

A r t E x p e r ts S a y …

Gustaf Rooth:

What got me most was the simplicity and the use of color.

John Wilson: I just like the colors and the design, the really tight lines that occasionally just sort of blur into the other ones.

John Wilson

John Wilson: It has a really marvelous sense of design and whimsy that I really like. It has a slightly surrealist, slightly Dadaist, kind of Victorian scrapbook feel to it. It has this delightful bit of nuttiness, and the craft is really good.

I think Sean Brannan’s doing something very unique by taking paper that’s from foreign lands and creating it in his own style. It takes a lot of time to make this. He understands color, so it’s almost like color theory.

After much deliberation, despite their initial differences, the judges finally came to a consensus to select the winners.

Alexander Salazar

pacificsandiego.com { April 2011}

The fact that she’s using old pictures of fish and a pretty girl from the Roaring Twenties is good, but it’s not original enough to where I would think it should be on the cover.

I didn’t vote for this one (at first). I definitely considered it. It’s intriguing to me, but in a way, I thought it was almost too obvious.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Kristen Lucci

A r t E x p e r ts S a y …

Gustaf Rooth:

Kristen Lucci:

Alexander Salazar: Gustaf Rooth

Jellyfish CRUISER (WATER COLOR AND COLLAGE) Artist: Ramona Szczerba, 45, South Park winonacookie.etsy.com

Kristen Lucci: I think what drew me to it was the color and the back and white mixed together. The watercolor background is really soft and airy, then you have these really graphic images on top—the fishes and the woman, the interesting little floatation device. It’s really old-school and illustrative.

Alexander Salazar I like collage. I think it’s is a dying medium. She did a really good job on it.

th i r d Pl a c e Krassimir Tzonov: I have been painting since primary school in Bulgaria. During high school, I painted watercolor landscapes, realistic portraits and enjoyed caricatures. As a college student in Sofia, I was interested in contemporary architecture, deconstructivist philosophy and abstract art. The confluence of architecture and art has fascinated me throughout the creative process. For the last three years, I have developed a body of work inspired by many different sources: the human body, nature, geometry, mythology, daily life, emotions, memories and dreams. I enjoy figurative drawing and I like to create paintings inspired by live models. Process is essential to my work and it usually begins with the medium of acrylics and/or oil. I use large brushes, paint scrapers and apply the paints spontaneously and intuitively. A r t E x p e r ts S a y …

Gustaf Rooth:

I like the transparency, the use of dark to light, creating a little three-dimensional picture. It creates curiosity. You draw your own pictures in your mind. I see a seagull, a man in a helmet, kind of a cityscape buried beneath the layers and textures.

JOHN WILSON: I liked it, but it was a little bit too muddy for me.

Kristen Lucci: I like more abstract art, but I guess in this case I saw others that interested me more.

Alexander Salazar I just like it. I think that abstract art is difficult, but you can actually see the texture in the photograph. I think there’s a lot that you can decipher in what it might be. Retention (oil on canvas, 30” x 30”) Artist: Krassimir Tzonov, 41, Pacific Beach krassimirart.com

pacificsandiego.com

F o urth Pl a c e The Botanist (heavily textured acrylic on canvas) Artist: Stacy Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Aguiar unreal-art.com

H ONO R A B L E MEN T IONS

Compass to Life (sterling silver, brass, copper, periodot, iolite, citrine) Artist: Jasmine Lee (with gemstone setting by Matthew Cirello)

Valour (spray paint seen through thin clear panel) Artist: Fred Chuang

Down Time (mixed media) Artist: Dani Dodge

Fleur en Chocolat (India ink and oil) Artist: Robert Glick 50

pacificsandiego.com { April 2011}

Volcan 1 (mixed media on canvas, 60” x 60”) Artist: Alejandro Martínez-Peña martinez-pena.com

F i f th Pl a c e

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H ONO R A B L E MEN T IONS (continued)

Escape to Sawdust Playground (ink and digital on wood) Artist: Christy Zaragoza

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141 “likes”: Untitled (recycled and reclaimed materials) Artist: Rich Walker

like it or not T he top 1 0 M ost M odern A rt entries , as chosen b y P acific S D ’ s F acebook famil y

s submissions for PacificSD’s annual art contest rolled in, our readers dropped by our Facebook page (facebook.com/pacificsd) to vote for their favorites and give their artistic friends, relatives and significant others some love in the form of clicks. When voting closed March 15, the following 10 submissions had amassed the most “likes.” Take a gander, and see how our readers’ selections compared with those of the contest’s esteemed judges.

S ee more A R T at

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78 “likes”: LOLO INTS (graphic art) Artist: MIKO GOTIDOC

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57 “likes”: The Night Café at the W on the roof with Martinis (oil on canvas) Artist: David Tyrone VILLA

118 “likes”: The O.B. Laden Portrait (photo using high-dynamic-range imaging) Artist: Blake BYERS

96 “likes”: Shadow (oil on canvas) Artist: david gough 54

pacificsandiego.com { April 2011}

98 “likes”: Toygami Eco-Urban (folded paper) Artist: Jay Edwards

65 “likes”: Modern Land (photo manipulation/ digital art) Artist: Ma Zorayda Dela Osa

104 “likes”: The Absolute of Uncertainty (acrylic on canvas) Artist: Michael Carini

67 “likes”: Twister (digital photography, Photoshop) Artist: Oscar Ibarra

50 “likes”: Florets (woven and folded ribbon) Artist: Trish Kinkead

pacificsandiego.com

taste what ’ s cookin g DINING OUT cocktail

SLEIGHT OF HAM

North County business creates a feast of fakes for TV and film

B y P a t Sh e r m a n • p h o t o s b y br e v i n bl a c h

hen a TV or film crew is shooting Take 22 of their romantic leads’ dinner date, nothing quashes the mood faster than food that has begun to melt or wilt on camera. That’s where Fax Foods comes in. For more than two decades, the Vista-based company has provided the film, TV and food service industries with custom plastic replicas of everything from sub sandwiches to ice cream sundaes. Items from the company’s fake-out menu have appeared in TV shows including Pushing Daisies and movies such as Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Knight and Day. “We did the sushi for Up in the Air, because George Clooney didn’t want to smell (real) sushi in front of him through the scene,” says Fax Foods proprietor Judy Prestininzi, a former bakery owner and house painter who purchased the business two years ago. The company also makes the sweet con-fections, faux-ssants and plastic kale used in restaurant and grocery store display cases around the world. Pricing runs the gamut from individual pieces of fruit (about $15) to a sixfoot sub sandwich and a roast suckling pig (about $850 each). “It can be very frustrating, because when people hear fake food they think toys or the 50-cent stuff that you can get at WalMart or Michaels,” Prestininzi says. “These are not toys. These are serious advertising and serious money-saving products.” Though some clients initially balk at the price of her forgeries, Prestininzi says her wares quickly pay for themselves. “We work with a company over in Hawaii that bought the pig,” Prestininzi says. “They got sick and tired of baking (a real pig), setting it out and throwing it away every other day. They (Continued on Page 58)

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

“ T hese are not toy s . T hese are serious advertisin g and serious mone y- savin g products . ” –Fax Foods owner Judy Prestininzi

taste (Continued from Page 56)

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figured that it paid for itself within the first month.” Fax Foods don’t wilt, discolor or curdle. All that’s required to maintain the ruse is the occasional swipe of a wet cloth to dispel dust. “Fresh fruit only stays good looking for a few hours—the same thing with dessert trays,” Prestininzi says. “There are a lot of sales that are lost at the point of purchase because they don’t look appetizing.” Prestininzi prides herself on nailing the illusion of authenticity. When a company places an order, the actual food to be replicated is frozen and shipped overnight to Fax Foods, where its shape, size, color and texture can be examined and recreated. Roughly 50 employees use liquid plastic, resins and pigments to complete the job. Recently, Prestininzi has fielded requests from fashionistas clamoring to emulate Lady Gaga’s infamous red meat dress. “We have roast beef in slices called the Gaga Raw,” Prestininzi says. “We’ve had fashion designers from Canada and New York get stuff like that. We sent about 40 slices of bologna to one woman who made a bologna dress for Halloween.” faxfoods.com

cocktail

From cupcakes and deserts to salads and Chinese noodle dishes, Fax Foods creates phony food that has psyched-out everyone from Costco shoppers to health inspectors.

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taste what ’ s cookin g DINING OUT

Growing Up

cocktail

Vertical gardens are helping space-starved chefs vegetate B y B r a n d o n H e r n á n d e z • Ph o t o s b y B r e v i n B l a c h

or many chefs, the dream of having on-site gardens from which to harvest fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables for their signature dishes is dashed by lack of space. Most of the room at restaurants is gobbled up by tables, booths and kitchen equipment, making home-grown produce a tall order. These days, some San Diego chefs and restaurateurs are finding a solution in vertical gardens, customized hydroponic systems that require no soil and circulate water and nutrients through a series of pipes. The plants grow upward versus outward, making them perfect for tight spaces. The systems provide sustainable edibles that are more nutritious and costeffective than ingredients grown in traditional gardens or trucked in

from across the state or country. Jsix executive chef Christian Graves says growing vertical was a matter of convenience. His herb garden on the roof of downtown’s Hotel Solamar, where Jsix is located, is a flourishing example of what an on-site garden can be. “We are in a constant fight to make everything taste better,” Graves says. “Herbs that are cut fresh are still packed with their oils, unlike those that sit in a warehouse for a day or two.” Thrilled with the restaurant’s rooftop garden, Graves is in the process of installing a similar one at his house and is hyping the trend to his culinary industry colleagues. One of those buds, Paul McCabe, executive chef at L’Auberge Del Mar’s KITCHEN 1540, just finished installing two eight-foot-

tall gardens between cabanas in the restaurant’s lush, outdoor dining area. To do so, he had to uproot a beloved persimmon tree, but counts that as a “worthy sacrifice.” “The vertical garden uses 80 percent less water and 80 percent less space than a normal garden,” McCabe says. “We’re going to have 160 plants—anything we want. I’m especially excited about this one herb that we’re putting in. It looks kind of like a kaffir lime leaf, but tastes exactly like an oyster. Every restaurant in town finishes their dishes with the same finishing herbs, but by growing our own, we’ll be able to separate our flavor profile.” Vertical gardens aren’t just for big-ticket venues. Churchill’s Pub and Grille in San Marcos was one of the first spots in the county to

jump aboard the blossoming trend. Owner Ivan Derezin saw it as a way to get his hands on obscure ingredients that are often tough to find on the open market. “We are growing a bunch of heirloom fruits and vegetables, as well as rare, obnoxiously hot peppers,” Derezin says. “Doing planter boxes or another hydroponic system would take up too much room and interrupt the flow of my business deliveries. Vertical gardens offer an advanced growing system that doesn’t need very much real estate. I can also move it around as the seasons change, and hydroponics tend to grow faster, cleaner and bigger.” Other local eateries with vertical gardens include Spread in North Park, Lockwood Table in Solana Beach and Le Papagayo in Encinitas.

ABOVE: Vertical garden started by chef Paul McCabe at L’Auberge Del Mar’s KITCHEN 1540; LEFT: Chef Christian Graves tends to Jsix’s rooftop garden; MIDDLE: Homegrown flavor at Jsix

From the Ground Up One of the primary providers of vertical garden systems is Vista’s Vertical Earth Gardens, which began installing and maintaining the mini bumper crops almost two years ago.

“ E ver y restaurant in town finishes their dishes with the same finishin g herbs , but b y g rowin g our own , we ’ ll be able to separate our flavor profile . ” —Paul McCabe, executive chef at L’Auberge Del Mar’s KITCHEN 1540 60

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

Owner Mark DeMitchell says a six-by-sixfoot vertical veggie garden costs about $700 to install in a residential setting. The company offers weekly maintenance on the gardens for about $25 per visit. verticalearthgardens.com

taste what ’ s cookin g DINING OUT

FISH

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TALES The decadelong story of Harney Sushi

B y pat s h e r m a n

ome of life’s most significant events, from job promotions to marriage proposals, are cemented over unforgettable meals. As part of its weeklong 10thyear anniversary festivities, Old Town’s hippest dining hub, Harney Sushi, is asking people to remember and share their own “Harney Stories” and photos for a chance to win a $250 gift card. (E-mail submissions to lauren@ harneysushi.com by April 20.) Go fish at Harney’s 10th anniversary bash (April 26, from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m.), to be held at the restaurant on Harney Street. The exciting culinary event will feature food stations with dishes created by guest chefs including Paul McCabe (Kitchen 1540), Amy DiBiase (formerly of the Cosmopolitan) and Katsuya Fukushima (of José Andrés Catering by Ridgewell’s). To add even more flavor to the big event, Harney will, as always, serve sushi with a side of rhythm—while diners are enjoying their rolls, DJ Cobra will be rockin’ the turntables.

Harney Sushi 3964 Harney St., Old Town 619.295.3272, harneysushi.com

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

‘sup in the airr

Patrons experience dichotomous minimalist ambience at AIRR Supper Club and Lounge (photos courtesy Tim King)

A new, social dining and nightlife concept opens downtown B y pat s h e r m a n

he Gaslamp has a new nightspot in AIRR, a combination supper club and nightclub at 526 Market Street, on the site of the former Witherby Hotel. Owner Amy Noel, a former architecture student and mother of five, says her travels through Europe and the vibe she experienced in restaurants in Paris and Milan inspired the concept. By incorporating long tables and banquette seating in the dining room, she says she sought to create a “sexy, social atmosphere” where guests share

dishes and banter. “It’s a tough economy,” Noel says. “If you’re going to spend your money, you want a great atmosphere, where you feel like you want to dress up to go out.” The second-floor venue is divided into two contrasting spaces, including an all-red nightclub and bar, where DJs draw from a catalogue of multigenerational rock and blues. Silhouettes of go-go dancers flicker in the windows as potent drinks named after music icons are served. It’s hard not to feel like a rock star when drinking a Cobain, a Janis J. or a Muddy Waters.

The dining room is done in pure, minimalist white, from the walls to the tables and seats. “I kind of wanted to take all the other stimuli out of the room and have it be pure for the wine and dining experience,” says Noel, who plans to add a roving food cart, from which chefs will serve items such as duck street tacos; carved, slow-roasted lamb and other daily specials. AIRR Open Wednesday through Sunday, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. 526 Market St., Gaslamp 619.487.9742, airr.us

taste TOP: Small Bar’s Elephant Mule with ginger slice MIDDLE: Mint Julep MAIN: Bloody Mary Superior

what ’ s cookin g DINING OUT

MARY ME Fall in love with a cocktail you can sink your teeth into

B y P a t Sh e r m a n photos by louis guzman

niversity Heights’ unassuming rock ‘n’ roll tavern is giving the graveyard shift a reason to roll out of bed before 2 p.m. on weekends—the Bloody Mary Superior. Served during Saturday and Sunday brunch, Small Bar’s colossal cocktail is garnished with a skewer of fresh shrimp, mushroom, tomato, pepperoncini and a blue cheese-stuffed olive. It doesn’t stop there—also floating in the red sea of booze are a slice of candied bacon, green bean and a house-made pickle. “The whole garden’s in it,” says Small Bar manager Karen Blair. “We start with Guinness in the bottom and we use the extra-thick Worcestershire sauce. We infuse our own vodka with garlic and chili peppers and then we have a house-made Bloody Mary mix that we make fresh every weekend.” The rim is dusted with Tajín, a Mexican spice consisting of chili peppers, salt and dehydrated lime juice. “Forget the straw,” Blair says. “You’ll want to sip out of the side and work your way around it.” Brunch is served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and includes one Bloody Mary Superior or classic cocktail of choice, including Small Bar’s Elephant Mule. The refreshing Moscow Mule hybrid is made with Maker’s Mark bourbon, lime, ginger beer, cherry syrup and vanilla bitters. It’s served in a copper mug to keep the drink cool. Be warned: that garnish is fresh ginger, not pineapple (regulars have fun watching the expression on newbies’ faces as they bite into the astringent herb). Also served in copper cups are the Mormon Peach Mule and Small Bar’s Mint Julep, on the menu just in time for this year’s Kentucky Derby on May 7.

Small Bar 4628 Park Boulevard, University Heights 619.795.7998, smallbarsd.com Brunch: Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

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Little Hurricane CD

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Local buzz band blows back into town with new CD

Release Party When: April 2, 9 p.m. Venue: The Casbah Tickets: $10 Info: casbahmusic.com

B y P a t Sh e r m a n

ocking San Diego blues twosome Little Hurricane has returned from their first tour, which began in November. The duo hit the road shortly after scoring a coup at the San Diego Music Awards, where they nabbed Best New Band honors—having formed just months before. Listening to Little Hurricane’s forthcoming debut album, Homewrecker, its easy see why their tight, powerful sound is breaching barriers to success. But don’t take our word for it.

The band, including guitarist and vocalist Anthony “Tone” Catalano and drummer and mandolin player Celeste “CC” Spina, will unleash their CD April 2, during a release party at The Casbah. “We’re still a really new band,” says 27-year-old CC, who hadn’t pounded the skins since she was in high school jazz and marching bands. “We haven’t even been playing shows for a full year,” she says. “When we won the San Diego Music Award, we

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groove Little Hurricane’s CC (left) and Tone (photo courtesy Kris Johnson)

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were just so excited that we felt like it was time to maybe take it on the road and see how we fared.” They fared well, using offstage time during their West Coast tour to create much of the debut disc. “We recorded the album in San Diego, Carlsbad, Santa Cruz, Portland and Seattle,” CC says. “We tried to take a little piece of every city we went to and put it on the album. We kind of had to do it that way because we wanted to do the tour and finish the album at the same time. It was challenging and a lot of work, but I think we have a better product in the end because we kind of grew as a band as we were traveling.”

Though CC is hard-pressed to name a drummer who has influenced her, the Category 5 storm of reliable rhythm, who prefers performing in chic dresses, says Karen Carpenter made a definite impression. “She was an awesome drummer,” CC says. “I saw some videos of her right when I was getting back into it, and she looked like she was just having so much fun playing the drums. It kind of inspired me that you could be happy and, you know, a girl playing the drums, and maintain your femininity.” As for the inevitable comparison between Little Hurricane and the White Stripes—another bluesy duo with a female drummer—CC says she takes it in stride. “I think we’re more similar in sound to the Black Keys than the White Stripes,” she says. “People like to make the comparison, I think, because I’m a brunette drummer and we’re a two-piece, but when it comes to my drumming style, I think I’m very different than Meg White.” Upon their return home to San Diego, Little

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On a Brighter Note…

Hurricane is hoping to further dissuade that comparison and increase the depth of their sound by auditioning a possible third member to play keyboards (a duty currently performed by Tone). Though Tone and CC first connected in North Park via a Craigslist ad, now they’re unsure as to where they’ll park their Volkswagen Touareg and equipment trailer. “We’re technically homeless right now,” says CC, “but San Diego is so awesome and supportive to us. It will always be our hometown.”

FROM LEFT: Local artist Krystal Dyer finds her muse to the rhythm of live music at RT’s Longboard Grill; the Dyer consequences

Beach area artist creates vibrant works to live music B y P a t Sh e r m a n • Ph o t o s b y J e f f “ T urb o ” C o rr i g a n

hen Pacific Beach artist Krystal Dyer steps to her easel, and the band plugs in, the prospect of watching paint dry suddenly seems a lot more palatable. The South Jersey native moved to San Diego two years ago for a job in video game animation and began toting her canvas, colors and brushes to live music venues for inspiration, creating volumes of vibrant art

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

as local bands such as Safety Orange, Ease Up, Boom Culture, Sunny Rude and others jammed. These days, many bands reserve a spot on stage for her to paint. “I have no idea what I’m going to do when I get on stage,” Dyer says. “I just kind of let the music take over and I come up with an image and start painting.” Though she usually paints to reggae or ska, Dyer has dabbled in hip-hop, once rocking out a

graffiti art-inspired skateboard deck while the band Concrete Project performed. “I was dancing on stage while painting,” she says. “I just started grooving. I had to stop myself ‘cause I can’t paint and dance at the same time.” See Dyer’s work on display at 710 Beach Club & Grill in P.B. Catch her live painting act Tuesday and Sunday Nights at RT’s Longboard Grill. krystaldyer.com, longboardgrill.com

S ee more photos at

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house calls

The place is rockin’ when DJ Frankie M comes knockin’ B y P a t Sh e r m a n Ph o t o b y J e f f “ T urb o ” C o rr i g a n

longtime devotee of all things house—be it deep, funky, dirty or acid—Miss DJ Frankie M says she is stoked to see a resurgence of the genre in clubs and popular music. “Lady Gaga, Usher, the Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna—a lot of those artists are doing more up-tempo, almost house-y stuff that makes it really easy to work into my sets,” says Frankie (born Francisca Miranda), who spins at Eden in Hillcrest; Firehouse in Pacific Beach; Vin De Syrah, Searsucker and the W Hotel downtown; and a host of other clubs. “For a while, I tried to do that whole, ‘I’m only going to play house,’ thing, but obviously to stay in the game and continue working, I had to change that mindset a little,” she says. “I always try to educate people when I’m playing. I’ll give them what they want and then I’ll try and throw in some house stuff that they’re not familiar with—kind of blend it in. They just know that they’re grooving to it.” At times when someone requests a straight-up house track over the latest pop song, Frankie says she feels vindicated. “It’s definitely been happening more and more lately,” she says. Frankie says, at times, her housework can be a real chore. Finding the

“ I t takes a lon g time to learn the music ,

APRIL concert calendar

and a lon g time to

4/1: Ani DiFranco @ House of Blues, hob.com

learn how to mi x and

4/1: Kem @ 4th & B, 4thandbevents.com 4/2: Little Hurricane CD release party @ The Casbah, casbahmusic.com

to read the crowd . ”

4/2: Gregory Page @ Plaza Bar (Westgate Hotel), westgatehotel.com 4/3: Scott Stapp of Creed @ Sycuan Casino, sycuancasino.com 4/3: The Penetrators @ The Casbah, casbahmusic.com 4/4: Helmet @ Brick by Brick, brickbybrick.com 4/4: The Sounds @ BellyUp Tavern, bellyup.com 4/7: Sander van Doorn @ Fluxx, fluxxsd.com 4/7: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum @ The Casbah, casbahmusic.com 4/7: A Day To Remember @ Valley View Casino Center, valleyviewcasinocenter.com 4/8: Dick Dale @ The BellyUp Tavern, bellyup.com

right mix of tunes to keep a club’s energy going can frazzle nerves. The education is ongoing—she keeps current by monitoring electronic musiccentric websites like beatport.com and stompy.com. “It can definitely be stressful,” she says. “It takes a long time to learn the music and a long time to learn how to mix and to read the crowd.” Follow Miss DJ Frankie M on Facebook or look for her upcoming gigs at edensandiego.com, syrahwineparlor.com, searsucker.com, firehousepb. com and thewsandiegohotel.com.

4/8: G. Love and Special Sauce @ House of Blues, hob.com 4/8: Rise Against with Bad Religion @ Rimac Arena, sportsfac.ucsd.edu 4/9: Pete Yorn @ House of Blues, hob.com

Miss DJ Frankie M

4/14: 91X presents Brandon Flowers @ House of Blues, hob.com

Home town: Albuquerque, N.M.

4/14: Chris Robinson Brotherhood @ The Casbah, casbahmusic.com

Current neighborhood: Downtown San Diego

4/15: The Kills @ House of Blues, hob.com

Age: 30

4/22: Transfer @ Fluxx, fluxxsd.com

Beats: house, electro, trip hop, dubstep

4/22: Kottonmouth Kings @ House of Blues, hob.com

Spin-spirations: Afrojack, Erick Morillo, Riva Starr, Mark Farina,

4/22: Blowoff with DJ Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü) @ The Casbah, casbahmusic.com

Swedish House Mafia

4/22: Pato Banton and The Now Generation @ Brick by Brick, brickbybrick.com

Hangouts: P.B. Shore Club, Firehouse

4/27: Psychedelic Furs @ BellyUp Tavern, bellyup.com

Eats: Lincoln Room

4/30: Mudhoney @ The Casbah, casbahmusic.com

Former occupation: record store owner

pacificsandiego.com

groove love

BR KEN ARTED Bartender’s dark design pays homage to the lovelorn

B y P a t Sh e r m a n • p h o t o b y r o b h a m m e r

uring his tenure behind the bar at various beach-area venues, Woody Donahue has poured plenty of liquid anesthetic for those whose passions have been reduced to ash. Immortalizing love’s frequent aches, he created his BLKHRT logo. Pronounced “black heart,” the acronym stands for “because love knows how to ruin things.” “When you feel really down and out and you’re just thinking of giving up on love, that’s definitely what that symbol stands for,” Donahue says. “I don’t think you always need to be on the happy side of love. There’s definitely a time where you need to look out for yourself.” Donahue, 37, tends bar at Thrusters Lounge and other P.B. watering holes on a rotating basis. He helps the downtrodden lick their emotional wounds with simple elixirs, such as a shot of Jameson whiskey and a cold beer. It’s a different story for the perpetrators of the pain. “If they’re the ones that have done the jilting, then they get a shot of well gin that’s been warmed up in the microwave,” he says with a laugh. In 1991, Donahue moved from L.A. to Mission Beach, where he spent 10 years before making the short trek north to P.B. For this part of town, he’s something of an old-timer. “If you don’t know my name, you’ve definitely seen my face,” he says. “I’m just more of a laidback, old-school bartender. I know your name, I know what you drink. Chances are, I know all your friends too.” Donahue got his start in design work as a skateboard enthusiast. His friends caught him playing with the BLKHRT logo on his computer one day and encouraged him to start marketing it. The logo has since become an underground sensation, appearing on hats, sterling silver key chains and many more items Donahue sells via his website. To date, at least 11 people have gotten tattoos of the BLKHRT logo. “I have people who call me from New York and say, ‘I cannot believe it. I’m all the way in New York in some bathroom, in some dive bar, and there are stickers of yours here,’” Donahue says. “My friend that owns the skateboard shop was in Bali, and everywhere he went he saw some…but I’ve never even been to Bali.” Since creating BLKRT, Donahue has used his self-taught design skills to create apparel and other promotional materials for Thrusters, Firehouse, Vin De Syrah, Miller’s Field, Emerald City Surf and Soul Grind Skateboard Shop. His clients often let him add his BLKHRT logo to the work they commission from him, further boosting the heart’s presence and brand mystique. Asked if he seeks refreshment for artistic inspiration, Donahue laughs. “Absolutely,” he says. “Sometimes I think I do some of my best work hung-over.” blkhrt.com, thrusterslounge.com

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

Woody Donahue Age: 37 Favorite local band: Rocket from the Crypt Hometown: Los Angeles Current neighborhood: Pacific Beach

ABOVE: Behind the bar at Thrusters Lounge in P.B., Woody Donahue has the cure for a broken heart; BELOW LEFT: Three of Donahue’s t-shirt designs; BELOW RIGHT: The newly remodeled Thrusters Lounge

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Hangouts: London’s West End Pub, PB Pub, Silver Fox, Thrusters Live music venues: Casbah, Tiki House in P.B. (“as long as the band’s not too hippie”) Eats: Carne asada chips at Taco Surf in P.B.

bar

l yc

sho

-i

spin

aslamp mega-club FLUXX has just been chosen Best New Club of the Year by Nightclub & Bar magazine—a leading hospitality industry trade publication.

Downtown hotspot reaping awards at the one-year mark

Change is Good

“It’s was a great surprise for us, and a great honor too,” says general manager Dave Renzella. “Everyone on the team has worked so hard on it for the past year—really longer. We knew FLUXX was going to be something special.” Once a quarter or so, FLUXX undergoes an atmosphere and décor change. Though he won’t reveal April’s mystery in any detail, Renzella says, “Think psychedelic.” As for what’s next, he says “We’re looking forward to continuing to raise the bar, not just for San Diego, but for the nation, too.”

Four Play

Bar West throws a birthday party

rop in and help Bar West celebrate its fourth anniversary with a weekend of music and revelry, April 21-24. The popular Pacific Beach nightclub is giving a big shout-out to its loyal customers, with complimentary champagne for all tables ordering VIP bottle service. The weekend will include sparklers, confetti guns, a bikini fashion show, go-go dancers and DJ sets by Mac Luv, Travis Howe and Crooked. On April 12, Bar West deviates from its regular music format to launch a new monthly event, SODA POP, a tribute to guilty pop-music pleasures and treasures, including ‘N Sync, Britney, TLC, Madonna—even Justin Bieber.

OPEN DAILY 6am - 3pm PACIFIC BEACH 1851 Garnet Ave. 858.270.YOLK

GASLAMP 355 6th Ave. 619.338.YOLK

thebrokenyolkcafe.com EASTLAKE 884 Eastlake Pkwy. 619.216.1144

LA COSTA 7670 El Camino Real 760.943.8182

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love

Caricature Witness

Dating as art, a first-hand account B y D a v i d P e rl o f f • Ph o t o s b y B r e v i n B l a c h • Illu s tr a t i o n s b y C o urt J o n e s

Oscar Wilde once said,

“ L ife imitates art far more than art imitates life . ” 72

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

scar Wilde once said, “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” Tonight, with the help of illustrator Court Jones, the impassioned work of artistic chefs and cocktail mixologists and a private viewing for our blind daters at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) La Jolla, we’ll put Mr Wilde’s assertion to the test. Brooke and Alex are about to meet for the first time at Whisknladle, the celebrated gourmet bistro in downtown La Jolla. While Court’s preparing his sketchpad, let’s review the pre-date interviews. PacificSD: Where are you from and where do you live now? ALEX: I’m from St. Louis, Missouri, and just moved to Del Mar six months ago. BROOKE: I’m originally from Michigan, but have lived here for almost seven years. I love it here. What do you do for a living? ALEX: I’m a salesman—think plaid blazer and thick lenses. BROOKE: I’m currently exploring different opportunities in my career. I was an office manager for a construction company for six years. What do you do for fun? ALEX: Almost any form of exercise, cocktailing, vlogging, laser tag and dance-offs. I can really have fun doing anything. BROOKE: I love the arts and music. I also love hiking, cooking, gardening and yoga. I’m also a huge advocate on volunteering and giving back. I think volunteering can be one of the most selffulfilling things you can do, for fun. What makes you a good catch? ALEX: I’m fun, easy on the eyes, charming, will always have you laughing and I enjoy treating women like princesses. BROOKE: I’m a down-to-earth girl with good values and like to have fun. I’m a nurturer by nature and love taking care of others. I’m independent, but caring, with a strong sense of who I am. What are you looking for in a date? ALEX: I love an outgoing, strong woman who can laugh at herself and smile a lot, someone who enjoys being with me, but has their own life. Physically, I love dark skin, light eyes and a lady that takes care of her body. BROOKE: I’m pretty petite, so I appreciate some height in a man, but it’s not required. I would just say they have to be fit, well groomed, smell nice and dress with some sense of style. Personality-wise, I am looking for someone who has a great sense of humor and can be a little goofy but can also have serious, intellectual talks. I also like little tokens of affection, like holding

D AT E

hands when you walk down the street, the door being held open, et cetera. What is your biggest fear? ALEX: Being eaten by a shark, which is why I admire the ocean from afar. BROOKE: My latest thing is heights. Very odd, this fear came up after 32 years of not being afraid of them. What’s your favorite thing about yourself? ALEX: Always being able to put a smile on people’s faces. BROOKE: I’m open-minded.

Court Jones is a freelance illustrator whose caricature work has appeared in books, newspapers and magazines. He was named Caricaturist of the Year for 2005 by the International Society of Caricature Artists.

What do you like least about yourself? ALEX: I’m a huge procrastinator. I hate that I always wait until the last minute. BROOKE: I tend to procrastinate when making changes in my life. I mean, what am I waiting for? Change is good.

He accepts private commissions and is also available to draw or paint live at events. courtjones.com

Alex and Brooke meet at Whisknladle, grab a table in the patio dining room and begin to get acquainted over glasses of wine and a decadent antipasto platter of olives, cheeses and housecured meats. As more wine arrives, they seem to be loosening up. Their conversation becomes more animated, and Court captures the moment. After talking for about an hour, the daters depart Whisknladle for a private, after-hours tour of MCASD, La Jolla. The museum’s current installation, Mexico: Expected/Unexpected, features more than 100 works from one of Mexico’s most comprehensive contemporary art collections. Laughing as they tiptoe through a maze of dried ginger husks suspended inches above the floor by strings attached to the ceiling, Brooke and Alex seem to be hitting it off. At times armin-arm, they stroll through the museum. When they receive a tip from their tour guide that fourletter words are hidden in a huge black and white mural, they work together to locate the would-be offensive gems. In the next room, they fall in love...with a jackass. (Continued on Page 74 )

THANK YOU! Whisknladle Bistro & Bar, 1044 Wall Street, La Jolla, 858.551.7575, WHISKNLADLE.COM MCASD La Jolla, 700 Prospect Street, La Jolla, 858.454.3541, mcasd.org Nine/Ten Restaurant & Bar, 910 Prospect Street, La Jolla, 858.964.5400, nine-ten.com

pacificsandiego.com

love (Continued from page 72)

D AT E

Nice Ass

And other works of art on display at MCASD

fter walking through the museum for nearly an hour, Brooke and Jason head a few blocks north on Prospect Street for dinner at Nine/Ten, where celebrated chef Jason Knibb practices his art—fresh, seasonal cuisine, which Zagat classifies as “extraordinary to perfection.” The daters sit by the bar and sip innovative cocktails created by resident mixologist, Sarah Lemke, and are then split for middate debriefings.

PacificSD: How’s it going so far? ALEX: Good times. She’s very cute, energetic and bubbly. Maybe she used to cheerlead. I feel like she’s a top-of-the-pyramid kind of girl. She’s tiny. BROOKE: I’m having a really good time. He’s really energetic. He’s a handful, but I really like that, because he’s outgoing and he’s confident, and sometimes I’m shy. How was Whisknladle? ALEX: That’s a cool spot; I liked the atmosphere. The antipasto that we shared was really good. I enjoyed the meats, the salamis. I had a house merlot; it was good. I’m a wine guy—I don’t know sh!t about wine, but I like the taste. BROOKE: I loved our cheese plate. It was amazing. It had a lot of different cheeses and the taste was great. The service was great, and the overall atmosphere was really good, too. It was very warm, very rustic, and it had really good lighting. It was a really good place to have a date. What did you think of MCASD? ALEX: Very cool. I’m not like a huge art guy, but it was definitely interesting. The big wall with the filthy words on it—very cool. There’s nothing better than a first date when your date says the word “c---” and “bitch,” ‘cause it’s written on the wall. Can you put that in the magazine? “C---” and “bitch”? BROOKE: I thought it was great. I wish I could have stayed there longer, because I love looking at art. I love interpreting it. 74

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

What’s the most attractive thing your date has done so far? ALEX: She’s touchy-feely, dude—grabbing, holding hands, that stuff. We took pictures of me holding her. That was funny. BROOKE: In the museum, he really appreciated the drum display. He really kind of took a minute to talk about it and to explain it…and he wasn’t joking. He was a little bit more serious and I really appreciated that. Is this the type of person you would normally date? ALEX: I normally like brunettes with dark skin, and taller, but she’s refreshing—refreshingly different. BROOKE: He is, but he’s the kind of guy where I would like to have a second or third date to really reach a different kind of level with him. Do you want to kiss your date now? ALEX: Sure, why not? I’m a guy, dude. BROOKE: I don’t think I’m ready to kiss him now. Maybe after dinner and talking I’ll feel like kissing him. Does your date want to kiss you? ALEX: Duh, winning! BROOKE: I’m just going to go ahead and say probably not, but that’s just because he hasn’t really taken the initiative to hold my hand or do anything like that.

Rate your date on a scale from one to 10 for looks. ALEX: Let’s go with an eight. BROOKE: I’d say, like an eight. He’s attractive and really good looking, good dresser, well groomed, great eyes, great smile. How about for personality? ALEX: We’ll do an eight again. No, let’s do a nine. BROOKE: I’d probably say a seven. I’ve yet to have dinner with him, so we’ll see if maybe it can turn into an eight. (Continued on page 76)

love (Continued from page 74)

S ee more photos at

pacificsandiego.com

Sweet Sixteen

D AT E

Two “eights” dine at Nine/Ten

s their entrees arrive, the daters are finally left alone to enjoy their evening without a photographer or caricaturist documenting their every move. We call the next morning to see what we missed.

PacificSD: Overall, how was the date? ALEX: Overall, I’d say I had a good time, plenty of laughs and good conversations. BROOKE: It was a great date. I had a blast. I really enjoyed the combination of the museum with food and cocktails. How was Nine/Ten? ALEX: Nine/Ten was good stuff. We chatted about everything, from family to work. She did, however, make me share the booth with her. I always hate on couples that do that at restaurants. BROOKE: He really began to open up a little more during dinner and I felt I got more of a sense of who he was. We talked about family and some other more personal things. What did you eat and drink? ALEX: My pork belly appetizer was incredible— actually had a chance to compliment the chef— and our mixologist put together an incredible cocktail. I forgot the name of it, but it had blueberries and eucalyptus in it. Super refreshing. BROOKE: They started us off with these amazing gin cocktail concoctions. One was made with eucalyptus. It was delicious and refreshing. I’m not much of a gin girl, but that cocktail was amazing. What was the best part of the date? ALEX: That’s tough, since the experience was all great, nightcap included. BROOKE: I really enjoyed the museum. Alex had a lot to say about the different pieces; I liked hearing his input. I especially liked the burro— was kind of an eerie yet fascinating, rather odd piece. And I really loved the drum display. I loved how it was suspended in the air, much like the notion of how sound is. It took an idea and placed it into something tangible. What was the worst part? ALEX: Sitting next to each other in a booth at Nine/Ten—just not my thing. BROOKE: The beginning was a little awkward. It was good conversation, but there was a sense of nervousness on both sides. 76

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

What happened after the magazine crew left? ALEX: We had a cocktail or two at The Spot, then finished our evening at a friend of mine’s house party in La Jolla. That’s all the info I’ll share. BROOKE: We decided to go to another venue and have some drinks. I think at this point he accepted the fact that I like to sit on the same side of the booth together. So we sat on the same side, laughing and continuing to have fun. Was there a romantic connection? ALEX: Wouldn’t call it romantic, but we know how each other’s lips taste. No Disney endings, but we did some kissing and maybe some seventh-grade groping. BROOKE: We definitely connected. I’m not sure if it will transpire into another date, but I would like to see him again. There was a romantic moment or two. It was really cute, actually. I usually don’t kiss and tell, but—yes, we shared a smooch. Will there be a second date? ALEX: You never know. BROOKE: I would like to see what would happen on a second date. But I’m a girl who believes in chivalry and courting, so he will have to ask me. Picture this: Like a piece of art, a date is subject to conflicting interpretations. Regarding his connection with Brooke, for example, Alex “wouldn’t call it romantic.” Brooke, however, said, “There was a romantic moment or two.” In the end, the couple managed to find common ground, sharing an appreciation not only for art, but also for enjoying a spectrum of culinary flavors on their palates. The moral of the story: In dating, as in art, there are different strokes for different folks (insert seventh-grade-groping joke here).

TOP: The daters share specialty cocktails created by Nine/ Ten mixologist Sarah Lemke ABOVE: Between bites of her Tuna Tartare, Brooke tastes Alex’s Jamaican Jerk Pork Belly BELOW: For entrees, the couple order the local halibut, served with peas and asparagus; and the steak, served with roasted cauliflower, pickled carrots and toasted couscous

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WAKE UP MADE UP

calendar

04.11

Submit events to calendar@pacificsandiego.com.

HOME GAMES

PADRES ready to play ball The San Diego Padres kick off their regular season April 2 against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Opening day at Petco Park is April 5, when the Pads take on the San Francisco Giants. For more home game times and giveaway deets, see the schedule below or visit sandiegopadres.com.

04/2

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

04/8

4/8: Halfway to Halloween Venue: Hard Rock Hotel San Diego Tickets: $25 Info: hardrockhalloween.com Dust off your sexy cop costume for Hard Rock Hotel San Diego’s latest and greatest, “Halfway to Halloween,” featuring a roster of powerful DJs and a headlining performance by krunk junkie Lil Jon.

Lil Jon headlines Halfway to Halloween

courtesy SKAM ARTIST

4/5: San Francisco Giants, 3:35 p.m. (free opening day T-shirt) 4/6: San Francisco Giants, 3:35 p.m. (free magnetic Padres schedules) 4/8: Los Angeles Dodgers, 7:05 p.m. (free rally towels and fireworks show) 4/9: Los Angeles Dodgers, 5:35 p.m. (free Padres mesh caps) 4/10: Los Angeles Dodgers, 1:05: p.m. (military opening day) 4/11: Cincinnati Reds, 7:05 p.m. 4/12: Cincinnati Reds, 7:05 p.m. 4/13: Cincinnati Reds, 3:35 p.m. 4/21: Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 p.m. 4/22: Philadelphia Phillies, 7:05 p.m. (wine and food festival, college night) 4/23: Philadelphia Phillies, 5:35 p.m. (free six-pack tube coolers) 4/24: Philadelphia Phillies, 1:05 p.m. (free fielding gloves for kids) 4/25: Atlanta Braves, 7:05 p.m. 4/26: Atlanta Braves, 7:05 p.m. 4/27: Atlanta Braves, 12:35 p.m.

04/3-05/22

CHR I S H A RDY

Chris Hardy

4/2: Rafta, Rafta… Venue: Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park Tickets: $29-$85 Info: oldglobe.org Find out what happens when young newlyweds from the blue collar town of Bolton, England, move in with the groom’s conservative Indian family in this award-winning comedic play.

4/3-5/22: The Photography of Imogen Cunningham Venue: Oceanside Museum of Art Admission: $8 Info: oma-online.org View the black and white botanical images of pioneer American photographer Imogen Cunningham (1883 -1976), which call attention to the abstract detail in nature.

calendar

04.11

04/17

04/19

04/16 4/16: Art Meets Fashion with N-GOM Venue: Planet Rooth Design Haus, Bankers Hill Admission: Free Info: n-gom.blogspot.com, artmeetsfashion.org For some heady postmodernism, check out the new exhibit from members of New Ground Old Materials (N-GOM), depicting “broken memories and second-hand tales for the tribal peoples of the post-apocalyptic realm.”

c o u r t e s y M i c h e ll e Bassl e r

4/19: Taste of HILLCREST Where: Restaurants throughout Hillcrest Tickets: $30 advance; $35 day of Info: fabuloushillcrest.com Sample appetizers, entrees and desserts on this self-guided culinary walking tour of 50 participating Hillcrest eateries. 80

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

C o u r t e s y L a J o lla P la y h o us e

4/17: EarthFair Venue: Balboa Park (Park Boulevard and Presidents Way) Admission: Free Info: earthdayweb.org Join the more than 60,000 people expected to attend the annual EarthFair, billed as the largest annual environmental fair in the world.

04/9

4/27: Let Me Down Easy Venue: San Diego Repertory Theatre, Horton Plaza Tickets: $48-$53 Info: sdrep.org Based on her interviews with everyone from a heavyweight boxer and supermodel to cyclist Lance Armstrong and Texas Gov. Ann Richards, Anna Deavere Smith’s one-woman show mixes astute reportage with standup comedy.

S A N D I EGO E A R T H W ORK S

4/9: Balboa Barks Venue: Presidents Lawn, Balboa Park Admission: $7 Info: cci.org/balboabarks Cover your pooch in tie-dye as Canine Companions for Independence hosts its annual 1960s-themed dog fest, formerly known as “Woofstock.”

04/27

04/28

4/30: Fiesta Old Town Cinco de Mayo Where: Streets of Old Town Admission: Free Info: fiestaoldtown.com Learn about the history of this holiday commemorating the Mexican Army’s 1862 victory over France before slurping down a frosty margarita or two. The event includes mariachi music and Latin rock on two stages.

04/30-5/1

04/30

4/28: Tower After Hours, Turkey Venue: Museum of Man, Balboa Park Admission: $20 Info: balboapark.org/museumofman Soak in the sights and tastes of Istanbul as the San Diego Museum of Man takes visitors on a sensual trip to Turkey via Turkish food and drink, as well as traditional music and dance performances. 4/30: Downtown with David Sedaris Venue: Balboa Theatre Tickets: $37 to $57 Info: sandiegotheatres.org Catch the hilarious insight of bestselling author, humorist and NPR commentator David Sedaris. His latest release, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, is a collection of animal stories in which Sedaris uses fuzzy creatures to deliver his acerbic social commentary.

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road trip

Sea With Your Eyes Four photographers and a picture-perfect escape

Abandoned motor home outside Bombay Beach.

B y K i r a n U m a p a th y

n a daytrip to the Salton Sea, four restless photographers (Mike Brown, Natalie Kardos, Stacy Keck and I) swear we’ve driven back in time—not 150 miles northeast of San Diego. Armed with 17 cameras, we have no schedule and no itinerary. But when you let spontaneity prevail, life has a way of rewarding you. We crack open beers and chat with Leonard Knight, the man behind the quirky outdoor art installation, Salvation Mountain, and a disheveled vagrant named Moth. Easing back in sun-weathered car seats and discarded furniture, we’re ready to take in the annual Slab City Talent Show. Slab City, a former World War II Marine barracks, is now a camp for RV travelers, itinerants and other misfits. As Natalie puts it, “you don’t just end up living in Slab City. Some serious sh!t has to go down first.” We chat with residents of Bombay Beach (population around 360) at their only watering hole, then catch an otherworldly sunset—fish skeletons crunching beneath our shoes. Whatever strange sights we stumble across, it’s easy to see how happy locals are, basking in the spastic-fantastic energy of this dying lakeside retreat. Sure, alcohol and intense UV rays may factor into the equation, but everyone seems to be genuinely enjoying life, largely unburdened by responsibility— beyond the unspoken duty to enjoy the present moment.

Salton Sea Facts S TA CY KECK

Sunset at Bombay Beach, on the Salton Sea’s east shore

The increasing salinity of the Salton Sea (now above four percent) makes it hard for many fish species to exist here. At this level of salinity, it is believed that only tilapia will survive. Distance: Roughly 150 miles northeast of San Diego Location: Along the San Andreas Fault in the Colorado Desert, just east of Borrego Springs

S ee more photos at

pacificsandiego.com 82

pacificsandiego.com {April 2011}

Salton City population: About 1,000 Wetlands revitalization info: saltonsea.ca.gov

Colorfully painted vehicles at Salvation Mountain, Leonard Knight’s ongoing art installation just outside of Slab City, CA

N ATA L I E K A RDO S X 2

S TA CY KECK

Another relaxing afternoon at The Range

SAN DIEGO PADRES

FRIDAY PARTY AT THE PARK STARTING AT 5:00PM

Date

Team

Promotion APRIL

April 8

Dodgers

Friday Night Fireworks presented by Northgate Gonzalez Market; Fiesta Mexicana

April 22

Phillies

Wine & Food Festival; College Night presented by Chegg.com MAY

May 6

Dbacks

Beerfest

May 20

Mariners

Friday Night Fireworks presented by Northgate Gonzalez Market; College Night presented by Chegg.com JUNE

June 3

Astros

June 10

Nationals

June 24

Braves

Taste of Downtown Margarita Park Friday Night Fireworks presented by Northgate Gonzalez Market; College Night presented by Chegg.com JULY

July 15

Giants

Friday Night Fireworks presented by Northgate Gonzalez Market

July 29

Rockies

Country Night; College Night presented by Chegg.com AUGUST

Catch the Party at the Park before every Friday home game, featuring unique food and drinks, live music and more. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT:

Aug. 19

Marlins

Friday Night Fireworks SEPTEMBER

Sep. 2

Rockies

Friday Night Fireworks presented by Northgate Gonzalez Market

Sep. 16

Dbacks

Oktoberfest; College Night presented by Chegg.com

Sep. 23

Dodgers

Friday Night Fireworks presented by Northgate Gonzalez Market

Promotions are subject to change.