San Diego CityBeat • Jan 18, 2017

2 · San Diego CityBeat · January 18, 2017

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January 18, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

UP FRONT | FROM THE EDITOR

Shifting priorities

O

n the way into the State of the City this past Thursday, I made a $5 bet with a friend and local tourism official on whether or not Mayor Faulconer would mention the Chargers at all. My bet: that the mayor would only mention that morning’s announcement that the Chargers were moving to L.A. in passing. Her bet: That he’d talk about it at length.

In the end, I should have known the mayor would double down on the statement that he gave earlier about the Chargers losing San Diego as opposed to the other way around (see Spin Cycle on page seven for the full quote and a great roundup of the Chargexit fallout). It’s a rousing zinger for sure and seemed to garner the largest applause of the night.

The mayor received another large round of applause after announcing his plan to ostensibly repackage aspects of the hotel taxes of the failed Measure C into a new measure that would fund a Convention Center expansion, infrastructure projects and, perhaps most notably, homeless services.

“We must lift up the neediest among us, and carry their burdens as if they were our own,” Faulconer said. “We must make reducing homelessness our region’s number one social-service priority.”

It was truly refreshing to hear the mayor speak with concern and compassion about the state of homelessness in our city. There was a cadence in his voice that I don’t think I’ve heard from him since the string of homeless murders last year.

But here’s the thing: This measure, which the mayor plans to send to the City Council this year, wouldn’t show up on the ballot until November 2018(!). What’s more, it will need a two-thirds majority from voters in order to pass. Oh, and guess what else? As Voice of San Diego’s Lisa Halverstadt pointed out in her excellent roundup of the tax hike, no one at the mayor’s office could offer any specifics as to how large this tax hike would be or how the funds would be allocated.

One item that seemed to be missing from the dialogue that played out during and after the mayor’s address was the very real possibility that San Diego might lose Comic Con before the Convention Center

measure even makes it to the ballot. Con is only obligated to stay through 2018, per a deal made in 2015, and it’s likely that Vegas, L.A. and Anaheim will come courting again. Will the mayor have to work overtime to get Con organizers to agree to another extension?

More applause came when the mayor spoke about the Plaza de Panama project in Balboa Park. The crowd lapped up his pronouncements of getting rid of “unsightly asphalt” and replacing it with $49 million worth of “promenades” and “reflecting pools,” not to mention that sweet new parking structure.

“It’s about time!” Faulconer bellowed. “We are not going to let a handful of obstructionists stop the progress that our families and children need.”

I’ll have more on those “obstructionists” next week, but for now, here’s the thing: the mayor might be downplaying a run for ANDY NYSTROM / FLICKR governor for the very reason that he knows that his political stock is teetering.

He likely knows that when it comes to wooing voters across the entire state, a controversial Balboa Park facelift and fixing a shoddy emergency response system will only get him so far. That is, no one will really care outside of San Diego. For people on the outside lookPlaza de Panama ing in, right now he’s just the mayor of a city whose football team just bolted (pun intended).

But what Faulconer still doesn’t seem to get is that he has the opportunity to do something truly remarkable for this city. The Plaza de Panama litigation will likely play out in his favor, but why not, in the meantime, invest in solving San Diego’s homelessness problems once and for all?

The mayor made some excellent budgetary and outreach promises on Thursday night, but this problem cannot wait until 2018 for more direct funding. If, in fact, he has eyes on Sacramento, no California voter outside of San Diego will care if he lost the Chargers or even Comic Con. No one will care about a Plaza de Panama overhaul. They will care, however, if he can look defiantly into the camera or to his Democratic opponent and say, “I solved homelessness in my city.

I put people first.”

—Seth Combs

Write to seth.combs@sdcitybeat.com

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4 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 18, 2017

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January 18, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

UP FRONT | LETTERS

CHEATERS!!

The Board of Supervisors [“In Need of Supervision,” Jan. 11] does three things: (1) cheats the elections via the appointed Registrar of Voters; (2) cuts HHSA Prop 63 Medi-Cal funding for homeless and mentally ill, and fails to build psych hospitals, holistic clinics and psych housing; (3) abuses the population with jail/ sheriff (as you have so well covered, thank you).

The County government took over the old City Hall on the harbor, and the City Council could abolish the County government, and some on the City Council have proposed doing so. I recommend you get behind this effort.

The BOS have cheated two candidates for District 4 which is 2/3 Democratic, Stephen Whitburn and Robert Becerra, in which Ron Roberts mysteriously won by 2/3 (flipped vote).

Please encourage Democrats to keep running for this district and Chula Vista which is 50 percent Democratic, and use their campaign money for an exit poll and recount. Thank you.

Valerie Sanfilippo Clairemont

Like so many “hard-pressed Christians” (who aren’t satisfied with 90 percent of everything), Mr. Peter says [Letters, “Jefferson Approved,” Jan. 11] that government and religion should mix—the more the merrier (as if they hadn’t already). He wanted to express his religion as a teacher, and feels deprived in the secular world, probably feeling it necessary to “witness” to someone inappropriately rather than just get on with his job. However, when government and religion mix, both are corrupted even more surely and quickly than they are alone, as we can see everywhere in the Untied States of Amnesia. And too often, the most publicly religious are the worst sociopaths.

The First amendment to the US Constitution limits government regard for religion and ensures freedom of faith, speech and press. And freedom of religion also means freedom from religion.

While healthful spirituality may be necessary to be fully human, organized religion depends on blind obedience to authority, which instantly puts the believer at odds with any inconvenient truths that may come along. Thus today’s horrible gov’t policies; thus the “war on terror” drumming up fear on the front pages calling attention away from how the banks and corporations rob us and ravage the country (anyone remember the banksters’ heist of 2008?), while our treasures (including young people) are wasted on endless conflict caused by religious fundamentalism and profiteering greed.

The arrogant proclamation of THE ONE religion has enabled the wholesale plunder and desolation of other cultures by the socalled Christian nations whose actions were regarded as necessary and justified (in the Name of God). Beginning government sessions with prayers just further enables the crippling patriarchal poison that still ravages the world.

6 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 18, 2017

UP FRONT From the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Letters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Spin Cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Backward & In High Heels. . . . . . . 8 Well, That Was Awkward. . . . . . . 9

FOOD & DRINK The World Fare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Final Draught. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

THINGS TO DO The Short List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Calendar of Events. . . . . . . . . . 13-14

RESPONSE TO A RESPONSE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Tim Brittain Chula Vista

The Family Issue (p.17)

ARTS & CULTURE Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 THE FAMILY ISSUE: Immigration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-22 Film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23-24

MUSIC FEATURE: Stephen Steinbrink. . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Notes from the Smoking Patio. . 26 If I Were U. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Concerts & Clubs. . . . . . . . . . . 30-33

LAST WORDS Advice Goddess. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

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UP FRONT | OPINION

SPIN

JOHN R. LAMB

CYCLE

JOHN R. LAMB

bL.A.ck Thursday What we learned here is love tastes bitter when it’s gone.

—Rob Thomas

S

“

an Diego didn’t lose the Chargers. The Chargers just lost San Diego.”

And with that catchphrase at a hastily called City Hall press conference last Thursday, Mayor Kevin Faulconer defiantly accepted the divorce papers from the NFL team that had called San Diego home for 56 years. Hours later at the outset of his third State of the City speech, he laughed lightly while acknowledging a “busy day.”

The audience responded in kind.

If the Chargers planned it this way—and they weren’t saying—it sure looked like one last opportunity to mess with the mayor who two years ago in his first SOTC speech declared, “It is time for us as a community to come together to decide the future of the Chargers

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in San Diego. This decision will be made on my watch as mayor.”

Who knew it would be the last time Faulconer would guess right about the Chargers? From there, the two sides shared one prickly ride through the cactus patch on their way to last week’s public breakup.

Team Faulconer, busy these days swatting away pesky rumors that he’s quietly pursuing a run for governor in 2018, did its best in this slow-motion train wreck to portray the city as the bound, horrified damsel on the tracks and the Chargers brain trust as the mustache-twirling villain mugging for the camera.

“The Chargers drama started sucking all the oxygen out of local politics on #SOTCSD day two years ago. Only fitting it ends that way,” tweet-lamented Faulconer communications chief Matt Awbrey Saturday, ending the tweet with the hashtag “#breathe.”

The downtown echo chamber proceeded to rally around Faulconer, anointing the mayor as blameless for the loss and top Chargers honcho Dean Spanos as the devil incarnate. A caricature of Spanos on the front page of the San Diego Union-Tribune even featured devil horns shaped from the team’s signature lightning bolts.

But Friday’s UT also contained a poll of 700 adults who didn’t seem all that tickled by the performance of either side. While nearly three out of four respondents disapproved of the team’s handling of the matter, only 40 percent approved of Faulconer’s efforts, while 36 percent disapproved and 24 percent weren’t sure, according to the SurveyUSA poll.

Activist attorney Cory Briggs, whose hotel-tax-hike Measure D went down in flames in November along with the Chargers’ competing Measure C, said the notion that Faulconer is blameless is “bullshit.”

Briggs is convinced that the people advising Faulconer believed that the Chargers were bluffing about leaving San Diego to get a better deal here for a stadium. “And so because they thought it was a bluff, they were coming up with shit that also would be a plausible bluff,” he argued.

Hence the formation of a mayoral task force two years ago that

Mayor Kevin Faulconer to Los Angeles Chargers evildoer Dean Spanos: “You’ll regret this!” determined Mission Valley as the optimum site. Faulconer would later reject his own task force’s proposal and eventually join his pals at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, headed by former mayor Jerry Sanders, in support of Measure C, which proposed using a hotel-tax boost to pay for a stadium/convention center complex downtown.

But the mayor never appeared in any television ad for the measure and made only a few promotional appearances on its behalf.

There were even whispers of an agreement between the two sides that Faulconer would not only just do three events, but if Measure C lost and the Chargers left town, neither side would criticize the other.

Talk about One San Diego!

“The Chargers are a business,” Briggs said. “The Chargers were exploring a new business opportunity in San Diego. They couldn’t seal that deal. They got a better opportunity in Los Angeles than the one they were being provided here. They took that opportunity. Everybody is going to blame everybody else, but the NFL has always wanted money. And over time, there has been dwindling public support for giving money to the NFL.” While he has serious doubts the city is contemplating the right thing when it comes to plans for the Qualcomm Stadium site—he has threatened “World War III” if residential high-rises are proposed there—Briggs said at least the Chargers won’t be around to muddy the future or drain hoteltax revenues that could be used on more pressing civic needs.

“In terms of giving the Chargers something that would entice them to stay, we failed,” he said. “In terms of not giving away the farm to keep them here, we succeeded.”

In the end, Briggs added, Spanos was answering to his fellow owners, not the city. “Every single thing that he did was on the punch list of things that the NFL told him he needed to do,” he said.

“He now gets to look at the other owners and say, ‘Are you going to sue me if I move?’ And they say, ‘No, we’ve got no basis to sue you because you did everything that’s in our rules.’”

Now, Briggs added, “you’ve got nothing but fucking idiots running around talking about what all the options are.”

He singled out Councilmember Scott Sherman (his district includes Qualcomm Stadium), who has vowed to search for an NFL team interested in moving here.

“Why do you think that got no reaction from the NFL? Because it has no basis in reality,” he said. “It would be like me giving a lecture on neurobiology.”

Ambrose Bierce once said, “The hardest tumble a man can take is to fall over his own bluff.”

We may never know the true story of this embarrassing saga— whether San Diego was simply a pawn in a game among billionaires, or whether the city and county blinked so many times the team had to move away just to avoid catching pink eye.

Gauging by national sports pundits, San Diego remains a sports backwater of mediocre talent. As one ESPN commentator put it, “It’s an annex to Los Angeles anyway.”

So we’re back to that identity crisis, eh? With Star Wars creator George Lucas tapping L.A. for his billion-dollar Museum of Narrative Art, will Comic-Con be next to go? Now that would seal Faulconer’s legacy as a champion loser of things.

Spin Cycle appears every week.

Write to johnl@sdcitybeat.com.

JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 7

UP FRONT | OPINION

AARYN BELFER

BACKWARDS & IN

HIGH HEELS

We don’t know the ways

T

here was a time, in what seems so long ago that I barely remember, when my husband and I brought a baby into our home through transracial adoption. There was no nine-month timeframe for preparation. There were no birthing classes or baby showers or nesting periods resembling the steady click of wheels on a roller coaster track leading toward that first drop. There was only the takenfor-granted freedom of a childfree life: movies, late dinners, live shows, sleeping in… … And then there was chaos. There we were, cruising along at a comfortable altitude with all the legroom of the emergency row, when we were suddenly shoved out of the plane through a door we opened.

Those early days and months were brutal. With lots of book knowledge and a theoretical understanding of racism in America, we had taken an intellectual approach to becoming a mixed-race family. Lo, the intentions of good white people who passed on the What to Expect When You’re Expecting series in lieu of The Invisible Man. Swaddling and diaper changing and sleep patterns? Bitch, please. We’re in The Struggle.

As a result, we fumbled a bit on the parental learning curve and to survive, we held tight to a mantra shared by my best friend and her husband.

“We don’t know the ways of the baby” became the words we said to each other when the crying wouldn’t stop or the fever wouldn’t break or the sleep wouldn’t come. The hum of those words repeated—as we took turns pacing with our infant around and around and around the dining room table— carried me through the worst of it like Angela Bassett’s Tina Turner nam-myoho-renge-kyoing her way to survival.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

This chant evolved over time, becoming “we don’t know the ways of the toddler” and later, once communication with actual words was possible, to the infrequent but still helpful “we don’t know the ways of the grade-schooler.”

Someone please explain to me why (DEARLORDWHY?!?) a child wouldn’t turn in the homework that is completed and ready to be turned in on time. How hard is it? The work is done. Turning it in is the easiest part.

Accountability, responsibility, choices. These are the droning syllables to which our kid currently rolls her lovely eyes at and which makes me want to scratch mine out.

Today, as we stare down the “Do Not Disturb” sign hanging from our tween’s bedroom door handle, and frequently find ourselves trying to penetrate the near-permanent fixture of headphones over her ears, the current (and most humbling) iteration of our

credo is this: “We don’t know fuck-all about the alien who’s abducted our daughter.”

Honestly, there are moments when I wouldn’t be the least bit shocked if a squealing bloody creature split forth from my kid’s stomach. It would explain a lot, actually.

Growing up is really tough. Research has revealed that the teenage brain is under extreme transformation; comparable only to the rewiring that happens in toddlerhood. It’s the neurons more than the hormones, apparently, that lead to the psychosis. Some say teens are brain damaged and I am tempted to agree when in one moment, my child wants to wrestle with me, and the next she’s pissed as hell that I wrestled with her.

But when things go haywire around my house, I try to remind myself what it was like to be her age.

This is important. When I was her age, I was forced to be so much older than I was. I give it my best effort to let stuff go, having an inner dialogue to quickly assess whether a certain issue is worth going to the mat. Is she going to turn out to be a slob if I don’t make her clean her room every day? Probably not. Or maybe.

Is she going to be an asshole grown-up if I let her watch two uninterrupted hours (okay, three) of Jessie on the weekend?

Maybe. Or probably not.

My room was a general teenage shit-show. And I spent countless hours with with Tattoo and Mr. Roarke; with Captain Stubing, Doc, Gopher, Isaac, Julie and Charo (cuchi! cuchi!). I watched every single episode of M*A*S*H so many times, I could “name That episode” in the first 30 seconds. I went to college. I got a job. And while some may disagree, I am neither a snob nor an asshole.

I can be both of those things at times, but behaviors are separate from the person and generally speaking, I turned out OK. If we survive the next seven years, our kid will be okay, too. What is difficult in this moment of our kid’s transition from loving child to disdainful teen to (hopefully) loving adult, is that it is nearly impossible to parse out what is normal tween/teen behavior, what is adoption and what is race. Her identity development is going deep and the intersectionalities of who she is are more complex than any howto book. So I am—we are—rolling with it to help her navigate her way. I’m scaling back the nagging, and digging deep to provide patience, support, connection, listening and understanding. There’s an awful lot of tongue biting, too. And hope that we manage to stick the landing of our freefall.

Swaddling and diaper changing and sleep patterns?

Bitch, please.

We’re in The Struggle.

8 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 18, 2017

Backwards & In High Heels appears every other week.

Write to aaryn@sdcitybeat.com. @SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | OPINION VOICES

RYAN BRADFORD

WELL THAT WAS

AWKWARD

Dirt, glorious, dirt

T

he weighty email appears at the top of my inbox, and I let out a little, breathless “oh.”

The subject, you ask? Media Alert: 26 Million Pounds of Dirt Comes to Petco Park for Supercross and Monster Jam Events.

I think about the Monster Jam billboard I pass every day on my way to work. It’s a repulsive thing but repulsive in the way that awesome things usually are—broken bones, life in peril, and in this case, gaudy monster trucks spitting up dirt.

Dirt.

Twenty-six million pounds of awesome, beautiful, dirt-ass dirt!

I read the email. It promises a behind-the-scenes look into the process of turning Petco Park into “a man-made dirt battlegrounds for both two and four wheels.” We’ll learn how they keep all that dirt dry. There will be “photo opportunities.” With the dirt? I wonder.

I hit reply. Yes, please, I would like to see the dirt.

“Guess, who I get to meet,” I say to my wife that night. “A bunch of monster truck rally dirt. 26 million pounds of it.”

“Ooooh, lucky,” she says with fake awe. “What are you going to wear? What do you think would impress Dirt the most?”

Somewhere in the back of my brain, my subconscious registers the sarcasm, and it screams: she’s right. This is very dumb. I quickly push that thought away.

No, she’s wrong. They’re all wrong. The dirt is interesting— a fundamental ingredient for all sorts of American entertainment: demolition derbies, rodeos, monster truck rallies and other super classy events. But who ever thinks about the dirt?

By the time that Dirt Day (as I like to call it) arrives, I’ve aggrandized the role that dirt plays in all our lives that it’s pretty much on the same level as God in my mind.

I arrive at Petco Park just a little before noon. Tony Gwynn Parkway is congested with large, multi-bucketed dump trucks entering and leaving the ballpark’s north entrance. From my spot on the sidewalk, I can see where they’re unloading. There it is—the dirt from the email! I take a photo.

At the security station, I tell the guards: “I’m here for the, uh, dirt. I mean… the media preview.” After confirming my identification, they strap a wristband around my arm (which seems egregiously arm-hairpull-y, but whatever, the pain is worth it! Anything for the dirt!) and let me through. I call Brandon Short, the media contact for Supercross, and he tells me to meet him in the visitors dugout.

I wander the labyrinth-like bowels of Petco Park.

The place is huge, Costco-like in its open sparseness.

I consider how many greats have walked these very

same halls. How many home runs have been celebrated here? How many pounds of dirt have been obsessed over in these halls? (Answer: 26 million).

I emerge onto the field of Petco Park, a sensation akin to being born. The blue sky, the empty seats and the jumbotron loom over me, grand and sublime. A tractor passes in front of me, its beautiful dirt spilling from the loader shovel like a majestic, brown waterfall. Farther away, more bulldozers and tractors sculpt piles of dirt into ramps and jumps. Again, a little “oh” escapes me.

I find Brandon Short, who’s very knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and it’s immediately apparent that he loves his job (and by extension, the dirt).

“The dirt’s local to [San Diego],” he says, digging right in (puns!). “It lasts for 10 years, at which point, it will start to break down.” That is, after 10 years, the dirt begins to lose its structural integrity, and can potentially collapse.

He explains that the ideal dirt condition is similar to that of a sandcastle. “We want the dirt to cooperate,” Short says.

Such a diva, that dirt, I think.

The process of protecting Petco Park’s field requires a base coat of plastic, which is then covered by a layer of plywood boards. Then, 500 dump truckloads of dirt are brought in, transforming Petco into the dirt heaven that extends before me.

“These guys are artists in their own right,” Short says, pointing at the tractor drivers sculpting the jumps. “The blueprints change from year to year. There will never be a duplicate track.” Short points at the different kinds of jumps.

The triple jump is their “showcase jump”, which sends riders 75 feet through the air. He says the tiny, knee-high jumps called “whoops” are the most challenging for riders, who basically have to gun it through choppy landscape.

We stand silently and watch the construction for a little while. Just two dudes, admiring dirt.

I ask how they keep the dirt dry when it’s not being used, anticipating a scientific answer. “Oh, we just cover it with plastic.”

Short passes me off to Sara Wacker, the other PR person, and together, we walk out in the middle of the field. I realize that I’m basically living my 5-yearold nephew’s dream. Any 5-year-old’s dream, for that matter. I take my phone out to record a video.

“Can I ask a favor,” I ask Wacker. “Can you take my picture of me holding this dirt?” I hand her my phone.

I point to the dirt. “What a scoop!” I say. She’s definitely a little weirded out.

A tractor passes in front of me, its beautiful dirt spilling from the loader shovel like a majestic, brown waterfall.

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Write to ryanb@sdcitybeat.com. Well, That Was Awkward appears every other week.

JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 9

UP FRONT | FOOD

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER

THE WORLD

FARE

A hole in the wall that’s not all it’s cracked up to be

H

ere’s a great way to get me to go check out a restaurant: Tell me it’s a little ethnic hole in the wall run by an immigrant family making the stuff they ate at home. I’m a sucker for that sort of thing. If one person says this, I’m intrigued.

Two say so, and I want to go. If a handful of folks I trust are saying so, then I will be there. Most of the time that works. Not so with Bahn Thai (4646 Park Blvd.) in University Heights.

It’s not that I don’t see what others saw. It looks like it should be great: a little hole in the wall on Park Boulevard with three tables inside (four more on the street) and a kitchen with (presumably) family members tucked away in the corner. Diners could imagine they were in the family’s home and that they could hear the mother and daughter bickering in the kitchen. Surely the food is going to be great, right?

My first bite of chicken satay was somewhat promising. The dish—Indonesian in origin but popular street fare throughout Southeast Asia—consists of chicken marinated in lemongrass and fish sauce that’s then skewered, grilled and served with a peanut sauce. The chicken in Bahn Thai’s version is tender and flavorful. The sauce was a bit less exciting, lacking balance between the roasted depth of peanuts, zip from the tamarind and funk from the fish sauce.

That lack of balanced flavors was but a prologue. Balance is, in the end, what Thai food is all about. For Thai food to work it must be in perfect balance between spicy, sour, sweet, salty and bitter elements. And Bahn Thai’s food was not.

Bahn Thai’s known for its noodle dishes. The broccoli in the chicken pad see ew was colorful and

10 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 18, 2017

crisp, and both the chicken and noodles themselves were nicely cooked. The flavor profile, however, tilted distinctly toward the sweet, the portion was very large and it was more of a meat dish than a noodle dish. The balance of flavors in the pad Thai, on the other hand, was distinctly in favor of the acidic. It was tasty, but lime dominated where it should have all been in equilibrium. The drunken noodles was another story: a greasy one. The ratio of ingredients was better, but it was hard to get past that grease.

The curries at Bahn Thai are definitely not its strong suit. The two that I tried—pork green curry and shrimp Panang curry—had flavor profiles so sweet and rich it was hard to look past them. The worst problem, though, is that calling the shrimp in the Panang “barely poached” would definitely be giving Bahn Thai the benefit of the doubt.

MICHAEL A. GARDINER

Chicken Satay And I really wanted to do just that. I really wanted to like Bahn Thai. It has that “hole in the wall” charm. It has the look and the feel of places I love (and love to love). But the only “authentic” thing about the food at Bahn Thai is that it is an authentic representation of Thai food that’s already been dumbed down to appeal to the American palate.

I’m glad a lot of people like it; just not me.

The World Fare appears weekly.

Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

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UP FRONT | DRINK

FINAL

BY BETH DEMMON

DRAUGHT This isn’t the first backlash against breweries from Encinitas, and it won’t be the last. Modern Times Beer is also hoping to open a 3,000-squarehen it comes to craft beer, North County foot tasting room at 470 South Highway 101 in resident Steve Morris summed it up: October, but so far it hasn’t run into any problems “Encinitas is missing the boat.” or feedback from the public—yet. The city of The City of Encinitas Planning Commission Encinitas also confirmed that Saint Archer has meeting on Jan. 5 hosted an uncharacteristically filed permits to open in the seaside town. full house of attendees anxious to comment on Encinitas is far from the only area in San Diego Culture Brewing Company’s application to open a that’s home to outspoken teetotalers, but it seems 1,048-square-foot tasting room at 629 South Coast to be one of the more concentrated regions with a Highway 101 after weeks of mixed responses from noisy minority of residents ready to resist all new local residents and craft beer industry affiliates. drinking establishments. George Thornton from After Katie Innes, Associate Planner for the The Homebrewer and Home BETH DEMMON City of Encinitas, walked through Brewing Company (2911 El Cajon the particulars of the Major Use Blvd., North Park) faced a similar Permit and “duplicate” Type-23 hassle. license (which would be Culture’s “It is not democratic, third out of six allowable), Culture sustainable, nor ethical to banish co-owner Dennis Williams came an entire group simply because up to speak. you don’t agree with or fully “We plan to be a part of understand their business model.

Encinitas as a good operator,” Operating a brewery is a legal declared Williams. “We feel that and socially acceptable business. we are very compatible with Encinitas Planning The NIMBY-ists [NIMBY stands downtown.”

Commission meeting for “not in my backyard”] do not He also addressed some of have the authority nor the right to the concerns residents shared at a meeting last block a legal business outright. We should all be summer, which included lack of parking, noise and expected to work with one another to find a suitable public intoxication as reasons to curb the project. compromise, because we are all interested in the “We’re a tasting room, not a bar,” said Williams. success and health of our local communities.”

He explained that 100 percent of Culture’s This type of resistance to alcohol-centric tasting room staff are LEAD-certified (Licensee businesses of any kind can cost businesses Education on Alcohol and Drugs) and confirmed thousands of dollars in man-hours and lost that they have had exactly zero violations or noise revenue. That’s not to imply that new bars should complaints at either of their locations to date. be able to open willy-nilly wherever and whenever The following public comments ranged from they want. However, when one looks at the reality worries over the building’s structural integrity to of craft beer culture and potential economic impact nearby business owners encouraging approval, in San Diego, the theorized debauchery often but the most dour note came from one speaker, associated with liquor-forward bars isn’t equitable.

Pat Crilly, who was representing several local In fact, the craft beer clientele is generally mildfamilies. After lamenting about the loss of his mannered and respectful. “family-friendly community” and citing the Although Culture’s application to the Planning “sad situation” caused by establishments that Commission was unanimously approved, they still serve alcohol which leads to “dirty streets, have quite a few hurdles to jump through before dirty sidewalks, and chaos,” he implored the it can estimate an opening date. Hopefully in the Commission to deny Culture’s application. meantime the disgruntled neighbors will subside “All culture is not good culture. I hope we can and common sense will prevail. keep Encinitas the way it should be.”

Trouble brewing in Encinitas

W

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JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 11

12 · San Diego CityBeat · January 18, 2017

@SDCityBeat

SHORTlist

EVENTS

ART

the

THREE YOU HAVE TO SEE

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

DOWNTOWN

1

WALK LIKE A WOMAN

By the time you read this, millions of a fundamental truth: that women’s rights are huwomen could be dealing with the reality man rights.

“It’s a really exciting opportunity for people to that they will soon be without insurance. Millions get out, do something and not of others may also be worryCOURTESY OF THE SAN DIEGO WOMEN’S MARCH feel paralyzed about what’s ing about their own reprohappening in our country,” ductive health if Planned Parsays march organizer Sarah enthood is, indeed, defunded Dolgen. “Stand up, show up, in Congress. and say, ‘Hey, I’m here and I’m Even before the orange not ok with this.’” man is inaugurated, this is And don’t even think about the political reality we now staying home if you’re male. live in. But as has always been “It’s important to say that the case in the U.S., there is this march is for everyone. We strength in numbers. When it encourage men to come and comes to the Women’s March stand with us,” says Dolgen. on Washington, what started “It’s also a family-friendly with a Hawaiian woman’s march as well, and we really Facebook invite to 40 of her want to encourage boys to friends to march in Washingcome. It’s really important that ton, D.C. to protest Trump’s we begin to set an example for election has now snowballed the next generation of young into an international moveEboney Steward shows off men in our country that it’s ment. And while we all cerher #WhyIMarch sign imperative to support women tainly can’t afford to jet to and treat them with respect.”

D.C. during one of the busiest The march will begin with a gathering in front weekends of the year, we can still show our solidarity at the Women’s March San Diego. Taking of Civic Center Plaza (1200 Third Ave.). It will then place on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 10 a.m., the march is proceed to Broadway to Harbor Drive and end at not so much a protest as it is a celebration of hu- the County Administration Building. Get full deman rights. It’s a chance for all people to unite over tails on sdwomensmarch.com.

ESCONDIDO

2 STRINGS OF DESIRE

The merger of classical and pop music isn’t a new concept, though the results can vary wildly, from Apocalyptica’s chamber group interpretations of Metallica to the arenarock Christmas prog of Trans Siberian Orchestra.

Portland Cello Project’s take is both more diverse and more aesthetically pleasing, with a repertoire of material that ranges from Radiohead to Taylor Swift, and a number of collaborations with artists such as Laura Veirs and Thao and the Get Down Stay Down. They’re celebrating 10 years of string-laden innovation this year, with a stop at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido (340 N. Escondido Blvd.) on Sunday, Jan. 22 at 7:30 p.m. It’s the kind of recital that’ll please the hipsters and the tux-and-tails set alike. Tickets start at $30. artcenter.org

SAN DIEGO

3 COFFEE BREAK

Pub crawls are so 2000 and late.

But, the San Diego Caffeine Crawl is an energetic, spot-hopping alternative. The fourth annual crawl spans from Friday, Jan. 20 through Sunday, Jan. 22 and offers 10 one-day routes that participants can bike, walk or drive.

There are both North County and San Diego options. Each route has a different set of stops, and each stop features a short presentation and a 3- to 6-ounce coffee sample that can be paired with chocolate, kombucha, tea and more. Ryan Bros. Coffee, Halcyon and Banana Dang are just a few on the list of 30 participating shops. Tickets range from $28 to $36 and include your choice of route, a swag bag and samples. Start time and locations vary by route. caffeinecrawl.com COURTESY OF SAN DIEGO CAFFEINE CRAWL

COURTESY OF CALIFORNIA CENTER FOR THE ARTS, ESCONDIDO

HAbstract Shapes in Metal & Multimedia at La Playa Gallery, 2226 Avenida de la Playa, La Jolla. A showcase of works in metal, wood, photography and painting from San Diego artists Jon Koehler, Leah Pantéa and Brittni Cute. Opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20. Free. 858-4546903, laplayagallery.com HNasty Women at Helmuth Projects, 1827 5th Ave., Bankers Hill. A group exhibition that demonstrates solidarity among artists who identify with being a “Nasty Woman.” Proceeds benefit Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, San Diego LGBT Community Center or La Maestra Community Health Centers. Opening from 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Free. facebook.com/events/202802260184394 HDisregard/Rebuild at Art Produce Gallery, 3139 University Ave., North Park. Moses Muturi and Eleanor Greer’s exhibition​ explores the artists’ shared interest in the process of making and exploring the built environment through painting, collage and sculpture. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. 619-584-4448, artproduce.org 4-UP at The Studio Door, 3750 30th St., North Park. The annual invitational featuring four local artists: Sherry Krulle-Beaton, Patrick Brown, Jackson Thilenius and Nancy Plank. Opening from 6 to 8 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 21. Free. 619-255-4920, thestudiodoor.com

BOOKS Dean Karnazes at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The bestselling author and endurance athlete will discuss and sign his new book, The Road to Sparta, about his attempt to run for 36 hours straight from Athens to Sparta. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18. Free.

858-454-0347, warwicks.com Sheila Kohler at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The British author and journalist will discuss and sign her new thriller, I Let You Go. At 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 25. Free. 858-4540347, warwicks.com Thomas and Jo Perry at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The literary couple stop by to promote their suspense novels, The Old Man (Thomas) and Dead is Best (Jo). At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 8. Free.

858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com

COMEDY HSan Diego Comedy Festival at Comedy Palace, 8878 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The fourth annual festival will feature comedians and national touring headliners from all over the United States, as well as contests, open mics, seminars and more. Takes place every day from Sunday, Jan. 22 through Sunday, Jan. 29. Various times. $15-$75. 858-5739067, sandiegocomedyfest.com Gad Elmaleh at Observatory North Park, 2891 University Ave., North Park. Considered the Jerry Seinfeld of France, his “Oh My Gad” tour outlines his experience as a foreigner adapting to life in the United States. At 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24. $35$85. 619-239-8836, ticketweb.com Garrison Keillor at at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. True to his award-winning radio form, the humorist and author delivers anecdotes and a dry sense of humor during his final tour. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25. $25-$75. 760-839-4190, artcenter.org

DANCE L-E-V Dance Company at Mandeville Au-

Portland Cello Project @SDCITYBEAT

San Diego Caffeine Crawl

H = CityBeat picks

ditorium, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. A piece danced to techno beats that deals with obsessive-compulsive disorder. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19. $9-$46. 858246-1199, artpower.ucsd.edu Janus and Other Dances of Beginnings, Transitions, and Endings at Saville Theater, San Diego City College, 1313 Park Blvd., East Village. Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater returns to the Saville Theatre for its January Repertory Concert showcasing the choreographers of the future. Takes place Friday, Jan. 20 through Sunday, Jan 22. Times vary. $15-$35.

619-225-1805, sandiegodancetheater.org

FOOD & DRINK HCaffeine Crawl San Diego at various locations. Sample beverages from dozens of different bistros, coffeehouses and cafes around San Diego at this fourth annual event. See website for start locations and routes. At 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 21 and 10 a.m.

Sunday, Jan. 22. $28. caffeinecrawl.com

MUSIC HLA/NY at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown. This program features music by John Adams, Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky and Leonard Bernstein and is driven by the rhythms, conflicts and beauty of Los Angeles, New York and metropolises in between. At 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22. $20-$96. 619235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org Bernstein, Perlman, Hollywood at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown. The San Diego Symphony plays music from Leonard Bernstein and Itzhak Perlman’s most iconic movie scores including On the Waterfront, Casablanca, Schindler’s List and more. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. $20-$96. 619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org HPortland Cello Project at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. The Oregon group merges classical and pop music with results that vary wildly and include both cover and original material. At 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22. $30. 760-839-4190, artcenter.org

PERFORMANCE HShen Yun at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. Performances of traditional Chinese dance accompanied by animated backdrops, hand-made costumes, acrobatics, and live orchestra music. Performances take place from Wednesday, Jan. 18 through Sunday, Jan. 22. Various times. $70-$200. 760-839-4190, artcenter.org Circus Vargas Presents Steam Cirque at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. Watch a wacky cast of characters come alive in this steampunk, science-fiction fantasy-inspired circus odyssey. Takes place Thursday, Jan. 19 through Monday, Jan 30. Free$72. 877-468-3861, circusvargas.com

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD Long Story Short: Just Lust at The Ink Spot, 2730 Historic Decatur Road, Barracks 16, Suite 202, Point Loma. A monthly improv storytelling night featuring five -minute stories where anyone can take the stage. From 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. $5 suggested donation. 619696-0363, sosayweallonline.com.

HVermin on the Mount at 3rdSpace, 4610 Park Blvd., University Heights. The

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 13

AFTER DARK: ABOUT LAST NIGHT Getting deeper

Center. The warehouse party scene may slow in the wake of Ghost Ship, but it won’t be obsolete. Mehe Deep End held 20 events in 2016, 13 of dina and Navalle may still plan a couple under-thewhich were warehouse parties that show- radar shows, and will also turn to other unconvencased primarily electronic music acts. The tional venues to mimic the darker, more intimate San Diego collective of event producers, musicians vibe that’s unique to warehouses. and artists are looking to the year ahead, but in the “We definitely don’t want people to come to a spot wake of the Ghost Ship tragedy in Oakland, The and get the vibe of a big club with glitz and glamour Deep End’s schedule is recognizably different. of all these lights flashing everywhere,” Medina says.

“This year our focus Their ideal atmoDARRELL ALONZI has to be safety,” says Deep sphere includes artists, End co-founder Eric Medimany of which Medina na, who visited The Ghost and Navalle first scoped Ship several years back. at art shows at the La “It’s definitely something Bodega gallery space in that we want to be proacBarrio Logan. The gallery tive about, not reactive.” itself is a warehouse and The Deep End’s other was recently regulated for founder, Justin Navalle, safety concerns by the San visited the site soon after Diego Fire Marshal. To it burned down. help fundraise for reno“The Oakland thing vations, The Deep End is really affected us,” MediEric Medina and Justin Navalle at The Deep raffling off t-shirts and na says. “We had an event End’s New Year’s Eve party in Rosarito tickets for their festival, the following week, and West Coast Weekender, at La Bodega’s benefit event we were very uneasy going into the event. All of the at the Quartyard event space in the East Village on partners were making sure that people were being Saturday, Jan. 28. as safe as possible, because that’s our main thing.”

“We just want to make sure people are as safe At The Deep End’s warehouse parties, capacity as possible, especially since the city will be crackis regulated, security is present and exits are secure, ing down on it,” Medina says. “That’s one thing, but but the Ghost Ship’s tragic end struck a chord with we want to keep it going because the community them. In 2017, instead of hosting at undesignated in San Diego is very special.” thedeependparty.com venues like auto body shops, The Deep End will

—Torrey Bailey be popping up in established venues such as Kava Lounge, Spin Nightclub, Blonde Bar and World Beat Write to torreyb@sdcitybeat.com.

T

14 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 18, 2017

EVENTS EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

local writing showcase features irreverent readings from Jade Chang, Heather Fowler, Joshua Mohr, Vi Khi Nao, Louis Rowan, host Jim Ruland and more. From 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Free. 619-2553609, verminonthemount.com Stories With Chutzpah at Old Town Theatre, 4040 Twiggs St., Old Town. A night of Jewish stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Grace Paley and more. Plus, traditional music and special guest Pat Launer.

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24. $18-$25.

619-337-1525, cygnettheatre.com

POLITICS & COMMUNITY J20 March for Justice at San Diego City College, 1313 Park Blvd., East Village. The San Diego Alliance for Justice (SDAFJ.org) holds a counter-inauguration action to protest the extreme policy positions of the incoming administration. At 10:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 20. Free. 619738-1245, sdafj.org HWomen’s March San Diego at Civic Center Plaza, 1200 Third Ave., Gaslamp.

Join others at this gender and familyfriendly event to march for women’s rights.

The march will proceed to Broadway to Harbor Drive and end at the County Administration Building. At 10 a.m. Saturday, January 21. Free. sdwomensmarch.com

SPECIAL EVENTS HNew Dawn Fades at Park & Rec, 4612 Park Blvd., University Heights. An Inauguration Day protest/benefit event featuring music and art by various local

“First Avenue Lot” by Eleanor Greer will be on view at Disregard/Rebuild, a dual show with Moses Muturi opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, at Art Produce Gallery (3139 University Ave.) in North Park. musicians and artists, including Andres Murillo, Veeej, Rossi Rock and more. Proceeds of the bar will be donated to the San Diego ACLU. From 9 a.m. to 2 a.m.

Friday, Jan. 20. Suggested donation.

619-755-6355, thetravelersclubsd.com Monster Jam at Petco Park, 100 Park Blvd, Downtown. Monster trucks and dirt.

What more do you need? #murica. At 7 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 21. $10-$119. monsterjam. com

@SDCITYBEAT

THEATER Liaisons of the dangerous kind

DAREN SCOTT

as futuristic, but the fact is, they are timeless puzzlements.

Marjorie Prime runs through Feb. 5 at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach. $39-$50. Northcoastrep.org

A

mong the many questions raised

by Les Liaisons Dangereuses, set in the late 1780s in an opulent France, is how can people wearing so many clothes be so sexy? The answer lies in the delicious deceits and libidinous machinations of playwright Christopher Hampton’s exquisitely written confederates in games of love and revenge, the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil. New Fortune Theatre Co.’s production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses is being staged in the San Diego Rep’s Lyceum Space under the co-direction of New Fortune artistic director Richard Baird and Kaitlin O’Neal. Theirs is a bold realization of Hampton’s 1985 play, from its rich 18th-century costumes by Howard Schmitt, its sensual lighting and artfully choreographed scene changes to the irresistible performances by Baird as the cocksure Valmont and Jessica John Gercke as scheming Merteuil.

Nearly overshadowed by Baird’s charismatic presence is the depth of Hampton’s language, rife with introspection on love, sex and betrayal. As Valmont seeks to conquer not only the elusive Madame de Tourvel (Amanda Schaar) but also the virginal Cecile de Volanges (Gentry Roth), his mask of cunningness is stripped away.

@SDCITYBEAT

—David L. Coddon

Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING: Plays by Young Writers Festival: The annual festival will feature six new plays from winners of the California Young Playwrights Contest. Presented by the Playwrights Project, it happens from Jan. 19 through Jan. 29 at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. playwrightsproject.org

Jessica John Gercke and Richard Baird in Les Liaisons Dangereuses Meanwhile, his partner in crime, Merteuil, is in for a shock to the ego and the heart.

This New Fortune production is yes, very sexy, but also a penetrating discourse on the games people play.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses runs through Jan. 28 at the Lyceum Space in Horton Plaza, downtown. $20-$47. newfortunetheatre.com ••• he preservation of memory, the inevitability of death and the shadow of regret combine to make Jordan

T

Harrison’s Marjorie Prime a cerebral yet sterile drama. The “primes” in this San Diego premiere at the North Coast Rep are artificial-intelligence replicas of those who, in the course of one 75-minute act, die off among a splintered family of the near future. Eighty-something Marjorie (Dee Maaske) is the title character, but this ponderous play centers on daughter Tess (Elaine Rivkin), who has more trouble being human than the primes do.

Harrison’s play, directed here by Matthew Weiner, couches its truths about existence

Altar Boyz: A musical parody about a fictional Christian boy band on the last night of their tour.

Written by Kevin Del Aguila, it opens Jan. 20 at the Coronado Playhouse. coronadoplayhouse.com What the Butler Saw: A psychiatrist tries to seduce a receptionist and hilarity ensues in Joe Orton’s classic British farce. Directed by Keith Anderson, it opens Jan. 20 at Lamplighters Community Theatre in La Mesa. lamplighterslamesa.com

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

JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 15

16 · San Diego CityBeat · January 18, 2017

@SDCityBeat

@SDCITYBEAT

JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 17

he Arab Spring held so much promise for Syrians like Ammar Kawkab, a Kurdish refugee from the northeastern city of Al-Qamishli who, along with his wife and four children, settled in City Heights on June 2, 2016. It was such a momentous occasion for Kawkab and his family that he could likely recall the precise time.

Kawkab speaks to me alongside a translator (fellow refugee Mustafa Bid who’s been in the U.S. for two years) though three hours

of daily English classes has given Kawkab an impressive foundation. At 52 years old, he is slender, balding and handsome. He has a kind, uninhibited smile and twinkling eyes that belie the traumatic history he shares with other refugees. Still, he exudes a relaxed brightness that runs counter to the current political mood but also serves to clarify just how much American-born residents take for granted.

For Kawkab, life in Al-Qamishli was never not oppressive prior to 2011, especially for Kurds who have been persecuted for decades. The revolution, though, held promise. An educated man with two degrees, Kawkab was swept up in it and used words and art (he is a painter) to speak out against the Syrian government.

He was subsequently jailed for one month, an unimaginable experience that clearly still affects him. Kawkab becomes too emotional to speak as he shares this part of his story and collects himself by diverting my attention to a certificate his 16-year-old daughter received at school. “Student of the Month” it reads. She would like to work for NASA someday. Kawkab is as proud of her as is any parent who just wants the best for their child.

Once released from jail—with just the clothes on his body, a few photographs, the memories of his homeland and $53 in his pocket—Kawkab and his family made a difficult journey from Al-Qamishli to Lebanon, where they lived in a one-room apartment

18 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 18, 2017

in Beirut. They endured this limbo for more than two years while the U.S. government vetted him Kawkab via many hours-long interviews in the hope that he’d be approved for immigration.

Kawkab reflects on what was lost when he left Syria.

“The house and the money, no problem,” he says with a wave of his hand. These are just material things. “But me... I lost home.”

He touches his heart. “What you see in Aleppo, that was happening in all of Syria for the last five years. But we know that if the American people knew what was happening, they would do something about it.”

Ammar Kawkab says Americans have been kind. “Everybody here is smile,” he says. “They’re nice! They’re good!”

When I ask why he came to America, he doesn’t hesitate: Freedom and safety. “The dream,” he says.

He feels this is his country now, and he wants to give back. He is grateful for American protection, and wants people to know that he is just like any other person. He is human, a citizen, with the same desires and hopes as anyone else.

“Now, I am free,” he says with a smile. “I am free here.”

When asked if he’s ever felt that way before, he doesn’t hesitate.

“No!” he says. “No! No! Never. Never, never, never, never, never!” He continues: “I had that feeling coming in the airport…” he is too overcome to speak and simply gives

Ammar Kawkab me two thumbs up with a smile and tears in his beautiful eyes.

Maybe he will learn a word for that feeling in his English class, though I’m not convinced there is one.

@SDCITYBEAT

TORREY BAILEY

Raied “Ray” Jamil

’ve been coming to Ray’s Liquor for more than 15 years. That’s long enough to where most of the employees at the quaint convenience store in North Park— the one most people recognize for its iconic spinning sign—all know me by name now.

From the younger men restocking the shelves to the teenage girls who work there during the summer, there isn’t any doubt that the store is a family operation.

@SDCITYBEAT

More often than not, however, it is “Ray” himself that has greeted me. We went years without knowing each other’s names, settling on salutatory designations like “dude,” “sir” and “man.” It took a while before I heard someone else call him Ray and just assumed that the store was named after him.

“Actually, the store has been around since the ‘50s I think,” Ray says. “I’m pretty sure it was owned by a Jewish family, and they named the store after their son.”

Even if the store isn’t technically named after him, Raied “Ray” Jamil, along with his uncle and storeowner Mike Bazzi, are the

people most frequently greeting customers. Ray began working at the store in 1995, but quit after a few months only to return in 2000.

“I like the neighborhood, and it’s changed a lot,” says Ray, who lives with his wife and “only four children” in El Cajon. “It’s a good neighborhood with good people.”

Things weren’t always this good. An Iraqi Chaldean (a sect of the Catholic Church), Ray originally moved to the U.S. in 1993 after fleeing Baghdad in 1991 during the Operation Desert Storm conflict. He and his parents and sisters remained in Jordan

for two years while waiting on their visas to clear, but it took even longer after their papers were destroyed in the Baghdad bombings. Once he was in San Diego, he says it was difficult to adjust.

“When we came here, we had nothing. I stayed in my uncle’s house for six months.

It was really hard. I didn’t have a car, and I didn’t know the language.”

In those six months, Ray took the bus between Spring Valley and Chula Vista in order to learn English. He also worked at another convenience store, but not Ray’s (his uncle has owned the store since 1995).

As he tells it, his uncle Mike already had enough employees and didn’t want to let anyone go because they wouldn’t be able to support their own families. Eventually a position opened up, but things got tough after the Iraq invasion in 2003 and especially after the September 11 attacks.

“They call you a camel and shit and I would just say, ‘Hey listen, we are Catholic, we are Chaldean. I’m not a Muslim, but I’m also not ashamed.’ People see you and they assume, but when they realize who you are, they are nicer.”

He goes on to say he considers all the nice people in the neighborhood part of his family.

“A lot of the people are families and you get a good relationship with them. You see some people grow up. I know some people who were little kids when I met them and now they’re big. It’s crazy.”

JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 19

RYAN BRADFORD

Jahleh Ghanbari

or poet Jahleh Ghanbari, the first time she called her father “daddy” was a small act of defiance.

“When I was in first grade, I came home one day and was really angry,” she says. “‘Baba’ is [the word for] father in Farsi, and no one knew what I was talking about when I said ‘my baba.’ So I came home and was like, ‘I’m going to call you daddy!”

This defiance is not surprising, considering Ghanbari’s surroundings growing up.

Her father, an Iranian-born Muslim who came to the U.S. in the mid-’70s, ended up in Merrimack, New Hampshire, which Ghanbari describes as “very white, very Christian” and “very conservative.” That is, not really a hotbed for diversity. It was this overbearingly hegemonic environment that fueled Ghanbari’s desire to fit in.

But it didn’t last long. Ghanbari says she was going back to calling her father “baba” within two weeks.

It’s a story that highlights the conflict of assimilating into U.S. culture vs. retaining her father’s Iranian culture, a conflict that has given Ghanbari anxiety through-

20 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 18, 2017

out her lifetime. Racism and cultural dysphoria have also exacerbated the anxiety, and Ghanbari says she often doesn’t feel “Iranian enough.”

“On one hand, I think [my Iranian identity] tremendously affected my life. I heard a lot of hateful things. When I was a kid, there was a person in my neighborhood I wasn’t allowed to play with because of it.

“I don’t want it to be the only thing that defines me as well,” she continues. “That’s important for me as an artist.”

After graduating from Keene State College, where she studied writing and poetry,

Ghanbari moved to Los Angeles in 2014—a dramatic change of scenery after a life spent in New Hampshire. At the suggestion from one of her Keene State professors, she applied to SDSU’s MFA Creative Writing program. She was accepted and now spends her time balancing a full-time student schedule with her job at South Park’s The Station, where she works as a server and food runner.

Additionally, she’s a grad assistant at SDSU’s esteemed poetry journal, Poetry International. When asked if she has sought out a Muslim community in San Diego as a way to retain some of her cultural identity, she laughs.

“Not really. I’m very moderate, and I have an affinity for vices.”

In fact, she says her father’s love for Persian poetry had more of a profound cultural impact than anything else. She fondly recalls her father reading Omar Khayyam, Rumi and Hafez when she was younger.

And although these poets taught her to love the written word, she’s determined to create a poetic identity that’s separate from her cultural one. “‘Oh, how does your culture influence your writing?’” she says, mimicking other writers’ reactions to her work. “I almost never want to answer that question again. I want to be like ‘It doesn’t! It doesn’t at all!’

But of course it does. Everything that’s a part of you does.”

She laughs and adds, “I almost prefer that people didn’t know, so they just ask me, like, white people artist questions.”

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COURTESY OF LIZZ HUERTA

hen I was a kid, our house in Chula Vista was a stop along the way to the American Dream. Miles from the border, close and distant relatives and friends of friends from my father Hector’s village in Mexico would knock on our door. There was always a meal to share, gossip to chew on and songs to be sung. Most were moving even further north, to L.A. and beyond. Dad would insist to my sisters and me that we greet each guest with love.

There were times when people stayed with us, sometimes overnight, sometimes for months. We had a spare room in the back of the house, a thin-walled corner where a cot was set up. I remember a cousin of my father’s stayed with us for what seemed like eternity. She had a little girl. I overheard whispers that she was hiding, getting away from a bad relationship in Mexico, someone

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Hector and Evelyn Huerta who wanted to hurt her. Once a man slept in our garden shed for months.

As my sisters and I grew up, we too gathered strays. Friends of ours knew our home was a sanctuary—a safe place where everyone who passed through the door was family. One girl in particular was practically raised by our parents. She stayed with

us for months at a time, went on vacation with us, and had chores she did. She was the fourth daughter and shared a room with our youngest sister.

Our mom, Evelyn, was and still is all love; an immigrant like my dad but who arrived as an infant from Puerto Rico. Her love manifests in giving too, a quality that

my sisters and I have all inherited. We make meals for people we know need feeding, offer up spare rooms in our home and we give as much as we can and sometimes more.

It wasn’t always perfect. People took advantage of my parents’ generosity. My father hired a half-brother once and supported him for years. One day my dad discovered his half-brother had been stealing from him, vast amounts of equipment and material. I remember the cloud of betrayal on my dad’s face and my realization that, more than anything, he was hurt.

I can’t imagine what it was like for my grandparents when they immigrated. New language, new culture and the insidious hate that the newly arrived have to bear from those who want them gone. So they planted seeds of giving. The simple philosophy that if you have food, feed someone. If you have a home, offer shelter. If you have emotional energy, listen to someone who is hurting.

My parents are grandparents are now enthralled with their grandbabies. The inherited gift of generosity is moving down the bloodline. Both my sisters have infants, only two months apart. My youngest sister, “T,” struggled to produce enough breast milk, so my other sister “D” started breastfeeding both babies. The babies hold hands and kick each other playfully while they nurse. I see there is a bond there. “T” eventually started producing enough milk, and now she breastfeeds both babies.

It’s what we do, we give and give.

JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 21

COURTESY OF HANAN ALI

anan Ali’s ambitious quest from her home in Mombasa, Kenya is not only a testimony to her devotion to family values, but also what she calls a generational “leap of faith.” What’s more, this leap continues a tradition of sacrifice and obligation. Last August, she left Kenya, as well as her parents and siblings, to pursue a degree in Bioengineering in the United States at Southwestern College. Over 10,000 miles stands between her and her family, but the connection between them persists and the values ingrained in her since childhood do not waver through time and distance.

A generation before, Ali’s mother made a comparable journey when fleeing from Somalia after the civil war began in the ‘90s.

“Somali people are a patriarchal community so it was pretty significant to me that my mother’s family let her go to another coun-

try,” says Hanan. “She didn’t have anything to fall back on. It was a leap of faith that they sent her to go there, and somehow she survived and she thrived from that.”

Upon arriving in Kenya, her mother sought refuge in the homes of family members whom she had never previously met and eventually established a life for herself in Mombasa.

Her mother’s bravery and independence is a quality that Ali used as a precedent for her own life. While both her parents instilled in her the importance of self-reliance and education, Hanan took it upon herself to become a role model for her younger siblings,

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veloped friendships with peers through the literary and performing arts nonprofit, So Say We All. Through this work, she’s found people with whom she can share her struggles in adjusting to American culture. Although she has never considered writing to be a viable career option, she explains that it has been helpful in processing the cultural differences.

Hanan periodically contacts her family via phone call or video chat and explains that while being so far from them is difficult, she recognizes her time spent in the United States as a necessary sacrifice for herself and her family.

“Just to hear ‘I’m proud of you’ is something that makes me so happy, even if they’re not here,” says Hanan.

The education she can obtain in the UnitThe Ali family in Mombasa ed States will provide more opportunity than a similar program in Kenya and, after receiving her degree, Ali plans to carrying the weight of a torch passed on go back to Kenya to begin a cafrom mother to daughter. This, however, reer and family of her own. came with some drawbacks.

“I strive to be the best “I feel like I had to mature faster than person that I can be so the people my age so I couldn’t enjoy when I do have a famwhat people my age were enjoying. I had ily of my own, I can be to think about my life really early,” says the one who stands Hanan. for them; the role Since coming to the United model so I don’t have States, Hanan has made contact to wait for a man or and spent time with distant relasomeone to provide tives living in Ohio and Washingfor me,” she says. “So ton. This has facilitated a sense of I can provide for myself family and belonging so far away Hanan Ali and them.” from her home. She has also de-

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CULTURE | FILM

Paterson

Dual nature

Everyday life has a rhythm all its own in Jim Jarmusch’s wonderful new film

by Glenn Heath Jr.

W

riters write because, deep down, they have poetry of his hero, William Carlos Williams, another to. It’s a dual possession of sorts, a love son of Paterson and a crucial influence on Jarmusch’s affair with ideas matched by the struggle own style. Accordingly, much of the film quietly over how to express them. The central character of breezes through vignettes that highlight the nuances Jim Jarmusch’s Paterson, a bus driver named Paterson and history of an environment. What’s not immedi(Adam Driver) who lives and works in the city of Pa- ately apparent is the hint of menace hiding underterson, New Jersey, spends much of his free time jot- neath the surface.

This brings us to Marvin, Laura’s adorable (and ting down poems in a “secret notebook.” During this process words appear as text on the screen, spoken subversive) English bulldog that practices his own aloud before being revised and revised. Once com- kind of destructive poetry at Paterson’s expense. Durpleted, they are closed off from the world in which ing one fascinating moment, man and beast glance at they were born; Paterson doesn’t even share them each other in silence, sharing an unspoken rage that with his artist girlfriend, Laura (Golshifteh Farahani). will never fully come to fruition. Marvin’s presence The double-sided nature of creative expression and inspires Paterson in negative ways, but the character everyday experience—what we make public and what has mastered the art of suppressing those feelings.

That kind of art does no one any we keep private—is a profoundly good. important motif in Jarmusch’s film.

PATERSON So often in Paterson, which Initially, the element of routine acts Directed by Jim Jarmusch opens Friday, Jan. 27, characters as a structuring device—every day Starring Adam Driver, are torn between competing imof the week begins with an overpulses, usually resulting in private head shot of Paterson waking up, Golshifteh Farahani affairs being pushed into the public eating his cereal and heading off to and Barry Shabaka Henley domain. After discovering Doc has work. His mundane job, dictated by Rated R borrowed her money to play in a a specific schedule with routes and chess tournament, his wife berates stops, is only made unique by the passenger’s half-heard conversations. Daily interac- him in front of customers. A young couple breaks up tions with a downtrodden co-worker (Rizwan Manji) more than once in plain view of everyone at the bar, and nightly visits to a local bar owned by Doc (Barry playing out their own version of Romeo and Juliet in reverse. While walking Marvin one night, Paterson Shabaka Henley) feel repetitive in nature.

Yet these seemingly small moments contain a cer- listens to a character played by Method Man freestyltain magic all their own, internal rhymes and themes ing while washing clothes at a Laundromat. That they that begin to dismantle the idea of normalcy. Like are not meant to see or hear each other makes this Paterson, we are given the opportunity to observe moment all the more intimate.

Herein lies the brilliance of Paterson as an elevatdetails with a keen eye, noticing and remembering them for reference at a later time. Lines of dialogue ed exploration of duality. Life can be one thing, or it will appear in one scene and then again in another. can be another, malleable and volatile like crashing Shots will repeat but from a slightly different angle. waterfalls, or simply sublime like water falling on It’s as if the film itself is travelling around one of the hair. To paraphrase some of Paterson’s own poems, many circular patterns Laura has painted on their your legs can be running out the door while your top half sits writing upstairs, each stubbornly ready for bathroom curtains.

While Paterson would never admit it, his every- the next verse. day journeys are infused with possibility and mystery of place. He attempts to transcribe these feelings Film reviews run weekly. through a simple observational style not unlike the Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com.

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JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 23

CULTURE | FILM

20th Century Women

Crisis of confidence

I

spent five years living in picturesque Santa Barbara. Flanked by the Pacific Ocean on one side and the imposing Santa Ynez Mountains on the other, it can sometimes resemble a bubble where the outside world seems but a distant memory. Set almost entirely in the coastal California city circa 1979, 20th Century Women, which opens Friday, Jan. 20, understands such prevailing winds of blissful isolation, and the desperate need to break free from it.

Primarily concerned with the

24 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 18, 2017

singular relationship between single mother Dorothea (Annette Bening) and her 15-year-old son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann), director Mike Mills’ lovely film also doubles as stylish reckoning with the impending realities of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Punk rock may have momentarily overtaken disco as the “it” genre, but the movement has already begun to splinter. Feminist texts like Our Bodies, Ourselves speak truth to power regarding gender. Jimmy Carter’s “Crisis of Confidence” speech is a prescient warning against Kardashian-era self indulgence.

Films, novels and other cultural artifacts are specifically referenced throughout 20th Century Women to highlight the moment they make an impact on specific characters.

Relationships between art and experience make a profound impact on Jamie specifically, who has entered a period in his life where rebellion and sex feel like the next step in his evolution. Worried by her son’s pubescent whims, Dorothea overzealously recruits his best friend Julie (Elle Fanning) and one of their tenants, Abbie (Greta Gerwig), to help ensure that he grows up a good man.

Sentimental on paper, 20th Century Women’s central conceit is executed with grace and wit. The characters orbit each other at just the right moment, influencing and shattering preconceptions about identity, personality and desire.

The young vigorously break free of the bubble, while the old continue to subvert from within. That’s life, a constant renovation.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

OPENING Paterson: Director Jim Jarmusch’s new film takes place in Paterson, New Jersey, where a bus driver named Paterson

(Adam Driver) goes about his daily life writing poetry inspired by William Carlos Williams’ book on poetry, Paterson.

Split: In M. Night Shyamalan’s new film, a man (James McAvoy) with 24 different personalities kidnaps three women in order to obey the demands of an as yet revealed dominant personality waiting to take hold.

The Ardennes: In Belgium’s official entry to the 89th Annual Academy Awards, two estranged brothers continue their long-gestating rivalry after one of them is released from prison. Screens through Thursday, Jan. 26, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

The Eagle Huntress: Aisholpan, a 13-year-old girl, trains to become the first female in 12 generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter, a tradition that has been handed down from father to son for centuries. Screens through Thursday, Jan. 26, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

The Founder: The true story of how Ray Kroc (played by Michael Keaton) maneuvered himself into buying the McDonald’s burger chain and then turned it into a fast food empire. xXx 3: The Return of Xander Cage: Vin Diesel returns as the high-flying stunt man-turned spy who comes out of self-imposed exile to recover a sinister weapon that can control every military satellite.

For a complete listing of movies, visit sdcitybeat.com.

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MUSIC

HANNAH KLEIN

Stephen Steinbrink escribing the music of Stephen Steinbrink in succinct and simple terms can be a challenge.

His songs are strangely variegated little wonders that seem to exist in the cracks between classic pop, modern indie rock and standard singer-songwriter fare. They stretch out into the hazy atmosphere of shoegaze while humming along at a meticulous pace, like minimalist electronic music.

His two most recent albums—2014’s Arranged Waves and 2016’s Anagrams—feel as faded as photographs taken in the ‘70s. They bounce and glisten with the neon sheen of the ‘80s. They breathe the disaffected melancholy and angst of the ‘90s but reflect the boundless possibilities that became available to home-recording enthusiasts in the 2000s and beyond.

So yes, capturing the unique beauty of Steinbrink’s sound in a handful of words is difficult. Yet he stumbles upon one that makes a lot of sense while talking about discovering the music of the late, great Elliott Smith.

“I remember being at the record store, and I think I bought all of his Kill Rock Stars releases because the store was selling them for $3.99,” Steinbrink says in a telephone interview from his home in Oakland, California.

“I was like, ‘Oh wow, this is sensitive, vulnerable music that’s also very sharp and smart and melodic.’ And I related to it, not only lyrically but musically, too,” he continues.

“His songs are so simple and airtight and played with a kind

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of subdued virtuosity that really struck a chord in me.”

Airtight—that’s the word. It’s a perfect description of Steinbrink’s own output, which is at once lush but lean, intricate but efficient, deadpan but flush with feeling. He traces that dichotomy back to growing up in the Phoenix area, where he listened to Smith, The Beatles and Nirvana, but also spent many evenings seeing “the weirdest shit” at all-ages venues around town, such as The Trunk Space.

“I was really interested in lots of textural experimental music that was being made by people in Phoenix in the early 2000s,” he says.

“Groups like Tent City and Glochids.

They’d make these really structuralist soundscapes, so I think those things combined to form the substrate from which my sound grew out of.”

Eventually, Steinbrink left Phoenix and bounced around the West Coast, releasing a handful of records before landing in Olympia, Washington, where he made Arranged Waves. Like all music to that point, he wrote and recorded that album’s songs at the same time, effectively using his home studio as a compositional tool. “(Writing and recording), those two things are really intrinsically linked to me. I’ve always written songs by re-

cording, too,” Steinbrink says. “I’ll record a lot of ideas and then edit and chisel away and use the computer to copy and paste verses and dramatically restructure the song.”

That changed for Anagrams, which Steinbrink recorded over a two-year period at a studio called The Unknown, a converted Catholic church in Anacortes, Washington. With songs already in place, Steinbrink entered the process thinking he would be making a major artistic statement using grandiose arrangements, higher end equipment and an acoustically impressive room. (“It’s really easy to make things sound excellent there,” he says.)

When all was said and done, however, it turned out that Anagrams doesn’t sound much different from Steinbrink’s previous work.

“That’s the fun of it, I guess,” he says. “It’s never consistent and it always surprises me.”

Steinbrink says that Anagrams is an album about fear and insecurity and facing imperfections, both as a human and an artist. From a wide angle, you can hear it in its wistful tones, not to mention song titles such as “What Identity?” and “Dissociative Blues.”

And though Steinbrink’s lyrics tend to be figurative and open to interpretation, glints of these themes occasionally shine through: “I think but never do,” he sings in “Dissociative Blues.” “I try but never feel/I’ll never be like you.”

And “Impossible Hand” should speak to anyone who has ever spiraled emotionally: “Losing reality, uncurling on the floor/Maybe psychic pain is always better to ignore.”

Anagrams is also understatedly gorgeous. “Absent Mind” features roller-coaster verses and a chorus of sighed oohs and aahs as bass and guitar dance around each other. “Psychic Daydream” cranks up the volume, with distorted guitars sitting alongside burbling synths under a slinky vocal melody.

Elsewhere, “Building Machines” clicks and whirs like the inside of a clock, its different melodic ideas interlocking with each other as Steinbrink sings about memories and dreams.

The title track, like many of the man’s tunes, employs a subtle, droning guitar part that’s central to its ascendance toward jangle-pop perfection. And the album closes with “Next New Sun,” a reverberant ballad that unfolds in slow motion and shimmers like a sunset on the desert horizon.

Steinbrink left Arizona and what he refers to as its “21st century blight” many years ago, but the memory of it echoes in his mind and his art to this day.

“I think I’m interested in the idea of musical vastness or a kind of minimalism that maybe is sourced from my early memories of growing up in a pretty bleak zone,” he says.

“Even though my music is pretty straightforward and traditional in some senses, I always gravitated toward the weird and the absurd.”

JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 25

MUSIC

NOTES FROM THE SMOKING PATIO LOCALS ONLY

T

he nominations for the 2017 San Diego Music Awards have been announced. Topping the list of nominees are Andra Day, who is nominated for both Artist of the Year and Album of the Year, as well as fellow Album of the Year nominees blink-182, who are also nominated for Song of the Year for “She’s Out of Her Mind.” Previous Artist of the Year nominee Gilbert Castellanos is once again nominated, along with a nomination for Best Jazz, and Switchfoot once again makes the list, earning nominations for Song of the Year and Album of the Year.

Perhaps one of the most consequential categories for pointing to the future of San Diego music, Best New Artist’s nominees include Hexa, Spooky Cigarette, Casey Hensley Band, Elektric Voodoo, Spitfire Torpedo and Skyterra. Likewise, the Best Indie/Alternative Album category features a number of rising talents, including The Dabbers, whose I Am Alien Now made my own Best of 2016 list, in addition to Le Chateau, Imagery Machine, Mrs. Magician, The Verigolds and Silent, who are technically from Mexicali but deserve all the acclaim coming their way for their 2016 debut, A Century of Abuse.

Curiously absent this year are the Best Hard Rock/ Metal categories, which have historically been a place to find some excellent local heavy talents, including Eukaryst and Author & Punisher. The awards this year are almost entirely free of heavy music, with the

Cattle Decapitation noteworthy exception of death metal outfit Cattle Decapitation, whose album The Anthropocene Extinction is nominated for Album of the Year.

The 2017 San Diego Music Awards is the first to be held since 2015 and will take place at the House of Blues (1055 Fifth Ave.) at 7 p.m. The performers this year include The Creepy Creeps, Schizophonics, Hirie, Verigolds, Gilbert Castellanos and the Young Lions Orchestra and a special set from Steph Johnson and the Voices of Our City Choir.

Vote for select categories in this year’s awards categories at dosd.com/p/sandiegomusicawards. The full list of nominees can be viewed at sandiegomusicwards.com/nominees.

—Jeff Terich

LIVE AT THE BELLY UP RETURNS TO KPBS

L

ocally produced live-concert show Live at the Belly Up, recorded (as the title indicates) at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, has returned to KPBS TV after a two-year break. The first episode of the fourth season of the show aired on Friday, Jan. 13 and featured a performance by Anderson East.

Six more episodes will air this season, with a repertoire of performers that includes Ziggy Marley, Talib Kweli and Soul Rebels and Yonder Mountain String Band.

In a phone interview with CityBeat, Live at the Belly Up producer Chris Goldsmith says that, in its fourth season, the show remains focused on one thing above all: Delivering a strong live performance.

“It’s becoming a nice library,” he says. “We just love live music. It’s just about great live performances. So with the show, it’s important to us to reflect that aesthetic. We only have seven episodes, so it’s important to reflect that diversity.”

Previous seasons of Live at the Belly Up featured a

26 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 18, 2017

mix of artists that included local bands such as The Styletones and The Heavy Guilt, along with nationally known talents like The White Buffalo. With three seasons in the rear view, Goldsmith admits to trying different ways to add to the show, whether it’s interviews or crowd commentary. But every time the formula’s tweaked, they always end up going back to the simple idea of letting the live show speak for itself.

“The funny thing is that when we try these things, they end up on the cutting room floor,” he says. “It’s really hard to add things to a live show without it seeming tacked on.

Talib Kweli “The nice, natural law is that the most compelling parts to do are actually the easiest,” he adds. “The good thing is that the live show itself is really compelling.”

Live at the Belly Up airs Friday nights on KPBS at 11 p.m.

—Jeff Terich

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January 18, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 27

28 · San Diego CityBeat · January 18, 2017

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MUSIC

JEFF TERICH

IF I WERE U A music insider’s weekly agenda WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18

PLAN A: Consider the Source, Thank You Scientist @ The Casbah. Consider the Source is a self-proclaimed “sci-fi Middle Eastern fusion group,” and even if I didn’t go any further, I bet you’d be at least curious about what that means. Essentially they combine Middle Eastern folk with lots of weird effects, funky rhythms and expansive song structures. Fascinating stuff. BACKUP PLAN: Wanted Noise, Deep Yogurt, Bearwulf @ Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, JAN. 19

PLAN A: American Wrestlers, Lightning Cola, Aviator Stash @ Soda Bar. American Wrestlers remind me of a lot of the bands that got me into indie rock, such as Pavement or Guided by Voices, with some of the jangle of Big Star or Teenage Fanclub. While it’s not totally innovative, there is some really excellent songwriting. PLAN B: ‘Ceremony Night’ w/ Haunted Sum-

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mer, Lightworks, Amnesia, Deadmatter @ Blonde. Haunted Summer are a gloomy and dreamy sort of band, with slick guitars and electronic beats. If you like your synthpop a bit more on the melancholy side, they’re a band to check out. PLAN ME: Tropical Popsicle, Blood Ponies, Hours, Exasperation @ The Casbah. If I were me, I’d actually be here, playing music. Just thought you should know, in the interest of transparency.

FRIDAY, JAN. 20

PLAN A: Marching Church, Bernardo Femminielli, Keepers @ The Hideout. Last week I wrote about Copenhagen post-punks Marching Church, which features members of Iceage and Lower. They make music for hazy, debaucherous late nights, so settle in with a few drinks and find out where they’ll take you. PLAN B: Gazebos, Boyfriends, Some Kind of Lizard @ Soda Bar. Gazebos play jangly, snotty, snarky punk-pop that’s way

too much fun. They’re part of the Hardly Art family, which includes Tacocat and Chastity Belt, and if you’re into those bands’ brand of light-hearted garage pop, then you’ll love Gazebos. BACKUP PLAN: Homesafe, Life Lessons, Chase Huglin @ Che Cafe.

SATURDAY, JAN. 21

PLAN A: The Raveonettes, Gateway Drugs @ Music Box. The Raveonettes first got my attention back in the early ‘00s with great, shoegazey rock songs such as “Attack of the Ghost Riders” and “That Great Love Sound.”

As it turns out, that aesthetic still sounds great, and their noisy, reverb-driven rock hits the spot more than a decade down the line. PLAN B: Silver Snakes, Aeges, Vagus Nerve @ Brick by Brick. A lot of metal bands aren’t necessarily the best at writing hooks or melodies that would make sense on terrestrial radio. Silver Snakes buck that trend with a sound that’s big, heavy but more approachable than your average metal act.

Bang your head or sing along. BACKUP PLAN: The Mattson 2, Kid Trails, DJ Jordan Blackmon, Creature and the Woods @ The Casbah.

SUNDAY, JAN. 22

PLAN A: The Toasters, Unsteady @ The Casbah. Trump is president by now, so everything is pretty much meaningless. Might as well go see some ska, I guess.

MONDAY, JAN. 23

PLAN A: Jesse Malin, Schizophonics @ The Casbah. Just kidding, things don’t have to be that bleak. Get a fresh start on the week with the AMBER AND ASHLIE CHAVEZ earthy rock ‘n’ roll of Jesse Malin, onetime frontman of D Generation and occasional collaborator with Ryan Adams.

His style is heavily influenced by Bruce Springsteen, and to my ears that’s never a bad thing.

The Raveonettes

TUESDAY, JAN. 24

PLAN A: Leah Dou, Astral Touch @ Soda Bar. Leah Dou makes blissful, gorgeous electronic pop songs that balance strong vocal harmonies with hypnotic soundscapes. At times her music is reminiscent of vintage trip-hop or some of Bjork’s early material, which means, at a base minimum, it’s quite pretty.

JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 29

MUSIC

CONCERTS HOT! NEW! FRESH!

The Gaslamp Killer (Casbah, 1/30), Boogarins (Soda Bar, 2/11), Amigo the Devil (Soda Bar, 2/15), Kevin Garrett (HOB, 2/17), Redwoods Revue (Casbah, 3/3), Matisyahu (BUT, 3/1415), Partybaby (Che Café, 3/24), Oathbreaker, Khemmis (Soda Bar, 3/27), Dead Man Winter (Soda Bar, 3/30), Delicate Steve (Soda Bar, 4/2), River Whyless (Casbah, 4/6), Susto (Soda Bar, 4/12), Vanessa Carlton (Casbah, 4/14), The Wild Reeds (Hideout, 4/18), San Fermin (Casbah, 4/27), Tim Kasher (Casbah, 5/4), Diet Cig (Che Café, 5/6), Timber Timbre (Soda Bar, 5/12), Def Leppard (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 6/16), 2Cellos (Open Air Theatre, 7/18).

CANCELED Ladyhawke (Casbah, 3/31).

GET YER TICKETS Lydia Loveless (Soda Bar, 1/27), Cold War Kids (Observatory, 1/27), Devendra Banhart (Observatory, 1/28), Blind Boys of Alabama (BUT, 1/29), Mike Doughty (BUT, 2/1), Dashboard Confessional (HOB, 2/3), Alcest (Brick by Brick, 2/8), Austra, The Range (Casbah, 2/8), Juicy J (HOB, 2/8), D.R.A.M. (Music Box, 2/9), Branford Marsalis Quartet (Balboa Theatre, 2/10), ‘Welcome to Night Vale’ (Observatory, 2/13), Weyes Blood (Soda

30 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 18, 2017

Bar, 2/16), Billy Crystal (Copley Symphony Hall, 2/16), Cut Chemist (Music Box, 2/17), Erykah Badu (Observatory, 2/17), Reel Big Fish, Anti Flag (HOB, 2/17), Penn and Teller (Harrah’s SoCal, 2/17), Adam Ant (Observatory, 2/18), Alejandro Escovedo (BUT, 2/20), Circa Survive (HOB, 2/21-2/22), Tennis (The Irenic, 2/22), Pinback (BUT, 2/23), Vince Staples (Observatory, 2/24), Black Marble, Uniform (Hideout, 2/24), Steve Poltz (BUT, 2/24-25), Pinback (Irenic, 2/25), Stevie Nicks (Viejas Arena, 3/2), Senses Fail (Observatory, 3/3), ‘Experience Hendrix 2017’ w/ Buddy Guy, Kenny Wayne Shepherd (Harrah’s SoCal, 3/4), Isaiah Rashad (Observatory, 3/5), Bon Jovi (Viejas Arena, 3/5), Temples (BUT, 3/5), Immolation (Brick

by Brick, 3/5), Shiner (Casbah, 3/5), Red Hot Chili Peppers (Valley View Casino Center, 3/5), The Shins (Observatory, 3/6-7), Mykki Blanco, Cakes da Killa (Soda Bar, 3/7), Six Organs of Admittance (Soda Bar, 3/8), Lady Lamb (Soda Bar, 3/9), Bash & Pop (Casbah, 3/9), Whitechapel (HOB, 3/9), Japandroids (Music Box, 3/11), G. Love and Special Sauce (BUT, 3/11-12), Menzingers (Irenic, 3/12), Teenage Fanclub (BUT, 3/16), Julieta Venegas (HOB, 3/17), James Chance and the Contortions (Hideout, 3/18), Common (Observatory, 3/24), Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (Casbah, 3/25), Why? (Irenic, 3/30), Electric Six (Casbah, 3/30), Nashville Pussy (Brick

by Brick, 3/31), The Old 97s (BUT, 3/31), Passenger (HOB, 4/2), The Damned (HOB, 4/7), Green Day (Valley View Casino Center, 4/8), Aaron Neville Duo (BUT, 4/9), A Perfect Circle (Open Air Theatre, 4/11), Subhumans (Observatory, 4/11), Reverend Horton Heat (BUT, 4/20), Foreigner, Cheap Trick (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 4/29), The Wedding

Present (Casbah, 4/30), Lionel Richie (Viejas Arena, 5/8), Testament (HOB, 5/16), Robin Trower (HOB, 5/19), Rodriguez (Humphreys, 5/23), Brian Wilson (Civic Theatre, 5/24), NKOTB, Paula Abdul, Boyz II Men (Viejas Arena, 6/1), The Primitives (Hideout, 6/6), Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Civic Theatre, 6/26), Green Day (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 9/13), Coldplay (Qualcomm Stadium, 10/8).

JANUARY WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18 Consider the Source at The Casbah.

THURSDAY, JAN. 19 Daniela Andrade at The Irenic. Zakk Sabbath at Brick by Brick. Tropical Popsicle at The Casbah.

FRIDAY, JAN. 20 Marching Church at The Hideout. Erotic City at Music Box. Homesafe at Che Café. The Schizophonics at The Casbah. Gazebos at Soda Bar. Kingdom of Lights at SOMA.

SATURDAY, JAN. 21 Chevelle at House of Blues (sold out).

Cold War Kids at Observatory North Park. Mattson 2 at The Casbah. Fabulous Thunderbirds at Poway OnStage.

The Generators at Soda Bar. Silver Snakes at Brick by Brick. The Raveonettes at Music Box.

SUNDAY, JAN. 22 The Toasters at The Casbah. Robby Krieger of The Doors at Music Box. Raffi at Balboa Theatre. Daughtry at

Belly Up Tavern. Portland Cello Project at California Center for the Arts.

MONDAY, JAN. 23 Jeff Bridges and the Abiders at Belly Up Tavern. Jesse Malin at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, JAN. 24 Timothy Schmit at Belly Up Tavern.

Leah Dou at Soda Bar. PROF at The Casbah.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 25 Stephen Steinbrink at Soda Bar. Pepper, Less Than Jake at Observatory North Park. Seratones at The Casbah.

B-Side Players at Music Box. Garrison Keillor at California Center for the Arts.

Sister Speak at Belly Up Tavern.

THURSDAY, JAN. 26 Powerman 5000, Orgy at Brick by Brick.

Rick Astley at House of Blues. Lemuria at The Hideout.

FRIDAY, JAN. 27 Pato Banton at Belly Up Tavern. Lydia Loveless at Soda Bar. Cold War Kids at Observatory North Park. August Burns Red at SOMA.

SATURDAY, JAN. 28 Hamilton Leithauser at The Casbah (sold out). Ali Wong at Balboa Theatre.

July Talk at Soda Bar. Devendra Banhart at Observatory North Park.

SUNDAY, JAN. 29 Blind Boys of Alabama at Belly Up Tavern. The Winehouse Experience at Music Box. Well Well Well at The Casbah.

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MUSIC MONDAY, JAN. 30 Jane Lee Hooker at The Hideout. Run the Jewels at Observatory North Park (sold out). D.A. Stern at Soda Bar. The Gaslamp Killer at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, JAN. 31 Kenny Wayne Shepherd at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Communist Daughter at Soda Bar. AAN at Whistle Stop.

FEBRUARY WEDNESDAY, FEB. 1 Mike Doughty at Belly Up Tavern. Camila at House of Blues. The Dead Ships at The Casbah.

THURSDAY, FEB. 2 Kitchen Dwellers at Soda Bar. Black Violin at California Center for the Arts. Lotus at Belly Up Tavern. Carnifex at SOMA.

FRIDAY, FEB. 3 Paul Stanley’s Soul Station at Belly Up Tavern. Birdy Bardot at Soda Bar. Metalachi at The Casbah. Dashboard Confessional at House of Blues. Z-Trip at Music Box.

SATURDAY, FEB. 4 Vokab Company at Music Box. Sweet and Tender Hooligans at Observatory North Park. ‘Banding Together Fundraiser’ w/ Tim Flannery at Belly Up Tavern. Pablo Sainz Villegas at California Center for the Arts. Killing the Messenger at SOMA.

SUNDAY, FEB. 5 Down by Law at Soda Bar.

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MONDAY, FEB. 6 Henry Kapono at Belly Up Tavern. Lilys at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, FEB. 7 Irata at Soda Bar. The Revivalists at Belly Up Tavern (sold out).

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 8 Alcest at Brick by Brick. Austra, The Range at The Casbah. Juicy J at House of Blues. Shane Hall at Belly Up Tavern.

THURSDAY, FEB. 9 The Lemon Twigs at The Casbah. Joan of Arc at Soda Bar. You Blew It! at The Irenic. D.R.A.M. at Music Box. Alesana at Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, FEB. 10 Branford Marsalis Quartet at Balboa Theatre. Legendary Shack Shakers at The Casbah. Anuhea at Music Box. Dead Man’s Party at Belly Up Tavern.

SATURDAY, FEB. 11 Wax Tailor at Music Box. The Chain Gang of 1974 at The Hideout. Griffin House at Soda Bar. Boogarins at Soda Bar.

SUNDAY, FEB. 12 Falling In Reverse at House of Blues.

Authority Zero at Brick by Brick. David Duchovny at Music Box. The Griswolds at The Casbah. Save Ferris at Belly Up Tavern.

to Night Vale’ at Observatory North Park.

Tyvek at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, FEB. 14 Ottmar Liebert and Luna Negra at Belly Up Tavern. Milemarker at The Casbah.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15 Lucero at Belly Up Tavern. Jake Shimabukuro at Music Box. Amigo the Devil at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, FEB. 16 Galactic at Belly Up Tavern. Weyes Blood at Soda Bar. Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox at Balboa Theatre.

Billy Crystal at Copley Symphony Hall.

FRIDAY, FEB. 17 Reel Big Fish, Anti Flag at House of Blues. Slim Cessna’s Auto Club at Soda Bar. Crocodiles at The Hideout.

English Beat at Bellly Up Tavern. Cut Chemist at Music Box. Penn and Teller at Harrah’s SoCal. Erykah Badu at Observatory North Park. Kevin Garrett at House of Blues.

SATURDAY, FEB. 18 La Luz at The Hideout. Steam Powered Giraffe at California Center for the Arts. The Coathangers at The Casbah.

Surfer Blood at Soda Bar. ‘Funk Soul Social’ w/ The Routine at Music Box. Jose Feliciano at Poway OnStage.

‘You Are Going to Hate This Fest’ w/ The Frights, The Garden, Antwon at SOMA. Adam Ant at Observatory North Park. English Beat at Belly Up Tavern.

MONDAY, FEB. 13 Hot Tuna at Belly Up Tavern. ‘Welcome

CLUBS CONTINUED ON PAGE 32

JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 31

MUSIC CLUBS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave. Pacific Beach. Sat: Chugboat, The Brewhahas.

Tue: The Wayfarers.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St. Normal Heights. Wed: DJs Blackbelt Jonez, Dr. Birdski. Thu: ‘Libertine’ w/ DJs Jon Wesley, 1979. Sat: ‘Juicy’ w/ Mike Czech. Sun: ‘Chvrch’ w/ DJs Karma, Alice.

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Road.

Spring Valley. Thu: Some Kind of Nightmare, The Mice, Final Drive. Fri: The Match.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St. Downtown.

Thu: Felix Jaehn. Fri: Hector Bar Pink, 3829 30th St, North Park. Thu: DJ Ikah Love. Fri: ‘Class Project: The Ladies’ w/ DJs Old Man Johnson, Grimm.

Sat: ‘Neon Beat’ Sun: ‘Rat Sabbath’.

Mon: Tori Roze and the Hot Mess. Tue: DJ Marshall Islands Beaumont’s, 5665 La Jolla Blvd. La Jolla. Thu: Aquile. Fri: Stratos. Sat: Bumpasonic.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave. Solana Beach. Thu: Martin Sexton, The Accidentals. Fri: The Pettybreakers, Santanaways. Sat: Tainted Love, DJ Hunk Golden. Sun: Daughtry, Kelley James. Mon: Jeff Bridges & The Abiders, Ruby Friedman Orchestra. Tue: Timothy B Schmit.

Black Cat Bar, 4246 University Ave. City Heights. Fri: Ninja Nightrace, Rue Snider, Coretracks. Sat: The Focke-Wolves, The Smoke Bombs, Amigo.

Blonde, 1808 W. Washington St. Mission Hills. Wed: ‘Dance Klassique’. Thu: ‘Ceremony Night’ w/ Haunted Summer. Fri: ‘Bump!’ w/ Bob Dazzla. Tue: Neutral Milk Hotel live tribute.

The Hideout, 3519 El Cajon Blvd.

City Heights. Thu Aesthetic Perfection, Solarfake, NYXX, DJ Robin Roth. Fri: Marching Church, Bernardino Femminielli.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave. Carlsbad.

Fri: ‘Club Musae’

The Holding Company, 5046 Newport Ave. Ocean Beach. Wed: Amanda Cogan & The Whiskey Dews, Devan Moncrief, Gabriela & La Buena Onda. Thu: Ari & The Alibi’s, Drew Colton. Fri: DJ Jalil, Jonathan Lee Band. Sat: Township Rebellion, Mario Esteban & The Blessed Hellhounds, DJ Chelu, Pat Hilton. Sun: Rooney, Swimm, Tennis System. Mon: Kerry-Oke. Tue: DJ Reefah, Fluid Foundation.

Brick 15, 915 Camino del Mar. Del Mar. Thu: Abigail Stauffer & Lindsay White.

Fri: Ari Hest.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave, Bay Park. Thu: Zakk Sabbath. Sat: Silver Snakes, Aeges, Vagus Nerve.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. Wed: Consider the Source, Thank You Scientist. Thu: Tropical Popsicle, Blood Ponies, Hours, Exasperation. Fri: The Schizophonics, Dani Bell and the Tarantist. Sat: Mattson 2, Kid Trails. Sun: The Toasters, Unsteady. Mon: Jesse Malin, Schizophonics. Tue: PROF, Willy Wonka, Metasota, Finding Novyon.

The Che Cafe, UCSD campus, La Jolla.

Fri: Homesafe, Life Lessons, Chase Huglin. Sat: ‘Standing Rock Benefit’ w/ Age of Collapse, La Bella, Left Astray.

Chico Club, 7366 El Cajon Blvd. La Mesa. Sat: Kalamity Wayne and the City Slickers.

F6ix, 526 F St. Downtown. Fri: DJ Scooter. Sat: DJ Vision.

The Field Irish Pub, 544 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Wed: Josh Epifanio + See Bright Lights. Thu: Josie Day Band. Fri: Tralain, Lifelike Band. Sat: J. Liberio.

Mon: Dan Porter. Tue: BJ Jezbera.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave. Downtown. Fri: Ginuwine. Sat: Chachi.

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave. Downtown.

Thu: ‘Night Skool’. Fri: ‘Good Times’.

Tue: ‘50s/60s Dance Party.

32 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 18, 2017

Hooleys, 5500 Grossmont Center Drive.

La Mesa. Fri: Private Domain. Sat: The Heart Band.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave, Downtown. Thu: Live Band Karaoke. Fri: Wild Child: A Doors Tribute. Sat: Chevelle, Black Map, Dinosaur Pile Up. Tue: Robin Henkel.

Humphrey’s Backstage Live, 2241 Shelter Island Drive. Shelter Island.

Wed: Blue Largo. Thu: The Fabulous Ultratones. Fri: The Reflectors, Wildside. Sat: Jessy J. Sun: Monette Marino. Mon: Mercedes Moore. Tue: Missy Andersen.

The Irenic, 3090 Polk Ave. North Park.

Thu: Daniela Andrade.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. Wed: The Social Animal, Ingénue.

Thu: Stanton Warriors. Fri: Marques Wyatt. Sat: Ocean vs Orientalis. Sun: ‘Hypogeum’.

The Kraken, 2531 S. Coast Highway 101. Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Wed: Jeff Moore.

CLUBS CONTINUED ON PAGE 33

SPOTLIGHT It only seems appropriate to recommend Raffi—who the Washington Post once deemed “the most popular children’s singer in the English-speaking world”—during the inauguration week, when our country regresses into childlike idiocy. That’s not necessarily a knock against Raffi, whose hits (including “Baby Beluga”, “Wheels on the Bus” and “Bananaphone”) have placated whiny toddlers for over 40 years. And now that we’re collectively dumbed-down as a nation, all we can do for the time being is smile, drool and sing along with “Wheels on the Bus.” Raffi plays Sunday, Jan. 22 at Balboa Theatre.

—Ryan Bradford

@SDCITYBEAT

MUSIC Thu: Rat Motor. Fri: Toga Party. Sat: Ron Shumate Band. Sun: Brian Jones Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival. Tue: Red Shepard Project.

Lestat’s West, 3343 Adams Ave, Normal Heights. Fri: Rainbow Girls, Caitlin Jemma. Sat: Aubrey, Witherward, Chi McClean.

The Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla. Fri: StarRo, Graham Elliot. Sat: New Orleans Swamp Donkeys.

Martinis Above Fourth, 3940 Fourth Ave. Hillcrest. Thu: ‘Western Standard Time’ w/ Spencer Day. Fri: Janice and Nathan. Sat: Tori Roze and the Hot Mess.

Sun: Don L & Ria Carey.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave. Hillcrest. Thu: Low Points, Fractions. Fri: ‘Pussy Grabs Back Burlesque’. Sat: ‘SubWOOFer’. Sun: ‘Back Alley’. Tue: Of Ennui, Vakoum, The Brain Ghosts.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave. Coronado. Thu: Ron’s Trio. Fri: Flipside Burners. Sat: Street Heart. Sun: Ron’s Garage. Tue: Glen Smith Mother’s Saloon, 2228 Bacon St. Ocean Beach. Wed: ‘Acoustic Showcase’. Thu: DJ Dub B. Sat: DJ Legend.

Mr. Peabody’s Encinitas, 136 Encinitas Blvd. Encinitas. Thu: California Rangers.

Fri: Pow-R-House. Sat: Leo Rising, Adrienne Nims. Sun: Tony Ortega jazz jam.

Music Box, 1337 India St. Little Italy. Fri: ‘Subculture’ w/ Erotic City Prince Tribute.

Sat: The Raveonettes, Gateway Drugs.

Sun: Robby Krieger.

Numbers, 3811 Park Blvd, Hillcrest. Fri: ‘Uncut’. Tue: Karaoke Latino.

The Office, 3936 30th St. North Park.

Wed: ‘Too Sad to be Mad’. Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Fri: ‘After Hours’ w/ DJs EdRoc, Ikah Love. Sat: ‘Strictly Busi-

@SDCITYBEAT

ness’ w/ DJs EdRoc, Kanye Asada. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’. Tue: ‘Trapped’.

OMNIA Nightclub, 454 Sixth Ave. Downtown. Thu: Bad Royale. Fri: Bingo Players. Sat: Vice.

Panama 66, 1450 El Prado. Balboa Park.

Wed: Gilbert Castellanos. Fri: Rebecca Kleinmann Trio. Sat: Lorraine Castellanos.

Parq, 615 Broadway. Downtown. Fri: Sid Vicious. Sat: Direct.

Heights. Wed: Wanted Noise, Deep Yogurt, Bearwolf. Thu: American Wrestlers, Lightning Cola, Aviator Stash.

Fri: Gazebos, Boyfriends, Some Kind of Lizard. Sat: The Generators, Channel 3, Dead on the Wire. Sun: Xavier Omar, Avalon Young, Julius. Mon: A Dozen Letters.

Tue: Leah Dou. Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave. Normal Heights. Thu: Bad Penny & The Pistols. Sun: Mojo Jacks.

Plaza Bar @ Westgate Hotel, 1055 Second Ave. Downtown. Fri: Gilbert Castellanos. Sat: Allison Tucker. Mon: Julio De La Huerta.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd. City Heights. Fri: Some Kind of Nightmare, Reckless Disregard, N.O.K., Revolt-chix.

Sat: Imbalanced, The Noctambulant, Sergulath, Orphic Eye.

Proud Mary’s @ The Ramada Hotel, 5550 Kearny Mesa Road. Kearny Mesa.

Thu: Tomcat Courtney. Fri: Missy Andersen, Mercedes Moore. Sat: Bayou Brothers.

The Tin Roof, 401 G St. Downtown.

Wed: Shane Hall Trio. Fri: Coriander, Chad Lada Duo. Sat: Coriander, Kenny and Deez. Mon: Lauren Leigh and Sam. Tue: Allegra Duchaine.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave. Hillcrest.

Thu: DJ Moody Rudy. Fri: DJs Drew G, Will Z. Sat: DJs Hektik, Luke Allen.

Sun: DJs Hektik, Morningstar. Mon: DJs Casanouva, Byrd & Vinny Bravo, XL, Kayden.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St. Bay Park. Thu: Mercedes Moore. Fri: Funk’s Most Wanted. Sat: Bless Your Heart Burlesque. Tue: Sue Palmer.

Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave. La Mesa. Thu: Alvino and the Dwells.

Fri: Chill Clinton.

Rosie O’Grady’s, 3402 Adams Ave. Fri: CORE: A Tribute to Stone Temple Pilots.

Sat: Johnny Tarr, Lexington Field.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Midway. Fri: Kingdom Of Lights, Those Darn Gnomes, Ignant Benches.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave. North Park. Wed: Trio Gadjo. Thu: Jimmy Ruelas. Fri: Cedrice and the Addictions. Sat: DJ Barry Thomas. Tue: Juice Box. Soda Bar, 3615 University Ave. City

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave, City Heights. Fri: Foreign Bodies, Warsaw, Mice Elf. Sat: The Lumps.

Ux31, 3112 University Ave. North Park.

Tue: ‘Electricity’.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park. Wed: ‘Open Oscillator’. Thu: ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ w/ DJ Lazer Lizeth. Fri: ‘F-ing in the Bushes’ w/ DJ Daniel Sant. Sat: ‘80s vs. 90s’ w/ DJs Gabe Vega, Saul.

Sun: Warbly Jets, DJ Mario Orduno.

Tue: ‘Videodrome’.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St. Ocean Beach.

Sat: The Moves, Bomb Squad, Joe Marcinek Band, Mango Habanero. Mon: Electric Waste Band.

JANUARY 18, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 33

LAST WORDS | ADVICE

AMY ALKON

ADVICE

GODDESS Is it something I wed?

Two of my girlfriends just got divorced.

Both recently admitted to me that they knew they shouldn’t have gotten married at the time but did anyway. Just this weekend, another friend—married for only a year and fighting bitterly with her husband—also said she knew she was making a mistake before her wedding. Can you explain why anyone would go through with something as serious and binding as marriage if they have reservations?

—Confused Consider that in most areas of life, when you’re making a colossal mistake, nobody is all, “Hey, how about a coronation-style party, a Caribbean cruise, and a brand-new blender?”

But it isn’t just the allure of the star treatment and wedding swag that leads somebody to shove their doubts aside and proceed down the aisle. Other influences include parental pressure, having lots of married or marrying friends, being sick of

dating, and feeling really bad about guests with nonrefundable airline tickets. There’s also the notion that “marriage takes work”— meaning you can just put in a little emotional elbow grease and you’ll stop hating your spouse for being cheap, bad in bed and chewing like a squirrel.

However, it also helps to look at how we make decisions—and how much of our reasoning would more accurately be called “emotioning.” We have a powerful aversion to loss and to admitting we were wrong, and this can cause us to succumb to the “sunk cost effect.” Sunk costs are investments we’ve already made—of time, money or effort. The “sunk cost effect” is decision researcher Hal Arkes’ term for our tendency to—irrationally, ego-servingly—keep throwing time, money or effort into something based on what we’ve already put in.

Of course, our original investment is gone.

So the rational approach would be deciding whether to keep investing based on whether the thing’s likely to pay off in the future.

34 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 18, 2017

A way to avoid the sunk cost trap is through what psychologists call “prefactual thinking”—thinking out the possible outcomes before you commit to some risky course of action. Basically, you play the role of a pessimistic accountant and imagine all the ways your plan could drag you straight down the crapper.

But don’t just imagine all the awful things that could happen. Write out a list—a detailed list. So, for example, if you sense you could be making a mistake by getting married, don’t go all shortcutty, like “get divorced!” Parse out the itty-bitties, like “figure out how the hell to find a decent divorce lawyer”; “get lost on the way to the lawyer’s office and stand on the side of the road weeping”; and “start working as the indentured servant of a bunch of sorority girls to pay the lawyer’s retainer.”

Yeah, that kind of detail.

Making potential losses concrete like this helps you weigh current costs against the future ones. This, in turn, could help you admit that you and your not-entirely-beloved might have a real shot at happily ever after— if only the one of you in the big white dress would bolt out the fire exit instead of walking down the aisle.

Expiration Dating I’m a 32-year-old guy using dating apps. I was in a long-term relationship that ended badly, and I’m not ready for anything serious right now. I get that many women are ultimately looking for a relationship.

I don’t want to ghost them if they start getting attached, but saying from the get-go that I just want something casual seems rude and a bit presumptuous.

—Conflicted Not everybody likes to spoon after sex. You like to slip out of the house without being noticed.

It isn’t presumptuous to explain “from the get-go” that you aren’t ready for anything serious; it’s the right thing to do. Lay that out in your online profile (or at least in your first conversation) so women are clear that you’re an aspiring sexfriend, not an aspiring boyfriend. Consider, however, that research by anthropologist John Marshall Townsend finds that even women who are sure that casual sex is all they’re looking for can get clingy afterward—to their great surprise.

Townsend explains that women’s emotions evolved to “act as an alarm system that urges women to test and evaluate investment and remedy deficiencies even when they try to be indifferent to investment.”

Ghosting—just disappearing on somebody you’re dating, with no explanation—is dignity-shredding. If a woman does end up wanting more than you can give, you need to do the adult thing and tell her you’re ending it. Sure, that’ll be seriously uncomfortable for both of you. But keep in mind that bad news is usually the road to recovery, while no news is the road to randomly running into a woman everywhere, including your shower.

(c)2016, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

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@SDCityBeat

January 18, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 35