San Diego CityBeat • Jan 24, 2018

2 · San Diego CityBeat · January 24, 2018

@SDCityBeat

@SDCityBeat

january 24, 2018 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

UP FRONT | FROM THE EDITOR

The post-news News Feed

T

he headline said it all for me: “Facebook Slowly Realizing It May Be Ruining Democracy.”

This is how Gizmodo writer Adam Clark Estes not-so-tactfully put it this past week in a response to a Facebook blog post from Katie Harbath, the social media company’s Global Politics and Government Outreach Director. This came in the wake of multiple accounts of fake and Russian-propagated content spreading around social media before the 2016 election. It was in this post-election, post-truth era that sites like Facebook and Twitter began to take a hard look at the way content was shared on their sites. The company’s responses to this have been mixed, but in the case of Facebook, the actions the company has taken have been particularly egregious.

In a shocking story in The New York Times earlier this month, it was revealed that Facebook had been testing a new version of its News Feed (basically, the thing users see anytime they open the site or app), where they were, as the Times put it, “peeling off professional news sites” and relegating the feed to only what the users’ friends posted. The idea, at least according to Facebook, was that this would increase “meaningful interaction” among friends.

Think of it as a getting-back-to-theirsocial-roots moment for the site.

The problem is that this new News Feed system has already had disastrous results in the countries where it was first tested. In Bolivia, it decreased the amount of nongovernmental news outlets that users were exposed to, and in places like Cambodia and Slovakia, the new system actually served to help the spread of fake news.

And if it’s good enough for those countries, it’s good enough for America, right? Right. Yes, Facebook has, indeed, launched this system worldwide. Don’t like those Alex Jones-esque Obama-is-Satan stories your uncle posts? Well, chances are you’ll see that before you see a real news story. Facebook claims these changes will help the “well-being” of users, but even one of the company’s former presidents, the always outspoken Sean Parker, says the company is “exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology” in order to make a buck.

This decision is especially bad for independent publications, websites and even independent busi-

nesses. If a publication or business has money for ads or to “boost” a post, that’s great. But if they don’t?

Well, chances are that even people who follow or “like” that business will not see most of their posts.

It’s essentially allowing Facebook users to rank the credibility of news stories. Really? Isn’t that what got us into this mess in the first place?!

We at CityBeat are going to have to make some hard decisions in the coming weeks and months about how to best engage with our readers. Do we start a Facebook group for CityBeat readers? Or do we do what Amanda Bond suggested in a listicle for Entrepreneur and do things like step up livestreaming (our readers will still get notifications when we do that, for now at least)? Or do we swallow our pride and ask readers to prioritize our posts by turning on the “See First” option (as opposed to the “Default” setting) on our Facebook page? I’ve already done this with a few publications I follow, but not because they asked.

For now, my advice to readers is simple: Take the five publications you find yourself most clicking on and turn on those notifications. From what I’ve encountered in doing this myself, I don’t get notifications for every single story The New York Times posts, but I have found that the ones I do get are often things of interest to me.

For some publications, I went so far as to change the settings to “See First” (essentially, a story from the publication shows up first in my feed, which is cool because I was totally going to Google where to stream some of the Oscar nominees later, but then, bam!, there it was). Or you can turn off the notifications entirely and simply opt to see first (or vice versa).

I’ll stop short of asking readers to do this for our little alt-weekly-that-could, but I would encourage them to think long and hard about the publications that they value or ones they think would really benefit from their clicks. The independent news outlets, the irreverent zines and the indie publishers. Hell, I’d even encourage them to go to the Facebook page of their favorite restaurants and boutiques and change the follow settings, as it’s much more likely that readers will see something that’s relevant to them from those businesses than whatever corporate entity has the money to pay to slide into your Facebook feed.

—Seth Combs

Write to seth.combs@sdcitybeat.com

This issue of CityBeat is officially over Soundcloud rap. Thanks, Lil Xan!

Volume 16 • Issue 23 EDITOR Seth Combs MUSIC EDITOR Jeff Terich WEB EDITOR Ryan Bradford ART DIRECTOR Carolyn Ramos ASSOCIATE EDITOR Torrey Bailey COLUMNISTS Aaryn Belfer Edwin Decker Minda Honey John R. Lamb Alex Zaragoza

CONTRIBUTORS Christin Bailey, David L. Coddon, Beth Demmon, Andrew Dyer, Rachel Michelle Fernandes, Tiffany Fox, Michael A. Gardiner, Glenn Heath Jr., Lizz Huerta, Lara McCaffrey, Scott McDonald, Kinsee Morlan, Jim Ruland, Ben Salmon, Jen Van Tieghem, Amy Wallen, Ian Ward

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES RIchard Diaz, Beau Odom

PRODUCTION MANAGER Tristan Whitehouse

HUMAN RESOURCES Andrea Baker

MULTIMEDIA ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Paulina Porter-Tapia

VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS David Comden

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Jason Noble

PUBLISHER Kevin Hellman

CONTROLLER Kacie Cobian ACCOUNTING Perla Castillo David Garcia Linda Lam Yiyang Wang

ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Interested in advertising?

Call 619-281-7526 or e-mail advertising@sdcitybeat.com.

The advertising deadline is 5 p.m. every Friday for the following week’s issue.

EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING OFFICE 3047 University Ave. Suite 202 San Diego, CA 92104 Phone: 619-281-7526 Fax: 619-281-5273 www.sdcitybeat.com

San Diego CityBeat is published and distributed every Wednesday by Southland Publishing Inc., free of charge but limited to one per reader. Reproduction of any material in this or any other issue is prohibited without written permission from the publisher and the author. Contents copyright 2018.

4 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 24, 2018

@SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | LETTERS

ON THE

HIPPY DIPPY Okay, kook, that “Ask a Hipster” column {as featured in the San Diego Reader] is worse than the e-coli colic! If I needed advice from a simmering millenially-bearded lumberjack wannabe wearing skinny jeans... oh...um, wrong publication. Sorry...

Seriously, I love CityBeat. Aside from dumping the crossword puzzle for the, albeit wellwritten, advice to the lovelorn column, your publication is doing the job. Belfer, Bradford, Edwin (they ought name a drink after you) Decker, Zaragoza, the arts writers, comprise a top-notch staff. All over it. Cover to cover.

My one leeeeetle criticism is (and I’m in way over my head here marketing/advertising wise, but...) this: your overall focus (I know...) and vibe feels exclusive of anyone over, say, 40. I’m 65.

That said, I offer you my services for a proposed “Ask a Hippy” column, or a sly derivation. Perhaps an old school Herb Caen with a ponytail three dot romp about town. Or a kind of Decker with a walker and love beads thing. I dunno... just riffing.

Thanks for hearing me out, cool folks. Kick it around and let me know about the column.

I can send a sample of my writing. P.S. You do know who Herb Caen is, don’t you?

Mike Rico City Heights

WE WANT FEEDBACK Did you read a story in San Diego CityBeat that made your blood boil, or caused you to laugh so hard you pulled a stomach muscle? If something inspires you to send us your two cents we welcome all letters that respond to news stories, opinion pieces or reviews that have run in these pages. We don’t accept unsolicited op-ed letters.

Email letters to editor Seth Combs at seth.combs@sdcitybeat.com, or mail to 3047 University Ave., Suite 202, San Diego, CA 92104. For letters to be considered for publication you must include your first and last name and the part of town where you reside. Note: All comments left on stories at sdcitybeat.com will also be considered for publication.

@SDCITYBEAT

COVER

UP FRONT From the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Letters to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sordid Tales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

There She Goz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4 5 6 8 9

FOOD & DRINK World Fare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Beerdist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

THINGS TO DO Hardcore heroes Converge have a reputation of being intense, but UK-based photographer David Robinson captured a lighter side of the band while on tour in Germany. “We were at a venue called Backstage in Munich, which is actually a terrible place to try and get any type of promotional shots,” Robinson says of the shoot, which involved the band members climbing into a trash bin.

“Even though nobody but the band was intended to see it, I like it cause despite the music they make, they’re actually very light-hearted and funny dudes.” In addition to shooting bands such as Converge and Mutoid Man, Robinson has also done portrait, landscape and extreme sports photography. See his portfolio at davidrobinsonphoto.com.

The Short List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Calendar of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13

ARTS & CULTURE Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 FEATURE: Hamilton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18-19

MUSIC FEATURE: Converge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Notes from the Smoking Patio . . . . . 22 The Spotlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 If I Were U. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Concerts & Clubs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24-26

LAST WORDS Advice Goddess. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

JANUARY 24, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 5

NEWS | OPINION

HAM OF THE WEEK

By Torrey Bailey and Seth Combs

Federal guidelines for low-income rent assistance set up during the Obama administration set up a formula for housing vouchers based on ZIP code, but San Diego Housing Commission CEO Rick Gentry, who is in charge of local housing vouchers, ain’t having it. Despite a recent judge’s ruling upholding the new rules, Gentry says he’d rather follow the more outdated system of the three tiers of low-, middle- and high-rent areas. In an interview with KPBS, he called the new guidelines “bureaucratic overkill” and an attempt at “social engineering.”

THE ISSUE: After nearly four months and amidst international controversy over people

being arrested, the city of El Cajon lifted its food-sharing ban that targeted the homeless.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:

“Make sure that we are crystal clear: Mayor Bill Wells, Councilmember Ben Kalasho and the El Cajon City Council did not do any favors for anyone. They were forced to lift their food-sharing ban, because the county lifted the hep A emergency. Do not allow these five wealthy men, to tell you otherwise.”

—Break the Ban organizer Mark Lane (Facebook)

“This has always been about preventing the spread of hepatitis. Ironically, it’s the homeless that are most likely the ones who were most protected by this ban.”

—El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells (San Diego Union-Tribune)

“I defied the ban because it was an ordinance that targeted only some of our community members … I hope that with the publicity that this has garnered and with the rescinding of this unconstitutional ban, that El Cajon and other communities take the time to listen to the individuals most affected by this problem and use data-driven, evidence-based solutions to restore them to our community.”

—Break the Ban activist Blair Overstreet OUR TAKE: This is proof that collective action can work. CityBeat was one of the first

news outlets to report on the controversial ban in detail and even then, the writing was on the wall: Mayor Wells told us back in November that the idea of people getting arrested for feeding the homeless “couldn’t be further from the truth,” and yet people were arrested and issued misdemeanor citations. Councilmember Ben Kalasho told us that the ban was designed to protect “the normal person,” asserting that El Cajon’s homeless population was abnormal. In fact, Kalasho doubled down on Twitter on Tuesday, calling the coverage of the arrests “misleading” and “prejudicial.” Well, the same adjectives could be used to describe the city’s logic for issuing the ban in the first place.

Coming down the pipe Previews of the important or idiotic items possibly coming to a ballot or legislature near you.

We’re sure by now, readers have heard of the New California initiative, the latest proposal to redraw state lines. The founders argue that many of the counties in California’s current makeup are “ungovernable” because of their handlings of health care, education, infrastructure and more. The New California initiative would make it so that California encompasses a slim, coastal fraction of counties reaching from Sonoma to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the proposed New California would include the majority of the state’s current land—northern, inland and southern. At the moment, the counties are working to prove they can govern themselves, before diving into discussions with the California State Legislature.

Verdict: First of all, why can’t San Diego be in this new state, but really, this isn’t the first attempt at secession. In the past, other bogus suggestions have been floated, such as breaking up California into six separate states, or just chopping off the northern half. None of those passed, and we aren’t worried about this one. We are maybe a little butthurt that San Diego wasn’t grouped with the progressive fraction. But not as butthurt as the conservatives behind New California, who are using this initiative to force their opinions into government instead of successfully assembling their party. Just for fun, let’s also point out that 17 counties in the wouldbe New California voted for Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

NEWSY BITS All the seriousness, silliness and stupidity of the past week 1/17 BEST DAY EVER!

FML

AIDS Healthcare Foundation releases ad blasting Rep. Scott Peters for co-sponsoring bill that curtails nonprofit hospitals’ participation in a federal drug discount program.

1/18

1/19

1/20

1/21

L.A. Times newsroom votes to unionize.

Metropolitan Transit System unanimously elects Councilmember Georgette Gomez as first Latina chairwoman. Gomez pledges to focus on increasing ridership and access to youth transit passes.

Flu-related deaths in San Diego hit record high of 142 people.

6 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 24, 2018

Over 37,000 people show up for the San Diego Women’s March.

SDSU interim president announces new task force to review Aztecs mascot and moniker.

Superior Court judge clears Councilmember Chris Cate from having to give sworn testimony in city lawsuit over his leaking of confidential SoccerCity memos.

To counter the Women’s March, the anti-choice Walk for Life draws thousands of protesters to Balboa Park.

Mayor Faulconer taps former Jerry Sanders chief of staff Kris Michell to replace Scott Chadwick as San Diego’s Chief Operating Officer.

1/22

SDSU study finds that adolescents who spend more time with their electronic devices show a decline in their psychological wellbeing.

KUSI weatherman, Weather Channel founder and S.D. legend John Coleman passes away at age 83.

1/23

After earthquake in Alaska, tsunami warning issued for San Diego.

Canceled two hours later. #sadtrombone Republican San Diego Supervisor Kristin Gaspar to run for the departing Darrell Issa’s congressional seat, setting up for a major showdown in the 49th district.

KQED launches a new series of stories devoted to the #MeToo movement. The first guest? Bob Filner.

@SDCITYBEAT

@SDCityBeat

january 24, 2018 · San Diego CityBeat · 7

UP FRONT | OPINION

EDWIN DECKER

SORDID

TALES

Should a believer date or marry an unbeliever?

I

had a depressing realization today. It occurred to me, as a relatively recently divorced male, that I haven’t much of a future in the dating world.

There’s also probably zero chance I’ll ever marry again, were that even something I wanted.

I say this not because I’m old and fat and hate sharing closet space, but because I’m a raging agnostic.

It wasn’t always this way. My secularism was never much of a problem before I was married. Back then, being considerably younger, hardly anyone seemed to care about that stuff. I certainly didn’t mind dating religious women. So long as they were smart, sexy and not prone to fits of holy laughter during our lovemaking sessions, that was enough for me. But I’m older now. And as I’m learning, single, pious ladies over 35—be they Jewish, Christian, Muslim or other—have no interest in shacking up with godless heathens. This does not bode well given the Pew Research conclusion that over 80 percent of American women identify as “believers.” Correct that percentage to exclude married women, age-inappropriate women, out-of-my-leaguers, lesbians, Trump supporters and women who are fans of any Boston sports franchises, and I’m left with an impossibly tiny pool from which I can seek a relationship.

Even if there are a few, say, Christian ladies out there who might consider giving this grumbling old skeptic a chance, a quick Google search of the question, “Should Christians date atheists?” would tamp out that possibility right quick. Turns out the internet is brimming with experts and organizations warning against such unholy couplings. This is how the Conservative website Focus on the Family responded to the atheist who wrote a letter asking if he should marry his Christian fiancé: “She lives her life in the light of a transcendent standard of moral and spiritual values,” said the responder to the man’s question. “She wants to honor her Lord and Savior. If you take the view that her intentions are nothing but superstitious nonsense, we can almost guarantee that you’ll eventually reach an impasse.”

Sounds about right. Especially if you’re married to me. Not only do I view your religiosity as superstitious nonsense, but I call attention to it. I’m not just a secularist, I’m a heck-ularist; the one who heckles, “Give me a break,” whenever somebody takes it upon himself to say grace before a meal. I’m not just an atheist, I’m the nay-theist who naysays, “Oh Christ, would you get a load of this bozo?” whenever I see an athlete blow an appreciative kiss to God. I’m the nag-nostic who won’t stop complaining about the survivor on TV talkin’ ‘bout “It’s a miracle!” at the scene of a train wreck that killed 20 people.

“Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers,” says Paul the Apostle (2 Corinthians 6:14), and, well, for

the first time since Jesus said, “The meek shall inherit an insecurity complex,” I agree with the Bible.

Not that the Bible makes sense, but if you believe it makes sense, then what it’s essentially saying is not to consort with unbelievers. I know, if I subscribed to the concept of salvation, I would never consider a mate that couldn’t accompany me in eternity. Do you have any idea how much it sucks to be single in Heaven?

There are no pickup bars. The massage parlors are all in Hell. And while they do have porn in the Promised Land, it’s just a grainy video of Adam and Eve frolicking semi-naked in some goofy garden.

“An atheist and a Christian are not compatible,” writes blogger Paula Marsteller on the website Lies Young Women Believe. “A Christian is someone whose entire identity has been refashioned around Christ. Christ is their life… An atheist, on the other hand, denies that God even exists. An atheist is a God-hater.”

Again, I agree. Admittedly, the last line is twaddle. Obviously, one cannot hate something one does not believe to exist. I mean, you’re never going to hear me shake my fist in the air howling, “Curse you Santa!” because I didn’t get a Vitamix blender for Christmas. But the rest is accurate. Believers and unbelievers are different. And I’m not talking about tomatoe/tom-ah-toe different. It’s not Yankees/Red Sox different. It is not even applesand-oranges different. Because oranges don’t care if apples believe in the one true Navel and apples don’t think oranges are blithering morons.

That said, I did find a handful of bloggers who believe a union between the spiritually incompatible can work. Such as HuffPo blogger, Cecily Kellogg, who wrote that a believer marrying an unbeliever is, “just like being married to someone that loves football when you can’t stand the sport; you tolerate the differences because that is what couples do.”

It’s “just like” that? Really? Spiritually mismatched unions are “just like” those between football fans and football haters? That’s a terrible analogy. A believer marrying an unbeliever is not like a football fan marrying a football hater. It’s more like an anti-smoking, liberal environmentalist marrying someone who empties their ashtrays into storm drains to punish dolphins for soaking up welfare.

The point being, this is not a minor contrariety.

This is a serious, life-altering, at-the-core contrast we’re talking about. It may be easy to ignore when you’re young and messing around, but at my age— when nobody who’s still single is interested in a relationship that has no chance at happily ever after— well, like I said before, I’m screwed.

I’m not just an atheist, I’m the nay-theist who naysays, ‘Oh Christ, would you get a load of this bozo?’ whenever I see an athlete blow an appreciative kiss to God.

8 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 24, 2018

Sordid Tales appears every other week.

Write to edwin@sdcitybeat.com.

@SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | VOICES

THERE SHE

ALEX ZARAGOZA

GOZ

Why I’ve decided to stop marching at the Women’s March

L

ast year, I joined thousands of activists, new and old, at the Women’s March in San Diego. I even served as one of the lead organizers of the event, leading the PR team and helping to make decisions as part of the executive team. I fully bought into the movement we were creating that day, raising a fist and yelling out a call to action in hopes it might instill a sense of fear into our oppressors and light a fire within those ready to fight.

It felt invigorating. Even so, there were moments of frustration when people’s idea of equality fell short.

I marched again this year, though this time I did so in Downtown Los Angeles with a fresh set of thousands. This time I wasn’t involved in any planning, but shot a few photos for work. I didn’t even make a sign.

While I expected this year to be different, in both turnout and feel, what I didn’t expect was the thread of disillusionment running through me. There, among the faded pussy hats and punny protest signs, I felt like I was in church. I didn’t really care to be there but mainly because of something my mom, a semi-devout Catholic, has told me for years.

She says church doesn’t matter. What matters is faith. A person doesn’t need church to pray or believe in God. Church is just stacks of bricks and excessive use of gold trimming (my words, not hers, but same idea). Faith and resilience is something you carry with you, and God listens regardless of whether a person is speaking to him in his house or, in her case, the clearance section of Chico’s in the Fashion Valley Mall.

And while I didn’t buy into Catholicism, I’ve carried this with me in my ways. And I carried it with me at the march.

Over the last year, we’ve seen countless think-pieces discussing the #MeToo movement and subsequent #TimesUp initiative. Both of these movements have been incredibly powerful and important in raising the voices of women who’ve experienced harassment and assault, and who have had enough of being degraded and denigrated for all manner of reasons.

And yes, the Women’s March has been inspiring and empowering in many ways. Witnessing the resistance in action, and seeing that many women and their allies stand up for themselves is both remarkable and beautiful. It was one of many catalysts that set the wheels in motion for other movements to flourish. And I’m still proud to have played my part in building that wall of resistance, and in no way judge those who do take part.

But solidarity is just not something I can buy into, just as I can’t with Catholicism, because too often it’s used by cis white women to silence and relegate women of color, trans women and other marginalized people in the quest for their rights. I’ve been there, standing in front of someone looking to inspire and empower myself and others. They will passionately preach on the need to support women and listen to them, but then turn around and shut a woman down

for daring to confront them about their internalized misogyny, racism and homophobia.

I’ve been on the receiving end of plenty of liberal women having no issue throwing me into the flames because I’ve questioned them. I’ve been accused of being divisive because I asked for inclusivity, and told I was not showing true solidarity because I didn’t smile and agree with everything a woman said. And before readers need to ask, yes, I do mean white women, but that’s not to say it doesn’t happen with nonwhite women as well.

And I’m far from the only one. Just a day after the march I saw at least a dozen posts from women of color bringing up these very real concerns, and their comments section and mentions getting lit up by offended white women and others. ​Among them was a Latinx woman, Patty Delgado, who posted an image of herself holding a sign that read “Hey White Girls You Are Also Part of the Problem.” That photo was screenshot and reposted by actor Michael Rapaport, who talked shit about her, then slid into her DMs to apologize. When she did not accept his apology, he told her to “eat dix.” Whiteness remains as fragile as ever.

When the idea of solidarity is weaponized in order to deny the place of transgender women in the movement, or to silence the necessary discussions of race and racism and to shame women holding discussions on consent and rape culture, I just can’t.

Frankly, there are just some women I don’t fuck with, even if I still want them to have all the rights and protections they should be entitled to as human beings. And I truly believe that’s OK. You don’t have to love all women to fight for them.

It’s likely the 53 percent of white women who voted for Trump weren’t at the march, nor the 40 percent of Latinos that believe he’s looking out for their best interest. It’s also unlikely that the 63 percent of white women who voted for a child molester in the Alabama Senate race were there either. But there were still plenty within the march that still work overtime to remind people that their fight is not as important as their fight. I know this because I deal with these women on a daily basis, either directly via infuriatingly face-palming conversations or indirectly via their social media posts or New York Times think-pieces.

They’re out there, and I don’t fuck with them.

Even though I haven’t given up on the movement (and never will), and will continue to do my part to talk to those well-intentioned women missing the mark, I think I’m done marching at the Women’s March. I will do as my mom taught me, and hold tightly onto my faith and my beliefs in creating a just and equal world for all women, but particularly those left behind by the movement. And I’ll carry that with me at all times. My march will happen anywhere and everywhere I am.

You don’t have to love all women to fight for them.

@SDCITYBEAT

There She Goz appears every third week.

Write to alexz@sdcitybeat.com.

JANUARY 24, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 9

UP FRONT | FOOD

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER

THE WORLD

FARE

Street food with a fine dining attitude

I

’m passionate about street food. I’m also passionate about fine dining. And I’m really passionate about street food done with a fine dining attitude. And that is precisely what I found at Taqueria Criollo (2nd between Floresta and Espinoza) in Ensenada.

Criollo’s signature dish is a shrimp aguachile torta. One would have to look long and hard to find a great dish more improbable than that one. The words make sense: tortas are great, shrimp’s great and raw shrimp marinated briefly in citrus as an aguachile is great. They just don’t make sense all together. Think about it: the concept of a raw shrimp sandwich doesn’t exactly sound great.

And yet, when Criollo’s chef, Guillermo “Memo” Barreto—formerly of El Sauzal’s El Sarmiento restaurant—noticed bread was also served alongside tuna carpaccios and ceviches, the idea of putting raw shrimp inside a bolillo roll in classic torta style suddenly made all the sense in the world. The result is a remarkably balanced dish: the depth of flavor from the shrimp, acidity from the aguachile, heat from the chiles, bite from the radish, creaminess from the avocado and the grounding of the bread. Each element of the flavor of the dish both complements and contrasts the others yielding a singular flavor profile. It is a truly great dish.

It’s stupid good. I actually suppressed giggles as I ate it.

Roadside guisado-style taco stands are ubiquitous in Mexico. And at the heart of Criollo’s menu are the guisos (stews) that can become the featured elements of their tacos, tortas and chilaquiles (corn tortillas cut into chips, fried and then stewed in salsa). They also have more specific offerings in each category. One of

my favorite bites at Criollo was the taco of Portobello mushrooms with mole. A take on a classic southern Mexican dish, presented with chef-like flourishes, it was hard to say whether the mole was playing a supporting roll to the portobellos’ star turn or the other way around. Another top taco was Borrego tatemado, roasted lamb shredded and served with cherry tomatoes and thinly sliced radishes. The message was clear: a taco that was all about the depth of flavor of that lamb.

Chicharrones—not the ubiquitous supermarket snack food masquerading under that name, but richly stewed pork skins—made for a particularly good chilaquile. Criollo presents chilaquiles that are stewed separately in both red and green salsas with puréed black beans and garnishes of sour cream, lightly pickled MICHAEL A. GARDINER

Torta de aguachile onions and cilantro (either with or without an egg). A Chamorro-style machaca (shaved beef shank) offers a near overload of intense, savory, beefy flavor that gives the chilaquile heft.

At the core of everything, Criollo is all about classic flavors, particularly from the south of Mexico or from Sinaloa (similar to much of Baja’s food) on the northern mainland’s coast. Those flavors are deep, and grounded in cultural history and tradition. But what sets Criollo apart is the precision of the execution, definition of those flavors and the cheffy flourishes that complete the picture. It’s a picture to be seen and tasted.

The World Fare appears weekly.

Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

10 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 24, 2018

THE

BY ANDREW DYER

BEERDIST

Industry spin vs. reality

ANDREW DYER

I

t is becoming difficult to separate the positive news coming from beer industry trade organizations from the reality many are facing in the craft world. With a larger market share than ever before and high brewer confidence, it’s easy to believe that business is booming. However, with so much competition and razor-thin margins, is the boom finally going to bust?

In November, Cal State University San Marcos released the results of a survey that found the vast majority of breweries in the San Diego region planned on expanding, with no respondents planning on downsizing. An annual report by the Brewers Association, a national trade group, found a sales growth rate in 2016—the last year for which data is available—of 6.2 percent.

Those gains, however, are being shared with an ever-expanding field of competitors. Data from the same organization found the total number of breweries in the U.S. jumped from 4,548 in 2015 to 5,301 in 2016—an increase of about 17 percent.

With sales growth not keeping up with producer growth, many are feeling the pinch. Last January, Green Flash laid off a reported 25 employees, but continued with plans to expand into the Midwest.

This month, it announced another round of layoffs totaling 15 percent of its workforce—33 employees. In comments to West Coaster, Green Flash owner Mike Hinkley cited competition from larger breweries as well as smaller, neighborhood operations.

The pain is not only being felt by large regional brewers. In 2017 alone, eight San Diego area breweries closed. There are a couple economic and cultural factors at play with these adjustments.

First, craft breweries acquired by large conglomerates, such as 10 Barrel Brewing and Ballast Point, have solid, pre-existing national distribution networks to tap into.

There is more room to operate at cost, or

Green Flash Brewing Co. even at a loss, if it means establishing a footprint in a new market. Even a larger craft brewer, such as Green Flash, does not enjoy that luxury, which is why part of its restructuring includes contracting their distribution from all 50 states to 15.

Second, things are even tighter for smaller brewers. There was a time, not very long ago, when people would seek out tasting rooms in far-flung industrial parks. This business model worked for a while, but as the number of tasting rooms exploded, the amount of foot traffic dwindled. Today, many neighborhoods boast tasting rooms of their own, which made treks to warehouses much less appealing.

All of this leaves would-be craft beer entrepreneurs with a conundrum. The market for craft beer will continue to expand, but the explosive success stories of a few years ago are unlikely to happen again. Expanding breweries will need to look into underserved areas—such as working-class neighborhoods and communities of color—if they are going to find a market for their product.

This is probably the way it always should have been. The whole mythology behind craft beer is that it is handcrafted in small batches. It was only because no one else was doing it that the ones that did do well became such big-time players.

This correction, while painful for some, is probably healthy for the industry and has been a long time coming.

The Beerdist appears every other week.

Write to andrewd@sdcitybeat.com

@SDCITYBEAT

@SDCityBeat

january 24, 2018 · San Diego CityBeat · 11

EVENTS

SHORTlist

ART

the

THREE YOU HAVE TO SEE

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

SAN DIEGO & IMPERIAL BEACH

A DIFFERENT BEAT

By all accounts, the It’s About Time Festival has so far lived up to hype. Having kicked off earlier this month and happening through Feb. 11, the San Diego Symphony’s collaborative, multivenue fest devoted to all things percussion is certainly a bold undertaking.

But for festival curator Steven Schick, there’s no question in his mind which of the concerts is the boldest, both in size and execution.

“For a long time, I remember thinking what we should play a concert at the Mexican border,” says Schick, a lifelong percussionist who also serves as a UC San Diego music professor. “It was just an idea, but it was an idea I percolated for a really long time and it’s finally going to happen.”

That idea that’s now becoming a reality is the performance of “Inuksuit: A Cross-Border Presentation” on Saturday, Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. at International Friendship Park in Imperial Beach and Playas de Tijuana. The concert will see around 60 bi-national percussionists play John Luther Adams’ musical piece on the border (roughly 30 on each side). Schick sees the concert as a means to explore the “relationship between the noise that’s inside the concert hall and the noise that’s outside,” and promises a concert like no other with sounds being made with everything from large drums to conch shells.

“There is a score, but it’s not a score that is conducted in the same way as other notated mu-

VALERIE ROGATSKY

HRabbitville at Sparks Gallery, 530 Sixth Ave., Downtown. In celebration of the Gaslamp’s 150th anniversary, 15 fiberglass rabbit statues will be unveiled throughout the neighborhood. Sparks Gallery will host a pop-up exhibition of 10 of the rabbits alongside the artists who created them. RSVP required. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25. Free.

619-696-1416, sparksgallery.com HCulture & Cocktails: Modern Masters at San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park. Enjoy cocktails, live music, dance performances, savory eats and treats, artmaking activities and more at this Latin America-themed party. From 6 to 10 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 25. $25-$35. 619-2327931, sdmart.org Illuminated at Sparks Gallery, 530 Sixth Ave., Downtown. An exhibit by the selfproclaimed biomorphic cubism style artist Alexander Arshansky, who depicts the states of spiritual ecstasy. Proceeds from wine sales will benefit a local non-profit organization. RSVP required. Opening at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27. Free. 619-6961416, sparksgallery.com

Steven Schick sic,” says Schick. “You listen your way through the piece, and that’s the poetry of it. You hear your way through it.”

If readers can’t make it to Inuksuit, there will be two more It’s About Time concerts on Saturday.

There’s The Roots of Rhythm at 8 p.m. at Copley Symphony Hall (750 B St., Downtown), which sees John Santos exploring jazz’s “root system,” as well as a San Diego Symphony performance of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring at 10 p.m. at The Music Box (1337 India St., Little Italy). The Inuksuit concert is free and tickets for the other concerts range from $25 to $68 at sandiegosymphony.org.

The San Diego Pancakes & Booze Art Show at 57 Degrees, 1736 Hancock St., Middletown. Featuring over 50 rising artists, this event has been dubbed San Diego’s largest underground art show. It will also include live body painting and a free pancake bar. From 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 27. $7-$10. facebook.com/ events/1938326023058153 Urban Photography Exhibition at La Bodega Gallery, 2196 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. Amateur and professional photographers alike will be showcasing pieces that celebrate the richness and diversity of the world around us. From 6 to 10 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 27. Free. 619-255-7036, labodegagallery.com

BOOKS BALBOA PARK

BALBOA PARK

BREAK OFF

BUTTERFLY EFFECT

B-boying or breaking was mistakenly termed breakdancing after the mainstream media caught whiff of the dance style in the ‘70s. So don’t be the dweeb who calls it that when the Undisputed World B-Boy Masters come to town. On Saturday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 28 at 1 p.m., nine of the world’s top breaking crews will battle it out at the WorldBeat Cultural Center (2100 Park Blvd.) Two Americans are hoping to keep the Undisputed title on our turf, but there’s also competitors from Slovakia, France and all over the world. Aside from the main breaking battle, the two-day event will feature a solo B-girl rivalry, a three-on-three crew contest, meet and greets with the champions and more. Tickets run from $18 for one-day general admission and up to $74 for two-day VIP treatment. worldbboy.org @LITTLESHAO

Undisputed World B-Boy Masters 12 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 24, 2018

Remembrance keeps history from repeating itself. That’s one reason that Jan Landau and Cheryl Rattner Price founded the local non-profit The Butterfly Project, which aims to create 1.5 million ceramic butterflies in memory of each child lost to the Holocaust. On Sunday, Jan. 28, the COURTESY OF SAN DIEGO day after InternaHISTORY CENTER tional Holocaust Remembrance Day, The Butterfly Project will host a film screening of Not The Last Butterfly. This awardwinning documentary tells the story of Ela Weissberger, who survived the Holocaust as a child. Afterwards, attendees are invited to paint their own ceramic butterfly to contribThe Butterfly Project ute to the 1.5 million goal. The event is being held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the San Diego History Center (1649 El Prado). Tickets are $5 and cover the cost of two ceramic butterflies and the movie screening. sandiegohistory.org

Father Gregory Boyle at Shiley Theatre at University of San Diego, 5998 Alcala Park, Linda Vista. The founder of Homeboy Industries and the recipient of the California Peace Prize will be speaking about the messages in his new book, Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship.

Price includes copy of the book. At 7 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 25. Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com Supernatural Psychology: Roads Less Traveled at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. Contributors such as Dr. Janina Scarlet, Billy San Juan, Travis Adams and more will discuss their new book, which analyzes the psychology behind the popular TV series Supernatural. At 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 27. Free. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com HFred Dickey at D.G.Wills Books, 7461 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize nominee will read from and discuss his new book Stories With Faces: The Tightrope Lives of Next-Door People. At 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28. Free. 858-456-1800, www.dgwillsbooks.com Sandra E. Bonura at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. As part of Warwick’s ongoing Weekend with Locals program, Bonura will sign and discuss her book about Ida May Pope, Light in the Queen’s Garden. At noon. Sunday, Jan. 28. Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com Jason R. Karp, PhD at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. As part of Warwick’s ongoing Weekend with Locals Program, Karp will sign and discuss his

H = CityBeat picks

fitness book, Run Your Fat Off. At 2 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 28. Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com Dana Fredsti and David Fitzgerald at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The coauthors will sign and discuss their new sci-fi novel, Time Shards. At 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 28. Free. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Stephen Most at La Jolla Riford Library, 7555 Draper Ave., La Jolla. Documentary filmmaker will sign and discuss his new book, Stories Make the World: Reflections on Storytelling and the Art of Documentary.

At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30. Free. 858-4540347, warwicks.com Melanie Banjamin at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The bestselling novelist will sign and discuss her latest book set in 1914 Hollywood, The Girls in the Picture. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30.

Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com HJunot Díaz at San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, College Area. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao will be reading and signing copies of his books. From 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31. Free. 619-594-1516, facebook.com/ events/135176330508675

COMEDY Whose Live Anyway? at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. Comedians and Whose Line Is It Anyway? favorites Ryan Stiles (The Drew Carey Show), Greg Proops (The Smartest Man in the World), Jeff B. Davis (The Sarah Silverman Program) and Joel Murray (Mad Men) perform improv comedy. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25. $25-$75. 760839-4190, artcenter.org

DANCE HUndisputed World B-Boy Masters at WorldBeat Cultural Center, 2100 Park Blvd., Balboa Park. Nine of the world’s top breaking crews will battle it out. The two-day event will feature a solo B-girl rivalry, a threeon-three crew contest, meet and greets with the champions and more. From 7 to 10 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 27 and 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28. $18-$74. worldbboy.org

FILM Mark Cantor’s Giants of Jazz on Film at David & Dorothea Garfield Theater, 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla. The first in a three-part series of screenings where music maven Mark Cantor will show off his archival collection of jazz and blues performances. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 24. $20-$57. 858-362-1348, sdcjc.org HNot The Last Butterfly at San Diego History Center, 1649 El Prado, Balboa Park. The non-profit organization, The Butterfly Project honors International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a viewing of this documentary, which tells the story of a child’s survival. Attendees are then invited to paint a ceramic butterfly in memoriam of a child lost in the Holocaust. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28. $5. 619-2326203, sandiegohistory.org HTony: The Movie at San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village. A screening of a film focusing on homelessness in San Diego and what can be done about it. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the subject and director of the film, as well as local homeless advocates. At 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29.

Free. 619-239-8836, observatorysd.com

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 13 @SDCITYBEAT

EVENTS FOOD & DRINK HSan Diego Restaurant Week at various locations. More than 180 local restaurants will be offering three-course, prix-fixe dinner and two-course, prix-fixe lunch menus. See website for full list of restaurants and offerings. Various times.

Through Sunday, Jan. 28. $10-$50. sandiegorestaurantweek.com Mixer for the Arts at Border X Brewing, 2181 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan.

Meet and mingle with visual and performance artists as well as anyone else that supports the artistic community. Don’t forget your business cards!

From 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25. Free. 619-501-0503, facebook.com/ events/137343813625019 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. 26, 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 27 and 9 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 28. $25-$37. caffeinecrawl.com Shirts on Tap at Societe Brewing Company, 8262 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Kearny Mesa. The tasting room will be hosting a kickoff party for the release of Societe Brewing’s new merchandise as created by locally-based printing company Shirts on Tap. From 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27. Free. 858-598-5409, facebook.com/ events/372007669929112

MUSIC HLiz Vice at The Loft at UCSD, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. The gospel, soul and R&B–inspired artist is known for her dynamic vocals and classically influenced lyrics that reference her deep-rooted spirituality. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25. $9-$35. artpower.ucsd.edu HStories in Time at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown. A Jacobs masterworks concert exploring the fluid relationship between music and time, featuring a solo by special guest percussionist Aiyun Huang. At 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28. $20-$98.

619-795-1337, sandiegosymphony.org HInuksuit: A Cross-Border Presentation at International Friendship Park in Imperial Beach and Playas de Tijuana.

In conjunction with the It’s About Time Festival, this concert will see around 60 bi-national percussionists play John Luther Adams’ musical piece on both sides of the border. At 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27. Free. 619-795-1337, sandiegosymphony.org HArrington de Dionyso at Helmuth Projects, 1827 5th Ave., Downtown. The

@SDCITYBEAT

multi-instrumentalist and experimental musician will be accompanied by percussionists Ben Bennett, Leah Bowden, Corey Fogel as well as others at this SPACE TIME-hosted event. At 8 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 27. $5-$7.spacetimeart. org HThe Rite of Spring at The Music Box, 1337 India St., Little Italy. As part of the It’s About Time festival, composer Cliff Colnot has put together a multimedia presentation and performance of the classic piece by Igor Stravinsky. At 10 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 27. $27. 619-795-1337, sandiegosymphony.org Dariush at Balboa Theatre, 868 4th Ave, Downtown. The Iranian singer, known for his warm bass tone and his socio-political lyrics, will be performing the most celebrated songs of his career. At 9 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 27. $60. 619-570-1100, sandiegotheatres.org HThe Ecology of Sound: A Collective Exploration of ‘The Language of Things’ at San Diego Art Institute, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. Art of Élan presents a concert event that features world premier compositions and a moderated artist talk centered on Roberto Romero Molina’s current sound installation. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30. $10. 619-2360011, sandiego-art.org HRoland Auzet at Mandeville Auditorium at UCSD, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla.

As part of the San Diego Symphony’s It’s About Time festival, Auzet will play a percussion piece entitled “bare hands,” which focuses on sounds we hear in the car. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31. $9-$35. artpower.ucsd.edu

PERFORMANCE Disney On Ice at Valley View Casino Center, 3500 Sports Arena Blvd., Point Loma. Princesses and characters from Finding Nemo, Frozen, Toy Story and other Disney and Pixar favorites appear together for a performance on ice. At 7 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 26. $15-$80. 619-224-4171, valleyviewcasinocenter.com HShen Yun at California Center for the Arts, 340 N Escondido Blvd., Escondido.

A live orchestra and a cast of hundreds of dancers transport audiences to an ancient world through this world-renowned celebration of Chinese culture. From 7:30 to 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30. $80-$180.

760-839-4138, artcenter.org

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD HVAMP: Party Foul at Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park. So Say We All’s monthly storytelling showcase will

BOOKS: THE FLOATING LIBRARY To impeach or not impeach…

T

he general consensus about Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, the bestselling account of Donald J. Trump’s unexpected ascent to the highest office in the nation, is there are very few bombshells, especially in regards to the controversy with Russia.

As someone who has breathlessly followed the political news since that dark day on Nov. 8, 2016, I agree with that assessment. But that didn’t stop me from enjoying the hell out of Fire and Fury, if “enjoy” is even the right word for it.

What Wolff delivers in his account of Trump’s White House is context and characterization. I’d fallen into the trap of seeing the Trump administration as a monolithic entity with a single mindedness of purpose that would rival a Bond villain. Wolff disabuses the reader of this notion with his nuanced portrait of the many factions at play in the Oval Office.

Reince Priebus represents the GOP establishment, who is at odds with Steve Bannon and his Breitbart cronies who are locked in deadly combat with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, shortened here to Jarvanka.

Each of these factions compete to influence a president who “did not know what he didn’t know, did not particularly care, and, to boot, was confi-

dent if not serene in his unquestioned certitudes.”

In Wolff’s view, this nest of vipers makes “Shakespeare look like Dr. Seuss.”

Fire and Fury is a bit like Tom Stoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are courtiers, bit players who serve as comic relief. But in Stoppard’s masterpiece they take center stage while the rest of the drama unfolds around them. Knowledge of one amplifies our understanding of the other.

Such is the case in Fire and Fury, where an overmatched Jarvanka attempt to steer the ship of state, all while an unkempt Steve Bannon does his best to run it aground.

Fire and Fury is not without its flaws. There are very few scenes with a proper beginning, middle and end. One attempt to dramatize Ivanka’s arrival at the Four Seasons for a breakfast meeting is gossipy and lacks anything resembling drama.

Depending on your point of view, Fire and Fury is an indictment of a broken political system or, like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, an existential comedy.

Laugh while you can.

—Jim Ruland

The Floating Library appears every other week.

feature tales about those times we were the most embarrassed at a social function. Readers include Jennifer Coburn, Ginger Nocera, Lauren Fish and more.

From 8:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25. $5 suggested donation. 619-284-6784, sosayweallonline.com

chance to tour three iconic spots along the already-existing San Diego-Tijuana border fence, as well as the eight 30foot prototypes for the Trump Administration’s proposed border wall. From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27. $59. turistalibre.com

SPECIAL EVENTS

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS

HAgainst the Wall Border Proximity Pilgrimage at San Ysidro Transit Center, 499 Virginia Ave., San Ysidro. Turista Libre’s latest offering gives people a

HWhite People for Racial Justice 101 at Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, 4089 Fairmount Ave., City Heights. An event discussing how to

identify everyday racism and unlearn your own biases to take strides towards racial equality. The interactive workshop covers the basics of white supremacy, privilege and fragility. Breakfast will be provided and RSVP is required. From 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27. Free. facebook.com/events/156653248276420

Find more event listings at sdcitybeat.com

JANUARY 24, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 13

THEATER

DAREN SCOTT

Last but definitely not least

C

ygnet Theatre’s The Last Wife is not so much a deconstruction of history as it is, in the words of playwright Kate Hennig, a reimagining of the people who made it. It’s also a potboiler of a historical drama set in contemporary trappings and with enough howling ambition, lusting and assorted machinations that it could take up a full season of Dynasty (the ‘80s original, not the lame current revival).

That is not to diminish a production that is, under Rob Lutfy’s skilled direction of a superb cast, both thoughtful and intelligent.

The “last wife” referred to in the title is the remarkable Katherine Parr, or Kate, who reluctantly married King Henry VIII but who in her four years as his queen brought a dignity and shrewdness to the monarchy that were sorely missing under Henry’s brash, often tyrannical reign. She also facilitated the reconciliation between the king and his two daughters by previous wives, Mary and Elizabeth (Bess), and was responsible for their being restored to the line of succession, an act that would change the course of English history. The Last Wife determinedly mines the depths of Kate’s complex relationships: with Henry, with the three children (including Edward, the son of Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour) and with her lover and future husband Thomas Seymour, Jane’s brother.

Allison Spratt Pearce is strength and luminosity personified as Kate in an

San Diego Repertory Theatre, it opens Jan. 25 at the Lyceum Space in Downtown. sdrep.org Cloud Tectonics: This “magical tale of love lost in time and space” centers on two star-crossed lovers who meet at a rainy bus stop. Presented by New Village Arts’ Teatro Nuevo Pueblo, it opens Jan. 26 at the New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad. newvillagearts. org The Full Monty: Based on the hit indie flick, this musical comedy tells the story of six despondent steelworkers who decide to bare it all in order to make some quick cash. Presented by San Diego Musical Theatre, it opens Jan. 26 at the Horton Grand Theatre in Downtown. sdmt.org

Manny Fernandes and Allison Spratt Pearce in The Last Wife inspired portrayal that, as the play intends, reverberates with the here and now. Manny Fernandes, in a highly physical performance, is more than up to the ferocity and repugnance of Henry VIII. Cashae Monya’s Mary is the most audacious character, while 14-year-old Kylie Acuna is intuitive beyond her years as Bess.

Cygnet’s staging could do without the accompanying “tension music” in a couple of confrontations, and here and there the 2015 script’s nods to contemporary times are a bit too ������������������������������� wink-wink. But this production is by turns sensual, ferocious and even contemplative, and it is lengthy and wellpaced enough to contain all the heat and reflection of its extraordinary characters.

14 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 24, 2018

The Last Wife runs through Feb. 11 at Cygnet Theatre in Old Town. $38-$59; cygnettheatre.com

—David L. Coddon

Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING: Cardboard Piano: The West Coast premiere of Hansol Jung’s drama about two young girls—one an American missionary and the other a teenage Ugandan—who fall in love amidst a civil war. Directed by Jacole Kitchen, it opens in previews Jan. 25 at the Diversionary Theatre in Hillcrest. diversionary.org Vietgone: Qui Nguyen’s acclaimed play about his parents, who flee Saigon during the Vietnam War and end up traveling across the U.S. Presented by

The Importance of Being Earnest: Oscar Wilde’s famous comedy about two rascally bachelors who take on double identities to climb the social ladder.

Directed by Maria Aitken, it opens Jan. 27 at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. theoldglobe.org BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!): A world premiere comedy that reimagines Ancient Greek heroines as pill-popping suburban housewives in the ‘60s. Written

by Jami Brandli, it opens in previews Jan. 28 at the MOXIE Theatre in the College Area. moxietheatre.com Seeger: This one-man-show written and performed

by Randy Noojin tells the tale of folk singer and activist Pete Seeger via song and stories. It happens Jan. 29 at the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach. northcoastrep.org True West: A staged reading of the Pulitzer finalist about a young screenwriter who is forced to team up with his bully brother to foil the plans of a conman. Presented by the Carlsbad Playreaders, it happens Jan. 29 at the Carlsbad City Library. carlsbadplayreaders.org

Find more theater listings at sdcitybeat.com

@SDCITYBEAT

@SDCityBeat

january 24, 2018 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

CULTURE

efore my sister and I leave to see Hamilton, Dua, my three-yearold niece is chatting with her parents at the dinner table.

“George Washington was Black,” Dua proclaims. She is pissed we’re going to the musical without her and using her knowledge of the show as proof we should take her with us. My white brother-in-law laughs, and then groans.

“Um, oh, wow,” he says, clearly flummoxed. “I don’t know how to have this conversation with a toddler. George Washington was not Black.”

Dua, unperturbed, looks at him.

“Yes, daddy. George Washington was Black.”

Dua is obsessed with the Hamilton cast recording and quotes it constantly, even if she doesn’t really get it. She doesn’t know crap about American history yet. She lives in a comfortable world, always fed, always loved and always listened to. She is bilingual and precocious. She spends her days in my childhood home with my Puerto Rican mother and grandmother, picking and shelling gandules, a pea that is a Puerto Rican staple. My Mexican dad serenades her constantly with his guitar, while she sings along in Spanish and keeps time with mini maracas.

I have never been a huge fan of American history. That is, the history I was taught in schools that glorified the conquerors; the bloody handed and the manifest destiny bastards we celebrated as heroes. A monolithic river of white men and women marching across the continent, Black and Brown bodies used, abused, strewn and discarded in their wake.

But I love the shit out of Hamilton.

The show (which ends its San Diego run Jan. 28 at the Civic Theatre) focuses on the rise and fall of Alexander Hamilton, his personal relationships, his ferocious dedication to the young country he was helping shape.

And it’s fun. It made history fun. Sing-along fun, shouting-along-in-traffic fun.

I can rap the “Battle of Yorktown,” spit along to cabinet battle raps about national debt and shout along “Immigrants, we get the job done!” every single time I hear the line. I weep at the last line of the play: “Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?”

I swing Dua up in my arms, and I sing to her the same line Washington sings to Hamilton: “History has its eye on you.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical is wild, unexpected and wonderful. Years ago, Miranda, a Puerto Rican theater nerd from New York City, read the Ron Chernow biography of Hamilton and realized the “founding father without a father” was hella hip-hop. Hamilton was an immigrant from the Caribbean who ended up in New York and hustled his way up into greatness through revolution, elocution and his skill with the pen. Hamilton started beef with other founding fathers. He probably would have ended up as President, if not for the fact that incriminating letters surfaced and ruined his chances, the 18th century equivalent of a sex tape.

I love seeing Dua rap along to American history, all the guts and glory spilled in her baby voice. She is a true innocent. Every day she knocks on her great-grandmother’s granny flat door and crawls into her lap to chat and snuggle.

But Dua is also too young to see the pain

16 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 24, 2018

that is etching itself across my 86-year-old grandmother’s features. She doesn’t notice that her eyes are swollen red from crying.

That her suitcases have been packed for 121 days. My grandmother is both immigrant and citizen. She spends every single day glued to the television, wondering when, if ever, she can go home to Puerto Rico. Her home, American soil, has been without electricity, running water and food for over four months. This is history. This is happening. Hurricane Maria devastated American soil. American bodies floated down American streets. My grandmother’s cousin died that week, unable to get the medical attention he needed.

My grandmother is aching to go home to Puerto Rico. She was supposed to fly home the day the hurricane devastated the island. She sat glued to the television for days, pacing, raging at the ineptitude of the Trump administration as it dragged its feet in sending aid. She waited for weeks to hear who lived and who didn’t. She waited weeks to hear if her home still stood. She is finally flying home next week and says she will never leave her island again. Her love for her home is fierce, protective. She wants to die where she was born.

Miranda is taking Hamilton to Puerto Rico later this year, where he will reprise his role as Hamilton for the islanders. He has raised funds, sent aid and has been vocal about the administration’s inaction. Yet, this administration has shown over and over it cares little for poor folk, Brown folk and immigrants. Letting the citizens of Puerto Rico go without electricity and letting them die from drinking foul water is not making America great.

I wonder when we go from being immigrants to citizens. My grandmother is an American citizen. I am an American citizen.

We are also Brown women, and the history of this land is filled with the systemic oppression and exclusion of people who were born in bodies like ours, even if we were born here. I get excited about Hamilton, but my excitement has an underbelly of discomfort and distaste.

Dua is three. She listens. She is learning, and we are shaping the way she learns.

She listens to her mother and I rage and rally about the administration we live under. She marched in the Women’s March for the second year in a row this year and she thinks George Washington is Black. One day soon we’re going to have to sit her down and explain that George Washington was not Black, and that he was actually a slave owner.

When she goes to elementary school and comes home to talk to us about the same histories we were taught, we will tell her the other side of the stories. We will tell her the truths about this country she was born into: about indigenous genocide, about slavery, about the various oppressions that have grown alongside this country we call home.

And we’ll tell her about the oppressions that continue and the assaults on our freedoms. She will grow up dancing the same complicated steps we have known our entire lives: that you can love the idea of your country, but also remain deeply aware of the devastations it has caused both domestically and globally. We will teach her that she can make the American story her own, create her own songs and that history has its eye on her.

@SDCITYBEAT

CULTURE | VOICES

RACHEL MICHELLE FERNANDES

THANK YOU FOR

STARING

Art-topia, Part 4: The outer limits

L

“

iving in the sprawl, dead shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains and there’s no end in sight. I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights!” cries singer Regine Chassagne in the song “Sprawl II” by Arcade Fire. It’s a sentiment I’ve shared for most of my life. Give me the gritty, pulsating vibes �������������������������������������� of the city or a silent, dark country� side. The suburbs are for horror movies like Poltergeist or Dawn of the Dead.

Having fled car-country San Diego many years back in favor of the most urban city in the U.S., I can attest to the immense pleasure of living the pedestrian life.

The pleasures of riding public transportation and let� ting the mind wander while being surrounded by folks from varying walks of life. I didn’t own a car for 13 years! And yet, here I am, living in a condo in inland Carlsbad.

That’s right folks, North County, a.k.a. no man’s land (according to all of my Downtown friends who never seem to visit).

I’m not here to just complain about suburbia (though believe me, there’s enough distasteful monoculture to dump on for a whole column). Nor am I here to cry about how much driving I now have to do. Instead, I offer a plea to my fellow art lovers with or without vehicles: How about a road trip? Besides hiking spots, beaches and all the incredible cultural happenings south of the border, there are some small but mighty communities on the out� skirts of our own fair city that are making some major contribu� tions to the arts. It’s time to stop whining, pack some snacks, and carpool to show some solidarity.

“When you try to boost the arts in a community, you have to also bring people from outside the community,” says Francisco Eme, chief curator of The Front, Casa Familiar’s Art and Culture center in San Ysidro. “It’s like an exchange. You invite people from all over San Diego to the gallery in San Ysidro and then you take the artists from San Ysidro all over San Diego.”

Eme, a native of Mexico City, relocated a few years ago to San Diego and it’s been a bit of an adjustment.

“When I was Mexico City, I used to go to concerts or to school and do things I had to do. I’d take the subway or bus, and it could take an hour to get there but it didn’t stop me from going. Even if it was rain� ing or far away or I had to return late at night,” he recalls. “Now I’m becoming more of a San Diegan, because it’s more difficult for me to go somewhere when it’s farther than usual. In Mexico City, that didn’t matter.”

Despite, or perhaps because of this lifestyle shift, Eme has been making great strides to not only engage with the surrounding community, but to encourage people from all over San Diego County to take an

interest in San Ysidro. Last year, Eme’s curatorial ef� forts resulted in shows that included contemporary art, as well as historical exhibitions about the history of San Ysidro and bi-national lowriders. He followed those two with a highly attended experimental sound art show.

Like Eme and The Front, there are several arts or� ganizations in Escondido putting in due diligence to engage audiences from far and wide. In addition to the well covered Niki de Saint Phalle exhibit at the California Center for the Arts, the neighborhood I once thought of as being synonymous with avocado groves and my devoutly Christian relatives also hosts a second Saturday art walk. It also has a plethora of galleries that feature local and international work, and even a non-profit devoted to teaching art to at-risk teens called Art Hatch.

“We’ve always worked to� gether in Escondido,” says Melissa Walker who runs Art Hatch as well as Distinction, a for-profit gallery. “Having our openings together helps to draw more people not just from here but from surrounding areas. We have flyers made where there are restaurants you could eat at and all of the Arts venues are listed that you could visit throughout the day. So it’s kind of a way to get people to come to town and spend the day.”

“I think collaboration is the key,” says Chrisanne Moats, ex� ecutive director of the Escon� dido Arts Partnership Munici� pal Gallery. “We’re a welcoming community space. We have an arts library where local students can study and check out books, musicians come to practice guitar, or anyone can just sit and draw.”

If someone had told a younger me that one day I’d be psyched to go spend the day in Escondido, my eyes would’ve rolled back into my head. But Niki de Saint Phalle, an art walk, guitar and drawing practice and an arts library? Sounds like an Art-topia to me.

“I think that San Diego has a pretty healthy art scene,” says Eme. Despite my distaste for the sprawl, I have to concur. “A lot of people complain and a lot of people leave San Diego because they feel like they are not growing as artists, but I have a different perspec� tive about that.”

Perhaps by visiting each other’s neighborhoods a bit more often and getting out of our own bubbles, we can strengthen what matters: locally driven culture with a global perspective. It’s also a way to fight op� pressive monoculture, which in my opinion is the real enemy.

Anyone down to carpool?

If someone had told a younger me that one day I’d be psyched to go spend the day in Escondido, my eyes would’ve rolled back into my head.

@SDCITYBEAT

Thank You For Staring appears every other week.

JANUARY 24, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 17

CULTURE | FILM

Acting up

Salma Hayek in Beatriz at Dinner

Showcasing the best film performances ignored by Oscar

by Glenn Heath Jr.

E

very year, the Academy Awards nominations inspire an impassioned response over which actors and films were ignored in favor of stuffy mediocrity (Darkest Hour) and grotesque caricature (I, Tonya). It’s true that the award’s season cycle is utterly toothless and often snubs the year’s most enduring work. Consider the following list of superb, but unsung performances to be another a frank reminder to all Oscar voters that cinema’s best spans far beyond the limited reaches of their DVD screener pile.

Salma Hayek in Beatriz at Dinner: Miguel Arteta’s talky confrontation of elitist arrogance and warped social priorities works because of Hayek’s sublimely sad central turn. Her kindhearted wellness therapist, forced to endure a night of wealthy entitlement and malice by happenstance, is the purest of souls in a poisonous time. As she listens to the bubble-wrapped conversations of the rich and powerful, her faith in humanity slowly and tragically crumbles. In the end, it’s clear that some people are just too good for this world.

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart in BPM (Beats Per Minute): The embodiment of heartbreak. As one of the key ACT UP members in Robin Campillo’s moving advocacy drama, Biscayart displays relentless energy and charisma in the gripping first half, exposing corporate greed and social hypocrisy with charming wit. In the second act, he becomes a casualty of the slow moving bureaucracy he has spent his young life fighting against. Biscayart avoids the pitfalls of cheap sentimentality with honesty and tenacity. Despite the tragic implications of his performance, his dignity and strength remain constant.

Tiffany Haddish in Girls Trip: The year’s most insanely fun and propulsive performance belongs to Haddish, whose foul-mouthed truth-teller dominates all comers in Malcom D. Lee’s blissful studio comedy. Constantly challenging notions of taste and acceptable behavior, her character (Dina) refuses to recognize society’s familiar limitations. Traditional characters played Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and Regina Hall seem equally awestruck by Haddish’s singular presence. The heat emanating from her every phrasing and facial expression could power the sun.

Kris Avedisian in Donald Cried: An off-putting mishmash of awkwardness, anger and affection, Avedisian’s titular sad sack hangs over this deadpan comedy

18 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 24, 2018

like a wet blanket. And the pressure is almost too much to bear. Watching Donald try to reintegrate himself back into the life of ex-bestie Peter (Jesse Wakerman) is one of modern cinema’s great emotional nose-dives.

Pain this raw could only manifest in the kind of faltering male ego that has feasted on delusion for decades.

Charo Santos-Concio in The Woman Who Left: Rage, empathy, heartache, joy: This performance has it all. Director Lav Diaz convinced one of Filipino cinema’s titanic figures to return to the big screen for this brilliant, nearly four-hour character study about a scorned woman, released from prison after serving 30 years, who traverses the countryside looking for her missing son. On the way, she plots revenge against the corrupt politician who framed her. Diaz’s famed long takes help establish deeper emotional stakes, with the camera pinned to Renata’s facial expressions as they change slowly over time.

Harris Dickinson in Beach Rats: In Eliza Hittman’s sun drenched millennial mambo, Dickinson’s lead performance illuminates the difficult psychological cross-section where isolation and yearning intersect. Caught between a troubled home life and repressed sexual identity, his Frankie retreats into macho social dynamics, drug abuse and destructive friendships. Often filmed without a shirt, Dickinson’s youthful build is just another acceptable societal uniform that provides convenient cover for the doubt and insecurity festering inside.

Ahn Seo-hyun in Okja: There’s no stopping the wonderful tween at the heart of Bong Joon-ho’s wild satire about a future dominated by greed and environmental destruction. When corporate thugs steal her genetically mutated pet pig for a worldwide publicity stunt, Ahn’s propulsive Mija refuses to accept the pain of separation. The cinematic momentum she alone creates helps solidify Bong’s vibrant activist vision, leaving stars such as Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano and Jake Gyllenhaal twisting in the wind.

Robert Pattinson in Good Time: Long gone are the days of Twilight; anyone who keeps up with film business knows that Pattinson has become one of the best young actors around (see also James Gray’s The Lost City of Z). Here, he plays a scuzzball thief posing

FILM CONTINUED ON PAGE 19 @SDCITYBEAT

CULTURE | FILM

Nahuel Pérez Biscayart in BPM

FILM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18 as a righteous brother, tethering every scene of Josh and Benny Safdie’s grungy NYC art film to a queasy sense of self-preservation. That face, once co-opted by the studios for maximum teen heartthrob status, is now sullen, bearded and shifty.

Millicent Simmonds in Wonderstruck: Todd Haynes’ decade spanning children’s saga follows along as hearing-impaired sprouts scour museums and book stores looking for answers about their mysterious families. As the defiant Rose, the film’s heart and soul, Simmonds (a deaf actress making her debut) comes to personify the film’s core themes with the expressive tenacity and fortitude of a silent movie star.

Film reviews run weekly.

Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com

OPENING Cuando Los Hijos Regresan: Iconic actress Carmen Maura (Volver, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown) leads an all-star cast in this comedy about a parent whose adult kids decide to move back in. Opens Friday, Jan. 26, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Freak Show: Alex Lawther plays a fabulous, glitter-bedecked, gender-bending teenager who is forced to live with his straightlaced father (Larry Pine) while also attending an ultra-conservative high school. Opens Friday, Jan. 26, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Hostiles: Christian Bale stars as a brutal Army captain based in New Mexico tasked with escorting a Cheyenne chief back to his native Montana in Scott Cooper’s classical Western.

Maze Runner: The Death Cure: It will only be a matter of time before this franchise runs out of mazes to run, right?

@SDCITYBEAT

ONE TIME ONLY There’s Something About Mary: Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz lead the classic Farrelly brothers comedy in which a man gets a chance to date his dream girl from high school. Screens at 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 24, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight: When a monster from an animated television show starts a zombie outbreak, two eccentric individuals must save the day. Part of a double feature that begins at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Turbo Kid: Set in a post apocalyptic year of 1997, this nostalgic tribute to ‘80s action films follows an orphaned teenager who goes on an adventure to save his female-robot companion from the hands of an evil warlord. Part of a double feature that begins at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Blazing Saddles: Mel Brooks lights some dynamite under the western genre, destroying genre conventions with subversive jokes and gags. Screens at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26 and Saturday, Jan. 27, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

The Maltese Falcon: In this noir classic, detective Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) gets more than he bargained for when he takes a case brought to him by a secretive woman (Mary Astor).

Screens at 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Brick: After receiving a frantic phone call from his ex-girlfriend, teenage loner Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) learns that her dead body has been found and vows to solve her murder himself. Screens at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Coming to America: Eddie Murphy plays a pampered African prince whose visit to Queens immeasurably changes his life in this 1988 comedy. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 31, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

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

JANUARY 24, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 19

DAVID ROBINSON

MUSIC

acob Bannon is unusually humble when it comes to discussing his band. Having fronted the groundbreaking Converge since 1990, he’s been part of a group whose evolution over three decades has seen them taking on some radical sounds within heavy music. But he has a slightly different perspective on the matter.

“We’re a regular old hardcore band.”

There’s a kernel of truth to Bannon’s humility. The Salem, Massachusetts band don’t act like rock stars. They travel in a van with one merch guy and no more instruments than they can reasonably carry with them.

But on a musical level, they’re anything but a “regular old hardcore band.” That might have been true back in the ‘90s, with early releases such as Halo in a Haystack or Petitioning the Empty Sky, but they’ve been on a progressive journey since then. Their career since 2001 has seen them building on their early sound to create an intense, sometimes epic and frequently melodic version of metal and hardcore that’s as versatile and diverse as it’s ever sounded.

The sound might change every time Converge exits the studio, but Bannon says their goal is always the same.

“Our blueprint is always the same as a band: writing aggressive and dynamic songs,” he says. “That musical character has already been created. That’s just what we operate in, the collective voice that we are. It’s not necessarily predictable, but it’s always that reflection. So it’s always about getting into that mode, and going through things that have been written over that time.

We write over a long period of time and then take a matter of months to try to refine and shape things before recording. It goes from this weirdly broad net catching all these things in our lives, and then processing all that life experience and boiling it down to a record.”

Converge’s new album The Dusk In Us, released in November via Epitaph, is indeed

aggressive and dynamic. It’s also the farthest thing from a traditional hardcore album. It’s a visceral and furious document, at times comprising one-minute bursts of pure fury. But it also stretches out into new musical terrain. Leadoff track “A Single Tear” is a melodic post-hardcore anthem that reflects Bannon’s own experiences as a father. “Trigger” is unusually psychedelic, with a slow groove that ranks among the album’s catchiest. And closing track “Reptile” has a sludgy, progressive sound that would fit in comfortably alongside Mastodon or Baroness.

On The Dusk In Us, Bannon—along with guitarist Kurt Ballou, bassist Nate Newton and drummer Ben Koller—have challenged themselves in stunning ways. It helps that they’re creatively restless, the types of artists who are never fully satisfied with what they do. But that restlessness, Bannon says, is what drives them to keep pushing themselves farther.

“That’s one of the things about being a creative person—you’re always trying to attain something, and you’re trying to attain the unattainable,” he says. “You’re trying to capture what’s in your head. And those subtle, little things. Those little flaws and things that drive you crazy as an artist and what you want to drive out of yourself are what other people find interesting. It’s a double-edged sword. Everybody wants to be a specific type of artist. But it’s always a little off. And that thing that’s off is a uniqueness that makes you who you are.”

The Dusk In Us was one of 2017’s most acclaimed records, and landed on a number of year-end lists, but Converge are no strangers to acclaim. The band’s 2001 release Jane Doe was named the best metal album of the decade by metal magazine Decibel in 2009. And every album since then has been met with positive press. Last year, Bannon was even asked to rank Converge’s albums for Noisey, and he did so in reverse chronological order, suggesting that their newest album at the

20 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 24, 2018

Converge time, 2012’s All We Love We Leave Behind, was their best. Following that pattern, it’d be reasonable to assume that Bannon finds their latest album to be another step forward. For him, if he’s not creating something he considers greater than what he’s already released, then there’s no point in doing it.

“I always find it a little scary when I read some music press about an artist I like and they like their third album more than their seventh album,” he says. “And there’s no right or wrong way of doing things, but for me, I don’t think I could ever look at things that way. I know if I didn’t connect with something in a more intense way or a more evolved way than the previous one, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with the process at all.”

The distance Converge have traveled in 27 years—both literally and metaphorically— is staggering. They’re a visionary metal band, but they’re also workhorses, seemingly tour-

ing nonstop while also keeping busy with a variety of other projects. Kurt Ballou runs GodCity Studios, having produced the likes of Chelsea Wolfe, while Bannon runs independent label Deathwish Inc., and Koller and Newton perform in several other bands. Converge’s scope, legacy and versatility manage to keep growing over time. But in a lot of other ways, Bannon says, they haven’t really changed at all.

“I think one of the interesting things about our band, at least to me, is we’ve all done it under the same name with the same people,” he says. “There are people who come to shows now who were barely born when (Jane Doe) came out and only know this version of our band. Our core creative has been the same. It’s just the four of us doing our thing.

The world’s just changed around us.”

Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com. Follow him on Twitter @1000TimesJeff

@SDCITYBEAT

@SDCityBeat

january 24, 2018 · San Diego CityBeat · 21

MUSIC

BY RYAN BRADFORD THE

NOTES FROM THE SMOKING PATIO

SPOTLIGHT

COURTESY OF SUB POP

ALBUMS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2018

ANTON CORBIJN

W

e’re a few weeks into 2018 already, but it’s starting to look like a promising year for San Diego music.

Hot Snakes top the list with their first album in 14 years. The band’s new album, Jericho Sirens, will be released on March 9 via Sub Pop. Also expected later this year is Author & Punisher’s first album for Relapse. Tristan Shone’s goth-as-fuck Pressure Mine EP from last year is a good indication of where he’ll go next, though the new album will feature newly built machines, so expect to hear some new sounds.

Taken by Canadians will release their new self-titled album via Blind Owl on Jan. 26, and Twin Ritual will have their EP release the next night (see If I Were U this week).

MVP local musician and Redwoods Music alum Jake Najor will finally release his debut album, Jake Najor and the Moment of Truth. Well Well Well, featuring Seton Edgerton of Barbarian, will release a series of EPs in 2018. Nathan Hubbard’s project Translation Has Failed will release new album Isolation Clause in March. Volar Records has lined up album releases this year from local groups Teenage Burritos, Keepers and Teach Me. And doom-gazers Of Ennui will have a new EP, Tone Poems, out in February.

Hot Snakes Other bands slated to release new music in 2018 include AJ Froman, Casey Hensley, Call of the Wild, Spooky Cigarette, New Me, Dock Ellis (MidYawn and Tall Can), Dani Bell and the Tarantist, Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact, Cardinal Moon, Perfect Weather for Humans, Exasperation, The Fictitious Dishes, Le Ra, Sure Fire Soul Ensemble, Oh Spirit, Hours, Hexa, The Bad Vibes, Retra, The Gorgeous Boyscouts, The Oxen, The Havnauts, Forest Grove, Warsaw, fivepaw, The Gloomies and Soft Lions. The debut album by p.j. Sparkles, aka Soft Lions’ Megan Liscomb, was released earlier this month.

—Jeff Terich

THE EIGHT BEST PINBACK SONGS

T

his week, Pinback is playing a three-night residency at name, “Offcell” is a case study in how to make a great inThe Casbah, which coincides with the 20th anniversa- die pop song from fairly simple elements: guitar, bass, drum ry of the band’s formation. In the band’s two decades machine and vocals. The melody is one of their strongest, (on and off) together, they’ve released some great music, and not to mention its stunning traces of acoustic strums.

“Fortress”: Pinback is a great band for anyone who likes I decided to take it upon myself to pick eight of their best.

“Penelope”: The first of the band’s tracks to make its the sound of clean, harmonized guitars, and this single way onto regular radio airplay, “Penelope” is kind of an un- is one of the best examples, plus the chorus is one of the COURTESY OF TEMPORARY RESIDENCE catchiest they’ve written. likely hit. After all, it’s a subtle, hypnotic “X.I.Y.”: There’s a dub-influenced strut indie pop song about a goldfish, which is to this highlight from 2001’s Blue Screen Life, exactly what makes it so endearing. which is made all the more interesting with “From Nothing to Nowhere”: I’ve althe addition of keyboards. But the best part ways been impressed with Pinback’s ability is its chorus climax, which finds Rob Crow to add intensity and impact without layerand Zach Smith delivering some great vocal ing on a bunch of distortion or overproducharmonies. tion. This track is a hard-driving jam from “Crutch”: When Pinback use synths, 2007’s Autumn of the Seraphs, but still manPinback they’re usually subtle, but the thick layer of ages to sound like vintage Pinback.

“Tripoli”: The leadoff track from the band’s self-titled synth bass on “Crutch” gives this song a little added heft.

“AFK”: The closing track of 2004’s Summer in Abaddon debut, “Tripoli” is a glorious DIY indie pop gem about fearing one’s own mortality. It’s a wonderfully melancholy tune, is the band’s heaviest-sounding song, and yet it doesn’t difitting in comfortably next to early Built to Spill or Death verge from Pinback’s aesthetic at all. The drums, however, are just colossal.

Cab for Cutie.

“Offcell”: An underrated gem from the EP of the same

—Jeff Terich

22 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 24, 2018

F

The Killers

ourteen years after The Killers blew their load on the popular, Hot Fuss—an album almost too catchy for its own good—one might wonder how the Vegas foursome is even still a band. They’re certainly not without fans, but the ‘80s synth-revival of the mid-aughts is long gone, and so is the legion that turned Hot Fuss into such a phenomenon.

But while fairweather fans are still getting down to “Mr. Brightside,” The Killers have sneakily become one of the most fascinating bands in popular music.

That’s not to say that everything they’ve produced has been good, but they’re definitely batting for the rafters with each successive album.

Ever since 2006’s Sam’s Town, The Killers have been on a Quixote-like quest to produce the biggest anthems, but they also possess a certain insecurity that keeps them from achieving Springsteen-level fist-pumpers. And it’s those attempts at excess which make The Killers so compelling—the band not only suffers from a perpetual identity crisis, but seems to relish in it, and that’s a lot more interesting than most bands on the radio.

Take, for example, 2012’s Battle Born, which seemed like a Meat Loaf record that kept the anthems but traded the Loaf’s hedonistic bravura for anxiety.

Their most recent album, Wonderful Wonderful, feels like a reimagining of Hot Fuss but filtered through the dark and sad aspects of fame.

I mean, hell, they still got soul (but they’re still not soldiers), but it’s just a little more complicated than we initially thought.

The Killers play Tuesday, Jan. 30 at Valley View Casino Center

@SDCITYBEAT

MUSIC

JEFF TERICH

IF I WERE U A music insider’s weekly agenda

DENÉE SEGALL

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 24

PLAN A: Ty Segall and the Freedom Band @ Belly Up Tavern. Ty Segall likely won’t need an introduction for many readers, considering the prolific garage rock artist has released more than a dozen albums in the past eight years, most of them fantastic. He puts on a hell of a show too, so there’s no good reason to sleep on this one. PLAN B: Jessica Lea Mayfield, Sun Seeker @ The Casbah.

Jessica Lea Mayfield is somewhere between country and grunge, and her songwriting is top notch. It’s earnest, atmospheric music with more than a little grit. BACKUP PLAN: Spirit Award, Wild Wild Wets, Jason Simon @ Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, JAN. 25

PLAN A: Dream Burglar, Ghost Frog, Slum Summer @ Black Cat Bar. Dream Burglar is fronted by Justin Cota of Gloomsday and Bosswitch, but this project is a little bit darker and a little bit more punk than his other bands. But like anything he does, it kicks ass. PLAN B: The Deep Dark Woods, The Midnight Pine @ The Casbah. Canadian band The Deep Dark Woods are gloomy, folky and laced with psychedelia. It’s cool stuff, and a great match with openers The Midnight Pine, who are consistently one of the best bands in San Diego. BACKUP PLAN: Part Time, Los Blenders, Well Well Well @ Blonde.

FRIDAY, JAN. 26

PLAN A: The Zeros, Strangers in a Strange Land, Thee Allyrgic Reaction @ Soda Bar. Chula Vista punks The Zeros solidified their place in rock history when they first started up in the late ‘70s. But these old-schoolers are still ripping it up on stage, 40 years later. PLAN B: Taken by Canadians, Creature and the Woods, Bad Vibes, DJ Lexicon Devil, Operation Mindblow @ The Casbah. Taken by Canadians are holding a special record release show featuring a couple of other local rock ‘n’ roll groups, as well as the psychedelic visualists Operation Mindblow. It’s going to be a trippy good time, and with lots of guitars.

SATURDAY, JAN. 27

PLAN A: Arrington de Dionyso, Ben Bennett, Leah Bowden, Corey Fogel, Jerome Salazar @ Helmuth Projects. This show brings together a group of experimental noise musicians—headlined by saxophonist Arrington de Dionyso—who will be doing both solo and collaborative performances.

It’s going to get weird (and awesome). PLAN B: Twin Ritual, Watch for Horses, Mannequin, Other Ways @ Soda Bar. Twin Ritual is a fairly new synth-pop band featuring Laura Levenhagen of Le Chateau, and they’re

@SDCITYBEAT

Ty Segall infectious and fun. This is their EP release show, and it’s a good idea to make it early to catchy moody post-punks Mannequin.

BACKUP PLAN: Sights & Sages, The Paragraphs, Fashion Jackson @ The Casbah.

SUNDAY, JAN. 28

PLAN A: Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry and Subatomic Sound System, Boostive, DJ Stepwise @ Music Box. There are few names in dub as legendary as Lee Perry, and the Jamaican icon hasn’t slowed down during his nearly 60-year career. His space-age reggae is one of the island’s greatest exports. PLAN B: Reverend Horton Heat, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Big Sandy @ Observatory North Park. I’ve never been a big fan of psychobilly, but I’ll make an exception for The Reverend Horton Heat, whose high-energy rockabilly has been a blast since the ‘90s.

BACKUP PLAN: Piebald, Tough Age @ Soda Bar.

MONDAY, JAN. 29

PLAN A: Pinback, Major Entertainer @ The Casbah. Pinback has one of the strongest catalogs of music to come out of San Diego, and it’s always a worthwhile occasion when they play The Casbah. This is the first of three nights they’re playing, and a good way to get the week started. PLAN B: DVSN @ Observatory North Park. For a sexier, sultrier Monday night, chill out to the moody electronic R&B sounds of DVSN, who sound a little bit like The xx combined with Drake—if his loverman routine were more convincing.

TUESDAY, JAN. 30

PLAN A: Pinback, Shades McCool @ The Casbah. If Monday night presents a bit of a hurdle to make it out, then it’s fortunate Pinback is also playing on Tuesday. This night also features excellent fellow locals Shades McCool, so don’t show up late. BACKUP PLAN: Naïvetè, Dani Bell and the Tarantist, Oak Palace, New Me @ Soda Bar.

JANUARY 24, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 23

MUSIC

CONCERTS HOT! NEW! FRESH!

Eyehategod (Brick by Brick, 2/22), Hibou (Soda Bar, 3/13), Blockhead (Soda Bar, 3/17), Kelly Lee Owens (Soda Bar, 4/1), Whores., Helms Alee (Casbah, 4/13), Yamantaka//Sonic Titan (Soda Bar, 4/13), The Dream Syndicate (Casbah, 4/21), Smoking Popes (Soda Bar, 4/28), The Weight Band ft. members of The Band (BUT, 4/29), Built to Spill, The Afghan Whigs (Observatory, 5/9), Rainbow Kitten Surprise (Observatory, 5/12), Midnight (Brick by Brick, 5/18), Cloud Catcher (Brick by Brick, 5/30), Mark Farina (Music Box, 6/1), Dr. Dog (Observatory, 6/2), Minus the Bear (HOB, 6/8), Belle and Sebastian (Observatory, 6/22), Dead & Company (Mattress Firm, 7/6), Hall & Oates, Train (Viejas Arena, 8/4), Jack White (Viejas Arena, 8/21), Erasure (Copley Symphony Hall, 8/22).

GET YER TICKETS Phoebe Bridgers (Soda Bar, 2/5), Allah-Las (BUT, 2/8), Dua Lipa (HOB, 2/10), Miranda Lambert (Viejas Arena, 2/15), Mary Timony plays Helium (Casbah, 2/15), Dan Auerbach (Observatory, 2/19), Superchunk (Casbah, 2/21), Missing Persons (Casbah, 2/23), Demi Lovato, DJ Khaled (Viejas Arena, 2/26), Margo Price (BUT, 3/2), Gogol Bordello (Observatory, 3/3), 311 (HOB, 3/5), Antibalas (BUT, 3/8), Protomar-

tyr (SPACE, 3/8), American Nightmare (Brick by Brick, 3/9), Talib Kweli (Music Box, 3/9), Wolves in the Throne Room (Brick by Brick, 3/11), Flogging Molly (Observatory, 3/14), Lucy Dacus (Casbah, 3/21), George Clinton (HOB, 3/28), Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (HOB, 3/31), Titus Andronicus (Soda Bar, 4/2), Ty Dolla$ign (HOB, 4/5), Matt and Kim (Observatory, 4/9), Frankie Cosmos (Quartyard, 4/10), The Soft Moon (Casbah, 4/14), Dashboard Confessional (HOB 4/18), Big K.R.I.T. (Music Box, 4/20), Los Lonely Boys (BUT, 4/22), ‘Welcome to Night Vale’ (Observatory, 4/25), Art Garfunkel (Balboa Theatre, 4/27), Bunbury (HOB, 4/29), Baths (BUT, 5/3), Keb’ Mo’ (BUT, 5/6-7), Weird Al Yankovic (Humphreys, 5/12), Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness (Humphreys, 5/13), Franz Ferdinand (Observatory, 5/13), Nada Surf (BUT, 5/14), Earth, Wind and Fire (Harrah’s SoCal, 5/18), Madeleine Peyroux (BUT, 5/28), King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (Observatory, 6/1), Kesha, Macklemore (Mattress Firm, 6/12), Weezer, The Pixies (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 8/11), Charlie Puth (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 8/20), The Eagles (Petco Park, 9/22).

JANUARY WEDNESDAY, JAN. 24 Ty Segall at Belly Up Tavern. Jessica Lea Mayfield at The Casbah. August Burns Red at House of Blues. Spirit Award at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, JAN. 25 Grace Mitchell at Soda Bar. The Deep Dark Woods at The Casbah. Skinlab at

24 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 24, 2018

Brick by Brick. Part Time at Blonde. Hippo Campus at House of Blues.

FRIDAY, JAN. 26 Hammerfall at Brick by Brick. Demetri Martin at Balboa Theatre. Rob Bell at Observatory North Park. Taken by Canadians at The Casbah. Zeros at Soda Bar.

SATURDAY, JAN. 27 Eric Johnson at House of Blues. Converge at Brick by Brick (sold out). St. Vincent at Observatory North Park (sold out).

Dariush at Balboa Theatre. Twin Ritual at Soda Bar. Sights and Sages at The Casbah.

SUNDAY, JAN. 28 Reverend Horton Heat at Observatory North Park. Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry at Music Box. Flamingosis at The Casbah. Piebald at Soda Bar.

MONDAY, JAN. 29 John Maus at Belly Up Tavern. DVSN at Observatory North Park. Pinback at The Casbah. The Lillingtons at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, JAN. 30 Anti-Flag at SOMA. Pinback at The Casbah. The Killers at Valley View Casino Center.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 31 Tower of Power at Belly Up Tavern.

Gilberto Santa Rosa at Music Box. Pinback at The Casbah. Prawn at Soda Bar.

FEBRUARY THURSDAY, FEB. 1 Steven Wright at Balboa Theatre. Passion Pit at Observatory North Park. Ladysmith Black Mambazo at Belly Up Tavern. The Stone Foxes at The Casbah. Bad History Month at Soda Bar. Banditos at SPACE.

FRIDAY, FEB. 2 STRFKR at Observatory North Park. Wild Child at Belly Up Tavern. Exmag at The Casbah. Birdy Bardot at Soda Bar. Kristin Chenoweth at Music Box. Core 10 at Brick by Brick.

SATURDAY, FEB. 3 Fetty Wap at House of Blues. Lewis Black at Balboa Theatre. ALO at Belly Up Tavern. Belle Game at Soda Bar. Joe Lynn at Brick by Brick.

MONDAY, FEB. 5 Howard Jones at Belly Up Tavern. Phoebe Bridgers at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, FEB. 6 Majid Jordan at Observatory North Park.

Kathryn Cloward at Belly Up Tavern. Polux at The Casbah.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 7 Lights at Observatory North Park. The Wind and the Wave at The Casbah.

Joey Cape at Soda Bar. Daring Greatly & Friends at Belly Up Tavern.

THURSDAY, FEB. 8 tobyMAC at Viejas Arena. Walk the

Moon at House of Blues. Allah-Las at Belly Up Tavern. The Eiffels at Soda Bar. Zebra at Brick by Brick. Open Oscillator Showcase at The Casbah.

FRIDAY, FEB. 9 Ja Rule and Ashanti at Observatory North Park (sold out).

SATURDAY, FEB. 10 Dua Lipa at House of Blues. Fu Manchu at The Casbah. Stelouse at Soda Bar. Typhoon at Music Box. Tim Ripper Owens at Brick by Brick. The Green at Observatory North Park.

SUNDAY, FEB. 11 Caifanes at Observatory (sold out). David Dondero at Soda Bar. Andres Lopez at House of Blues. The Phenomenauts at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, FEB. 13 Killswitch Engage, Anthrax at House of Blues. Valley Queen at Soda Bar.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 14 Lettuce at Observatory North Park.

Chuck Ragan at The Casbah. Pearl Charles at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, FEB. 15 Lana Del Rey at Valley View Casino Center. Miranda Lambert at Viejas Arena.

Mary Timony plays Helium at The Casbah. Black Pussy at Brick by Brick.

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

@SDCITYBEAT

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24 FRIDAY, FEB. 16 ‘Awesome Fest 11’ at various venues.

Ghostemane at House of Blues. Gameface at The Casbah. Sweet and Tender Hooligans at Observatory North Park.

The English Beat at Belly Up Tavern.

SATURDAY, FEB. 17 ‘You Are Going to Hate This Fest’ w/ The Frights, Jeff Rosenstock, Diet Cig at SOMA. Gramatik at Observatory North Park. G Perico at House of Blues. Dorothy at Music Box. Ha Ha Tonka at The Casbah. Trauma at Brick by Brick. ‘Awesome Fest 11’ at various venues. The English Beat at Belly Up Tavern. Trauma at Brick

by Brick.

SUNDAY, FEB. 18 Beth Hart at Balboa Theatre. The Delta Bombers at The Casbah. ‘Awesome Fest 11’ at various venues. Lotus at Music Box. Betamaxx at Belly Up Tavern.

MONDAY, FEB. 19 Bully at The Casbah. Grails at Soda Bar. Dan Auerbach at Observatory North Park. Mike Gordon at Belly Up Tavern.

TUESDAY, FEB. 20 Theory of a Deadman at House of Blues.

Tune-Yards at Observatory North Park.

Palehound, Weaves at Soda Bar. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at The Casbah.

Shovels and Rope at Belly Up Tavern.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 21 Motionless in White at House of Blues.

@SDCITYBEAT

Superchunk at The Casbah. Alex Cameron at Soda Bar. Icon for Hire at House of Blues Voodoo Room. Julian Lage Trio at Music Box.

THURSDAY, FEB. 22 Keys N Krates at House of Blues.

1000Mods at SPACE. Willie Watson at The Casbah. Adan Jodorowsky at Soda Bar. Sevdaliza at Observatory North Park. Mike Pinto and Josh Heinrichs at Music Box. The Wood Brothers at Belly Up Tavern. Eyehategod at Brick

by Brick.

FRIDAY, FEB. 23 X Ambassadors at SOMA. Missing Persons at The Casbah. All Pigs Must Die at Soda Bar. The Spits at SPACE. Septicflesh at Brick by Brick. Bahamas at Belly Up Tavern (sold out).

SATURDAY, FEB. 24 The Spits, Beehive and the Barracudas at SPACE. Bruno Major at The Casbah. Steve Poltz Birthday Bash at Belly Up Tavern. The Aggrolites at Music Box.

SUNDAY, FEB. 25 Crooked Colours at Soda Bar. Enter Shikari at The Irenic. Busty and the Bass at The Casbah. Herb Alpert & Lani Hall at Belly Up Tavern.

MONDAY, FEB. 26 Snarky Puppy at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Jacob Sartorius at House of Blues.

Demi Lovato, DJ Khaled at Viejas Arena. Year of the Cobra at Brick by Brick.

Janiva Magness at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, FEB. 27 The Coathangers at Belly Up Tavern.

Real Estate at Music Box.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 28 Dengue Fever at Music Box. Thurston Moore Group at The Casbah. Spafford at Belly Up Tavern. I The Victor at Soda Bar.

MARCH THURSDAY, MARCH 1 The Dears at The Casbah. Soft Kill at SPACE. Money Chicha at Soda Bar. They Might Be Giants at Belly Up Tavern.

FRIDAY, MARCH 2 Langhorne Slim at Music Box. Theo Katzman at Soda Bar. Margo Price at Belly Up Tavern.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach. Wed: Open mic. Thu: Karaoke.

Fri: Jet West, Ease Up, Sandollar. Sat: Colin Kane.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St., Normal Heights. Wed: ‘Hip Hop Wednesday’ w/ MC Kahlee. Thu: ‘SubDrip’ w/ DJ Damon Millard. Sat: ‘The Rub’ w/ DJs Nate Day, Girth. Sun: ‘Radar Magazine’ w/ DJ Tyler Detweiler.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Colin Kane. Fri: Colin Kane.

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Road, Spring Valley. Wed: Karaoke. Thu: Darlington, Horsefly, The Rifftones. Fri: Lolita, Smarter Than Robots. Sat: Year of the Dead Bird, Alpine Circuitry. Sun: Some Kind Of Nightmare, The Beast Of Bailey Downs, Sclupins. Tue: Karaoke.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St., North Park. Wed: ‘Fresh Produce’ w/ DJ L. Thu: The Anomaly. Fri: Forest Grove, Blood Ponies, Hours, DJ Heather Hardcore. Sat: ‘Fundraiser For Funk Manifesto’ w/ No Girlfriend, Girlboy.

Sun: ‘Rat Sabbath’. Mon: Tori Roze and the Hot Mess. Tue: DJ Angie.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St., Downtown.

Fri: Justin Jay. Sat: Le Youth.

Beaumont’s, 5665 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla. Fri: Dave Gleason Trio.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Wed: Ty Segall & The Freedom Band, Shannon Lay. Thu: Johnny A, Jimmy Woodard. Fri: Vaud and the Villains, Trouble in the Wind. Sat: Tainted Love, DJ Scotto. Sun: Infinite Floyd. Mon: John Maus, Holy Shit.

Black Cat Bar, 4246 University Ave., City Heights. Thu: Dream Burglar, Ghost Frog.

Fri: Amigo, Nebula Drag, Call of the Wild.

Sat: Strange Ages, Red Pony Clock Adeumazel.

Blonde, 1808 W. Washington St., Mission Hills. Thu: Part Time, Los Blenders, Well Well Well. Fri: ‘Through Being Cool’ w/ Steven Oira, Derek Hubbard. Sun: Hideouts, Hard To Hit, Nights Like Thieves.

Tue: ‘T is 4 Techno’.

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

Thu: Casey Hensley, Strange Crew. Fri: ‘Club Musae’.

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

JANUARY 24, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 25

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., Bay Park. Thu: Skinlab, Pissing Razors, Shattered Sun, Aghori. Fri: Hammerfall, Cage, Battlefront, Nightshadow. Sat: Converge, Sumac, Cult Leader, Fireburn (sold out).

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. Wed: Jessica Lea Mayfield, Sun Seeker. Thu: The Deep Dark Woods, The Midnight Pine. Fri: Taken by Canadians, Creature and The Woods, Bad Vibes, DJ Lexicon Devil, Operation:Mindblow. Sat: Sights and Sages, The Paragraphs, Fashion Jackson. Sun: Flamingosis, DJ Taye.

Mon: Pinback, Major Entertainer. Tue: Pinback, Shades McCool.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Downtown. Fri: ‘Daniel Jackson Week’. Sun: Joshua White. Mon: Brian Charette.

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown. Thu: ‘Trill Thursday’. Sat: Jae Murphy.

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

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

Thu: DJ Yodah. Sat: ‘Rock Star Saturday’.

SPACE, 3519 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights.

Wed: Viet Rahm, Planet What, Fictitious Dishes. Sun: Star Trek Trivia Tournament.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Wed: August Burns Red. Thu: Hippo Campus, Sure Sure, Graham Gillot. Fri: Randy Rogers Band, Fabulous Ultratones. Sat: Eric Johnson. Sun: Mario Aguilar. Tue: Robin Henkel.

Humphreys Backstage, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. Wed: Bayou Brothers. Fri: Detroit Underground, Jessy J. Sun: The Groove Squad, Mercedes Moore. Mon: Missy Andersen.

26 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JANUARY 24, 2018

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. Wed: ‘Midnight (in a perfect world)’ w/ DJ Kase. Thu: Psilo, Symbiot, Knob Twisters. Fri: Omega Squad, Mikey High Jinks. Sun: Lolita, Dead On Monday, King Shem, Smarter Than Robots.

Lestat’s Coffee House, 3343 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Sat: Nina Francis, Pauline Cameron, Luna Bee. Sun: Robin Henkel.

Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla.

Wed: Ghost Dog. Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave., Coronado. Wed: Sophisticats. Thu: North Star.

Martinis Above Fourth, 3940 Fourth Ave., Hillcrest. Fri: Janice and Nathan. Sat: Sophia Alone. Sun: Ria Carey and Don L. The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., Hillcrest. Wed: Kodasounds, Black Heart Saint, Three Chamber Heart, The Silhouette of Nude. Thu: Mad Z and the Boones, The Infidelz, Ventralis. Fri: Trick, JD Mateo Segade. Sat: Funeral Chant, Pandiscordian, Necrogenesis, Mystic Ritual, Handron.

Sun: ‘Showstoppers Talent Contest’.

Mon: Marbin. Tue: Neon Dreams, cHiLL cLinToN, Lyrical Groove.

Mr. Peabody’s, 136 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas. Thu: Wild Heart. Fri: The Traumatics.

Sat: The Chrome Domes, Celeste Barbier.

Music Box, 1337 India St., Little Italy. Fri: Stepping Feet, Superunloader. Sat: Igor Stravinsky. Sun: Lee “Scratch” Perry, Subatomic Sound System.

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

Wed: ‘1, 2, 3’ w/ DJ EdROC. Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Sat: ‘Strictly Business’ w/ DJ Kanye Asada, DJ Gabe Vega. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’ w/ Tribe of Kings. Mon: The Who Under Cover.

OMNIA Nightclub, 454 Sixth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Jauz. Fri: Bassjackers. Sat: Crankdat.

Panama 66, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park.

Wed: Gilbert Castellanos. Thu: Lorraine Castellanos.

Parq, 615 Broadway, Downtown. Fri: Direct. Sat: Karma.

Plaza Bar at Westgate Hotel, 1055 2nd Ave., Downtown. Fri: Gilbert Castellanos.

Mon: Julio de la Huerta.

Proud Mary’s, 5550 Kearny Mesa Road, Kearny Mesa. Fri: South Land Soul. Sat: Bayou Brothers.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave., Hillcrest.

Wed: DJ Kiki, DJ Kinky Loops. Thu: Casa Nuova, DJ Kiki. Fri: DJ John Joseph, DJ Will Z. Sat: DJ K-Swift, DJ Taj. Sun: DJ Hektik, DJ GSP. Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave., La Mesa. Wed: ‘Boss Jazz’ w/ Jason Hanna. Thu: Brennan Orndorff. Fri: Bedbreakers. Sat: Tori Roze and the Hot Mess.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave., San Diego. Wed: Truett. Thu: Jimmy Ruelas.

Fri: Jesse and the Trippers. Sat: Jimmy Ruelas. Mon: ‘Makossa Monday’ w/ DJ Tah Rei. Tue: Pan Am. Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Wed: Spirit Award, Wild Wild Wets, Jason Simon. Thu: Grace Mitchell, Hawai. Fri: Zeros, Strangers In A Strange Land, Thee Allyrgic Reaction. Sat: Twin Ritual, Watch For Horses, Mannequin, Other Ways. Sun: Piebald, Tough Age. Mon: The Lillingtons, The Bombpops, The Last Gang, The Two Tens. Tue: Naïvetè, Dani Bell and the Tarantist, Oak Palace, New Me. SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd., Midway.

Fri: Sitting on Stacy, Grove, The Bash-

dogs, Pumphouse, PVKE, Stray Monroe.

Sat: 10 Years.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St., Midtown. Fri: Luis Flores, Raiz.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Wed: Ceschi Ramos, Factor Chandelier, Sammus Heron. Fri: New Crimes, Christ Killer, War Fever, Remain in Vain. Sat: AJ Froman, Shake The Baby Til The Love Comes Out, Of Ennui. Sun: Pants Karaoke. Tue: Fetid, Mortiferum, Ensepulcher, Calcemia.

Tin Roof, 401 G St., Downtown. Wed: Kenny and Deez. Thu: Laugh Out Loud.

Fri: Keep Your Soul, Chad and Rosie. Sat: Keep Your Soul, Chad and Rosie. Sun: Laugh Out Loud. Mon: Lauren Leigh and Sam. Tue: Tay Watts.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St., Bay Park. Thu: ‘Swingin Through The Zodiac’ w/ Madame Mercedes. Fri: Kicks. Sat: The Clairemonsters. Tue: Sue Palmer and Her Motel Swing Quintet.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave., City Heights. Fri: Tiltwheel, The Waste Aways, Ike Fonseca, TV Tragedy. Sat: The Serotonin Experiment, Que Oso, Cochinas Locas, The Fountain of Youth.

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

Thu: Jason Collings, Blake Wexler, Dallas Mclaughlin. Fri: DJ Freeman, DJ Murphi Kennedy. Sat: DJ Junior. Sun: Mon: Tue: Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park.

Thu: ‘Vamp’. Fri: The Widows, The Odd Numbers. Tue: ‘Videodrome’.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St., Ocean Beach.

Thu: Kung Fu. Fri: New Kingston, The Late Ones. Sat: Joe Marcinek Band, The Moves Collective, High Tide Society, Lust for Life. Sun: Karaoke. Mon: Electric Waste Band.

@SDCITYBEAT

LAST WORDS

CHRISTIN BAILEY

ASTROLOGICALLY

UNSOUND

Semi-weekly forecasts from the so-called universe ARIES (March 21 April 19): This week is a great time to think about your career. Can you even imagine all the different crimes you could do if you only had access to an incredibly powerful magnet?

TAURUS (April 20 May 20): The world can be a terribly difficult place for dreamers… which means things are probably pretty easy for you, huh?

GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): It is important to trust your instincts, except (in most circumstances) the instinct to hunt and give chase to small, agile prey through the dense underbrush.

CANCER (June 21 - July 22): Whether you like or dislike this next week will depend entirely on whether you consider it to be a good or bad thing to make contact with malevolent ghosts from the 1800s.

LEO (July 23 - August 22): It is never too late to change course. To swerve, with reckless abandon, on the freeway of life and cause chaos to all those around you.

VIRGO (August 23 September 22): This week, it is probably just easier to call your landlord and ask for a copy of your keys than to jump into the gorilla enclosure to retrieve them.

LIBRA (September 23 October 22): You know, if you keep your eyes closed and gently sway in the

breeze, you can convince yourself that you’re relaxing in a hammock and not trapped in a spider’s web.

SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21): Take some time this week to consider the wonder of nature. A sunrise. The… ocean? Killer bees. The vengeance of crows.

The lifelong quest for retribution of elephants.

It’s beautiful.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 December 21): Now’s the time to ask yourself some hard questions about life and... oh no!

You dropped a nickel and now you’re holding up the line. Just go! Go!!!

CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 19): The secrets we carry can weigh us down. They can sink us. Haunt us.

Release yourself from the burdens of your hidden past and go ahead and tell me your email password.

AQUARIUS (January 20 - February 18): Sometimes when you feel in a rut, it is overwhelming to know where to begin making changes. So when you’re feeling stuck this week start by changing one simple thing: your identity.

PISCES (February 19 March 20): Do not worry, my friend; all things in this life are cyclical. Just watch the second half of Oceans 11 on cable, then replay it again right after it ends and you can watch the beginning then.

Astrologically Unsound appears every other week.

Follow Christin Bailey on Twitter at @hexprax.

@SDCITYBEAT

JANUARY 24, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 27