San Diego CityBeat • Jan 28, 2015

D eath café

Tea, cake and a little conversation about the great beyond by

A my W allen • P. 17

Unequal P.4 Rules P.6 Sea P.20 Emo P.23

2 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

The land is their land Hey, remember Occupy Wall Street a few years ago?

And its little offspring around the country, including Occupy San Diego? Weren’t they cute?! In case you forgot, or weren’t paying attention, the point was to raise awareness of growing income inequality in the United States, with a focus on how much money the financial-services sector was raking in and what it was doing to the overall economy (ruining it).

You probably won’t be shocked to learn that the Occupy movement didn’t accomplish a damn thing. Yes, politicians of various stripes are now giving lip service to income inequality, but since the recession ended, that gap is back to widening at its previous high rate. That’s the news from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning think tank that, on Monday, unveiled a report, “The Increasingly Unequal States of America: Income Inequality by State, 1917 to 2012.”

The report notes that between the end of the recession in 2009 and 2012, the year for which the most recent data are available, the top 1 percent of income earners in the U.S. wrangled all of the income growth. The bottom 99 percent of earners saw incomes fall by an average of .4 percent while incomes for the top 1 percent grew by an average of 36.8 percent. That has to be startling even for the most cynical among us. The story’s even worse in California, where, because income has fallen for the lowest 99 percent of earners by an average of 3 percent, the top 1 percent of earners has captured 136 percent of income growth. The richest Californians have seen their income increase by an average of 49.6 percent.

California has the fifth-largest gap in the country between the average incomes of the 1 percent and the 99 percent—here, the wealthiest folks make, on average, 35 times what the rest of us make.

There are only nine states where the average income for the 99 percent grew and the 1 percent captured less than half of the income growth: Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont, New Mexico, Kentucky, Alaska and Hawaii. That used to be the norm across the country; in fact, the numbers used to be reversed. But that was a long time ago—the 1970s.

The last time we saw the level of income inequality we’re seeing now was 1928, before the Great Depression. From then until 1979, things leveled considerably. In that time in the U.S., the 1 percent captured just 9.5 percent of the income growth during six economic expansions. Things exploded for the 1 percent after 1979, when, during four econom-

ic expansions until the collapse of 2007, the richest among us captured 64 percent of the growth. In California, that figure is 85.4 percent.

To put it all more simply, in 1928, the top 1 percent collected roughly 24 percent of the total income in the U.S. That fell to roughly 10 percent in 1979. By 2012, it was back up to roughly 24 percent. Assuming the trend has continued in the last two years, economic inequality is worse now than ever, and the gap will grow as the economy recovers and expands.

All of this matters only if the concept of the “American Dream” appeals to you—the idea that if you work hard, you can rise in society, regardless of your parents’ place in the economic spectrum.

In 2012, Timothy Noah, writing for the New Republic, covered a speech given by Alan Krueger, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, during which Krueger confirmed what Noah said had previously been suspected: Growing income inequality decreases the chances that folks can rise out of their economic class. “Translation: If we don’t get growth in income inequality under control,” Noah wrote, “the next generation will see about 25 percent less upward mobility than the current one.”

You may not like the phrase “redistribution of wealth,” but that’s what’s been happening since the 1980s—wealth is being redistributed upward, and the trend is unsustainable.

California must have a serious and frank conversation about this soon and figure out what to do about it. And we don’t see any reason why San Diego can’t lead the way. Get on that, Mayor Kevin Faulconer.

What do you think? Write to editor@sdcitybeat.com

This issue of CityBeat is dedicated to Kia Momtazi, our friend and former colleague who passed away on Jan. 28, 2012. We miss you, Kia.

Volume 13 • Issue 26 Editor David Rolland Associate Editor Kelly Davis Music Editor Jeff Terich Arts Editor Kinsee Morlan Staff Writer Joshua Emerson Smith

Columnists Aaryn Belfer, Edwin Decker, John R. Lamb, Alex Zaragoza Contributors Ian Cheesman, David L. Coddon, Seth Combs, Tiffany Fox, Michael A. Gardiner, Glenn Heath Jr., Peter Holslin, Dave Maass, Scott McDonald, Jenny Montgomery, Susan Myrland, Mina Riazi, Jim Ruland, Ben Salmon, Jen Van Tieghem, Amy Wallen

Cover design by Lindsey Voltoline Senior account executive Jason Noble Account Executives Beau Odom, Kimberly Wallace Accounting Alysia Chavez, Kacie Cobian, Linda Lam Human Resources Andrea Baker

Production Manager Tristan Whitehouse

Vice President of Finance Michael Nagami

Web Editor Ryan Bradford

Production artist Rees Withrow

Vice President of Operations David Comden

Art director Lindsey Voltoline

MultiMedia Advertising Director Paulina Porter-Tapia

Publisher Kevin Hellman

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4 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

Some civic-minded ideas Regarding your Jan. 7 editorial, “Eyes on these guys”: First, about having to justify using the word “guys”: If anyone wants to find that problematic, especially with anyone at CityBeat using it, they need to have their head examined. No need to waste precious ink explaining it in this, apparently hypersensitive, day and age.

Second, I want to address how urbanism and density have been addressed in these pages. You have given good coverage to the Howard Blackson style of thinking, but I’m not sure you’ve addressed why urbanism is important especially for anyone who cares about lefty-progressive politics. Walkability, bikability and urbanism are all good things and goals that help us all experience elements core to our value systems, even if we may not necessarily realize it on an intuitive sense, but urbanism is a means to attaining social equity and eliminating inequities that have been perpetuated by building and maintaining an auto-centric society.

Transit is the only transportation mode that has no physical barriers—it’s truly open to anyone who can afford the fare (the cost of the transit pass is an issue worth discussing on its own, because transit users are expected to pay for the full operating costs, whereas drivers are not). Bicycling, besides being fun and healthy, is also environmentally friendly, creates more space on the road and increases vehicle parking

spaces (each bike at a destination is one less parking space required). And walking is core to our identity as a species.

Local blogs (San Diego Free Press being one) have addressed how freeways have completely economically decimated thriving neighborhoods (City Heights and Barrio Logan being two examples).

The general fear of developers can be attributed to the haphazard planning that has destroyed open spaces in the county, increasing both infrastructure-maintenance costs for spread-out developments and creating a city where residents are explicitly divided into haves and havenots (for example, note how Mello-Roos taxes don’t benefit the broader city).

Spread-out development also creates an infrastructure backbone that becomes strained with having to deliver services to neighborhoods located all over our huge city, and due to both historical neglect and a seeming inability to just look at the city’s balance sheets, elected leaders have (in the past) been unable to really calculate costs of services delivered and benefits attained. Little things like parklets can expand public space and increase the retail opportunities in the city. Bike corrals or any bike parking can help create a visual welcome mat for anyone who rides.

But specific to the mayor, acknowledging his role as a Republican, here are some ideas to improve quality of life: Great cities are great because they have

a lot of activity: people congestion. Why not use our City of Villages general plan to help cut down on the process needed to open the main streets up on a regular basis?

Test the idea on main streets like Imperial Avenue, Market Street (Downtown), University Avenue (Hillcrest), Garnet Avenue (Pacific Beach), Newport Avenue, National Avenue, San Ysidro, and Convoy Street and close a street off for long periods by programming it with either farmers markets, busking activities or just encouraging people to show up and experience our outdoors regularly, maybe every weekend?

Partner with MTS to offer 24-hour discounted day passes to encourage people to leave the car at home. If there is mistrust with the police, having officers mingle with the public in casual, impromptu meetings could go a long way toward building trust. Encouraging people to get out on the streets also creates a safety effect, as people are watching out for one another. If something like this is done regularly (Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.?), the opportunity is there to also engage on a wide range of other city issues (figuring out where the potholes are, or whatever the issue is).

The mayor himself should be out and about and walk the talk: Take the bus to Convoy or ride the rapid to Rancho Bernardo and document it. He doesn’t have to rattle his highway-happy buddies if he doesn’t want to, but pushing the city to take a more active role and ownership in

activity through all that asphalt we have surrounding us would help showcase his commitment toward urbanism and help him (and our city) understand solutions he could champion.

Samantha Ollinger, City Heights

Thanks from Newtown Just wanted to drop a quick note to tell you how much I enjoyed Ryan Bradford’s Jan. 14 “Well, That Was Awkward” column about going to a gun show on the anniversary of the Sandy Hook school shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. I didn’t want to like it. I didn’t even want to read it when the Google alert reached my inbox. And yet, something pulled me toward it, and I gave it a chance.

I’m glad I did. Thank you for your fabulous deprecating humor. I loved the description of the scared-white-man stereotypes and the “autocorrect” you set up.

Brilliant.

Thank you for taking on the chest thumping Second Amendment zealots in a way that most of them won’t even understand. If I ever bump into you at 10 a.m., I’ll buy you a beer.

Shannon Hicks, Associate editor, The Newtown Bee

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

Joshua Emerson Smith

Land-use activist Roger Lewis, at the courthouse before a hearing in the Jack in the Box case

Drive-through permitting City to tweak the rules that residents say were broken by Jack in the Box

by Joshua Emerson Smith If the San Diego City Attorney’s office gets its way, a judge will never rule on whether Jack in the Box and the city duped the public. Residents argue that the fast-food giant’s North Park drive-through was improperly permitted by the city, but a lawsuit brought on their behalf may get tossed on a technicality if a judge finds it was filed several days too late.

In a last-ditch effort to prevent this, public-interest attorney Cory Briggs stood before San Diego Superior Court Judge Ronald Prager on Friday and relentlessly argued for his client, the North Park Pres-

ervation Coalition. Repeatedly referencing the roughly two-dozen residents who packed the courtroom, he made the case that the city and the corporation had consistently misled the public, which resulted in the timing of the lawsuit.

One of those residents in attendance was independent land-use professional Roger Lewis. While a ruling could be appealed, Lewis seemed, if not resigned, somewhat cynical. A former member of the North Park Planning Committee, for years he’s led the charge against what he sees as a pattern of improper permitting by the city in his neighborhood.

“People always complain about how hard it is to move something through the city’s Development Services Department, that they get dinged on everything in the code,” he said. “And what’s resonated with the people in the community is that there’s a different set of rules for the larger players.”

6 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

While waiting for the judge’s decision, Lewis and others now face a more fundamental fight. In response to the lawsuit, the city recently drafted changes to the rules that critics fear will make it even easier for businesses such as Jack in the Box to avoid conforming to so-called principles of “smart growth” that are written into the rulebook, the city’s land-development code.

The proposed fix is “almost laughable,” said Rick Pyles, a central figure in the North Park Preservation Coalition and board member of the neighborhood’s planning committee. “It closes some of the doors to abuse, but will surely allow circumventing zoning and land use.”

Folks such as Lewis and Pyles advocate for pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods with lively sidewalks and a reduced reliance on cars. And they’re not alone in their vision of the urban village. Smart-growth principles were enshrined not only in the

land code, but also in the general plan, the city’s guiding land-use document, dubbed “City of Villages.”

In 2000, the land code was updated to restrict in certain areas uses seen as antithetical to the urban village, including drive-through restaurants and gas stations.

Businesses that predated the changes were grandfathered in as “previously conforming.” If an owner of such a business wanted to spend more than 50 percent of the assessed value of the property on renovations, he or she would need to go through a public process. In order to get approval for construction, a business owner could be forced to make concessions to the local planning committee.

Now, under Mayor Kevin Faulconer, the Development Services Department (DSD) has drafted a revision to the code that, among other changes, removes that stipulation. Under the draft changes, the public process would now be triggered if 50 percent of a structure’s exterior walls are removed.

The new regulations are designed to avoid the types of disputes that led to the Jack in the Box lawsuit, Amanda Lee, a DSD project manager who worked on the draft language, said in an email.

“It will provide greater certainty and predictability to the permit process,” she said. “This is because the exterior walls of a structure and any proposed demolition or removal of those walls is quantifiable and measurable on a set of construction plans and can better measure the physical extent of the construction more objectively.”

That logic provided little comfort for Lewis, who said the changes would substantially weaken the ability of neighborhoods and local planning groups to phase out unwanted land uses.

“They’re allowing them to rebuild in perpetuity,” he said. “The walls are just a smoke screen. People can go to court until the cows come home over whether a wall’s been removed or not.”

The North Park Planning Committee sent a letter to the city expressing concerns about the proposed change. However, as of CityBeat’s press time, the Community Planners Committee (CPC), which oversees all local planning committees, has yet to oppose the revision.

The land code is not intended to phase

out previously conforming uses, said Joe LaCava, chair of the CPC. “All we can really do is aspire to the kind of neighborhoods we want and hope the property owners or merchants will see that and eventually change.”

However, the draft update to the land code would also tighten up some important regulations, said Vicki Granowitz, chair of the North Park Planning Committee, who worked closely with the CPC to review the changes. For example, it restricts the operation of a drive-through window to between 6 a.m. and midnight, giving previously conforming businesses seven years to come into compliance. The Jack in the Box drivethrough window in North Park is currently open until 2 a.m.

“From a pragmatic point of view, your choices are to fight for what is not going to be possible or to look at what they’ve given us and push to make that as strong as possible,” she said. “And, to that end, we’ve got them to add things.”

In coming weeks, the Mayor’s office will send the draft changes to the Planning Commission.

The City Council will then have final approval.

While Lewis and others are frustrated with the changes, few

are surprised.

In 2007, when Kentucky Fried Chicken abruptly tore down and rebuilt its North Park restaurant, residents and the local planning committee called for the previously conforming business to relocate next to the sidewalk in accordance with the code. Instead, the city allowed the fast-food chain to keep a parking lot out front.

Then, in 2013, when Jack in the Box rebuilt its restaurant on Upas Street, residents and the planning group argued that the previously conforming business should be forced to remove its drive-through window to conform to the code. However, Jack in the Box wasn’t willing to comply, and the business appealed the decision to the Planning Commission, which also unanimously rejected the project.

The city then quietly approved a permit for construction. The renovations proposed by the fastfood chain cost significantly more than 50 percent of the assessed value of the property, which the City Attorney would later opine likely violated the code. However, because the project had been approved, the City Attorney also concluded that Jack in the Box could sue the city if it wasn’t al-

lowed to continue construction.

At the time, City Councilmember Todd Gloria, who represents North Park, denied the city bent the rules for Jack in the Box, arguing that ambiguity in the land code caused the controversy. After the situation came to a head in the fall of 2013, he called for staff to draft changes to the code.

The idea that the stipulation based on assessed value could be manipulated was something that the North Park Planning Committee has debated, Granowitz said.

“On one hand, people felt like the valuation was difficult to nail down to something specific,” she said. “They felt like it could be manipulated. Others felt like the only way to keep the city honest is have both provisions.”

Lewis doesn’t see it that way.

It’s clear that the city violated its own rules, and if the lawsuit against Jack in the Box and the city ever makes it to court, the community will be vindicated, he said.

“If what our elected leaders tell us they’re doing on our behalf is something that we can’t believe in,” he asked, “then where are we as a city?”

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

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 7

edwin

sordid tales

decker Spending an evening at a five-douche dive Some of you may have read my last column, about give elderly mariners a certain level of acrimony. how, on a flight to upstate New York for the holiBut enough was enough. When I had the gall to days, I found myself on board a three-baby plane. order a Californian, which is nothing more than That was a horror-show, to be sure, but what hapa screwdriver with a splash of grapefruit, Captain pened the following night, on the nearly freezing Grumpy-Grouch announced, “You ain’t in Califorevening before Christmas, was worse. nia anymore. Order a real man’s drink.”

Still traumatized by the three-baby flight, I was Later, when I asked the bartender if she had looking forward to having a childfree bar experiFireball—an admittedly girly-flavored sweet-shot ence in one of the local pubs of my younger days. that purports to be whiskey-based but is really just So, you can imagine my delight when I didn’t ena sugar-coated estrogen supplement—he called me counter a single, bawling infant when I entered the a pussy. toasty, dim pub. What I didn’t realize was that there “Look!” I barked. “Which would be more pussiwas something waiting inside that was even worse fied? If I start ordering the types of drinks you think than three bawling babies. Yup, it’s true: I’d stumI should drink, or if I keep ordering whatever I bled into a five-douche dive. want because I don’t give a somersaulting gorilla Now, mind you, five douches in a crowded fuck what you think about it?” nightclub is not typically cause for concern. That’s 4. The pool-ball slam shooter: Dude was playbecause of a law of physics known as “douche diing pool by himself, slamming each shot hard as he lution,” which holds that the more regular people could then quickly moving over to the next. One by (non-douches) there are in any one setting, the less one he went, marching around the billiards table like annoying the douches seem to be. However, in this a Nazi lifeguard, goose-stepping around the edge of tiny bar, on this nearly freezing night, there were a swimming pool ordering everyone to get out. He only eight people—more than half of whom were seemed oblivious to the concepts of grace and touch, card-carrying douche-sapiens. Here they are, in no just slamming the balls so hard that they routinely particular order: flew off the table, creating a terrible racket. I couldn’t 1. The obnoxious, sexist, dirty old owner of help but watch the guy and think, This must be how he the bar: This ass-scratching lives his life—forcing and slambaboon was sitting on the back ming his way through everyone corner stool, knocking back and everything. I have no doubt I have no doubt there are drinks with the rest of us. To he has a T-shirt in his closet more than a couple of say he was unattractive is to that says, “Douche Power.” say Liberace experimented 5. The same-band-play“White Power” T-shirts in with homosexuality. He was ing-over-and-over jukebox this dick-knocker’s closet. in his late 60s and had a slight hogger: For the first few hours, humpback, blotchy skin and it was quiet but for our chatter. more festering pustules than a However, at one point, the SBteenager who exfoliates his face with french fries.

POOJH approached the juke, deposited money and Nearly everything he said was vulgar and ususelected about 15 songs by the same goddamn band. ally directed at his bartender—a buxom, post-punk Now, even if he had picked someone great, like looker who, judging by the scowl on her face, would John Prine or Lou Reed, it would still have been awrather snort the granules from a cat lady’s litter box ful due to the Law of Jukebox Diversity, which holds that you never ever freaking ever play more than three than spend a second with him naked. songs in a row by the same band on a bar jukebox—for 2. The bigot who loudly espouses bigoted the same reason you wouldn’t go to a restaurant and views because he assumes everyone else is order the chicken-fingers appetizer, chicken-parm a bigot, too: I don’t need to tell you the kinds of entrée and chicken-flavored cheesecake for descomments he was making. Suffice to say, if he ever sert. To make matters worse, he chose Aerosmith. bumped into a gay, black, Muslim immigrant, all of And not the acceptable early Aerosmith. This was the embolisms in his body would stop what they late-era Aerosmith. Sober Aerosmith. Not-at-allwere doing, bum-rush his left ventricle and commit rocking-hard-like-they-used-to Aerosmith. You mass suicide by implosion. I have no doubt there know, “Love in an Elevator” and “Dude Looks Like are more than a couple of “White Power” T-shirts a Lady” Aerosmith, filling up the room with new in this dick-knocker’s closet. heights of lowness while Slam Pool Shooter’s shots 3. The reverse snob: By “reverse snob,” I mean went off like gun blasts, the Reverse Snob sneered at that he became a one-man cocktail Gestapo whenmy recently poured Fuzzy Navel, the Bigot bellowed ever I ordered a drink that he perceived as foo-foo. about how hard things are for straight white males I will admit, coming from the land of regular snobs, and the owner slurred to the bartender, “Move that San Diego—where the craft-cocktail and microbrew jiggy ass of yours and get me another round.” aficionados give you grief for ordering beverages And to think I gave babies a hard time. that aren’t metrosexual enough—it was refreshing to run into a reverse snob. But it got old quick.

Write to edwin@sdcitybeat.com Now, in his defense, the guy was an old sailor and editor@sdcitybeat.com. douche (aka douche-phibian), and one should for-

8 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

by michael a. gardiner Michael A. Gardiner

high cuisine done as fast food?

Empanadas came to Argentina via Spain, where cookbooks dating to the 1500s mention seafood-filled empanadas (which, in turn, are of Middle Eastern origin). More specifically, they’re said to have come over from Galicia, a region in the northwest of Spain known for its seafood, seafarers and fishermen, and its poetically, if grimly, named Costa del Muerte (“coast of death”). The classic Galician empanada is a large seafoodfilled pie cut into pieces for easy working-class transport.

Papa Luna’s camarones y tocino (shrimp and bacon) was the closest to the versions I’d tried in Galicia, where tuna and sardine-based empanadas are menu fixtures. The rich flavors of the shrimp play off the smoky notes of the bacon. Papa Luna’s addition of Sriracha Boy, do those ham empanadas look good. cream added a layer of heat, as well as moistness, to the filling, a hallmark of all Papa Luna’s empanadas.

The least successful of the empanadas I tried at Papa Luna’s looked likely, at least on paper, to be one of its best: the jamon y queso (ham and cheese with arugula). I would have liked to be able to describe the ham but, frankly, there just Sustenance for the salt mines wasn’t enough of it. It ended up as melted mozzarella inside a bready pastry with flecks of meat Wherever there are working stiffs, there are emand green stuff. It just didn’t work. panadas. Oh, they may not be called that. In Italy, Much better was the most classic of Papa they’re called “calzones.” In England’s western Luna’s offerings (and perhaps the prototypical reaches, Cornish wives sent their husbands into Argentinian empanada): the carne molida. It’s the tin mines with meat-filled pasties. In the ground beef combined with green olives, raisins Arab world and India, they’re samosas. But the and hard-cooked egg—a clear nod to the Spanish essence of them is the same: proteins wrapped in bloodlines of the dish—making for a flavor prodough and cooked (either by baking or frying). file that tickled the entire mouth. Savory, sweet Indeed, “empanada” is derived from the Spanish and umami flavors traded off on the tongue, with verb “empanar,” meaning “to wrap in bread.” the classic Argentinian chimichurri sauce (finely However, it’s in Argentina where the empanchopped parsley, red pepper flakes, minced garada has become an art form. And the best Argenlic, red-wine vinegar and olive oil) providing heat, tine-style empanadas I’ve tried in San Diego are at pungency and a touch of herbaceous bitterness.

Papa Luna’s (1050 Columbia St., Downtown, papa Cynical white-collar San Diegans might refer lunas.com; another location in Pacific Beach). to the glass-and-granite towers of Downtown as The short-rib version is the single best Argentinetheir “salt mines.” Now, with Papa Luna’s, they style empanada I’ve ever tasted, anywhere. It’s have a lunch option to match that bit of blue-collar imagery. short rib done as pulled pork—meltingly tender, fantastically rich, luscious, deep and delicious— Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com inside a crispy, doughy package that fits in your and editor@sdcitybeat.com. hand. It’s fast food done as high cuisine—or is it

the world

fare

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 9

BY KELLY DAVIS

cocktail

tales

In search of a great Manhattan

brogenjessup.com

I’m not much of a home cocktail-maker. My liquor cabinet’s not very interesting, and I don’t have a lot of patience for following recipes. But I recently got on a Manhattan kick. The standard recipe’s simple: 2 ounces of rye whiskey, 1 ounce of sweet vermouth and two dashes of bitters. I combined Bulleit Rye, Noilly Pratt and Angostura bitters in a shaker with ice, shook it and strained it into a rocks glass. It turned out fine.

Not great—just fine. Some of you already know where I went wrong.

As famed bartender Gary Regan wrote, “[A] truly great Manhattan can be made only by someone who truly understands the magnitude of what’s at hand.” And by that he means: If you’re a bartender who can’t make a great Manhattan, you’re screwed.

I wanted to be able to make a great Manhattan, so I went to talk to Meghan Balser at Seven Grand to see how I might improve. Balser’s been working at the North Park bar since it opened in June 2012. Prior to that, she did a stint at Salt Box, her first San Diego gig after four years at New York’s Pegu Club.

The recipe I used is pretty much the same as Seven Grand’s, though their Manhattan includes Carpano Antica vermouth. But Carpano’s not the rule, Balser says.

“It has such a strong flavor... you know Carpano’s in your drink,” she says.

If she wants the focus to be on the whiskey, she’ll use a

10 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

lighter vermouth. And a Manhattan doesn’t need to include sweet vermouth: A Perfect Manhattan is sweet and dry vermouths. A Dry Manhattan leaves out the sweet vermouth. One of Balser’s favorite drinks, the Little Italy, uses half an ounce of Cynar in place of bitters, 2 ounces of Rittenhouse Rye and three-quarters of an ounce of Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth.

Some folks won’t go anywhere near Martini & Rossi, but it’s the ingredient that the cocktail’s creator intended. “If you make it with Carpano, it’s a different drink,” Balser says. “It’s still good, but it’s not the Little Italy I know and love.”

Nor must a Manhattan include rye. A Rob Roy is a Manhattan made with Scotch, and a Paddy’s made with Irish whiskey. Balser digs the Rosita, in which tequila replaces bourbon, Campari’s used instead of bitters and both sweet and dry vermouth round out the drink.

As for my quest to make a better Manhattan, it ends up that using the shaker was where I went wrong. It’s not a total amateur move, Balser says—some folks make it that way, “but it’s not as good.” Overholt Rye is Seven Grand’s house whiskey for Manhattans, but Balser wanted me to try Congenial Spirits’ Twelve Five Rye—she’s a brand ambassador for Congenial, which produces some really lovely small-batch spirits. The Twelve Five’s now on my favorites list.

Balser combined the ingredients in a glass tumbler with ice, stirred slowly for about half a minute and strained the mix into a chilled coupe glass garnished with Luxardo cherries. And there you go: A truly great Manhattan.

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

Meghan Balser

by Mina Riazi mina riazi

One Lucky

Spoon Around-the-clock Italian

The story behind Pan Bon is itching for a movie adaptation: Brothers Luciano and Giancarlo Anselmi leave their hometown of Verona, Italy— the quaint, river-caressing city made famous by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet—for a vacation in San Diego. After falling in love with the city, they formulate a restaurant concept that borrows from Pan Bon, their Italian bakery back home, in an effort, as their website puts it, to “introduce San Diegans to the ‘take-out’ gastronomy made in Italy.”

Last week, the Anselmi brothers’ Italianthemed food hall opened on the ground floor of the Ariel Suites building in Little Italy (1450 Kettner Blvd., panbon.us). The sleek, high-ceilinged space is nothing like the rickety indoor marketplaces I frequented while studying in Florence a few years ago. Instead, Pan Bon feels very much like a high-end department store, with rows and rows of bite-sized pastries trapped like jewels in glass display cases.

I visited Pan Bon on Day 3 of its new life—my server said Luciano and Giancarlo recently shuttered the Verona branch. I didn’t expect the place to be busy, and it wasn’t. A trickling of curious passersby moved gingerly through the space, perhaps

slightly intimidated—as I had been— by its polished, silvery newness.

The expansive pastry collection will lure you in, as it sits closest to the entrance and practically shimmers in a spotless glass case. There are blueberry-topped tarts and tiny, banana-bread squares and truffles dressed in sprinkles.

Steps away, in a separate display case, you’ll find pillowy squares of focaccia dotted with tomatoes. The bread, along with almost everything else at Pan Bon—except for the salami—is prepared in-house, in an expansive, open kitchen. A small restaurant with roughly 10 tables concludes the food hall.

I ordered from Pan Bon’s deli case, which features several cold salads and blocks of densely layered lasagna and deep-fried rice balls, or arancini, and then plopped down at a table in the cavernous place.

This is when the imperfections began to show: a generous portion of my order was clumsily forgotten, the chicken cacciatore had barely been reheated and the lasagna arrived late, avalanched by melted cheese.

Aside from the few slipups, though, Pan Bon offered a largely positive experience for an establishment barely in its first week. The chicken cacciatore was a solid dish flavored with meaty chunks of mushroom. Unhindered by thick ribbons of cheese, the lasagna was able to breathe and tasted delicious. Avoid the barley salad, though, which is bland and forgettable, but try the spinach-filled cannelloni and the deep-fried, breaded meatballs.

It wouldn’t be an Italian establishment without a state-of-the-art espresso machine; you’ll find the one at Pan Bon resting behind the pastries, beckoning you on your way out.

I’m no coffee connoisseur, but the first sip of my latte was neither restorative nor rejuvenating; great coffee often is, in my experience. Instead, it was the pastries, carefully arranged in a paper box, that convinced me Pan Bon is worth a second visit. They were too beautiful to eat—and then, suddenly, within seconds, they weren’t.

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

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 11

the

SHORTlist

ART

COORDINATED BY KINSEE MORLAN

COURTESY: ALEX PRAGER / M+B GALLERY AND LEHMANN MAUPIN GALLERY

judged. As The New York Times wrote about her recent short film, Face in a Crowd, “Prager’s direction and costuming deliberately exaggerates character, inviting the viewer in to search for clues, while her angles insist on distance.”

Face in a Crowd, and three more of Prager’s short films— Despair, Sunday and La Petite Mort—will screen at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park on Thursday, Jan. 29. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; A still photo from Alex Prager’s Face in the Crowd the films screen at 7:30. It’ll be the first time Prager’s work has been shown in San Diego, says Chantel Paul, MOPA’s assistant curator.

“I’ve been looking at her work for along time, for years,” Paul says, “and I’ve really been looking for an When you look at Alex Prager’s work, a handful of opportunity to bring it to San Diego.” influences come to mind: Alfred Hitchcock, colorThe event is part of the museum’s ongoing photography pioneer Williams Eggleston, David “Darkroom” series, which Paul describes as “our Lynch, Cindy Sherman. Yet, at the same time, Alex opportunity to be a little more experimental with Prager is singularly Alex Prager. The self-taught our programming.” photographer and filmmaker’s work is laden with Prager’s a Los Angeles native whose films and meaning and visually stunning—her subjects are all photography have been shown at Art Basel, the L.A. seemingly plucked from the Technicolor 1960s and County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art impeccably styled into beauties, misfits, antago- in New York and London’s Arts Club. At MOPA, nists and average Janes and Joes. In much of her she’ll be on hand to discuss the films with attendees work, Prager delves into the notion of the crowd after the screening. The evening also includes a perand what it means to blend in, stand out and be formance by the quartet that scores Prager’s films, something that Paul’s especially excited about.

“From the moment people walk in the door, we wanted to create an experience,” she says.

It’s the metabolic process of convertAdmission is $10. mopa.org, alexprager.com ing sugar into alcohol, acid or gas. Any guesses? It’s fermentation! It’s how kimchi, kombucha tea and beer are made. And Encinitas has a whole festival dedicated to the production, preparation, philosophy and consumption of such edibles. The first annual San Diego Fermentation Co-curators Dia Bassett and Lianne Thompson Festival happens from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Mueller invited artists to explore the topic of social Feb. 1, at The Ranch in Encinitas (450 Quail Gar- anxiety for Cognitive Camouflage, a group show dens Drive). Along with a vendor marketplace of opening at A Ship in the Woods (1660 Lugano Lane, food makers, food trucks and instructional booths, just east of Del Mar), from 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, Jan. the event includes an “ambrosia garden” featuring, 30. The exhibition includes Brian Dick, Margaret among others, companies like Golden Coast Mead, Noble, Ingram Ober, Perry Vasquez, Don Porcella, Vesper Vineyards and Modern Times Beer. The key- Marisol Rendon and note speaker is Sandor Ellix Katz, New York Times other well-known area bestselling author of The Art of Fermentation. Tick- artists (plus one psyets are $25, or $35 with admission to the ambrosia chologist). Social anxiety takes on many forms, garden. sandiegofermentationfestival.com from the age-old desire to fit in and project a perfect image to the more nuanced tension that comes with the ubiquitous technology that’s part of our daily lives.

Each artist thoughtfully tackled the subject by creating installations, sound pieces, film, paintings and even interactive performances. Suggested donation at the door is $5 to “Head in the Sand” Members of the San Diego Fermenters Club $15. shipinthewoods.com

by Margaret Noble

1

2

ADVENTURES IN HYPER-REALITY

SPOILED DELICIOUS

12 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

3

DEPICTING APPREHENSION

Glyphics Live Art Throwdown at The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., Hillcrest.

A festive night of live art. There’ll also be belly-dancing from Anna Yanushkevich and Avarra Merrow, as well as music from DJ BuzzKill. From 8 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.

Thursday, Jan. 29. Free-$5. 619-2997372, glyphicsart.com HOur Silences at Ruocco Park, 585 Harbor Lane, Downtown. The official unveiling of 11 monumental sculptures by Mexican artist Rivelino, one of which is designed to allow the blind to experience the piece. At 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. oursilencessandiego.businesscatalyst.com

619-236-5800, sandiegolibrary.org HColor and Code at Studio NN, 2454 Third Ave., Bankers Hill. A night of drinks, small bites and latest work by local artists Jason Gould and Sean Brannan. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. face book.com/events/345070259014177 Curiosas Exaltaciones at 206 Arte Contemporaneo, Ave. Revolucion #942, Tijuana. New works from Tijuana-based artist Oslyn Whizar, who creates works with the use of alternative materials like fabric and yarn in addition to paints. Opening from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31.

206artecontemporaneo.blogspot.mx

HCastles in the Sky at Low Gallery, 3778 30th St., North Park. New surrealist works

by Jonny Alexander, Celeste Byers, Randall Christopher, Aaron Glasson, Harry the Hat, Itzel Islas, Reva Litwack, and Bradford Lynn. Includes a live music set by Nothingful. Opening from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30. 619-348-5517, lowgallerysd.com

Metamorphosis at La Valencia Hotel, 1132 Prospect St., La Jolla. Painter and sculptor Larry “Renzo” Lewis will display works as part of Monarch Gallery’s Metamorphosis exhibit, which explores change, transformation, alteration, and evolution of the human experience. Opening from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. 858-454-0771, monarchfineart.com

Cloistered in These Living Walls of Jet at Adam D. Kamil Gallery, UCSD, La Jolla. In this solo exhibition, UCSD undergraduate artist Elizabeth Stringer adapts her drawings into furnished objects.

Opening from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30. 858-534-2230, elizabethjstringer.com

HSmall Image Show at Gallery 21, 1770 Village Place, Balboa Park. The 40th annual group exhibition of small-scale images juried by Arline M. Fisch, Professor of Art Emerita at SDSU. Opening from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. 619-2339050, gallery21art.com

HCognitive Camouflage at A Ship in the Woods, 1660 Lugano Lane, Del Mar. Artists like Stefani Byrd, Artemisa Clark, Brian Dick, Ash Eliza Smith and Perry Vasquez present works that delve into social anxiety in a post-modern era. Opening from 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30.

619-218-2737, shipinthewoods.com

Between Worlds at Basic, 410 10th Ave., Downtown. Viz Cult presents new works from surrealist artists Jorge Gutierrez, PANCA and Colorful Dog. Opening from 7 to 11 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3. 619-865-6210, facebook.com/events/1600057300224595

Gabe Leonard: Desperados at EC Galleries, 437 Market St., Downtown. Leonard’s art combines the free brushwork of an expressive artist with the lighting and framing of a Hollywood cinematographer.

From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 30-31. ecgallery.com HEverything In-Between Us at HB Punto Experimental, 2151 Logan Ave. Ste. B, Barrio Logan. Solo works by Lawrence Chit and Kim Garcia, who examine the relationships and happenings between digital and physical spaces. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. hbpuntoexperimental.com SDMA Free Weekend at San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park. The Museum celebrates the acquisition of a Francisco de Zurbarán painting with an entire weekend of free admission. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31, and Sunday, Feb. 1. 619-232-7931, sdmart.org HSkate Deck Art Show at True Fit Tattoo, 6561 El Cajon Blvd., Rolando. More than 40 local and national tattoo artists show off original creations using a skate deck as their canvas. Includes a lowrider showcase, live mural painting, music and drinks. Opening from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. 619-450-6031, sd-too.com HAlexander Ditimus at Dolphin and Hawk Fine Art Gallery, 7742 Herschel Ave., La Jolla. New works in colored pencil, pen and oil paint from the local artist who deals with complex socio-political themes brimming with historical and psychological manifestations. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. 858-4019549, dolphinandhawk.com H[UN]BOUND: Artists’ Books from the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library at Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village. This exhibition provides unprecedented access to more than 50 works by 36 artists who’ve lived in San Diego.

There’ll be limited-edition prints, one-of-akind creations, book-like objects and more.

From noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31.

Fragmented Phenomena at Hyde Art Gallery, 8800 Grossmont College Dr., El Cajon. A showcase of three contemporary, ceramic-based artists from the Los Angeles area. Curated by Brian Benfer, artists include Stanton Hunter, Ian Meares and Alison Raguette. Opening from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3. 619-644-7299, grossmont.edu/artgallery

BOOKS HJay Stout at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The retired Marine stops by to sign and discuss Hell’s Angels: The True Story of the 303rd Bomb Group in World War II. At 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 28. 858-454-0347, warwicks.indiebound.com Helen Pruden Kaufmann at Del Mar Library, 1309 Camino Del Mar, Del Mar. The local author will discuss White Gloves and Collards: A Memoir, set against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement. At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28. sdcl.org HPatricia J. Graham at San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park. The author will introduce the themes presented in her new book, Japanese Design: Art, Aesthetics & Culture, and explore the varied formal characteristics of Japanese design.

At 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. $8-$12.

619-232-7931, sdmart.org HStewart O’Nan at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The national bestselling author and finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize will sign and discuss his biographical novel about F. Scott Fitzgerald, West of Sunset. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. 858-454-0347, warwicks.indiebound.com Ken Blanchard and Morton Shaevitz at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The authors will present and discuss their informative collaboration, Refire! Don’t Retire: Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life. At 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 2. 858-454-0347,

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

THEATER

warwicks.indiebound.com

Tears and laughter mingle Cygnet Theatre’s San Diego premiere of Sons of the Prophet could be regarded as two hours of schadenfreude, the enjoyment in the suffering of another. In Stephen Karam’s 2011 play, the unfortunate one is 29-year-old Joseph Douaihy (Alex Hoeffler).

He lost his father in an auto accident caused by a high-school jock’s prank. He works for a certifiable nutcase just so he can get adequate health insurance, which he needs because his once-athletic body is deteriorating, muscle by muscle. He’s suddenly the head of a household that includes his precocious, hearing-disabled brother and an uncle who bellows racial insensitivities and takes dumps in a living-room closet converted

into a toilet. Oh, and Joseph’s also coming to terms with his homosexuality.

So why do we laugh? We’re not really enjoying poor Joseph’s suffering, but Sons of the Prophet (the title comes from the Douaihys being descendants of The Prophet author Kahlil Gibran) is a dark family drama wrapped as a comedy. Even so, the laughter should be more uneasy and uncertain than it was in the crowd on opening night. Maybe the folks were getting genuine kicks out of Joseph’s fear, grief, humiliation and anger. Go figure.

Though the play, directed by Rob Lutfy, is energized by live-wire character turns that include Maggie Carney as Joseph’s boss, Gloria, and Dylan James Mulvaney as youngDAREN SCOTT er brother Charles, it’s Hoeffler’s show. His Joseph is the core and the conscience of the story, whether he’s trying to understand his failing health, his sexuality or his mourning.

Even as you wish that old Uncle Bill would just shut up and Gloria would take a Xanax and chill, you feel Joseph’s unsettled heart skipping beats amid the madness, and you want the best for him.

The changing scenes are framed by projected references to Gibran’s ruminations— a thoughtful touch. Yet the pace of the play Alex Hoeffler (left) and early on is overly conversational and slugDylan James Mulvaney gish. The action and the insights ramp up in

14 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

the second act, highlighted by a school-board meeting to end all school-board meetings. It’s followed by a quietly affecting conclusion.

Gibran may be a cliché, but the contemplative Sons of the Prophet is not. It runs through Feb. 15 at the Old Town Theatre. $24-$64. cygnettheatre.com

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

OPENING The Darrell Hammond Project: Darrell Hammond, the longest-tenured cast member in the history of Saturday Night Live, tells his own life story in a one-man show. Opens Jan. 31 at La Jolla Playhouse. lajollaplay house.org Stage Kiss: In this farce, two actors with a romantic past are cast in a play about two people with a romantic past. Opens in previews on Jan. 30 at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad. newvillagearts.org Venus: A play based on a true story of Sarah “Saartjie” Baartman, a 19th-century South African who was put in a sideshow in London because of her large butt. Presented by the UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance, it opens Jan. 28 at UCSD’s Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre. theatre.ucsd.edu

For full listings,

please visit “T heater ” at sdcit ybeat.com

Susan Meissner at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The author, speaker and writing workshop leader will sign and discuss her latest, Secrets of a Charmed Life, about two sisters separated by the chaos of wartime. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3. 858-454-0347, warwicks. indiebound.com Jennifer Coburn, Juliette Sobanet and Jan Moran at Barnes & Noble La Mesa, Grossmont Center, La Mesa. The bestselling authors will be signing copies of their respective romance novels just in time for Valentine’s Day. At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3.

619-667-2870, barnesandnoble.com Paula Hawkins at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The seasoned journalist will present her debut psychological thriller, The Girl on the Train, about a woman who sees something on a train that changes her life. At 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 4. 858-454-0347, war wicks.indiebound.com

DANCE HCollage 2015 at Casa Del Prado, Balboa Park. Features various dance styles such as tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, modern and musical theater including guest choreography by Maud Arnold and local legend Donna Flournoy. Runs from Friday, Jan. 30, through Sunday, Feb. 15. See website for times. $5-$15. 619-817-5017, collage2015.brownpapertickets.com HWendy Whelan/Restless Creature at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Downtown. La Jolla Music Society opens their 46th season dance series with “America’s greatest contemporary ballerina” performing a program that includes ballet and

contemporary dance. At 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30. $20-$75. 619-570-1100, ljms.org

Ticket price includes ten 4-ounce samples and a breakfast buffet. From 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 1. $49. 619-269-2100

FASHION

HSan Diego Fermentation Festival at The Ranch, 450 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas. This fest features artisanal foodmakers and brewers, keynote speaker Sandor Ellix Katz, workshops and presentations from fermentation experts, DIY stations and a fermented beverages garden. From 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1. $20-$30. sandiegoferment ationfestival.com

HFashion Weekend Tijuana at Grand Hotel, Blvd. Agua Caliente 4500, Tijuana. Sponsored by Nylon magazine, a full weekend of fashion shows and showcases featuring local designers including Ary Villa, Philip Froid and over a dozen more. From 4 to 11 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, and Saturday, Jan. 31. $20. 52-664-681-7000. facebook.com/ events/1524138781192179

FOOD & DRINK Tijuana Foodtruckers y Cerveceria Wendlant at Verde y Crema, Orizaba 3034 Col. Neidhart, Tijuana. Best of the border food and beer in Baja California featuring food trucks such as Trocalonche, HUMO, El Truck Nuestro and more. At 7 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 29. 52-664-681-2366. facebook.com/CerveceriaWendlandt Wine, Dine, and Give at Mosaic Wine Bar, 3422 30th St., North Park. Sip vino or get a bite to eat for a good cause. Mosaic will donate 40 percent of proceeds to Planned Parenthood Action Fund of the Pacific Southwest. From 6 to 10 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 29. $20. facebook.com/ events/925212847509596 HBorder X Brewing Grand Opening at Border X Brewing Tasting Room, 2196 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. The family-run brewery celebrates the opening of its new tasting room in Barrio Logan with original four beers on tap including Blood Saison, which won a third-place award at last year’s San Diego International Beer Festival. From 3 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31.

619-787-6176. borderxbrewing.com Super Sunday Funday at Harrah’s Resort Southern California, 777 Harrah’s Resort Southern California Way, Valley Center. Harrah’s hosts this Super Bowl party with appearances by former players and four different rooms with massive drop down screens. The party will also feature a Tailgate Buffet complete with endless amounts of football favorites. At 8 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 1. $30. 760-751-3100, harrahsresortsoutherncalifornia.com The Calm Before The Storm at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens Point Loma, 2816 Historic Decatur Road, Ste. 116, Point Loma. Wake up early and get first dibs on the rarest brews before they’re offered to the public, including 10 special Stone Spotlight Series beers.

SD Happy Dogs Dining Out at 9530 Murray Drive. Dog-friendly restaurants like Anthony’s Fish Grotto, The Patio on Goldfinch, Knotty Barrel and over a dozen more are donating proceeds to local dog welfare groups. Bring a friend, furry or other. Wednesday, Feb. 4. 202-7444890, dogsdiningout.com

Russian pianist playing works by Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Ravel and Rachmaninoff. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. $30-$80. 858-454-3541, ljms.org HDaniel Jackson Tribute at Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. A tribute to the music of Daniel Jackson, a local jazz legend who passed away last year, featuring Chuck McPherson, Charles Owens, Evan Christopher, Dorothy Annette and many more special guests. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. $20.

858-270-7467, dizzysjazz.com HSchool of Rock: A Tribute to The Who at The Irenic, 3090 Polk Ave., North Park. Young rock students perform greatest hits and some deep cuts from the legendary English rock band. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. $10. schoolofrock.com

HPatti Smith at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Downtown. The legendary singer, author, artist and overall punk queen performs new and old songs with her band.

At 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. $35-$45.

619-570-1100, sandiegotheatres.org Jiayan Sun at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. Part of the Center’s Intimate Classics series, the Julliard-trained pianist has collaborated with prestigious conductors such as Michail Jurowski and Sir Mark Elder. At 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1. $21-$30.

800-988-4253, artcenter.org Chris Klich Jazz Quintet at Encinitas Library, 540 Cornish Drive, Encinitas. The San Diego Music Award-nominated fourpiece performs a broad spectrum of music from the jazz idiom including classic

standards and modern jazz fusion artists.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1. 760-402-1493, encinitaslibfriends.org HThe Von Trapps at Spreckels Organ Pavilion, Balboa Park. The great-grandchildren of Captain and Maria von Trapp (the ones that inspired The Sound of Music) will sing accompanied by Carol Williams on the historic Spreckels Organ. At 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1. sosorgan.org Allison Adams Tucker at Lyceum Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, Downtown. The world jazz vocalist will perform as part of the Athenaeum’s Winter Mini-Concerts series. At noon Monday, Feb. 2. 619544-1000, ljathenaeum.org Suzanne Harper at Rancho San Diego

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

MUSIC Future Standard at Hard Rock Hotel, 207 Fifth Ave., Downtown. The Travelers Club present the first Future Standard music/art show event featuring music from Soulection’s ESTA. Held inside the Hard Rock Club 207, there’ll be art from The Krizzo, Veej, Richie Moon and more. From 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. $10.

619-764-6924, 207SDTickets.com HDaniel Jackson Tribute at 98 Bottles, 2400 Kettner Blvd. Ste. 110, Little Italy. Bassist Marshall Hawkins leads a tribute to the music of local legend Daniel Jackson, who passed away last year. The show features Joshua White, Bob Boss, Evan Christopher, Chucky McPherson, and many more. At 8 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 29. $20. 619-255-7885, djackson.bpt.me Jazz On Cedros at Carruth Cellars, 320 S. Cedros Ave., Ste. 400, Solana Beach.

This acoustic concert and happy-hour event will feature jazz standards by Anna Danes, David Patrone, Carmelia Bell and Arnessa Rickette. From 5:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30. $10. 858-847-9463, jazzon cedros2.eventbrite.com Happy Traum at Templar���������������� ’s Hall, Old Poway Park, Midland & Temple, Poway. The accomplished folk artist has been active since the ‘60s and will perform a special concert with local bluegrass picker Chris Clarke. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30. $18. sdfolkheritage.org Nikolay Khozyainov at Sherwood Auditorium, 700 Prospect St, La Jolla. La Jolla Music Society opens its 46th Frieman Family Piano Series with the 22-year-old

“Aqui Ahora” by Celeste Byers and Aaron Glasson is on view in Castles in the Sky, an exhibition opening from 7 to 10 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 30, at Low Gallery (3778 30th St., North Park).

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

Library, 11555 Via Rancho San Diego, El Cajon. The award-winning singer-songwriter plays a mixture of edgy Southern rock and soulful ballads with country flair and California style. At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3. 619-660-5370, sdcl.org Underground Jazz Session at 3rdSpace, 4610 Park Blvd., University Heights. The monthly 3rdSpace Jazz Session returns with a house band featuring Ian Tordella (sax), Jason Shattil (piano), Charles Weller (drums) and Ben Wanicur (bass). Includes artwork from local Tania ChatdiMuse. At 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3. $5. 619-255-3609, 3rdspace.co WOW First Wednesdays: Uptown Rhythm Makers at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. A favorite of San Diego’s swing

dance community, their repertoire of New Orleans-style traditional jazz music also includes Mardi Gras tunes, gospel songs and popular dance music of the ‘20s and ‘30s. At 4 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4. 800-988-4253, artcenter.org

PERFORMANCE HArlequin at Circus Vargas Big Top, 460 Hacienda Drive, Vista. Circus Vargas presents this new show featuring top aerialists, acrobats, contortionists, magicians, clowns and more. Performances run through Monday, Feb. 2. $15-$70.

877-468-3861, circusvargas.com HLa Boheme at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown. The San Diego Opera kicks off its 50th season

with Puccini’s classic tale of a band of Bohemian friends and a love affair between a young poet and his mistress. At 7 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 24, Tuesday, Jan. 27, and Thursday, Jan. 29, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 1. $50-$300. sdopera.com HRadio Waves at Kroc Salvation Army Center, 6845 University Ave., College Area. The SDSU Performing Arts Troupe presents an evening of live radio theater.

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. 619287-5762, yasandiego.org Opera on the Concourse at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown. Artists from the current opera (La Boheme) along with Opera Exposed/University Partners artists present a lunchtime recital of songs and opera favorites at the concourse in front of the Civic Theatre. At

“Our Silences,” 10 large-scale sculptures by Mexican artist Rivelino, will be unveiled at Ruocco Park (585 Harbor Lane, Downtown) at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. noon Thursday, Jan. 29. sdopera.com HThe Golden Dragon Acrobats Presents: Cirque Ziva at Harrah’s Resort Southern California, 777 Harrah’s Resort Southern California Way, Valley Center. This surreal cirque features traditional Chinese acrobats performing feats of athleticism and daring stunts. At 9 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 30, and 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. $40-$70. 760-751-3100, harrah sresortsoutherncalifornia.com Show Variété at Queen Bee’s, 3925 Ohio St., North Park. An evening of student dancers from Shayla’s Belly Dance and Showgirl classes from San Diego City College. At 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30. $12.

Hera Hub Relaunch Party at Hera Hub Sorrento Valley, 9710 Scranton Road, Sorrento Valley. A night of art and music to celebrate Hera Hub’s new Sorrento Valley space. There will be art from Barbara duBois and Letitia Rogers, as well as street tacos and drinks. From 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30. 855-437-2482, herahub.com

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD

Monster Jam at Petco Park, Park Boulevard & Imperial Avenue, Downtown.

Watch gigantic trucks with names like Grave Digger and El Toro Loco race each other, do tricks and run over a bunch of smaller cars just because they can. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. $20-$65. 619540-1631, monsterjam.com

VAMP: Crime Pays at Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St, South Park. So Say We All’s monthly show features stories about getting away with it, the score that went right and tales from the less-than-legal economy. From 8:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. $5 suggested donation.

619-284-6784, sosayweallonline.com

Broadstone Animal Adoption Event at Broadstone Coronado on the Bay, 1515 Second St., Coronado. The newly remodeled rental home community and PAWS of Coronado hosts a pet adoption event that will feature dozens of dogs and cats available for adoption. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. 844-392-9651

Outspoken: Love Confection Storytelling at Martinis Above Fourth, 3940 Fourth Ave., Hillcrest. Join OutSpoken, So Say We All’s LGBTQ storytelling series, for a Valentine’s-inspired evening of stories about romance that looked sweeter than it tasted. From 8 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3. $5 suggested donation. 619400-4500, sosayweallonline.com

Veterans Resource Center Grand Opening at Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village. Located on the third floor of the Central Library, discover the resources available for veterans. Free health screenings will be available. From noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31. 619236-5800, sandiegolibrary.org

SPECIAL EVENTS Toasted Wedding Event at New Children’s Museum, 200 W. Island Ave., Downtown. The antidote to traditional bridal shows, Toasted SD highlights small, local businesses, independent vendors, offbeat wedding ideas and affordable and eco-friendly goods. From 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29. $8-$12. toastedweddingevent.com Urban Mobile Market at The Headquarters at Seaport District, 789 West Harbor Drive, Downtown. Food trucks, fashion trucks and mobile businesses hang out every Friday. There’s also outdoor games, musicians and pop-up places to sit and enjoy food. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30. 619-3399314, urbanmobilemarket.com Theatricks Variety Show Fund Raiser at Tango Del Rey, 3567 Del Rey St., Mission Bay. Join Clairemont Act One for this second annual variety show that

16 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

includes singing, dancing, comedy and a raffle with proceeds benefitting the volunteer-run community theater. At 7 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 30. $20. 619-786-7529, clairemontactone.org

Macy’s Museum Month at Pick up a free Macy’s Museum Month Pass at any local Macy’s store to enjoy half-off admission to 45 participating museums during February. sandiegomuseumcouncil.org San Diego Creative Youth Development Summit at San Diego Foundation, 2508 Historic Decatur Road, Point Loma.

Join local leaders for an interactive exploration of creative youth development.

From 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4. 619-235-2300, sdys.org Return of The Macrame at Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave., Normal Heights.

Chelsea Virginia, macram������������������ é crafter extraordinaire, will lead a two-hour workshop that’ll end with a completed wall hanging.

Two craft cocktails included. From 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4. $45. 619-5639019, sycamoreden.com

For full listings,

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

eath served D with tea & cake All over San Diego County and beyond, people are gathering to talk about what happens when we expire by

A my W allen

Talking about death? Eating cake? I’m there.

I got lost on my way to the first café. It was held at an Assisted Living Center in Encinitas.

“I’m looking for the death café,” I said, as I walked into reception.

“Excuse me? The what?”

“The discussion of death,” I explained to the woman behind the desk.

Her eyes grew large. “Not here,” she said, her voice now a whisper.

You’d think I’d walked in wearing a black robe and carrying a giant scythe. I was turned away.

I had figured old folks would be chatty about death.

Come to find out, they avoid it like, well, the black plague.

Eventually, I found the right location: Silverado, anoth’ve been death-café hopping. er assisted-living facility a couple of blocks away. This, the Death café, according to deathcafe.com, is a event’s organizer said, was the first time a death café had ever “discussion group where the only topic is death; been held in an assisted-living facility in San Diego County. no agenda, objectives or themes. It is not a grief Walking into my first death café, I felt awkward. Sure, I support or counseling session. At a Death Café, was fascinated by death, but would it be a conversation about people, often strangers, gather to eat cake, drink God? Would it be people who were dying or had had a lot of tea and discuss death.” friends and family members die? None of this described me.

Tea and cake is required, the website says. Emily Post I like to joke about what kind of urn I want. About picking would roll over in her grave if tea and cake were not served. out a coffin at Costco. “Do they shrink-wrap them in threes?”

The aim of the cafés is to broach the subject of death in or- my husband jokes. I dream up fun funerals. der to help those of us curious about death (not as in doing The room was crowded, 35 to 40 people. An elderly lady it, but as in a little chit-chat about what we think happens) sat alone at a table in the back. She looked safe. Make converget the most out of our finite lives. In other venues, death is sation, I told myself. It won’t kill you. So, I asked “Georgia,” as a conversation stopper. her nametag read, “What interested you in death café?”

Started in 2010 by Jon Underwood in the United Kingdom, She smiled, looked me in the eye and said, “I’m a lifetime the idea to meet up with folks to discuss death has franchised CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 and can be found all over the world, San Diego included.

I

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 17

member of the Hemlock Society. This seemed like the next step.”

Yep, I was in the right place.

Karen Van Dyke facilitates the death cafés across San Diego, but she’s by no means the only person who hosts them. Sometimes she co-hosts, and sometimes others do it on their own. Van Dyke’s are the most popular. She opens by telling a story about her mom’s friend who had an open casket and was lying face down.

Why? Because she wanted the world to kiss her ass goodbye.

Most of the cafés I attended were run similarly.

The room was divided into smaller groups of four or five individuals and we were given conversation starters.

When is the best day to die?

“The day before you lose your mind,” someone in the audience said.

What kind of funeral would you like to have?

Carol, who’d been in my first small group, told me all about her husband’s choices: “When he was terminal, he said to me, ‘You know those nice things people say about the deceased at funerals? Well, I want my friends to say them to me now,’” she said. “So we threw him a party. We laid him out on the couch, set up a photo booth in the corner and invited all our friends over to say goodbye. It was great fun.”

“Hearing is the last sense to go,” Sandy, a hospice-care worker, told that same death café group in Encinitas (lots of hospice-care workers attend death cafés).

That means those things we say that we aren’t sure if the dying know we are saying: Yep, those things are heard.

What do you think happens when you die?

A gentleman sitting next to me in Mission Valley, who wanted to be known simply as Ron, said he thought death

18 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

der, Is this someone’s aunt?

What happens when we die?

The Near Death Experience Association came up at all the cafés. Amazing stories were shared about the light and the tunnel. No agenda is placed on the room, so the space is safe, and anyone can talk about anything they’ve experienced, or witnessed, or believe in. Or don’t believe in.

When Maria Carter, death café host in El Cajon, told stories about the celebratory nature of her Filipino family’s funerals, I was reminded of the Birthday Shelf my mother kept in the hall closet, filled with balloons, crepe-paper streamers, candles, party favors and piñata stuffings. I made a mental note to create a Funeral Shelf in my closet at home. To help my family when my time comes. To insure they put up my favorite-color streamers.

At the La Jolla café, I learned a lot about the logistics of death: We don’t have to go to the hospiGraphic designer Jeannel King’s visual interpretation tal, for instance, but can stay in our home when we of her death café experience in North Park die. We don’t have to be embalmed or use a funeral home. We can lie in dry ice in a coffin in our livwas the last ride at the amusement park. There’s an exit on ing room as long as our family will have us—which reminds the other side that’s never seen until we take the ride. No me of that saying, “House guests and fish go bad after four days.” Let’s hope it’s never “Aunt Martha and fish.” one comes back through to tell us what the ride was like.

Where would you like to be when you die?

I liked this idea until I started wondering what the “Puppy farm,” a La Jolla attendee replied. chances were that it wasn’t Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, but At 30 years old, Taylor was the youngest attendee I met instead was something like the whirling teacups and I’d leave vomiting. Either way, when it’s over, you unbuckle at the Encinitas death café. She was attending, she said, beyour seatbelt and exit out the opposite side of the car—or cause it was the sixth anniversary of her fiancé’s death and a death café seemed like the right place to be. The question our teacup as the case may be—never to be seen again.

Back to the questions: Where would you want your ash- group pulled was, What do you think happens after death?

“The mystery of the afterlife is humbling,” she anes scattered?

So many people said they had scattered their mother’s, swered. sister’s, brother’s or cousin’s ashes in Hawaii that the next time I squish that sand between my toes I’m going to won- Write to editor@sdcitybeat.com.

In search of a home For more than a year, Patric Stillman has been developing The Studio Door, a venture he says will assist artists with the business side of selling art while also creating opportunities—through juried exhibitions, national marketing efforts and more—that’ll help bring more attention to San Diego’s visual artists.

“Now I just need to find a permanent home,” says Stillman, who’s endured a series of setbacks while trying to secure a space.

CityBeat spoke to Stillman at the San Diego Art Institute-North Park on Ray Street, better known as The San Diego Art Department. At the time of the interview, he was hoping to take over the institute’s lease and transform the space into The Studio Door.

He’s even giving the location a dry run and hosting one-third of the 90 works in The Studio Door’s first juried show, The Crow Show: An Homage to the Raven, at the space (3830 Ray St.). The exhibition will be on view Feb. 2 through 27, with an opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6 (the rest of the works will be showing at the Art Institute of California in Mission Valley and online at thestudiodoor.com).

San Diego Art Institute (SDAI) took over the spacious Ray Street building in 2007 but recently chose not to renew its lease. The Balboa Park institute’s new executive director, Ginger Shulick Porcella, says SDAI never successfully branded the space and ultimately decided that the building’s use for feefor-service instructional programs no longer aligned with SDAI’s mission. Shulick Porcella says SDAI did its best to transfer the lease to Stillman and keep art programming in the space, but she says the landlords want to move their own offices into the building.

“It’s like the death rattle of arts on Ray Street,” Kinsee Morlan

Wendy Wilson

A comeback in Escondido

Kinsee Morlan

Seen Local

Patric Stillman a disappointed Shulick Porcella told CityBeat in an email, acknowledging the building’s role as one of the cornerstones of the Ray at Night monthly art walk and the area’s overall art vibe.

Stillman’s disappointed, too, but this isn’t his first dance with bad news. The Studio Door launched briefly back in November inside a building at 4434 30th St. in North Park. But his partnership with cofounder Kate Ashton didn’t pan out. They parted ways, and the space was rebranded as Art on 30th (arton30th.com), a similar business that offers art classes and workshops and hosts exhibitions.

Stillman—one-time executive director at Space 4 Art, former chief operating officer at World Trade Center San Diego and a serial entrepreneur—certainly isn’t a stranger to the difficulties of running a business. He says he’s confident that The Studio Door will eventually find the right home.

“I’ve spent so much time and thought on this that it’s going to happen, regardless of the challenges that come my way,” he says. “I just see us, at the moment, as the ultimate pop-up.”

—Kinsee Morlan

national artists, like Fred Wilson, Raúl Guerrero, Jean Lowe, Sam Taylor Wood and Eleanor Antin.

“The Strauss family, they actually have a house dedicated to their art,” Wilson says on a quick tour through Contemporary Constructions, stopping at several of the more striking works culled from the Rancho Sante Fe-based collectors’ personal stash.

Wilson says she felt like a kid in a candy store as she wandered through the Strauss’ home. She whittled down the works by focusing on a few specific geographical themes.

“Here’s the German Impact wall,” Wilson says, standing in front of a huge fabric work by Cosima von Bonin.

Wilson made use of the museum’s high ceiling by focusing on large-scale works, and she represented the diversity of the Strauss collection with paintings, mixed-media pieces, installations and a video.

For In the Studio, a show exploring the relationships between artists and their assistants, Wilson collected interesting stories about collaborations.

The text-heavy show includes mostly installation work created through these relationships.

“I’m fascinated with who works with whom to produce what,” she explains. “So, the show just came out of that—years of meeting people and saying, ‘Wow, these would be great stories to tell.’”

Two must-see contemporary-art exhibitions at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido opened last week and will be on view in the center’s museum (340 N. Escondido Blvd.) through Feb. 22.

Organized by independent curator Wendy Wilson, Contemporary Constructions: Matthew & Iris Strauss Family Foundation and In the Studio: Artist Dialogs are part of the center’s ramped-up 20th-anniversary season. The shows mark a welcome return to high-quality, headline-grabbing exhibitions in the 9,000-square-foot museum space, which was closed for more than a year in 2011 and 2012 due to budget cuts and has struggled to find its —Kinsee Morlan footing ever since.

Wilson recently walked CityBeat though the shows, Write to kinseem@sdcitybeat.com which are stacked with recognizable local and inter- and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 19

Spinning tales Tomm Moore’s Oscar-nominated folktale is a lush beauty

by Glenn Heath Jr. It’s a wonderful thing getting beckoned into a fairy tale, especially when the storyteller understands how to lure you in with a sense of mystery.

Modern children’s films often don’t understand or care about a complex opening salvo, opting instead for obvious tropes or ironic spins on “Once upon a time.” Tomm Moore’s gorgeous animated film Song of the Sea does just the opposite, starting off with the bedtime story that thrives on wonder and enchantment.

Young Ben (voiced by David Rawle) lies in his room adorned with fantastical tableaus from Irish folklore that are drawn on the wall like cave paintings. He listens carefully as his pregnant mother Bronach (Lisa Hannigan) tells of an ancient giant anything in the Pixar universe. The underwater sewho was turned to stone so that he wouldn’t have to quences are especially luminous, like one wide shot feel pain any longer, and of the owl witch who cast of seals swimming underneath the belly of a massive the spell. The last images Ben sees are of this mother sperm whale. Primary colors are magnified through leaving the room, suddenly grabbing her belly and the heightened purview of children being awakened gasping in pain. to tradition and folklore.

Flash forward six years and Ben has gained a Thematically, Song of the Sea couldn’t be more relmute little sister Saoirse (Lucy O’Connell) and lost evant for young siblings threatened by each other’s a mother. Their father Conor (Brendan Gleeson) unique traits. Ben is quite nasty to Saoirse, in large mans a lighthouse on a ganpart because he doesn’t undergly island that ascends into stand how they could be from the sky. Conor’s grumpy old the same family tree. Moore Song of the Sea mother often visits with the appreciates the uniqueness Directed by Tomm Moore intent of getting the family to of different kinds of perspecStarring David Rawle, Lucy O’Connell, move back to the city. While tives and makes this relatable Lisa Hannigan and Brendan Gleeson sitting on the beach with his for curious children. Instead Rated PG big sheepdog Cu, Ben sketchof punishing bad behavior, the es pictures of the ancient stofilm provides Ben with learnries his mother has passed ing experiences that are deepon, seemingly at peace with whatever trauma hap- ly rooted in his own crisis of self. pened. Saoirse, on the other hand, looks haunted, Song of the Sea, which opens Friday, Jan. 30, at often gazing out into the ocean and communicating Reading Gaslamp Cinemas, will be competing for non-verbally with the seals, as if she herself was be- Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards on Feb. ing beckoned to another realm.

22. It’s a curious (and altogether welcome) choice to Song of the Sea follows a fairly linear narrative in be recognized, most notably because it stubbornly which the siblings learn to trust each other when the insists that memories can be just as magical as fairy fairy tales they’ve been told as children end up com- tales. Ben and Saoirse’s experiences find reference ing true. Surrounded by magic fairies, preying owls points in the paintings on their walls and in the deep and circular patterns of mystical particles born from blue sea. the deep sea, Ben and Saoirse discover that their “Remember me in your stories and songs,” their family holds a secret connection with the Selkie, a mother whispers late in the film, from beyond the half-human, half-seal creature of Irish lore previous- grave. By the end, there’s no doubt these two children ly seen in John Sayles’ underrated gem, The Secret of will be spinning tales well into their old age, beckoning future generations with the best of them.

Roan Inish.

Moore’s love for nature remains consistently evident in the gorgeously layered images, many har- Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com boring a visual complexity and density on par with and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

Remember me

Still Alice

20 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

Julianne Moore has been giving daring and indelible performances ever since her breakout role in Robert Altman’s 1993 drama, Short Cuts. That she might finally win an Academy Award for her turn as a Columbia professor suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s in Still Alice is proof positive that Oscar rarely awards

artists for the right work.

Still, Moore’s award-season buzz should be of no surprise considering how strategically Still Alice plays the tearjerker game. Safely directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, the film is a slow-burn tragedy about one woman’s struggle to die on her own terms. As Alice Howland (Moore) slowly realizes her mind may be failing, each

bit of forgetfulness or dizzy spell is meant to maximize the horrific banality of it all.

Supported by her caring husband (Alec Baldwin) and three grown children, Alice grapples with the different stages of her disease while trying to retain some sense of dignity. Her youngest daughter, portrayed by the increasingly impressive Kristen Stewart, is the family member most committed to helping her through the treatment process.

Like always, Moore dives headfirst into the role, exhibiting the mixture of panic and resolve one might expect from a dynamic Ivy League powerhouse showing weakness for the first time in succumbing to an incurable disease.

Still Alice—which opens Friday, Feb. 6, at Hillcrest Cinemas—may seem subtle on the surface, but it hits all the dramatic notes found in the type of tepid middlebrow fare tailor-made for Oscars these days.

Moore’s brave and reflexive speech to a group of Alzheimer’s researchers is moving, albeit in the most calculated way, as if it were crafted specifically for the short-sound-bite world of award-season promotion.

For a truly great Moore performance, look back to 1995’s Safe, Todd Haynes’ masterpiece about a perfectly regular housewife slowly being driven mad by her environment. It’s truly horrifying.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

Opening All this Mayhem: Tas and Ben Pappas are brothers who rise up together in the world of professional skateboarding, only to get consumed by fame, drugs and ego.

Screens through Feb. 4 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Black or White: Kevin Costner plays a grieving widower who’s caught up in a custody battle for his granddaughter. It costars Octavia Spencer and Gillian Jacobs.

Black Sea: Jude Law plays the commander of a submarine tasked with retrieving a load of stolen gold from the bottom of the ocean.

Brahmin Bulls: A young man gets suspicious when his estranged father suddenly shows up in Los Angeles, asking to mend their relationship. Screens through Feb. 5 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

The Loft: Infidelity turns to murder in this thriller involving five men who decide to secretly share a loft to carry out trysts unbeknownst to their significant others. Karl Urban and James Marsden costar.

Oscar Nominated Short Films 2015: Animation: The nominees for Best Animated Short include A Single Life (The Netherlands), Feast (U.S.), Me and My Moulton (Canada / Norway), The Bigger Picture (U.K.) and The Dam Keeper (U.S.).

Screens at the Ken Cinema.

Oscar Nominated Short Films 2015: Live Action: The nominees for Best Live Action Short Film include Aya (Israel / France), Boogaloo and Graham

(U.K.), The Phone Call (U.K.), Butter Lamp (France / China) and Parvaneh (Switzerland). Screens at the Ken Cinema.

Project Almanac: When some teens disregard every cautionary tale and travel back in time, their lives are turned upside down. Shocker.

R100: Hitoshi Matsumoto’s wild sex comedy follows a lonely father who gets caught up in a hilariously bizarre world of S&M. Screens through Feb. 5 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Song of the Sea: Merging folklore and fairy tale, Tomm Moore’s gorgeous animated film tells the story of a brother and sister who get swept up into a fantasy world of selkies, sprites and giants.

Screens at Reading Gaslamp Cinemas.

See our review on Page 20.

Rudderless: A grieving father finds a box of recordings made by his recently deceased son, then forms a band to perform the music in hopes of finding peace.

Screens at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, at the Point Loma / Hervey Branch Library.

tional rock band made up of six GYN surgeons travels around the United States, trying to bring awareness to cancers that affect women. Screens at 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 4, at Edwards Rancho San Diego.

Some Like it Hot: Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis dress up in drag to escape threatening mobsters, only to fall in love with one of their traveling companions (Marilyn Monroe). Screens at 6 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 4, at Arclight La Jolla.

Groundhog Day: Everything’s repeating. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

Balboa Park: The Magic City: Jack Ofield’s documentary covers the historical significance of San Diego’s crown jewel.

Screens at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, at the Lemon Grove Library.

No Evidence of Disease: An unconven-

Now Playing A Most Violent Year: When his business is threatened by a string of armed robberies, the owner of a New York City gas company (Oscar Isaac) must adapt to the volatile surroundings to survive.

links two powerful Italian families vying for political dominance.

Mortdecai: Johnny Depp stars as a kooky art dealer who investigates the disappearance of a priceless painting that could lead to Nazi gold.

Strange Magic: The first big animated film of 2015 features goblins, elves and other creatures vying for a magic potion.

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

Human Capital: A tragic bike accident

To the Arctic: The life cycles of polar bears and other arctic wildlife are the focus of this awe-inspiring IMAX documentary that takes you into the frigid north.

Two Days, One Night: After her coworkers vote to fire her in exchange for a pay increase, a woman (Marion Cotillard) visits them one by one and asks them to help salvage her job.

One Time Only A.C.O.D.: A young man (Adam Scott) who resents his parents for getting divorced must come to grips with their sudden reunion. Screens at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the Mission Valley Library.

Rocky: A broken-down Philadelphia boxer (Sylvester Stallone) gets a second chance at victory when he’s recruited to fight the heavyweight champion of the world. Screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, at Arclight La Jolla.

Old School: Once it hits your lips, it’s so good. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

San Diego Black Film Festival: A celebration of African-American and African Diaspora cinema from around the globe, including documentaries, narrative and short films. Runs Thursday, Jan. 29, through Sunday, Feb. 1, at the Reading Gaslamp Cinemas.

Despair, Le Petite Mort, Face in the Crowd: Three short films by artist and director Alex Prager are featured as part of “The Darkroom,” an ongoing experimental-art series. Starts at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.

Winter Film Showcase: A selection of short films curated by Film Consortium San Diego will feature talent from around the region. Screens at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 30 and 31, at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.

The Judge: Robert Duvall was nominated for an Oscar for his role as an ornery judge who’s accused of murder and must be defended by his estranged lawyer son (Robert Downey Jr.) Screens at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 30 and 31, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

Clueless: Whatever. Screens at 11:55 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 31, at the Ken Cinema.

Sleepless in Seattle: A sad widower calls in to a radio talk show and becomes a sensation among single women everywhere, including doe-eyed Meg Ryan.

Screens at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 2, at Arclight La Jolla.

Garibaldi’s Lovers: Silvio Soldini’s comedy follows the unlikely pairing of a working-class grunt and a poor, struggling artist. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 2, at the San Diego Central Library in East Village.

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 21

alex

there she goz

zaragoza Damn, it feels good to be a trivia geek The pursuit of stockpiling completely useless inforday learning things that, yes, in the long run, may mation is an art. Don’t let anyone tell you different. not matter. But they matter to us.

Like any muscle that takes years of hard training While I fancy myself more of a pop-culture maand meticulous cultivation to be in top shape, the ven, with an emphasis on television, I love coming nerd muscle requires that same serial-killer-esque to trivia nights like this, seeing my bespectacled attention to detail. And bonus! Training the nerd brethren and sistren in dorkery flaunt their knowlmuscle doesn’t require any physical work, and you edge and show off some of my own. And, damn, can eat all the pizza you want. does it feel good. I don’t think I ever puff my chest When I watched Usain Bolt dominate the sprint up higher than when my sister calls me to ask the competitions at the Beijing Olympics, crushing name of that one guy with the weird front teeth world records like it wasn’t a damn thing, I looked who was in that movie where he was a game-show at my television screen and thought, Yup. I know host but also in the CIA, and I immediately tell her how that guy feels. I know. I understand triumph of Sam Rockwell and hang up without saying bye, the heart, of the mind, of the body. Why? Because like a boss.

I can name every Mariah Carey single that has hit My team comprised some of the brightest minds No. 1 on the Billboard charts. in random music knowledge, with strengths in variI’ll never forget the moment I saw that question ous genres and periods of pop-music history. We on a trivia quiz, looked up at my teammates with a were told absolutely no cell phones allowed (except blaze of knowing in my eyes and said, “Dudes, I toto use as flashlights because it was really dark in tally got this.” It’s all over! Gozer wins the cup! there and we’re old). The thing is, cheating is really I can’t do more than five pushups, but I can drop not what makes for fun winning. I mean, who are we, some random pop-culture knowledge that few oththe New England Patriots? Knowing what we know ers in my company know. The moments I can do and remembering it without any high-tech help that, no matter how small, are moments when I exis what sets us apart from the dumb-dumbs of the perience a true sense of triumph. world. We banded together against our one true foe.

That immense self-satisfaction was apparent [Clint Eastwood scowl] Terich. in everyone who came out to Whistle Stop Bar in As many of you CityBeat readers know, Jeff TerSouth Park last Thursday to tap ich is our music editor. Being the useless information that the music editor of any publicarents a large section of their tion means being pretty knowlCoincidentally, this also brain. My friend and ultimate edgeable about music in generdescribes pretty much music nerd Adam Gimbel came al, though many definitely have out of retirement after three their genres of expertise. That’s every dude I’ve ever years to host his popular musicpretty standard. Jeffrey Terich, dated. What can I say? trivia night, “Musical Pursuit.” however, is a freakin’ beast.

This trivia night sets the That dude is a music-trivia I have a type. bar high on the popular-music monster. He’s going to read this dweebage scale. It’s hyper-speand his ego is going to feel like cific and obscure while also hitit just got its 12th round of roast ting mainstream music, so you can’t just know the beef from Hometown Buffet. name of the producer on the first Can album. You And, of course, he’s also kind and awesome—he also have to know things about people like Ariana would be, that son of a bitch. Along with his equally Grande and Taylor Swift. brilliant wife, Candice Eley, and Ryan Bradford (anThis is why assembling a strong team with variother CityBeat staffer who knows so much about pop punk that you’re surprised he doesn’t have a ous strengths is key, and also why the night’s always lip ring) and other team members, they presented been so beloved by a very specific set of nerds. Anyour biggest challenge. one who’s ever seen the movie High Fidelity knows Actually, no, they didn’t. They’re so damn good, the type I’m talking about (“It was Dean, you fuckwe never stood a chance, but we came in a very in’ idiot!”). Music nerds are kooky elitists draped in respectable fourth place, high-fiving when we got dark hoodies and thick-rimmed glasses who spout something particularly difficult right. Because, at out factoids about anything from Mancunian rock the end, the knowing is the win. This is a challenge bands of the late ’80s and early ’90s to the best to ourselves and how we honor the years we spent rhymes crafted by 2 Chainz. Coincidentally, this collecting records and going to shows and watchalso describes pretty much every dude I’ve ever ing cool rock docs and generally not getting laid dated. What can I say? I have a type. because we were collecting information on things The room was full of these unappreciated scholwe love. Maybe I’m speaking for myself on the ars who definitely know more than you. We were all last part. And, yes, that does sound like loser talk. hunched over, looking at a past quiz left out on the Whatever. tables to get the juices flowing, yelling out answers to “Name That Tune” and prepping to show off our Write to alexz@sdcitybeat.com skills. The paleness of our skin serves as a badge of and editor@sdcitybeat.com. honor. It says we are all too busy on the Internet all

22 · San Diego CityBeat · Janaury 28, 2015

Kristin Jones

him seem oddly polite. “I had the displeasure of enduring your lack of manners!” he cries in “Rock Springs,” sounding like a Downton Abbey cast member gone punk-rock.

But on the whole, his lyrics offer a refreshing departure from the sexist tone found in the music of so many emotional indie-rock bands. As the music critic Jessica Hopper wrote in her 2003 essay, “Emo: Where the Girls Aren’t,” the tag “emo” has long been associated with heartbroken adolescent boys hurling accusations at flimsily drawn female caricatures. Thankfully, unlike the whiners of Dashboard Confessional caliber, Jones airs his anger only to turn the lens on himself: “OK, I’ll admit it / This past year I’ve been kind of an idiot,” he sings in album closer “Better to Best.”

“Blame is so subjective,” he says. “Everything that comes out of my mouth, I’m thinking about it continuously. I’m thinking about how I could’ve done it better, how I could’ve done it differently. And I feel like that reflects also in how I interact outwardly. Apparently, it very much shows through in my songwriting.”

You Blew It! started as a side project in From left: Andy Vila, Tanner Jones, Matt Nissley, Trevor O’Hare and Andy Anaya 2009, and the band’s gone through a lot in piece (Jones, guitarist Andy Anaya, guitarist mixed low, letting the guitars share in the the six years since—including something like / vocalist Trevor O’Hare, drummer Matt tears—an approach that reflects that band’s 12 lineup changes, Jones says. Members have Nissley and bassist Andy Vila, all in their older days, when he’d often have to sing left to pursue other jobs and careers, and the early- to mid-20s). Riding on the crest of the through a bass amp wheeled into the venue band itself is growing up, too. They used to so-called “emo revival”—a somewhat load- 15 minutes before the show started, due to piece songs together riff by riff, but with their new, three-song Pioneer of Nothing EP (reed term referring to a recent crop of bands lack of professional stage equipment.

“In those venues, we were playing to peo- leased on Jade Tree on Jan. 27), they thought inspired by ’90s /early ’00s emotional indierock bands like Sunny Day Real Estate and ple that could only hear the instruments,” about each song as a whole, giving the music American Football—the band’s spent the Jones says, speaking by phone a few hours’ a better sense of structure and direction.

As for their live show, they’re embracing past few years touring regularly, garnering drive outside of Orlando, after picking up change. And aside from the critical love and playing bigger, professional the band’s trailer from his larger audiences and better parents’ house to get ready venues to eager fans. stage equipment, Jones is “Playing to bigger crowds gets me way for a new tour. “Those are just happy he doesn’t have less nervous than playing to 10 people. Once the things that shine to us, Feb. 5 to try to impress judgmenit gets past a certain point of people in the obviously, because that’s tal crust-punks anymore. room, it just turns into a blanket. You’re just the only thing we hear.”

House of Blues’ “You feel more comfortThat’s not to say Jones playing to an inanimate object of audience able going outside of yourmembers,” Jones says. “Whereas, if you’re neglects the lyrics. When Voodoo Lounge self,” he says about playing playing to 10 people, you see everyone’s fac- he listens to music, he youblewitfl.com bigger venues. “Putting that pays close attention to es. You see everyone’s disapproval.” foot up on the monitor as a But just as You Blew It! were once the words, especially with joke. Focusing more on how confronted with challenges unique to the strong writers like Ben DIY scene, they were also strongly shaped Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and Into the vocals sound, rather than how people are by them. On the band’s excellent 2014 al- It. Over It.’s Evan Weiss—another “emo re- perceiving your heart. It’s more performance bum, Keep Doing What You’re Doing, Jones’ vival” luminary and producer of Keep Do- based, which is something that’s weird to get voice teeters between a murmur and a ing What You’re Doing. In his own writing, used to, but it’s kind of a nice change.” half-scream as he struggles to make sense Jones works hard to pen memorable lines, of a failed relationship. His voice is raw and and what comes out occasionally makes Write to editor@sdcitybeat.com.

It came from the basement You Blew It! bring their emotional indie rock to a wider audience

by Peter Holslin Some things never change. Frisbees will always sail through the air. Beer will always taste best cold. And sensitive emo boys will always feel out of place when they play DIY shows stacked with crust-punk bands.

That’s how it was when I was a highschooler more than a decade ago, and that’s how it went down in Orlando, Florida, when indie-rockers You Blew It! were making the local rounds in the late ’00s and early ’10s. Booking shows at pizza parlors, crummy bars, basements, kitchens— basically, wherever they could—they often ended up sandwiched between bands that sounded absolutely nothing like them, performing in front of meager audiences that couldn’t give a shit about their complex guitar parts or soul-searching lyrics.

“We got shunned so much,” recalls singer-guitarist Tanner Jones, “just because I wasn’t wearing a jean jacket with an Op Ivy patch on it.”

These days, life isn’t so tough for the five-

You Blew It!

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 23

notes from the smoking patio Locals Only Topshelf Records is relocating to San Diego from its former home base of Boston. The independent label, which was founded in 2006 by Seth Decoteau and Kevin Duquette, has released records by bands like Braid, Into It. Over It. and You Blew It! and in the last five years has come to be associated with the “emo revival” wave of young indie-rock bands.

Decoteau and Duquette tell CityBeat that, at this stage in the label’s life, there wasn’t much tying them to Boston.

“Last year, we reached a point where we realized we could run the label pretty much anywhere,” Decoteau says.

The label’s cofounders say they wanted to find inspiration in a new city but weren’t interested in going to locales oversaturated with bands or labels, like New York City or Los Angeles. And while they considered a half-dozen other places, San Diego ultimately had more going for it.

“I think there are more personal reasons than professional,” Duquette says. “We have some family [in San Diego], some friends, and the weather is a factor, especially compared to Boston. We saw San Diego in a way that we could carve out a niche. It’ll be a new opportunity to lay down some roots and get involved with what’s happening.”

The move is still in progress, though; Decoteau has already relocated, while Duquette will arrive at the end of the month. Moving to San Diego also offers some new opportunities for Topshelf. Decoteau

In Ears We Trust A semi-regular feature in which we ask local musicians about the music they’ve been digging lately David Mead, Ditches: Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space by Spiritualized. “Ladies and Gentlemen is, I think, the native English speaker’s version of Air’s Moon Safari. Something done on such a blatant and massive scale, like Hearst’s Castle. They we’re, like, ‘Fuck you, I want an Olympic pool and lions on my front lawn.’”

Patrick Erhard, Ash Williams: Broken Bells. “I recently found out Broken Bells was a thing, and, oh, what a thing it is. I will throw all of my money at literally anything Danger Mouse does. I realized that his beats are what would happen if Ennio Morricone decided to go to space and write hip-hop.”

Brian Reilly, The New Kinetics: Bryter Layter by Nick Drake.

“I love the sound of everything on this record. The drums on ‘At the Chime of a City Clock’ spark imagery of the dazzling gray light-speed hum of the NYC of my childhood years.

It’s a comfortable old crash pad for my head.”

24 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

Kevin Duquette (left) and Seth Decoteau of Topshelf, shipping merch and Duquette say that a lot of their favorite bands have come from San Diego, and they’d like to become better established in the local scene.

“We’ve always tried to be as community-oriented as we can be,” Decoteau says. “With New York or L.A., there’s so much going on, and you’re going at it with a ton of other people, that it’s hard to really establish yourself.

“The more we looked into it, and the more people we talked to about it, and the support we got, the more it felt like we were making the right choice,” he adds. “The response was super positive.”

—Jeff Terich

Sasha Syeed, Nothingful: Upgrade & Afterlife by Gastr del Sol. “It runs the gamut, from deep-bass, clarinet-free-jazz freak-outs disrupting a calm, serene piano piece [to] electronic, violent white-noise bursts opening songs and descending into quiet acoustic-guitar angular studies in the most peculiar vocal melodies. Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between Jim O’Rourke’s and David Grubbs’ playing, but there is absolute beauty, calm, violence, completely free creativity and all-around inspiring, other-worldliness throughout this record.

“Not to mention some hilariously odd lyrics.”

Lindsay White, The Lovebirds: Hozier by Hozier. “I’m in a geeky album-of-the-month club, and the current selection is Hozier. Mainstream radio is looking bleak, so I’m glad someone resembling a songwriter is actually getting airplay. I’m also about a decade-and-ahalf late to the Ryan Adams party, but I’m glad I finally got here.”

Spiritualized

—Jeff Terich Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com or editor@sdcitybeat.com.

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 25

if i were u

BY Jeff Terich

Wednesday, Jan. 28 PLAN A: The Devil Makes Three, Joe Pug @ House of Blues. Busker rock sort of had its moment in the sun and has since more or less passed—at least until the next Lumineers record comes out. But I can get behind the old-timey speakeasy gypsy folk of The Devil Makes Three, who at least have some Tom Waits in their veins to counteract the suspenders and mustaches.

Thursday, Jan. 29 PLAN A: Karma to Burn, Sierra, Amigo, Mojave Green @ Brick by Brick. If you have any trouble finding the Karma to Burn show on Thursday, just follow the massive cloud of marijuana smoke. I’m only half kidding: The band has a long history as one of the great stoner-rock bands of our time, with chunky riffs that can stand alongside those

by Kyuss and Masters of Reality. Heavy always goes better with some melody, and here you’ll get both. PLAN B: The Dollyrots, The Touchies, Pleasure Fix @ Soda Bar. The Dollyrots play perky, snotty punkpop in the vein of The Muffs or The Goops,

with a little twist of Joan Jett. They can be a little on the silly side, but there’s no getting around just how damn catchy they are.

If it’s a carefree night of hooks and dancing like an awkward teenager (but without the actual teenagers), then this is the show you’re looking for. BACKUP PLAN: Nekrofilth, Weaponizer, Hammered, Christ Killer @ Tower Bar.

Friday, Jan. 30 PLAN A: Nothing, Tony Molina, Witness 9 @ Soda Bar. Philadelphia shoegazers Nothing are signed to famed metal label Relapse, though they’re not a metal band, and not really even that close to being one. They have some hardcore cred, for sure, but when you get down to it, they make dense, layered guitar rock with dreamy tones. And that’s just fine by me. PLAN B: Chateau, Speaker in Reverse @ Whistle Stop Bar. Dark synth-pop locals Chateau make their live debut at this show, and it’s always exciting when San Diego gives birth to another interesting new band. Their track posted to Soundcloud, “Bury You,” sounds like contemporary synth-based outfits like Glasser or Purity Ring, and the band shows a lot of promise. This could very well

26 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

be the beginning of something big. BACKUP PLAN: Darlington, Dan Padilla, Idols Monday, Feb. 2 Plague, Fantasy Arcade @ Til-Two Club. PLAN A: Jukebox the Ghost, Twin Forks, Secret Someones @ Soda Bar. I’ve seen Jukebox the Ghost live before, Saturday, Jan. 31 and while the thing I remember most is PLAN A: Wale, Doja Cat @ Observatory their cover of New Order’s “Temptation,” North Park. Baltimore rapper Wale first they’re an overall solid pop group with turned heads with 2008’s some catchy, fun melodies. If you ever Mixtape About Nothing, hoped that a band would cross-pollinate in which he used Sein- the styles of Vampire Weekend and Ben feld as a theme for some Folds Five, then this is the band for you. innovative conceptual PLAN B: Pleasure Fix, The Slashes, The ideas. He’s since moved Bassics @ The Casbah. Pleasure Fix is into more mainstream a little bit punk, a little bit sleaze, and a pop-rap territory, but the whole lot of rock ’n’ roll. Badassery—and dude’s still got some great dirty, fuzzy guitar riffs—is the name of songs in his catalog, and their game, and $6 is a small price to pay he might even break out for a good ass-kicking on a Monday night. some of the jams from that early mixtape.

Tuesday, Feb. 3

Wale

Sunday, Feb. 1

PLAN A: Chips, Dip, Beer, A Giant Novelty Foam Finger @ Your House. So, I’ll be straight with you—I’m not the biggest football fan. Not because of politics or anything like that, just that I get bored pretty easily. But even if you’re like me, and you’d rather go see some punk bands than the Super Bowl, for instance, well, no venue is really giving you that option. Most clubs are closed, so you might as well settle into that easy chair and crack open a cold one.

PLAN A: LA Witch, Amerikan Bear @ The Hideout. On a basic level, LA Witch are a garage-rock band similar to the many other garage-rock acts in Southern California. But what sets them apart is the combination of eerie, dark tones they add in, making what might have been a more straightforward sound into one that haunts more than simply blows out the eardrums.

It’s still good fun, but fun like a beach party with ghosts. BACKUP PLAN: Los Kung Fu Monkeys, Authentic Sellout, The Bassics @ The Casbah.

HOT! NEW! FRESH! Otep (Soda Bar, 2/16), Milk Music (The Hideout, 3/3), Cheap Girls, Restorations (The Hideout, 3/7), Black Pussy (Soda Bar, 3/9), Geographer (Casbah, 3/12), Comeback Kid (Epicentre, 3/12), The Used (HOB, 4/3), Built to Spill (Irenic, 4/14), Toro y Moi (Observatory North Park, 4/15), Ratatat (Casbah, 4/16), The Cribs (Casbah, 4/17), Marina and the Diamonds (Observatory North Park, 4/18), Inter Arma (Soda Bar, 4/30), NKOTB, TLC, Nelly (Viejas Arena, 5/11), Two Gallants (Soda Bar, 5/15), Paramore (Open Air Theatre, 5/22), Sufjan Stevens (Copley Symphony Hall, 6/2), Diana Krall (Humphreys, 8/24), Mark Knopfler (Humphreys, 9/21).

GET YER TICKETS Hundred Waters (Casbah, 2/11), The Dodos (Casbah, 2/14), Steve Aoki (Soma, 2/20), Gregory Alan Isakov (The Irenic, 2/22), Cursive (Casbah, 2/22), David Cook (BUT, 2/23), In Flames (HOB, 2/23), Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band (Viejas Arena, 2/25), Cold War Kids (North Park Theatre, 2/25), Taking Back Sunday (HOB, 2/26), Deap Vally (BUT, 2/26), The Church (Casbah, 2/28), Theophilus London (BUT, 3/1), Swervedriver (Casbah, 3/4), Enslaved, YOB (Brick by Brick, 3/5), Viet Cong (Soda Bar, 3/7), A Place to Bury Strangers (Casbah, 3/11), Hurray for the Riff Raff (BUT, 3/11), Bleachers (HOB, 3/12), Twin Shadow (BUT, 3/13), Ani DiFranco (HOB, 3/16), Pete Rock and Slum Village (Porter’s Pub, 3/24), Tweedy (Balboa Theatre, 3/24), George Benson (Balboa Theatre, 3/26), Blue October (HOB, 4/9), Andrew Jackson Jihad (The Irenic, 4/10), D.I. (Brick by Brick, 4/11), Iggy Azalea (Valley View Casino Center, 4/23), Waxahatchee (Casbah, 4/26), OK Go (HOB, 5/1), They Might Be Giants (BUT, 5/3), The Growlers (Observatory North Park, 5/9), The Wombats (HOB, 5/13), Lana Del Rey (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 5/16), Train (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 5/24), Nickelback (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 6/27), Fall Out Boy, Wiz Khalifa (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 8/8), The Who (Valley View Casino Center, 9/14), Foo Fighters (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 9/24).

January Wednesday, Jan. 28 Dead Feather Moon at Belly Up Tavern.

Thursday, Jan. 29 Keller Williams at Belly Up Tavern.

Friday, Jan. 30 Dave and Phil Alvin at Belly Up Tavern.

Brooke Fraser at The Irenic. Paul Wall at Porter’s Pub. Nothing at Soda Bar. We Are Scientists at The Casbah.

Saturday, Jan. 31 Patti Smith at Balboa Theatre. Wale at North Park Theatre. Silverstein at House of Blues. Tinashe at Fluxx.

February Monday, Feb. 2 Todd Snider at Belly Up Tavern. Jukebox the Ghost at Soda Bar. Pleasure Fix at The Casbah.

Tuesday, Feb. 3 Los Kung Fu Monkeys at The Casbah.

nis at Porter’s Pub.

Wednesday, Feb. 4 Vonda Shepard at Belly Up Tavern.

Thursday, Feb. 5 Kenny Wayne Shepherd at Belly Up Tavern. You Blew It! at House of Blues Voodoo Room. S at Bar Pink.

Friday, Feb. 6 Generationals at The Casbah. Juan Gabriel at Viejas Arena. Aziz Ansari at Valley View Casino Center.

Saturday, Feb. 7 People on Vacation at Porter’s Pub. Earthless at The Casbah. Excel at Soda Bar.

Saturday, Feb. 21 Mac Sabbath at The Hideout. Steve Poltz at Belly Up Tavern. Wild Child at The Casbah. Gilby Clarke at Brick by Brick. August Burns Red at House of Blues. The Parlor Mob at Soda Bar.

Sunday, Feb. 22 Gregory Alan Isakov at The Irenic. The Mary Onettes at Soda Bar. Lucinda Williams at North Park Theatre (sold out). Zap Mama and Antibalas at Belly Up Tavern. Cursive at The Casbah. Hurricane Chris at Porter’s Pub.

Monday, Feb. 23 In Flames at House of Blues. David Cook at Belly Up Tavern.

Sunday, Feb. 8 Lil Eazy E at Porter’s Pub.

Tuesday, Feb. 24

Monday, Feb. 9 Botanica Chango at The Casbah.

Brett Dennen at North Park Theatre (sold out).

Wednesday, Feb. 25 Cold War Kids at North Park Theatre.

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band at Viejas Arena.

Thursday, Feb. 26

Migos Tuesday, Feb. 10 Migos at North Park Theatre.

Wednesday, Feb. 11 Motion City Soundtrack at House of Blues. Hundred Waters at The Casbah.

Lily and Madeleine at The Loft. Jessica Lea Mayfield at Soda Bar.

Thursday, Feb. 12 Cro-Mags at Soda Bar. Pharmakon at The Hideout. Unwritten Law (acoustic show) at Brick by Brick.

Friday, Feb. 13 Juicy J at North Park Theatre. James Iha at The Hideout.

Saturday, Feb. 14 The Dodos at The Casbah. LOGIC at North Park Theatre. Ozomatli at Belly Up Tavern. Trash Talk at Epicentre.

Sunday, Feb. 15 Enabler at Tower Bar. Ozomatli at Belly Up Tavern. Swami John Reis and the Blind Shake at The Casbah.

Monday, Feb. 16 Otep at Soda Bar.

Tuesday, Feb. 17 Over the Rhine at Belly Up Tavern. Over the Rhine at Belly Up Tavern. Eddie Spaghetti at The Casbah.

Wednesday, Feb. 18 Meghan Trainor at House Of Blues (sold out). Lotus at Belly Up Tavern.

Thursday, Feb. 19 Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake at House of Blues. Taj Mahal Trio at Belly Up Tavern.

Friday, Feb. 20 Alan Jackson at Valley View Casino Center. Steve Aoki at Soma. Kina Gran-

Celtic Thunder at Balboa Theatre. Taking Back Sunday at House of Blues.

Deap Vally at Belly Up Tavern.

Friday, Feb. 27 Griever at Soda Bar.

Saturday, Feb. 28 The Church at The Casbah. Six Organs of Admittance at Soda Bar. Craft Spells at The Hideout. Pine Mountain Logs at Belly Up Tavern. Fifth Harmony at House Of Blues.

March Sunday, March 1 Theophilus London at Belly Up Tavern.

Tuesday, March 3 Don Williams at Balboa Theatre. Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience at Belly Up Tavern. Milk Music at The Hideout.

Wednesday, March 4 Swervedriver at The Casbah.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave, Pacific Beach. 710bc.com. Wed: Open mic.

Thu: Live band karaoke. Fri: Thicker Than Thieves, Rakastep, Perro Bravo.

Sat: Miles Ahead, Soulside Players. Sun: Karaoke.

98 Bottles, 2400 Kettner Blvd. Ste. 110, Little Italy. 98bottlessd.com. Thu: ‘Tribute to Daniel Jackson’ w/ Marshall Hawkins.

Fri: Chris Vitas. Sat: Monette Marino.

Sun: The Matt Smith Neu Jazz Trio.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave, Downtown. americancomedyco. com. Wed: Open mic. Thu-Sat: Tommy Davidson.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St, Downtown. facebook.com/BangBangSanDiego. Fri: Kill Frenzy. Sat: Samfeldt.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St, North Park. barpink.com. Wed: DJ L. Fri: DJ Grand

CONTINUED ON PAGE 28 Janaury 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 27

Masta Rats. Sat: Von Trapps. Sun: ‘Rat Sabbath’ w/ DJ Ratty. Mon: Husky Boy All Stars. Tue: ‘Tiki Tuesday’ w/ Adrian Demain’s Exotica Tronica.

Bassmnt, 919 Fourth Ave, Downtown. bassmntsd.com. Thu: Paris Blohm. Sat: Sultan and Ned Shepherd.

Beaumont’s, 5662 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla. brocktonvilla.com/beaumonts.html.

Fri: Lost Profits. Sat: Slower.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave, Solana Beach. bellyup.com. Wed: Dead Feather Moon, Shake Before Us, Barbarian. Thu: Keller Williams and The Motet.

Fri: Dave and Phil Alvin with The Guilty Ones, Jonah Tolchin. Sat: Abbey Road’s Beatles vs. Stones. Mon: Kelley James.

Tue: Lettuce.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave, Carlsbad. boarcrossn.net. Thu: Inspired and the Sleep. Fri: ‘Club Musae’.

Brass Rail, 3796 Fifth Ave, Hillcrest. thebrassrailsd.com. Thu: ‘Muscle’. Fri: ‘Hip Hop Fridayz’. Sat: DJs XP, KA. Sun: ‘Soiree’. Mon: ‘Manic Monday’ w/ DJs Junior the Disco Punk, XP. Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave, Bay Park. brickbybrick.com. Wed: Westfifeld Massacre, Ash the Sky, A Hero Within.

Thu: Karma to Burn, Sierra, Amigo, Mojave Green. Fri: Philm, Godhammered, Symbolic, Alchemy. Mon: ‘Metal Mondays’. Tue: The Obscure80s, Epic.

Cafe Sevilla, 353 Fifth Ave, Downtown. cafesevilla.com. Thu: Malamana. FriSat: Joef.

Wed: ‘Daniel Jackson Night’ w/ Gilbert Castellanos. Thu: Robert Dove Quartet.

Fri: Agua Dulce. Sat: Eve Selis. Sun: Besos de Coco. Mon: Nina Francis. Tue: Ruby Duo. Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. dirksniteclub.com. Fri: Will Ramey and Firewater. Sat: DJ Dizzy D. Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. dizzyssandiego.com. Thu: Ambassadors of Soul. Fri: Nora Germain. Sat: ‘Tribute to Daniel Jackson’ w/ Marshall Hawkins.

Epicentre, 8450 Mira Mesa Blvd, Mira Mesa. epicentreconcerts.org. Fri: The Indys, Me Gusta, Turtle Turnip, Bandidos Acousticos, Sean Hiatus. Sat: World of Pain, Impale Thy Neighbor, Set Your Anchor, Words, First Degree, Shawshank Redeemed.

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown, Downtown. f6ixsd.com. Fri: Aleks Exact. Sat: DJ Bamboozle. Sun: DJ Dynamiq.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave, Downtown. fluxxsd.com. Thu: Zomboy. Fri: DJ Brett Bodley. Sat: Tinashe.

Hard Rock Hotel, 207 Fifth Ave, Downtown. hardrockhotelsd.com. Thu: Future Standard. Fri: DJ Homicide. Sat: DJs Fingaz, Kaos.

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave, Downtown. henryspub.com. Wed: The Fooks. Thu: DJ Antonio Aguilera. Fri: DJs E, Yodah.

Sat: Karaoke. Tue: Big City Dawgs.

Comedy Store, 916 Pearl St, La Jolla. lajolla.thecomedystore.com. Fri: Dom Irrera.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave, Downtown. houseofblues.com/sandiego. WedThu: The Devil Makes Three. Fri: Badfish.

Sat: Silverstein, Beartooth, Hands Like Houses, Major League.

Croce’s Park West, 2760 Fifth Ave., #100, Bankers Hill. crocesparkwest.com.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. kavalounge.com. Thu: Mast Kone.

28 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

Fri: ‘Rock Paper Scissors’. Sat: ‘Wiggle’.

Sun: ‘Fully Patched’. Tue: ‘High Tech Tuesday’.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave, Coronado. mcpspub.com. Wed: Jackson and Jesus. Thu: Harmony Road. Fri: The Upshots. Sat: Ron’s Garage.

Numbers, 3811 Park Blvd, Hillcrest. numberssd.com/. Thu: ‘Wet’. Fri: ‘Uncut’. Sun: ‘R & B Divas’.

Onyx Room / Thin, 852 Fifth Ave, Downtown. onyxroom.com. Fri: ‘Rumba Lounge’. Sat: ‘Onyx Saturday’. Tue: ‘Neo Soul’.

Patricks Gaslamp, 428 F St, Downtown. patricksii.com. Wed: The Rayford Brothers. Fri: Mystique Element of Soul. Sat: WG and the G-Men. Porter’s Pub, 9500 Gilman Dr., UCSD campus, La Jolla. porterspub.net. Fri: Paul Wall. Sat: ‘16 Bar Challenge’.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave, Hillcrest. richssandiego.com. Wed: DJ Marcel.

Thu: DJ K-Swift. Fri: DJs Dirty Kurty, Will Z. Sat: DJ K-Swift. Sun: DJ Cros.

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

Wed: Westside Inflection. Thu: V Tones.

Fri: Three Chord Justice. Sat: Big John Atkenson.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave, North Park. sevengrandbars.com/sd. Wed: Gilbert Castellanos jazz jam. Fri: Soul Organization. Sat: The Rebirth. Mon: ‘Makossa Monday’ w/ DJ Tah Rei. Side Bar, 536 Market St, Downtown. sidebarsd.com. Thu: DJ Rags. Fri: ‘S-Bar Friday’. Sat: DJ Dynamiq.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. sodabarmusic.com.

Wed:

Crashkings, My Goodness, Irontom. Thu: The Dollyrots, The Touchies, Pleasure Fix. Fri: Nothing, Tony Molina, Witness 9. Sat: The New Addiction, The Gods of Science, Alive and Well. Mon: Jukebox the Ghost, Twin Forks, Secret Someones.

Tue: Charming Liars, Oliver Trolley, Little Heroine.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Midway. somasandiego.com. Sat: Aenimus, Apparitions, Seconds Ago, Made of Dishonor, Of Hope And Heresy.

Stage Bar & Grill, 762 Fifth Ave, Downtown. stagesaloon.com. Thu: Superbad.

Fri: Disco Pimps, DJ Slynkee. Sat: Hott Mess, DJ Miss Dust. Tue: Karaoke.

Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave., San Diego, Normal Heights. sycamoreden. com. Thu: The Jackson Price Band.

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Rd, Spring Valley. 619-469-2337. Wed: Nutstache, Butler, SLIG, Cryptic Languages. Thu: ‘Darkwave Garden’. Fri: Buddie Roots, Monty.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. casbahmusic.com. Wed: The Rotten Johnnys, Saint Shameless, Gunner, Gunner. Thu: The Hood Internet, Big Wild, Illuminauts. Fri: We Are Scientists, Schitzophonics, Nicky Venus. Sat: Beacon, Lord Raja, Mystery Cave. Mon: Pleasure Fix, The Slashes, The Bassics. Tue: Los Kung Fu Monkeys, Authentic Sellout, The Bassics.

The Hideout, 3519 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. thehideoutsd.com. Thu: French Horn Rebellion, Swimm, Luxury Fever, Mike Delgado. Fri: ‘Cot Damn meets Bitch Please’. Tue: LA Witch, Amerikan Bear.

The Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla. theloft.ucsd.edu. Fri: Jhameel. Sat: The Charlie Arbelaez Quintet. Mon: Jen

Shyu.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave, Hillcrest. theMerrow.com. Fri: Township Rebellion, The Grind, Puncture. Mon: Open mic.

The Office, 3936 30th St, North Park. officebarinc.com. Wed: ‘Friends Chill’. Thu: DJ Myson King. Fri: ‘CoolPartyBro’ w/ DJ Kanye Asada. Sat: DJs EdRoc, Kanye Asada. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’ w/ Tribe of Kings. Mon: Lauren Scheff’s AllStar Jam. The Tin Roof, 401 G Street, Gaslamp. tinroofbars.com. Wed & Sun: Pat Hilton. Thu: Freeze Frame. Fri: Zac Hacker Band, Cassie B Trio. Sat: The Bootleggers, Joe Cardillo and Sam Hosking.

Tue: King Schascha, Irusalem.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. tiltwoclub.com. Fri: Darlington, Dan Padilla, Idols Plague, Fantasy Arcade. Sat: ‘Sleepwalking’.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave, City Heights. thetowerbar.com. Wed: DJs Mikey Ratt, Tiki Thomas. Thu: Nekrofilth, Weaponizer, Hammered, Christ Killer.

Ux31, 3112 University Ave, North Park. u31bar.com. Thu: DJ Bacon Bits. Fri: Lee Churchill. Sat: DJ R-You. Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St, South Park. whistlestopbar.com. Wed: DJ Mikey Turi.

Thu: VAMP: Crime Pays. Fri: Chateau, Speaker in Reverse. Sat: ‘Booty Bassment’.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St, Ocean Beach. winstonsob.com. Wed: Rain Basillo and the Roosters, DJ Carlos Culture. Fri: ‘SUBDVSN’ w/ Bang Pow, Taurus Authority.

Sat: Dazed and Confused. Sun: Karaoke.

Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: Lizzie and the Village Squares, The Tarr Steps.

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 29

Brendan Emmett Quigley

Weightlifters Across 1. Actress Kunis 5. Dictator’s order 9. “___ Go” (“Frozen” showstopper) 14. Years of Spanish class 15. Have a sore spot?

16. OTC analgesic 17. Weightlifter working on his legs?

19. Wild West legend ___ Bill 20. “The Audacity of Hope” family 21. Weightlifter working on his biceps?

23. NBA executive Pat 24. “Tyger! Tyger! burning bright” poet 26. Lost GI 27. Feast day figs.

28. “Pretty Little Liars” writer Shepard 30. Gets the word out?

32. Country with a territory that uses polar bear-shaped license plates 34. In medias ___ 35. Weightlifter who is working on his presses?

38. Abbr. for a king or queen 39. Utensils used with pastas 40. Fix a drink order with a bad head 43. Record label for Big Star 44. Meniscus’s spot 47. ___ rampage (tearing) 48. Some turban wearers 50. “To know my deed, ___ best not know myself”: Macbeth 52. Weightlifter who lifts barbells to his shoulders?

54. “Big Eyes” director Last week’s answers

30 · San Diego CityBeat · January 28, 2015

55. “Dude!”

56. Weightlifter who keeps track of how much he lifts?

59. Carefully avoid 60. Student ___ debt 61. Fairway obstacle 62. Big name in chocolate 63. Like verbose writing 64. Parts of bread often the last to be eaten

Down 1. AAA player’s goal, with “The” 2. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

3. Townies 4. “I know everything!”

5. Wikis alternatives 6. RN’s room 7. Word said with a finger sanp 8. Bright aquarium fish 9. Thirsty dog, say 10. Household util.

11. Shawnee chief in the War of 1812 12. Piano, slangily 13. Magnetic induction units 18. Opens up at the dentist 22. Comic Barinholtz on “The Mindy Project” 24. Grains in breakfast cereals 25. Old ___ (like orthopedic shoes and lace handkerchiefs) 29. ___ Taylor (clothing store) 31. Stories follow them 32. Salmon variety 33. Disables a security camera, perhaps 35. 1983 arcade eater 36. With 46-Down, Ryan Gosling’s better half 37. “After the break,” in TV lingo 38. Wars of the Roses monarch 40. WWII commander also known as “The Desert Fox” 41. Web forums’ ancestor 42. Long, narrow inlet 44. “___ of the Jedi” 45. Hard pressed?

46. See 36-Down 49. Mournful bell toll 51. Composed 53. “Shane” star Alan 54. Loud explosion 57. Monkey house spot 58. Was on a November ticket

January 28, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 31