San Diego CityBeat • Feb 18, 2015

Lucinda

W i l l i a m s p ursues a labor of love

Singer / songwriter’s creative spark is still burning brightly

by Scott McDonald

P. 22

Registry P.6 Chargers P.7 Miku P.18 Oscars P.20

2 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

Editor’s Note

Long live CityBeat!

If you’re not on Twitter, you might not have heard the news that my longtime associate editor, Kelly Davis, and I are both leaving CityBeat. Kelly and I moved to San Diego together in 2002 from our sister paper, the Ventura County Reporter, to help launch CityBeat, and, independently, we each decided it was time to do something different.

Kelly, actually, will continue to do what she’s currently focused on—first-class reporting on criminal-justice issues—but she’ll be doing it on a freelance basis, eventually reaching readers from a statewide or national platform. For the time being, she’ll also keep writing her “Cocktail Tales” column, which runs every three weeks, including this issue. Kelly’s last day on staff will be March 3.

As for me, I’ve accepted a job as a communications specialist in Sacramento for state Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins. I believe my desire to get into public policy stems largely from my visit to Washington, D.C., in the summer of 2008, when I added a D.C. leg to a trip to a journalism conference in Philadelphia and spent a day with thenCongressmember Bob Filner (in happier times).

Given the ugliness and dysfunction in the Capitol these days, this may sound funny, but I was inspired just by being there. And I’ve long admired Atkins, ever since she spearheaded—as a member of the San Diego City Council, one month after I arrived in town— the declaration of a state of emergency in housing affordability, which continues to this day.

I’ll have more to say about Kelly in our March 4 issue, and I’ll reflect more deeply on my time at CityBeat in our March 18 issue, which will be my last. For now, I want to make sure y’all know that our departure does not foretell CityBeat’s demise.

I hadn’t planned on writing this column, but several people privately asked me if Kelly and I leaving means the paper’s a goner. Paul Krueger, a senior producer for NBC 7/39, asked me if NBC could report that the paper would not close. So, if friends and journalists are concerned about the publication’s future, others might be, too. Let’s put that talk to rest.

CityBeat isn’t going anywhere, at least not in the foreseeable future. Kelly and I are leaving not because the ship’s sinking—it’s not—but because it’s simply time for us to try new things. Kelly’s one year at the Reporter and her nearly 13 years at CityBeat are the whole of her journalism experience. She’ll benefit from a new perspective and working with new editors at varied outlets. I’ve been a journalist working for a weekly publication since I joined my college newspaper in the spring of 1991, bouncing from Chico to Point Reyes Station, back to Chico, down to Ventura and finally settling in San Diego.

I’m incredibly proud of the impact that I’ve had in San Diego, but I’ve increasingly longed to be more directly involved in policy. It was time for a new challenge. It’s as simple as that.

Suggesting that CityBeat’s days must be numbered ignores all of the talented people who remain.

Kinsee Morlan, for my money the queen of the San Diego art world, will soon take maternity leave, but she’ll be back in June. Also not leaving are music editor Jeff Terich, staff writer Joshua Emerson Smith and web editor / columnist Ryan Bradford (whose book Horror Business came out this week, by the way—so buy a copy). The freelance columnists and contributors are staying, as are the folks who make up the backbone of the operation—the people who sell the ads that keep us in business and the production staff who assemble this beautiful beast.

I have hired an extremely promising investigative reporter, Carly Nairn, to take Kelly’s seat in March. And the search for my replacement has begun (send a résumé and a cover letter to sdcbemail@ gmail.com if you think you’ve got what it takes).

Yes, CityBeat will be different; it has to be when the top two people in the masthead go. Kelly and I shaped the paper’s direction and mission. However, my prediction is that, if anything, CityBeat will be in great shape after a transfusion of new blood starts coursing through its veins.

—David Rolland Write to davidr@sdcitybeat.com.

This issue of CityBeat made a Valentine’s Day mixtape full of Lil Wayne songs. This issue of CityBeat is now single.

Volume 13 • Issue 29 Editor David Rolland Associate Editor Kelly Davis Music Editor Jeff Terich Arts Editor Kinsee Morlan Staff Writer Joshua Emerson Smith Web Editor Ryan Bradford Art director Lindsey Voltoline

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 Production Manager Tristan Whitehouse

Cover photo by Raymond Murphy / Flickr Senior account executive Jason Noble Account Executives Beau Odom, Christina MacNeal, Kimberly Wallace Intern Drake Rinks Accounting Alysia Chavez, Kacie Cobian, Linda Lam Human Resources Andrea Baker

Advertising inquiries Interested in advertising?

Call 619-281-7526 or e-mail advertising@sdcitybeat.com. The advertising deadline is 5 p.m. every Friday for the following week’s issue.

Editorial and Advertising Office 3047 University Ave., Suite 202 San Diego, CA 92104 Phone: 619-281-7526 Fax: 619-281-5273 www.sdcitybeat.com

Vice President of Finance Michael Nagami

Production artist Rees Withrow

Vice President of Operations David Comden

MultiMedia Advertising Director Paulina Porter-Tapia

Publisher Kevin Hellman

San Diego CityBeat is published and distributed every Wednesday by Southland Publishing Inc., free of charge but limited to one per reader. Reproduction of any material in this or any other issue is prohibited without written permission from the publisher and the author. Contents copyright 2015.

4 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

Don’t get squishy Your musings in this week’s issue [“Editor’s Note,” Jan. 14] made for an interesting read. Think back to our nation’s beginnings when the men who signed our founding documents pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to give birth to the freedoms we enjoy today.

Think of the 400,000-plus who gave their lives in World War II to protect those freedoms from tyrants so that you and I can hold those freedoms so preciously.

Can we allow those who don’t prize those freedoms to drive them out of our society so they can live in their misguided world, and we then must live in fear of these narrow-minded bigots? Remember, freedom was bought by blood and must be, unfortunately, replenished by blood, if need be, to protect our way of life.

I hope you’re not becoming squishy when it comes to protecting your / our freedom of speech—and freedom of the press!

Lou Cumming, La Jolla

So sensitive Hello! I read your Jan. 14 “Editor’s Note.”

I understand that age and maturity does play a part in your decision. However, that doesn’t mean anything for the victims of 9/11, the victims of the London bombing or the victims of the Boston bombing. They neither said anything nor did anything against the Muslim religion, yet they still suffered and/or lost their lives for the Muslim belief.

The thing is that you don’t really have to say anything to be a victim in certain situations. I can walk out in the middle of the street and be shot just because of reasons. Again, I understand your decision, but as a cartoonist, I can’t stand for censorship because someone is offended.

Everyone is offended. From uptight liberal feminists to extremist religious cretins, everyone is offended.

People need to stop being so sensitive about certain things, especially comedy, entertainment or anything in general.

That is art. Art is supposed to make people think, or make you feel uncomfortable,

or scare, or make you happy, or make you sad. Art is a representation of life. That is life. Life isn’t an easygoing stream. There will be things that piss us off, or offend us.

And if a cartoon drawing offends you that much, then I think you need to re-think your life.

Schean Sagawa, Paradise Valley

CityBeat’s a pushover David Rolland’s Jan. 14 “Editor’s Note” on Charlie Hebdo reflected a rather disingenuous sadness for all of the ugliness and pain caused by religious invective. No such sorrow was ever shown in coverage of the Tony Award-winning musical Book of Mormon, plays such as Late Night Catechism or Larry Flynt’s wicked satire of Jerry Falwell. This phony sensitivity obscures the real problem, best expressed

by FDR: “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.”

CityBeat has joined the ranks of all those bookstores that banned Salman Rushdie when a distant ayatollah issued a fatwah, and all those theater owners who shut down a stupid movie because a bizarre dictator issued a threat. What message does this communicate? A few whispered threats of violence from a few anonymous thugs (online or in-person) should be sufficient to get CityBeat to shut up or do what it’s told on just about any issue. The San Diego power brokers will welcome you into the fold.

Jim Wade, Golden Hill

Charlie asked for it In regard to your fear of dying for publishing what crazy Muslims object to [“Editor’s Note,” Jan. 14], I think the following: It’s not at all necessary for a free press in the West to ridicule Islam, or exaggerations thereof.

Our freedoms are ours, not those of other values, as insane as they may be, in our opinion—as well as mine personally. We are free from government control—our gov-

ernment, not each other, or our opponents.

As FDR said, fear fear itself, for the preservation of our legitimate freedoms from government, but fear indeed, the lunacy of others, and be certain of the reasonable reason to publish insults and ridicule.

Charlie Hebdo asks for it, and they will naturally get it; cartoons published to piss off people may be freedom, but it isn’t necessary, appropriate in public discourse or in any way, smart. Publishing to appeal to childish mentalities is dangerous, so what Charlie gets from its victims is what it earns.

In the U.S., you should publish without fear of danger to preserve our freedom of the media, as stretched as we can make it, but fear of dying as a result is silly; bear in mind that you won’t live to regret it.

Freedom within our society will be preserved for the right to give your opinion; preserving your right to insult through comedy is a right you should ignore. Tell that to Charlie!

Saul Harmon Gritz, Hillcrest

Too many people = trouble Just wanted to say that I enjoyed reading David Rolland’s Jan. 21 “Editor’s Note” on the Charlie Hebdo shooting tragedy. It’s a tricky business to remain thoughtful once the mobbing of phrases and hashtags gains momentum. Religion rarely makes sense to me, either, and I was raised in a home where my dad was the Lutheran pastor.

We’ve got a world that’s increasingly over-crowded with human beings, and that means trouble. I’m with you: The list of things I’d willingly die for is short—if I had been Galileo, I would have recanted, too.

Thanks for being the writer and thinker that you are. I love CityBeat.

Stephanie Mood, Ocean Beach

Laura’s Law is scapegoating I’ve just finished reading your Jan. 21 edition, in which in one article you discuss the likelihood of Laura’s Law moving

ahead to become an actual law. This is based on fear. It’s based on the incorrect notion that people with mental-health diagnoses are more likely to commit crimes than people without.

First, let me state that any sort of forced treatment, including incarceration in a hospital, never really helps people. Having been through that, I know. Second, if you’re truly concerned about violence, a better route is better gun control. Guns are a really easy way to kill people.

In the same issue, your cartoon of the week from “This Modern World” features another fear / safety issue: free speech, fear of terrorism and, dare I say it, fear of Muslims. The association of people throwing bombs and other acts of violence, in our minds, almost always is with Muslims. Is this correct? Isn’t it just scapegoating, targeting one group of people to blame for all our terrors and worries. That, of course, is absolutely wrong. The average Muslim citizen is no more a terrorist than I, as a person who has been through the mentalhealth system, am likely to be a killer. We, as a society, are responding to both in the same way. Think about it.

Rochelle Glickman, Golden Hill

‘Paradigm shift’ From your Jan. 21 story about Laura’s Law: “Laura’s Law is a paradigm shift for a mental-health system in which treatment is rarely proactive, said Therea Bish.” She intends something far more specific. That paradigm shift has already occurred for the vast majority.

Also, Assemblymember Marie Waldron says she understands opponents’ concerns that Laura’s Law undermines civil-rights protections for the mentally ill. Someone believes in “the” mentally ill?

Did they not learn from “the” blacks?

In all such forced-treatment plans, not once have I seen who is selected, nor how.

Nor have I seen any evaluation of success or failure.

Harold A. Maio, Fort Myers, Florida

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

Lindsey Voltoline

Opponents of a tiered registry argue that the state’s risk-assessment system is flawed and point to John Gardner, a registered sex offender convicted in 2010 of the rape and murder of two local teens. While on parole for a 2000 offense, Gardner was evaluated and found to pose a low-to-moderate risk of re-offending (though the crime he was convicted of in 2000 would have put him in the middle tier, or 20-year registry). Offenders, opponents argue, should be treated as potentially high-risk.

“Reality doesn’t match that,” Tobin says.

“Will there be outliers? Will there be another John Gardner? Of course there will.

Will there be another terrorist bombing?

Another airplane disaster? Probably. Do we do the best we can to prevent that? Yes. Are we going to strip-search everybody who gets on an airplane? No. Where’s the break line on cost-benefit?”

I

Tier it up California has the biggest sex-offender registry in the U.S.—for no good reason

by Kelly Davis

C

alifornia is one of only four states that require adults convicted of certain sex crimes to register with local law enforcement each year for life. Crime-free for 50 years? Bedridden? It doesn’t matter. This lifetime requirement has turned California’s registry into the largest in the country.

There are roughly 800,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S., and around 100,000 of them live in California.

Tom Janenko, a detective with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department’s Sex Offender Management Unit, says he knows of registrants living in nursing homes, still required to annually let law enforcement know where they’re living. If they can’t come to Sheriff’s headquarters, someone will go to them.

“If they are physically capable of coming in, their caregivers will bring them in in wheelchairs,” Janenko says.

In 2011 and again in 2013, former state Assemblymember Tom Ammiano introduced legislation to change California’s sexoffender registry to a tiered system. Under Ammiano’s proposals, a person who committed a low-level offense, poses little to no risk of re-offending and hasn’t commit-

ted a new sexual offense or a violent felony would be removed from the registry after 10 years. Moderate-risk offenders would be removed after 20 years and lifetime registration would be limited to the most serious offenders. Both bills died in committee.

In April, the California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB), which includes representatives from all areas of law enforcement and experts in sex-offender treatment, published a paper that makes the case for a tiered registry and followed it up with a draft bill similar to Ammiano’s. The deadline to introduce new legislation is Feb. 27 and, as of Feb. 17, an author had yet to be identified, says Janet Neeley, a deputy a����� ttorney general and member of CASOMB, in an email to CityBeat.

Janenko acknowledges that it’s tough legislation to carry.

“My personal opinion, if you’re a politician and you’re concerned about being reelected, and you put your name on something… it’s going to be touted as you’re soft on sex offenders; you’re trying to weaken the law,” Janenko says. “But when you have an organization like the Sex Offender Management Board, all experts in the field, and they’re all looking at this issue and saying, ‘Hey, this is what we recommend,’ somebody should listen.”

Among the arguments that the CASOMB paper makes for a tiered registry is the fact that no studies have found a positive correlation between public registries and public safety. Instead, it costs local law enforcement an estimated at $24 million a year, statewide, to handle new registrations and re-registrations. That total doesn’t take into account the costs of enforcing registry

6 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

laws and prosecuting individuals who fail to register, the paper says.

Requiring risk-blind lifetime registration for all offenders is a waste of resources, says Tom Tobin, a psychologist and CASOMB’s vice-chair.

“Let’s put our energy where the risk is highest, because tons of research shows that that’s effective criminal-justice policy,” he says.

“It is simply not true that all sex offenders reoffend,” Tobin says. “The longer someone continues to be in the community and has not committed a new sex offense, the lower that risk goes.”

A chart in the CASOMB paper illustrates this point: A study that tracked three groups of sex offenders—high-risk, medium-risk and low-risk—after they’d been released from custody found that, at some point, each cohort reached what’s referred to as “the redemption bar”—the point where the risk of re-offense is no greater than for a person with no history of sex crimes. Lowrisk offenders hit the redemption bar immediately, medium-risk offenders reached that point after roughly 13 years and even the cohort of highest-risk offenders hit the redemption bar at 17 years out.

And, the paper notes, there are indirect consequences of a public registry. Having a high concentration of registered sex offenders can drag down property values. More significant is research showing that a public registry causes some victims to remain silent. Nine out of 10 sexual offenses are committed by someone known to the victim—a close friend or family member—meaning having the offender’s name, photo and address public could effectively out a victim.

n 1979, at age 26 and amid a struggle with alcoholism, Frank Lindsay was convicted of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14. He declines to discuss the details of the crime, saying only, “What’s listed on the [Megan’s Law] website is what I was convicted of. Was it a heinous, gruesome crime? No, it wasn’t.” He served six months in jail and, as part of a plea agreement, was told that if he successfully completed probation, he wouldn’t have to register as a sex offender and his case would be dismissed.

But changes to federal law in the mid-’90s reversed that guarantee and Lindsay was required to register. A later challenge to the law found its retroactive application constitutional because, the Supreme Court decided, being on the registry isn’t punishment.

“Yeah, right,” Lindsay says.

Initially, the registry was available only to law enforcement. Then, with Megan’s Law in 1996, the public could check registries at their local police or sheriff’s station.

Within a year, Lindsay says, he was asked to move his business—bottling and selling water—out of the building he’d been leasing for 11 years. Lindsay lives in a small town in Central California, and he suspects the property owner found out his name was on the registry.

Then, in 2004, California launched the Megan’s Law website, which provides photos and home addresses for roughly 80 percent of registrants.

“The media had been coaching everyone to go to the site, check and see where your hazards are,” Lindsay says. He wasn’t surprised when he slowly started losing clients.

In 2010, Lindsay arrived home to find that a man with a sledgehammer had broken into his house. The man told Lindsay he’d found his address on the public registry and was there to kill him. Lindsay escaped unharmed, but the experience prompted him to write a book about his personal quest for redemption.

In 2012, Lindsay was installing a reverse-osmosis system in Janice Bellucci’s house and mentioned his book. To be kind, Bellucci bought a copy.

“I thought, quite frankly, it might be

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

any sort of role with the ‘independent’ task force?” Fabiani wrote.

The Chargers counsel described Manolatos, a frequent media handler for right-leaning clients, as “someone who has recently made negative comments about the intentions of the Chargers” and questioned whether his work with the Port of San Diego—“one of the major opponents ing were labeled “USG General of the Chargers’ plans for a jointIn the trenches Manager’s Meeting.”) use facility Downtown”—creates When Fabiani emerged, he a conflict for him. Fabiani also “You can’t spin this. You’ve got to have a real solution.... This is not a headed downstairs into a comfy- wondered if the public would be chair interview with KUSI—the apprised of how Manolatos will be war of words; this is a war.”

—John Murtha only media outlet other than City- paid by a group with no budget.

Beat staking out the Grant.

Fabiani pointed to a Jan. 16 He discussed the now-hyper- tweet from Manolatos as an exYou have to kind of feel sorry for Adam Day. As chairman of San analyzed “principles” doctrine he ample: “If you believe a stadium Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s had forwarded to the media prior won’t get built under your terms handpicked Citizens Stadium to his testimony before CSAG— and you may skip town, do you Advisory Group, Day—the son of embargoed until precisely 10:15 keep working or launch a fingerformer SDSU president Thomas a.m., when he figured he would be pointing campaign?”

After Day’s press conference, Day, himself no stranger to con- unleashing the words directly to both Manolatos and Roe did their troversy—seems perfectly suited the volunteer, budget-less panel: • No faux proposals, he best to turn the black-hat converfor the heavily spotlighted volunwarned, only real-world-tested sation back toward Fabiani. teer role he’s been handed.

When CityBeat asked Day An SDSU trustee and Sycuan plans. (“It might be that… there Gaming Center assistant tribal is at least at this time no publicly to explain the board’s hiring of manager, Day appears cool under acceptable solution to the stadium Manolatos and Roe’s meeting appearances, he used the word “volmedia fire. On Monday, he stood issue in San Diego.”)

• Don’t figure the Chargers unteer” to describe their status. before a phalanx of TV cameras with his pockets stuffed with mi- into your backside-protecting About compensation, Day said, crophone boxes and wires protrud- schemes. (“It might be worth “Not from us,” adding that Roe ing in every direction. He may have checking with [former Mayor] “provides us some counsel, as looked wired for detonation, but he Dick Murphy and [former City calmly took questions from a skep- Attorney] Mike Aguirre to see tical throng of journalists and mim- how that worked out for them,” icked the mayor’s trademark gosh- Fabiani zinged. “Simply put, we have no intention of allowing the darnitall-we-can-do-this mantra.

“The Chargers have been Chargers franchise to be manipua great partner in this commu- lated for political cover—and we nity for half a century,” Day said. will call out any elected official “They do great things throughout who tries to do so.”)

The latter notion hit like an the community, and we’re here to help find a solution to the stadium A-bomb Tuesday, when Fabiani question that keeps them in town… released a letter sent to the mayor if all of us agree to work together calling out Faulconer’s handpicked media spokesperson for the group, in a cooperative fashion.”

But the undercurrent of this Tony Manolatos, and his most 14-year quest to build the lo- trusted political adviser, Jason Roe, cal NFL team a new home now both of whom attended yesterday’s churns with added intensity as otherwise private CSAG meeting.

“We write to clarify the legal speculation about the siren call of a teamless Los Angeles beckons. and practical role that your politiTooting that horn at virtuoso level cal advisors are playing in the opthis past week was Mark Fabiani, erations of your new stadium task general counsel to Chargers hon- force,” Fabiani begins the four-page missive on Chargers letterhead. cho Dean Spanos.

Fabiani questioned what roles It began when Fabiani helped shed light on a previous mystical Roe and Manolatos are “playing stadium plan brewed up by New with the ‘independent’ task force.”

York-based Lazard Ltd. for for- Fabiani noted that Roe is “a regismer mayor Jerry Sanders, who tered lobbyist for the Delaware then ditched the preliminary find- North company, which is bidding ings that more than $500 million to become the new concessionin public funds would be required aire at Qualcomm Stadium and, potentially, at any new stadium in to build a Downtown stadium.

It continued Monday when he San Diego.” “[W]hat sense does it make to appeared, as requested, before the mayor’s advisory group, which met have someone who is your chief at the U.S. Grant under a shroud of advisor on political matters, and not-so-successful secrecy. (Direc- who advises a potential stadium tional signs to the private gather- vendor on business matters, play

john r.

lamb

spin cycle

many other people do.”

“Right now, I’m a volunteer, but I’m not doing this pro bono,” Manolatos said. “Money will be raised by donors to pay for it.” He offered no other specifics but did say that his “crisis management” work with the port ended last year.

Roe seemed more irked to be questioned about his role. “If we’re going to get this done, it’s going to be through a ballot initiative that requires a political component,” he told Spin. “You don’t think I should be part of that conversation to figure out how to get there?”

When asked about lobbying for Delaware North, Roe bristled.

“I am not. That’s the firm I own [that lobbies]. I am a political consultant. I am not a lobbyist. What Mark wants to focus on is everything other than discussing how we find a solution to the stadium.

So, talking about me, about Tony, about if we met with Boltman— they’re all a bunch of fucking shiny objects for you guys to try to drag us into a conversation.”

As one interested observer put it privately, Fabiani “is three steps ahead of everyone. And the mayor’s team is no match for him.”

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

John R. Lamb

CSAG Chairman Adam Day, wired up for a stadium challenge.

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 7

Number of new registered sex offenders in California, per decade

about plumbing or surfing,” she tells CityBeat. “Boy, did it change my life.”

Bellucci was a civil attorney at the time, married to a minister and raising two daughters. She was angry at what Lindsay had been through and wanted to do something. Initially she thought she’d advocate quietly, but she quickly realized how few people were advocating at all.

“I’m a woman and a mother of two daughters. I didn’t think I was the likeliest candidate to become an advocate for this group of people. But it just became an issue that I couldn’t ignore,” she says.

During the last few years, she’s focused entirely on reforming California’s patchwork of sex-offender laws. Since 2012, she’s either sued or threatened to sue three counties and more than 80 cities over the constitutionality of so-called “presence” restrictions that limit where a registered sex offender can live, work or physically be. In many cities, any registered sex offender, regardless of crime or risk, would be essentially banished under these laws. Only two cities have refused to revise or repeal their ordinances.

But Bellucci’s first action was to update Lindsay’s information on the state’s public registry.

“My best guess is Frank Lindsay wouldn’t have been attacked if the person had known how old his conviction was,” she says.

On California’s Megan’s Law website, each registrant’s page includes fields for “Year of Last Conviction” and “Year of Release.” For the majority of registrants, these fields are blank. Though state law says that by July 1, 2010, the California Department of Justice was supposed to update registrants’ profiles to include that information, Bellucci estimates that roughly 90 percent of the profiles are lacking those two dates.

“You’ve got somebody’s current photo up there and you don’t have the year they’re convicted. A lot of people jump to the conclusion, They’ve got a current photo; oh, they must have just done it recently.

And that really harms people when it comes to employment opportunities and also when it comes to housing opportunities, because all they’ve got to do is go look on the Megan’s Law website,” she says.

So, when a registrant calls Bellucci for assistance, the first thing she does is check the website to see if the person’s information is correct, “because regis-

8 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

Lindsey Voltoline

Source: CASOMB

trants can’t go and look at their own profiles,” she says. It’s against the law. “How ridiculous is that?”

The process to get that information updated takes time and costs money. A registrant has to request an official copy of his rap sheet from the California Department of Justice for a $50 fee and then send it to the DOJ division that handles the Megan’s Law website. Bellucci������������������������������ �������������������������������������� ’s heard from a number of registrants who’ve followed these steps only to find out their information was never updated. So, she provides them with a cover letter. From there, it takes roughly 60 days for the corrections to be made.

Bellucci also heads up the California chapter of Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL). Each month, she and Lindsay drive to a different part of the state for a meeting. Bellucci lives in Santa Maria, Lindsay in Grover Beach, just south of San Luis Obispo, and earlier this month, they drove to San Diego for a Saturday-morning meeting at California Western School of Law, where a basement classroom quickly filled beyond its 35-person capacity. Roughly half of attendees were registered sex offenders (Bellucci prefers “registered citizens”), the other half family members of registrants.

A large part of the meeting focused on the registry and its problems. One attendee who’d successfully petitioned a court so that he no longer shows up on the public registry talked about sheriff’s deputies’ recent visit to his upscale neighborhood to verify his address. They showed up in tactical gear, leading his neighbors to wonder what he’d done. Another man had just moved to California from Louisiana, where he wasn’t required to register because he’d committed his crime 51 years ago. But he has to register here.

After the meeting, a woman talked to CityBeat about her and her husband being harassed by neighbors because, for a time, her son was on the registry under their address. She says she tried to organize a meeting to explain to the neighbors why her son posed no threat, but she was rebuffed.

“We lived in fear every day that somebody was going to be hurt in our family, and that’s what everybody deals with,” she says. “It’s the safety of our own families that we’re concerned about.”

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

aaryn

backwards & in high heels

belfer Principles of civility: a page from the USTA handbook In a burst of local activism at my daughter’s school Note: If such a situation should ever come to fruition, last week, I asked a district hoity-toity some quesyou’ll find me happily slumped at the 19th hole. tions about an ongoing leadership vortex on camWhat I didn’t understand until Ruby started pus. My concerns were predictably and promptly competing this school year was that, while junior dismissed with a tense smile and the Company tennis is the polar opposite of the natural sleep aid Line, followed by a fun game of pass-the-buck-tothat is golf, it’s also heart-poundingly excruciating. the-interim-principal-and-other-onsite-staffers. It Because, get this, soccer and baseball parents: There occurred to me, as my Julia Roberts vein began to are no refs or line judges or scorekeepers. The kids bulge right out of my forehead, nearly splattering do all of that. And parents? We can’t say squat to our blood all up and down the yellow blouse of the diskids during matches. trict lackey, that the San Diego Unified School DisJust let that sink in for a minute. trict (SDUSD) prefers that parents obey the No. 1 The players on the court keep score and call every rule imbued on tennis parents by the USTA: Zip it. point and every error themselves, requiring a level Let me explain: Among the many dispiriting of honesty that, let’s be honest, is hard to come by things I’ve learned about the public school system is in the grownup set. Meanwhile, we parents have to that physical education is offered one measly hour shut our traps, which is basically the universe trying each week—seeing as how it cuts into math, readto teach you-know-who a thing or two. As my friend, ing, math, reading, math, reading and test prep. the lovely and kind former director of Barnes Tennis Never mind that SDUSD’s posted P.E. fact sheet Center once instructed the parents before a tournapromises kids in grades K through 6 a staggering 200 ment, “The kids are going to make bad calls. They’re minutes for every 10 school days. (Because I can do going to drop points. They’re going to drop whole math and reading, I know this amounts to 20 mingames. And I know it’s painful. But this is how they utes each day, but at one-hour per week, that leaves learn. So your job is to sit on your hands, bite your 80 unaccounted-for minutes supposedly covered by tongues and cry behind your sunglasses. ” recess.) Never mind, too, that research has shown a I do love me some big, dark sunglasses, and I correlation between exercise and concentration. frequently opt for waterproof mascara. So I’m adIf it makes peer-reviewed sense— justing to the rules—though, I can’t if it’s good for the kids—you can deny my blood pressure shoots up count on SDUSD to ignore it. Yearwhen spectating, and I don’t look I may yet have a round school is better for (the growanywhere near as purty as Julia heart attack from ing number of ) children in lower Roberts when my Julia Roberts stuffing down all socioeconomic classes? Let’s spend vein bulges (Julia, if you’re reading: unknown millions on transitioning I love you! Call me!). my emotion, but I’m all schools to the traditional calenAnd I’ve had to walk away on ocadapting to my role dar! But I digress. casion. Like, when the opponent in SDUSD has defunded and deRuby’s very first tournament bullied of politely demure prioritized P.E. to such a degree and cheated and temper-tantrumed parent spectator. that P.E. teachers frequently leave and racket-flunged his sorry-ass schools where they might be in way to a tie break from what had part-time appointments for fullbegun as a righteous 4-1 pummeltime positions elsewhere. Early in my kid’s elemening. I wore a path in the parking lot of Escondido tary-school career, after witnessing the long-term, High School that day. I’m quite certain the kid has a elderly P.E. sub limp across the quad in peep-toe bright future as a subprime-mortgage lender. kitten heels, pleated slacks and a navy-blue sport For the record, my kid—with her poker face and coat, I questioned whether the term “physical eduunflappable demeanor—won. Not that I’m schadencation” shouldn’t just be retired; its jersey should freuding. OK, maybe just a bit. But only because I be hung permanently in the same closet where art can’t do that at the match. supplies and musical instruments go to die.

I may yet have a heart attack from stuffing down To supplement the copious amount of exercise all my emotion, but I’m adapting to my role of pomy daughter wouldn’t be enjoying, I offered my kid a litely demure parent spectator. (Me as demure. Does choice of after-school sports. And when she refused anyone believe this turn of events?) I have actually come to think that more youth sports should emeach and every one, I enrolled her in tennis. I knew ploy the Tennis Parent Rules, as it’s healthier and she needed to get her ya-yas out after long days of more civilized for everyone in the long run. sitting. I also knew that if she stuck with it, I’d have And while I don’t think there’s any room for Tento go watch her play. A lot. And if I had to go watch, I nis Parent Rules when it comes to public schools, reasoned, it absolutely had to be a sport I liked. you may find me crying behind my biggest, darkest Granted, if Ruby fell in love with golf, I would glasses at the next unsatisfying meeting. Because write the check, bite my knuckle and don my best pair there’s a whole damn lot to be crying about. of plaid, knee-length solidarity shorts because: I love.

But, oh, the anguish. Going to the DMV without an Write to aaryn@sdcitybeat.com appointment would be more bearable than having to and editor@sdcitybeat.com. throw elbows on a green just to get a peek at zzzzzzzz.

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 9

by michael a. gardiner Michael A. Gardiner

the world

fare

Mexican food’s beating heart The enduring image of French cuisine is a man in a chef’s toque creating haute cuisine in a Michelin-starred restaurant. The enduring image of Mexican cuisine is a family in a ramshackle house with the women laboring over the stews, soups and tortillas that are the very soul of Mexican food. Put that family’s main man behind the stove and Birrieria Bernal—located on what gringos might think of as the wrong side of the tracks in Rosarito—captures that image.

The first thing to know about Bernal (Carretera Libre Tijuana-Rosarito, 664-503-03-30) is that it’s only open on weekends. Daniel Bernal, the chef, works elsewhere on weekdays (construction, if my crappy Spanish served me).

The second thing to know is that you should order either the signature goat stew (birria) or the menudo rojo (with or without the foot). There are other things on the menu—quesadillas, tacos and consommé—but they’re not what you came for.

Really. If you’re at Bernal for something other than birria or menudo, you probably meant to go somewhere else.

While Bernal brands itself around its bir-

10 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

ria de chivo—there are pictures of goats on the street-side exterior wall and signage—the menudo is the place’s great glory and hottest seller. You can arrive at 10 a.m. and expect to score birria. Menudo?

Not so much. Menudo is tripe and pig’s foot (optional) in a rich pork broth spiked with toasted and rehydrated dried Guajillo chiles and dotted with kernels of hominy maize. The dish is served with condiments including minced white onion, cilantro and limes with two salsas—one hinting at mole, the other bearing the intense nuclear burn of arbol chiles.

Bernal’s menudo broth features a richer, more savory flavor profile than most. The tripe also has a meatier texture—neither overly toothsome nor cooked to indistinguishable, flavorless mush— and is nearly devoid of the mineral qualities that shout “offal.”

The best way to enjoy the menudo is with a spoon in the right hand and one of Bernal’s astonishingly good tortillas in the left hand, dipping to absorb and enjoy the broth between bites of tripe.

These are yellow (not white) corn tortillas made from scratch on the premises. They taste intensely, deeply, passionately of corn. They may not be on the menu, but they make the menu.

Bernal’s birria is every bit as good as the menudo. Goat meat—no more gamey than lamb— is slow-cooked in broth with cinnamon, clove and vinegar, yielding a thick, rich and almost exhilarating stew. Again, the tortillas provide a perfect counterpoint. It’s comfort food that’s just as complex as high-end restaurant dishes. Savory?

Check. Sweet? Check. Sour? Check. Hints of bitter and umami, too.

The buzz about Baja cuisine has been, in large part, brought on by the BajaMed movement, and with very good reason. But we can’t let a place like Birrieria Bernal be lost in that process. It’s the heart of Mexican cuisine.

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

BY KELLY DAVIS

cocktail

tales ‘A mixologist’s dream’

The Palace Bar in the Horton Grand Hotel (hor tongrand.com) looks quite different than it did just a couple of years ago. A wall that closed off the space has been knocked down, dark-wood paneling’s been added to the walls and ceiling and the hotel’s elaborate central staircase is now a focal point. The Horton Grand alone is a wonder: Built in 1886, it was slated for demolition in the 1970s to make way for Horton Plaza. So, preservationists took the hotel apart brick-bybrick, cataloging each piece, and then meticulously reassembled it two blocks away.

The bar’s recent revival included bringing in one of the more impressive whiskey and Scotch selections in San Diego—on par with places like Seven Grand and Aero Bar—carefully categorized in a hefty but elegant menu. And, a few months ago, management tapped Cervantes Magana to upgrade the already existing selection and add spirits—amaros, rums, gins, cordials—with a focus on building the bar’s craft-cocktail cred.

Magana, whose Medicine Show does restaurant and bar consulting (he created the bar program,

and earned a fan following, at the now-closed Roseville Cozhina), was given free rein to fill the shelves with whatever he thought necessary.

“The story wasn’t finished,” Magana says of the bar’s stock when he got there, “but the pen had been lifted from the pages. I kind of understood what was said before and just put the pen back to paper.”

The selection now, “it’s a mixologist’s dream,” he says. “It’s literally a craftsman’s playground here.”

Right now there’s a placeholder menu of five classics that will soon be replaced with a roughly 18-drink menu that Magana’s putting the finishing touches on, including The Hamil-Town (Hamilton rum, Meletti amaro, Luxardo, St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram, pineapple and lime), a tiki-inspired cocktail that’s rich—“velvety” comes to mind—and well-rounded.

Other cocktails on the new menu pay homage to local producers; for example, the Sticks and Stones includes San Diego-based Heneberry whiskey, St. Elizabeth’s Allspice Dram, lemon, honey and Angostura bitters. The Blue Bird (Old Raj gin, Salers Gentian aperitif, Creme de Violette, Croque d’or vermouth, celery bitters and lemon), meanwhile, highlights the bar’s unique selection. And the wonderfully boozy Conjuring Ida (cinnamon-infused Famous Grouse Scotch, Luxardo, Yalumba fortified wine) honors Ida Kelly Davis Bailey, whose brothel was once located on the property the hotel now occupies.

Starting next month, Magana, who’s also recently created the cocktail menu for Junk House in La Mesa, plans to host weekly (with the goal of twice-weekly) pop-up events at the Palace Bar. He’ll bring in guest bartenders and collaborate on a special menu with a focus on showcasing new spirits or just highlighting what the bar’s shelves have to offer. (To get alerts on these events, go ahead and like Medicine Show Restaurant & Bar Consulting on Facebook.)

“In Downtown, it’s definitely one of a kind,” Magana says of the bar. “This is the only thing of its caliber. The selection here, you can’t compare it to anything.”

Cervantes Magana is turning the historic Palace Bar Write to kellyd@sdcitybeat.com into a craft-cocktail destination. and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 11

by jenny montgomery Jenny montgomery

menu, the offerings are far more eclectic than the expected.

Local food writers should start a support group on how to come up with new and interesting ways to write about tacos. While I wait for someone else to organize it, I’ll be burying my face in a drippy plate of Kung Pao carnitas at Inland Tavern. The taco is messy and juicy, yet it miraculously stays together, with delicate shreds of pork doing the backstroke in a sweet and tangy sauce. They don’t skimp on the cilantro, which tames the sweetness, and the humble scatter of crunchy peanuts on top is basic and inspired. The fish taco is light and airy with a wonderful tempura coating and lacy strips of pickled red onion playing the role of pico de gallo.

Food trends come and go, from Kung Pao carnitas bacon-in-everything to endless riffs on chicken and waffles. Get ready for poutine to be the next big thing in caloric glory. Conaway’s play on the French Canadian plate involves spicing up the fried potatoes with a Japanese spice blend called togarashi. Gravy and cheese curds keep with tradition, creating a perfect excuse Go east, young man (not that you need one) to explore Inland’s craft beer and cocktails.

In this era of farm-to-table, I find it interesting Keep your eye out for the fried chicken skin, that great places to eat aren’t closer to the farms a perfect nibble no matter what you’re drinkthemselves. Oh, sure, in fertile San Diego, everying. Also generously dusted in togarashi, this cup thing is relatively nearby, but the sunnier, cropfull of crispy chips proves that Inland Tavern is happy reaches of our county tend to attract chains working hard to raise the restaurant game in San and suburban sprawl, while the coolest eateries Marcos. Move over, chicharrones, we’ve got more try to get as close to the coast as possible. fried awesome to dip into some ranch.

But contrary to the popular local adage, there Tacos and small plates are winning, but you’ll is life east of Interstate 5. And those of us living also find wings, bowls and sandwiches. I really inland demand decent food. Why, hello there, Indug the play of flavors in the avocado Brie torta. land Tavern. Thank you for opening!

This deceptively simple sandwich hits every part San Marcos’ Inland Tavern (1001 W. San Marof your tongue. Thick slices of avocado anchor cos Blvd., inlandtavern.com) has taken over the things with creamy heft, while smooth Brie adds former confines of divey Brit bar Penny Lane and a bit more saltiness to chew on. A tangle of waturned it into a clean dining room and bar with tercress provides unexpected bitterness while a a coastal feel, even though there’s no water in kumquat moustarda is at once sweet and sour. sight. (Keep calm, fans of San Marcos-based BritThose cool kids at the coast might have the ish pubs! Churchill’s is still carrying on just down real estate, but with more joints like this, there the road.) are now plenty of reasons to stay inland.

Chef Rob Conaway is a local boy who’s spent Write to jennym@sdcitybeat.com time cooking in Thailand and Vietnam, and aland editor@sdcitybeat.com. though that influence is felt throughout the

north

fork

12 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

the

SHORTlist

1

FUNNY IT UP

San Diego’s comedy scene is blowing up.

We detailed the renaissance in our Feb. 4 issue, concluding that those annoying road trips to Los Angeles to perform or see quality comedy are things of the past. While the focus of the story was mainly on standup comics, improv—the geekier-but-just-as-funny cousin in the comedy world—is definitely having a moment, too.

“I wouldn’t call this a renaissance, though; I’d call it us bursting forth,” says longtime San Diego improv comedian Kevin Dolan. “Just three years ago, there was just one club dedicated to short-form improv and another that did it once a month. Now, in 2014 alone, I think we had over 900 shows performed by over 106 improv teams, and that was just at Finest City Improv.”

Dolan is one of the organizers of the second annual San Diego Improv Festival, a three-day event packed with performances and training workshops that’s happening from Thursday, Feb. 19, through Sunday, Feb. 22, at Finest City Improv (4250 Louisiana St. in North Park). Thanks to the popularity and success of the first fest, Dolan says, they received tons of performance applications from across the United States and Canada and were able to cherrypick the 30 best teams, including headliners King Ten out of Los Angeles and the Chicago duo Dummy.

“Dummy—they tend to create characters that get themselves into very funny situations that the audience can identify with,” Dolan says.

Slate contributor Justin Peters and his improv

2

ART OF RIFFING

Extemporaneous poems created in front of an audience, recorded and transcribed—David Antin calls them “talk poems.” Since the 1960s, Antin has crafted his improvised poetry and put it to paper without punctuation in an unorthodox format intended to recreate the experience of the spoken word. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at D.G. Wills Books in La Jolla (7461 Girard Ave.), Antin will read from his latest book, How Long Is the Present: Selected Talk Poems of David Antin.

Also an essayist and celebrated art critic, Antin has taught in the Department of Visual Arts at UCSD for more than 25 years. The free event will include a discussion with the renowned author. dgwillsbooks.com DENNIS WILLS

COORDINATED BY KINSEE MORLAN PAUL SAVAGE

Improv team King Ten partner, Kelly Buttermore, who perform under the moniker From Justin to Kelly, will also be traveling from New York to perform and teach workshops at the fest.

“I’m telling you, the quality of the people we have coming in for this festival, there’s no question in my mind that it’ll be great,” Dolan says.

Performances are at 7 and 11 p.m. nightly, and more than a dozen workshops will be held throughout the festival. sdimprovfestival.com

3

OH, THE HUMANITY

While folks were wringing their hands over what was to become of plans for a ginormous Balboa Park Centennial celebration (if you don’t know what we’re talking about, do catch up), the park’s museums and cultural institutions were planning their own kick-ass ways to mark the 100-year anniversary of the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. On Saturday, Feb. 21, the Museum of Photographic Arts rolls out its contribution, 7 Billion Others. The immersive multimedia exhibition captures more than 6,000 people from 84 countries answering questions on things like love, fear, conflict, relationships and legacy. The result is equal parts art, anthropology lesson and cultural experiment—and it’s not just a one-visit show: Every three months through Sept.

13, MOPA will introduce new content. Find a list of themes for each installation at mopa.org.

GOODPLANET FOUNDATION

David Antin at D.G. Wills Books

The making of 7 Billion Others

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

ART HMemory, Voyage, Full Moon & New Works at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. Early paintings and drawings by renowned local artist Ernest Silva (1948-2014). Also, Joshua Miller will exhibit the newest iteration of his trademark porcelain plates. And, in the North Reading Room, art in progress from Cheeyeon Park, Claire Kwon and Anna Huang. Opening from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20.

858-454-5872, ljathenaeum.org Portraits at Disclosed unLocation, 1925 30th Ave., South Park. New works by Robert Andrade, whose aim is to investigate methods of power in our constructed environment and fabricated landscape (architecture and urban planning). Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21.

619-933-5480, unlocation.com Valentine Hangover at On the Edge Art Gallery, 7317 El Cajon Boulevard, La Mesa. Dozens of local painters, photographers and sculptors show off new works centered around love or lack of it. Opening from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. ontheedgeartgallery.com HDeron Cohen: Universe Art at Dolphin and Hawk Fine Art Gallery, 7742 Herschel Ave., La Jolla. New works from the local painter who specializes in psychedelic pieces that tackle issues of love, war, peace, nature, life, death and the universe.

Opening from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. 858-401-9549, dolphinandhawk.com Surf War at Visual, 3776 30th St., North Park. An art show with, experimental music performances and a pop-up shop by the record label / indie press, which will also be releasing their new zine, Lost Cause x Sexting, Shame & Suicide. Opening from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. 619-501-

5585, surfwarpresshouse.tumblr.com HCognitive Camouflage (redux) at A Ship in the Woods, 1660 Lugano Lane, Del Mar. Closing reception for the multiartist show that delves into social anxiety in a postmodern era. Includes performances by Australian band HTRK and local group Mystery Cave. Opening from 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. $15 donation. shipinthewoods.com HWinter Blowout Sale at La Bodega Studios and Gallery, 2196 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. The art space will showcase work from top local talent, discounted and priced to sell. Participating artists include Jack Stricker, Matt Land, Eric Wixon, Carly Ealey and dozens more. From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, facebook. com/Bodega619 HFRESH: A Colorful Collection Of Art & Photo at Oliver’s Hair Design, 2971 Beech St., South Park. A small group show of art and photography by Mariana Palafox, James E Watts, Mark Waylon Harrell and Aileen Reyes in all sorts of mediums from sculpture and photo to collage and canvas. Opening from 7 to 10:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 21. 619-238-0336.

HOut Here Group Art Show at Out Here, Calle Chapo Marquez 158, Tijuana.

A group show bringing together Tijuana and San Diego based artists including Daniel Pena, Fructo, Eye Gato, and many more. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. 52-664-607-3876, outhere.mx San Diego Artist Market at Border X Brewing Tasting Room, 2196 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. An outdoor event hosted by the brewery with local artists like Joni Nunez, Katey Kalanges and dozens more. From noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22. 619-787-6176, facebook. com/SDArtistMarket

14 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

BOOKS Juliana Maio at Astor Judaica Library, 4126 Executive Drive La Jolla, CA, La Jolla. The author and lawyer will sign and discuss her new novel, City of the Sun, about espionage, love and power plays.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19. $10. 858457-3030, sdcjc.org John C. Hampsey at D.G. Wills Books, 7461 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The author and professor will read from and sign his new novelistic memoir, Kaufman’s Hill. At 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20. 858-456-1800, dgwillsbooks.com Julian Klincewicz at Gym Standard, 2903 El Cajon Blvd., North Park. The local skater, musician and all-around Renaissance man hosts a release party his new book, Turtle Neck, True-Blue, and Snake, as well as the zine, Yum. From 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20. gymstandard.com HRaquel Perez at Old Town Gift Co., 4010 Twiggs St., Old Town. The author and native San Diegan will be signing her historical profile of San Diego, Legends of the Californios: Nana’s Stories of our Family Roots. At 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21.

Joanne Fluke at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave. Suite 100, Clairemont. Fluke signs and discusses for her latest Hannah Swenson mystery novel, Double Fudge Brownie Murder. At 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. mystgalaxy.com HTamara Johnson at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. Johnson will sign and discuss Not Far from Normal, about the secret history of some of San Diego’s most iconic places. At noon Sunday, Feb. 22. warwicks.indiebound.com Henry, Josh, and Harrison Herz at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Bal-

boa Ave. Ste. 100, Clairemont. Henry and his sons will be signing their new picture book, Monster Goose Nursery Rhymes. At 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Jerry Griswold at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The writer will sign and discuss his historical account of American children’s literature, Audacious Kids: The Classic American Children’s Story. At 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23.

858-454-0347, warwicks.indiebound.com T. Jefferson Parker at Fallbrook Art Center, 103 South Main, Fallbrook.

Parker will sign his latest, Full Measure, a love story about his current hometown of Fallbrook and a personal look into the lives affected by the devastating fire of 2007. At 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24. $15. fallbrookartcenter.org T. Greenwood at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The local author will sign and discuss her new novel, The Forever Bridge, about a reclusive Vermont mother struggling in the wake of Hurricane Irene. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24. warwicks.indiebound.com Kevin Brass at Del Mar Library, 1309 Camino Del Mar, Del Mar, Del Mar. The former local journalist will discuss and sign his new book, The Cult of Truland, a contemporary satire set in the world of celebrity journalism. At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25. sdcl.org Randy Henderson at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave. Ste. 100, Clairemont. The author will sign and discuss his debut fantasy novel, Finn Fancy Necromancy, about a teenage boy who finds himself exiled to the body of his 40-year-old self. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com

COMEDY HTrailer Park Boys at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Downtown. The guys from the Canadian mockumentary television series stop by on their “Still Drunk, High & Unemployed” tour. At 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 18. $44-$65. 619-5701100, sandiegotheatres.org HSan Diego Improv Festival at Finest City Improv, 4250 Louisiana St., North Park. FCM hosts some of the country’s best improv performers for a weekend of comedy, workshops and improvised theater. See website for fschedule. From 7 p.m. to midnight Thursday, Feb. 19, 3 p.m. to midnight Friday, Feb. 20, 10 a.m. to midnight Saturday, Feb. 21, and 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22. $15$99. 6193066047, sdimprovfestival.com Craig Ferguson at Pechanga Casino & Resort, 45000 Pechanga Pkwy, Temecula.

The former host of the Late Late Show stops by on his “Hot & Grumpy: Walking the Earth” tour. At 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22. $59-$85. 951-693-1819, pechanga.com Casa del HaHa on the Rocks at Martinis Above Fourth, 3940 Fourth Ave., Hillcrest. Stand-up, cabaret and sketch performances from Phil Johnson, Samantha Ginn, David McBean and more, with proceeds benefitting Diversionary Theatre. At 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23. $15. 619-4004500, ma4sd.com

DANCE HBlack Grace at Mandeville Auditorium, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. Insppired by Pacific Island and Maori heritage, the Black Grace dancers perform highly physical

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

Love runs rampant in Stage Kiss In New Village Arts’ Stage Kiss, actors Amanda Morrow and John DeCarlo spend more time making out than a couple of horny teenagers behind the high-school gym. Fun for them. Mostly fun for the audience, although this romantic comedy about a pair of ex-lovers who are reunited as co-stars in a laughably bad period (1930s) play is spotty.

SAMANTHA JEET

John DeCarlo and Amanda Morrow

THEATER

There’s so much of the laughably bad play—most of the first act—that one tends to forget the offstage plight of the ex-lovers, whom playwright Sarah Ruhl named She and He. That choice possibly implies that She and He’s conundrum could happen to anyone, at least anyone in theater: falling for a co-star with whom you exchange spit multiple times a show, multiple nights a week for who knows how long a run.

As the tale unfolds, the actress becomes so obsessed with the actor (and vice versa) that she leaves her husband, and though their play is a flop, they flee to Detroit to star in a wacky production that casts them as a New Yawk hooker and a brogue-employing IRA operative.

The two cartoonish plays-within-a-play allow supporting actors including Daren Scott (as a director) and Brian Butler (as a stage manager / actor) to overplay their parts for big laughs—and they get them.

The naturally funny Morrow is a comic chameleon of accents, wigs and rapidly interchanging emotions. DeCarlo is saddled with the less sympathetic role, but the part of hormone-driven He has to rank as one of his most enjoyable gigs. Watch for Christina Flynn in the scene-stealing role

of He’s schoolteacher girlfriend.

Under the direction of Chelsea Kaufman, Stage Kiss is much crisper in the second act, and Ruhl’s dialogue is sophisticated enough that the predictable resolution of She and He’s love affair is altogether satisfying, even as mushy as She and He at their mushiest. Enjoying the road to that resolution will depend on your appetite for sight gags and meta-theatrical zaniness. If, for example, you are enchanted when Morrow, DeCarlo, Flynn and Dallas McLaughlin (playing She’s husband) suddenly break into a rendition of “Some Enchanted Evening,” then Stage Kiss is winning you over.

If, on the other hand, you wish you were seeing South Pacific instead, then this particular kiss is too slobbery.

Stage Kiss runs through March 1 at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad. $33-$42. newvillagearts.org

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

OPENING Danny and the Deep Blue Sea: A staged reading of a play about two strangers, Danny and Roberta, who meet in a bar and confront their demons together. Presented by San Diego Actors Theatre,

it happens at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 23 at the University of San Diego’s Crivello Theatre. sdactorstheatre.net Into the Woods: The classic musical that debuted at The Old Globe Theater in 1986 this time gets a treatment by Pickwick Players. It opens Feb. 20 at Off Broadway Live in Santee. pickwickplayers.net The Marriage of Bette and Boo: Christopher Durang’s play covers three decades of turmoil-plagued matrimony and separation between the title characters, narrated by their son. Presented by the UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance, it opens Feb. 20 in UCSD’s Arthur Wagner Theatre. theatre.ucsd.edu Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play: In the aftermath of nuclear catastrophe, survivors recount an episode of The Simpsons. Seven years later, they’re a Simpsons performance group. Decades later, people have sort of become Simpsons characters.

Presented by the UCSD Department of Theatre and Dance, it opens Feb. 18 in UCSD’s Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre. theatre.ucsd.edu Old Times: There’s something very mysterious about a married couple and the old friend, a woman, who comes to visit. This staged reading, presented

by Intrepid Shakespeare Company; happens Feb. 23 at the Encinitas Library. intrepidshakespeare.com Ryes: A museum in post-Katrina Louisiana opens an exhibition of Civil War artifacts, but they might not be authentic. Presented by Ion Theatre, it opens Feb. 19 at BLKBOX Theatre in Hillcrest. iontheatre.com

For full listings,

please visit “T heater ” at sdcit ybeat.com

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

work, rich in the storytelling traditions of the South Pacific. At 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18. $12-$46. 858-534-TIXS, artpwr.com Lux Boreal Evening of Dance at SDSU Dance Studio Theatre, 5500 Campanile Drive, College Area. The Tijuana dance company performs this annual show of modern and contemporary dance. At 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20-21. $10-$15. 619-594-6031, music.sdsu.edu

San Diego Young Choreographers Showcase and Prize at Coronado High Performing Arts Center, 650 D Ave., Coronado. A panel of judges and the audience will award prize money in several categories including “Most Original Choreography” and “Most Compelling Performance by a Single Dancer.” At 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. $20. sandiegodancetheater.org Salon Dances: Commence at Encini-

tas Library, 540 Cornish Drive, Encinitas.

Patricia Rincon Dance Collective, in collaboration with playwright Kristin Idaszak and composer Ryan Welsh, presents this meditation on beginnings, the desire to make meaning of things and the passage of time. At 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22. $10 suggested donation. rincondance.org

FOOD & DRINK HSan Diego Winter Brew Fest at Hall of Champions, 2131 Pan American Plaza, Balboa Park. The annual fest Features craft beverages from California and beyond along with live local music, food and several other vendors. From 6 to 10 p.m.

Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20-21. $40$50. sandiegobrewfest.com Belgian Fest at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens-Point Loma, 2816 Historic Decatur Road, Ste. 116, Point Loma.

Festival featuring rare Belgian and Belgian-style beers. Admission includes 15 tasters and a take-home commemorative glass. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22. $50. 619-269-2100, brownpaper tickets.com/event/956576

MUSIC HArt of Elan Showcase at Lux Art Institute, 1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas.

Live chamber music performance in the Lux studio, surrounded by the works of resident artist Julian Kreimer. Program includes highlights from recent Art of Elan seasons. At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18. $30-$40. 760-436-6611, luxartinstitute.org

“Lucky Cat” by Dear will be on view in Out Here, a group show opening at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at Tijuana’s new Out Here gallery (158 Calle Chapo Márquez, Colonia Federal).

16 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

HThe Art of Music: Anthony Davis at San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park.

One of the nation’s foremost jazz-and-beyond pianists, Davis presents a program

exploring the relationship between musical expression and the visual image. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19. $15-$20. 619232-7931, sdmart.org HVenice at Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, Balboa Park. Part of the Fleet’s Rock in the Park series of concerts, enjoy the four-part harmonies of Venice while enjoying food, beer or taking in the exhibits inside the Fleet. At 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20. $24-$32. 619-238-1233, rhfleet.org Sir Andres Schiff at Sherwood Auditorium, 700 Prospect St, La Jolla. La Jolla Music Society’s Frieman Family Piano Series continues with the acclaimed pianist playing works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. At 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20. $20-$80. 858-454-3541, ljms.org HTrio Gadjo at Panama 66, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. The gypsy jazz trio plays an intimate Balboa Park show with special guest Claudia Gomez performing tap dance. From 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20. 619-239-0512, panama66.com Spring Valley Karamu at Spring Valley Library, 836 Kempton St., Spring Valley.

It’s Black History Month! This Karamu celebration will feature entertainment, refreshments, activities, community booths and health screenings. From 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. 619-463-3006, sdcl.org Jerusalem Quartet at Sherwood Auditorium, 700 Prospect St, La Jolla. The acclaimed classical music foursome performs two masterworks from Schumann and Schubert. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. $30-$80. 858-454-3541, ljms.org HSlow Death: A Noise Music Festival at Space 4 Art, 325 15th St., East Village.

An all-day noise music festival featuring the best in the San Diego noise and experimental music scene. Also includes

tarot card readings and an art installation

by Xavier Ramirez. From 3 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. $8. staystrange.com Classics 4 Kids: A Salute to American Jazz Greats at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Downtown. The Classics Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Dana Zimbric celebrate U.S. jazz icons in honor of Black History Month. At 2 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 22. $10-$20. 619-2312311, classics4kids.org

PERFORMANCE Circus Vargas presents Arlequin! at Mission Bay Park, 3000 E. Mission Drive.

Circus Vargas presents this new show which they describe as “aerialists, acrobats, clowns and the ballyhoo of nostalgic Americana.” Through Feb. 23. $15$70. 877-468-3861, circusvargas.com Opera on the Concourse at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown.

Artists from Don Giovanni present a lunchtime recital of songs and opera favorites at the concourse in front of the Civic Theatre.

At noon Thursday, Feb. 19. sdopera.com HDon Giovanni at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown. San Diego Opera presents Mozart’s timeless tale of a pompous and lustful man stalking a beautiful young bride, only find that his past is coming back to haunt him. At 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22. $45-$235. sdopera.com Jim Henson’s Dinosaur Train Live! at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Downtown. This show combines preschoolers’ fascination with dinosaurs and trains and encourages basic scientific thinking skills as the audience learns about life science, natural history and paleontology. At 3 and

6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. $20.95-$58.25.

619-570-1100, sandiegotheatres.org

Street in Bankers Hill. From 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22. 858-755-1161

relationship with regional transportation.

From 2 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. 760637-2222, exploringengagement.com

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS

Long Story Short: Just Lust at Evolution Fast Food, 2965 Fifth Ave., Hillcrest. Come tell and hear stories of lust gone wrong at So Say We All’s monthly improv storytelling showcase. From 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. $5 suggested donation. 619-5501818, sosayweallonline.com

HProgram and Site Plan for the Exposition: 1910-1913 at San Diego History Center, Balboa Park. Mike Kelly discusses the evolution of Balboa Park amid plans for the 1915 Expo. From 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19. $12. sandiegohistory.org

HModernism Transformed: From the Salk to the Geisel and Beyond at NewSchool of Architecture & Design, 1249 F St., Downtown. Dirk Sutro will discuss the beautiful scenery and outstanding architecture of UCSD. At 9:30 a.m.

Saturday, Feb. 21, friendsofsdarch.com

HDavid Antin at D.G. Wills Books, 7461 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The local poet, performance artist and critic will read from and discuss his new book, How Long Is the Present: Selected Talk Poems of David Antin. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. 858456-1800, dgwillsbooks.com

HLouis Schmidt at Mission Avenue Bar & Grill, 711 Mission Ave., Oceanside.

Take a train ride with artist Louis Schmidt followed by a meet-and-greet and book signing. Part of the Exploring Engagement program, which examines Oceanside’s

SEA Days: Ocean Love at Birch Aquarium, 2300 Expedition Way, La Jolla.

It����������������������������������������� ’s the time of year when whales are calving and fish are spawning. Join experts at Scripps Institution of Oceanography for this family-friendly event to learn about ocean love. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. Free-$17. 858-534-FISH, aquarium.ucsd.edu

HArt Talks: Landscapes of Balboa Park at Lemon Grove Library, 8073 Broadway, Lemon Grove. Artist Ed Roxburgh will join Helen Ofield for a talk about the library’s current exhibit, Landscapes of Balboa Park, and the role of art in the cultural evolution of the park. From 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. sdcl.org Quack Cancer Treatments at Joyce Beers Community Center, 3900 Vermont St., Hillcrest. Presented by the San Diego Association for Rational Inquiry, Yvette Guinevere, “the Science Babe,” discusses cancer treatments that aren’t what they appear. At 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22. sdari.org Amazing Stories About Jews and the Far East at Astor Judaica Library, 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla. Marvin Tokayer, Honorary Rabbi of Japan’s Jewish com-

munity, weaves together the characters and history of the Jews of the Far East, a missing chapter of Jewish history. At 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23. $16.50. 858-4573030, sdcjc.org HPublic Art at the San Diego Central Library at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 334 14th St., Del Mar. Join Kara West, library arts and culture exhibitions manager, as she shares collection highlights and discusses the importance of public art at the library. At 9:30 a.m. Monday, Feb. 23. $5. 619-232-7931, sdmart.org

For full listings,

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

SPECIAL EVENTS HThe Marvel Experience at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. Activities include a projection dome, virtual-reality experiences, multi-person gaming, motion comics, themed cafes, a megastore and more. Runs through Sunday, Feb. 22. $29.50-$34.50. 858-7551161, themarvelexperiencetour.com Silver Bay Kennel Club Dog Show at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd.

One of the largest dog shows in the U.S. A dog agility competition also will be part of the show on Saturday and Sunday. From 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20-21, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22. 858-755-1161, silverbaykc.com HSan Diego Tet Festival at Mira Mesa Community Park, 8575 New Salem St., Mira Mesa. This annual festival celebrating the Vietnamese New Year features carnival rides and games, authentic Vietnamese food, lion dancing, firecrackers, entertainment and more. From 5 to 10 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22. 858-538-8122, sdtet.com San Diego Chinese New Year Food and Cultural Festival at Third Avenue and J Street, Downtown. Celebrate the Year of the Ram with traditional Asian food, dance performances, arts, crafts, vendors and more. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 21-22. 858-7551161, sdcny.weebly.com 5K Paw Walk in the Garden at San Diego Botanic Garden, 230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas. Guests can bring their pooches to the garden at this second annual 5K, which benefits the Rancho Coastal Humane Society and the Garden. At 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. $14-$32. 760436-3036, sdbgarden.org/pawwalk.htm Escondido Roots Series: The Philippines at San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum, 320 North Broadway, Escondido. This annual series features cultural performances, activities and crafts that will help children and adults gain a deeper understanding of different cultures. From 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. $3-$6. 760233-7755, sdcdm.org A Day of Design Inspiration at Jackson Design and Remodeling, 4797 Mercury St., Kearny Mesa. Learn about trends for 2015, see exciting innovations in design, get the inside track on dos/don’ts for home remodeling and learn tips for transforming your home into your dream home. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21. 858-2922357, jacksondesignandremodeling.com The Art of Riding Join a monthly ride with BikeSD to bring awareness to bicycle riding in San Diego. DecoBike will offer $5 rentals for the whole ride. Meet at station 197 located at Fourth Avenue and Fir

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 17

Erik Jepsen / UC San Diego Publications

Meet the

makers San Diego filmmaker examines the enigma known as Hatsune Miku and the mass of fans and creators behind her

by Kinsee Morlan

H

uddled around a table on the back patio of Porter’s Pub on the UCSD campus, Tara Knight, Thomas Conner, Albert Deng and Alex Yoshiba are analyzing and debating their common bond—Hatsune Miku, a 16-year-old Japanese pop star who sports long, aquamarine-colored pigtails.

“Let’s talk about her David Letterman appearance,” says Knight, the organizer of the night’s so-called “Vocaroom San Diego” meet-up.

“It was an opportunity blown,” Conner answers without hesitation.

Everyone quickly agrees, and the group eventually decides that the biggest problem with Miku’s appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman last October was that she wasn’t really talked about or explained, and she wasn’t given the opportunity to sit down for a quick Q&A with Letterman.

Instead, Miku appeared as a hologram on a screen. She performed a barely understandable English song (she’s best known for her songs in Japanese) with a live band behind her and then waved goodbye to Letterman before disintegrating. For the uninitiated, the whole thing seemed awkward and bizarre: Why was some Japanese, anime-style character with a synthesized voice performing on a primetime television show in the United States? Without any context, it didn’t make any sense.

Knight, a filmmaker and associate professor of digital media at UCSD, reminds the group that there’s no easy solution to the Letterman problem. Miku, a so-called “vocaloid”—a character that personifies vocal-singing synthesizer software—isn’t just a representation of one person or even the company, Crypton Future Media, that cre-

Tara Knight ated her. She’s a product of the many people—artists, musicians and other creative fans—who’ve given her a persona by writing songs and stories, making videos and drawings and otherwise transforming her into a virtual pop-star when she’s projected as a 3D hologram on stage at live concerts or appears on shows like Letterman.

“Everyone kept saying Letterman should’ve interviewed Miku, but who would have answered for her?” Knight asks the group. “Who would have written those answers? And if they were to have a nonholographic guest on the show, who would that one person have been?”

Miku made her debut in 2007 as nothing more than one image attached to software that allows musicians to put a human-like voice to their songs and melodies. Crypton provided only a few details about her— age, weight, height and vocal ranges—and fans have since filled in the rest by creating Miku’s backstory through the videos, songs and stories they upload to sites like YouTube and Japan’s Nico Nico Douga.

“With Miku, potentially anybody is

18 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

actually making her at any given time,” Knight says, pointing to each member in the group. “You’ve made Miku. You’ve made Miku. I’ve made Miku…. That’s what makes her different than other things.”

Conner points to Yoshiba’s backpack, which has an image of Miku emblazoned on it.

“That’s a depiction of a young girl,” he says. “But that’s a representation of—.”

“A million people’s stuff!” Knight interjects.

T

he participatory culture behind Miku is what first attracted Knight to the topic. A few years ago, she got to work on Mikumentary, a series of short web videos detailing the fascinating, fanpowered phenomenon, but she quickly realized that the most appealing quality of Miku—the many creators behind her— would also present her biggest challenge.

“How the fuck do you show something that’s made by hundreds of thousands of different people online?” Knight asks. “So, I made the decision years ago when I started Tara Knight / Crypton Future Media

this project that I wasn’t going to have any talking-head interviews and I wasn’t going to show any one person in the Hatsune Miku community. I was going to show things they make, things that happen, events and whatnot, but no one talking head saying, ‘Here I am as expert,’ because it’s a way of reducing down what it means.”

The difficulty in explaining Miku to someone who’s never heard of her is why Knight has purposely delayed making an intro episode for her Mikumentary series.

Knight has six episodes that are roughly three to five minutes long finished and published online at taraknight.net. She’s working on the last two episodes, and then she’ll end by circling back to the intro; after years of research and countless interviews with fans, she finally thinks she has the Miku explanation down to just one simple sentence.

“Miku is what people make,” she says.

Knight’s Mikumentary videos are somewhat esoteric and probably best understood and appreciated by hardcore Miku fans, but even those who’ve never heard of the virtual pop icon can appreciate the films’ artistry. Knight combines digital imagery with live-action shots, and all the voices featured in the episodes are woven together as one narrative that never makes a distinction between who’s talking and why.

“The idea was to have the CEO of Crypton speaking right next to the scholar who’s speaking next to a teenage fan,” Knight explains. “I know it frustrates a lot of viewers because they want to know who’s talking, but, for me, it’s important that Miku is not represented by any one person.”

Knight has covered the community and culture behind Miku in her existing episodes, showing, among other things, glimpses of the live concerts, conventions and big Vocaroom events in Japan. In the next two installments, she’ll be detailing ideas and philosophies inspired by Miku and also looking into the complicated Crypton business model and copyright issues surrounding the rapid-fire spread of Miku-related works.

Her series has been devoured by Miku’s international fans; she proudly cites the many languages in which the videos have been bootlegged. The work has even been elevated to the status of fine art; Mikumentary Episode 3 was installed at the Mori Art Museum in 2013 alongside a Miku hologram and a collection of tablets displaying user-generated Miku content that updated once a minute.

Ultimately, Knight hopes anyone who watches her series will understand how interesting, powerful and possibly worldchanging the creative, participatory culture behind Miku really is.

“To see all the different directions people take her,” Knight says, “for some people, it’s the music; for some, it’s the character design.

For others, it’s the stories they write. It’s this mass-collaboration…. Miku is challenging the notion of producer and consumer, performer and audience and breaking down these divisions between professional and amateur…. It’s exciting.”

Write to kinseem@sdcitybeat.com A still from Tara Knight’s Mikumentary film series and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

Seen Local Welcome, robot A big, retro-looking robot will soon find a home in Logan Heights. The new public-art project is by brother-artists Jamex and Einar de la Torre.

The mixed-media robot sculpture, which is expected to be installed by the end of February, will stand 14 feet high near the intersection of Einar (left) and Jamex de la Torre Commercial and 22nd streets.

“It’s definitely going to be noticeable,” Einar says. ral and other artwork by artists Mario Chacon and “We’re putting LED truck headlights in the robot’s Hector Villegas) included with the construction of eyes, and they’ll be flashing and blinking…. It’s COMM22, a just-opened mixed-use project develright by the trolley, and you’ll even be able to see oped by Bridge Housing and MAAC. Civic San it from Interstate 5 if you know where to look.”

Diego, the city-funded nonprofit that emerged Jamex and Einar describe the piece as from the disbanding of redevelopment, required anachronistic, inspired by old images of Japathe project to include onsite public-art. nese robots built for an imagined futuristic Nina Karavasiles, the public-art consultant era. The robot will be constructed of steel and hired by the developers, says the de la Torre inlaid with stone that’s been hand-carved brothers were selected through a competiwith images of modernized Mayan glyphs. tive process and shortlisted along with Einar leads me to the backyard of their artist Matt Devine. She’s happy the deSan Diego studio to show off the detail velopers were willing to go with such a of the stones, which were carved in whimsical work of art.

Tecate, Mexico.

“It’s a big leap for them,” she says. “They “So, these guys are going on the legs had to wrap their heads around the fact that of the robot,” he says, holding up a stone it looks like a giant robot toy.” featuring an image of a Mayan god wearKaravasiles is glad the project is finally close ing headphones. “They all have something to completion after many unexpected delays. modern like that…. See, this guy’s riding a “I just think this piece is fabulous,” she little motorcycle, and this is a little trolley says. “I think it’s going to make such a placehere. So, this is how much detail we can setting here. I can imagine people saying, A mock-up of the ‘Let’s meet at that robot,’ you know?” get these carvers in Tecate to do.”

The robot is the second of two sig- robot sculpture —Kinsee Morlan nificant public-art components (the other is a muKinsee Morlan

Love isn’t all you need Last week, an outdoor art piece by Sam Ballard that’s mounted in the parking lot behind Tobacco Rhoda’s bar in North Park was vandalized.

Ballard’s “The Nefarious Fence” features wooden cutouts painted to look like The Beatles. The wooden frame around the cutouts includes a LED light powered by solar panels. Ballard says thieves stole the solar panels and lights, broke the frame, ripped the piece from its mounting and left it lying on the ground. He estimates the damage to be close to $2,000.

“We know who did it,” Ballard says. “There were witnesses, and the police have that information…. I can tell you it was gang-related.”

The artist and activist is the founder of The Project Lennon, a group that promotes peace and environmental sustainability through Beatles-inspired art and music. Ballard’s art studio was located behind Tobacco Rhoda’s for eight years; he describes the section of North Park surrounding the building as dangerous and gang-ridden.

“I’ve seen everything you could possibly see here,” he says, standing by the vandalized piece. “We totally tore down the old fence that was here; that’s why we called the piece ‘The Nefarious Fence,’ because this is where everyone came to do their drugs. You can see all the gang tags around here.”

Ballard started The Project Lennon eight months ago. So far, he and his helpers have painted a mural of John Lennon on the west side of Tobacco Rhoda’s, and he says the piece behind the building was meant to serve as a nice piece of public art while also dem-

Sam Ballard in front of “The Nefarious Fence” onstrating sustainable lighting methods that could help enhance neighborhood safety.

Volunteers from The Project Lennon were also preparing to paint a new mural of Paul McCartney on a liquor store a few steps away from Tobacco Rhoda’s, but Ballard says the recent vandalism might compel him to give up on North Park. He’s says he’s brought up the gang problems with both the San Diego Police Department and City Councilmember Todd Gloria, whose district includes the area, but he says he’s mostly been ignored.

“I just don’t think we can work in North Park anymore,” Ballard says. “It’s become a very unsafe neighborhood, and the crime rate here is one of San Diego’s highest.”

—Kinsee Morlan Write to kinseem@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 19

Head over heart My painfully pragmatic 2015 Academy Award predictions

by Glenn Heath Jr. Predicting the Academy Awards is a science that’s been perfected by film bloggers who spend months tracking the nominated films like myth busters stalking Big Foot. Momentum, guild wins and industry peer pressure are classic signifiers of which film, technician or performer will take home the coveted OsMichael Keaton (left) and Edward Norton in Birdman car. I, however, often stubbornly resist many of the factors and go with my gut. Sometimes this pays Meanwhile, with no clear-cut sure winner, I see off, but mostly I just end up looking like a delusional Birdman being the beneficiary. A rambunctious and anromantic hoping all those aged Academy members gry meta-Hollywood extravaganza, Alejandro González will suddenly do an about face and award the worthy Iñárritu’s showy and exhausting mosaic looks like the instead of the fashionable. It’s time for a reality check. choice for Best Picture. A month ago, this seemed unIn 2015, I want to be right, not self-righteous. I’m believable, but wins at the DGA (Directors Guild of tired of losing the office pool. I’m tired of being ridi- America), PGA (Producers) and WGA (Writers) have culed by the casual moviegoer who beats me regular- essentially solidified it as the semi-favorite. ly at this masochistic game. “Aren’t you a film critic?”

Here are my predictions for all 24 categories—be they ask. Well, yeah, but that has nothing to do with leery, my friend: it! I swear. This year, things are going to change. I’m going to think like an Oscar voter. To hell with taste. Best Documentary Short: Our Curse Vive la self-congratulation!

Best Animated Short: The Dam Keeper The Best Supporting Actor and Actress categories Best Live Action Short: Boogaloo and Graham have seemingly been predetermined for a while: J.K. Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Guardians of the Galaxy Simmons’ hateful, racist, homophobic music teacher Best Cinematography: Birdman in Whiplash is the kind of loud, obvious, evil choice the Best Production Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel Academy finds appealing. Patricia Arquette’s layered Best Costume Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel turn in Boyhood as a single mother struggling to keep Best Visual Effects: Interstellar her head above water is the exact opposite—a study in Best Original Score: The Imitation Game subtle emotion and tenderness made pragmatic.

Best Original Song: Selma Things get a little hazier (but not by much) fore- Best Editing: Boyhood seeing the outcomes of Best Actress and Actor. Juli- Best Sound Mixing: Whiplash anne Moore has the momentum in hand for her fine Best Sound Editing: Interstellar turn as a professor slowly succumbing to early-onset Best Foreign-Language Film: Ida Alzheimer’s in Still Alice, but if she wins, it will be Best Documentary: Citizenfour more of a career award than anything. Marion Co- Best Animated Film: How to Train Your Dragon 2 tillard from Two Days, One Night could provide the Best Adapted Screenplay: The Imitation Game night’s big upset, but the greatest living actress has Best Original Screenplay: Birdman already won the award before, so odds of that hap- Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash pening are slim.

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood In the Best Actor race, one-time favorite Michael Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice Keaton has lost almost all the momentum to child- Best Actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman like devil Eddie Redmayne. I refuse to believe we live Best Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood in a world where Redmayne’s hackery will beat out Best Picture: Birdman Keaton’s genuine prolonged rage. Hollywood also And that’s it, folks. Tune in at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. loves an amazing career revival.

Speaking of the two majors, I smell a split. Richard 22, for all the pomp and circumstance at the 87th Linklater should ride the yearlong adulation placed Academy Awards and see how my picks fare. Someon Boyhood by critics and audiences alike and take where, I’ll probably be crying hysterically.

Best Director. If he wins, it’ll be a wonderful triumph for the kind of compassionate, meaningful and com- Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com. plex cinema the Academy should be recognizing.

Life sucks

What we Do in the Shadows

20 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

Despite being a vampire for nearly 400 years, Viago (Taika Waititi), a self-professed dandy with a broken heart, “still feels things inside.” He’s one of four bloodsuckers living a mundane existence in a grim multi-story mansion on the outskirts of Wellington, New Zealand. His flat mates include the thickly ac-

cented torturer Vladislav (Jermaine Clement), bad boy Deacon (Jonathan Brugh) and the latest incarnation of Nosferatu himself, Petyr (Ben Fransham).

Co-written and directed by Waititi and Clement (of Flight of the Conchords fame), What We Do in the Shadows transplants classic horror tropes to the present day, cleverly using surprise tactics associated with the moc-

kumentary genre. Opening title cards explain that a camera crew will be following the four vampires leading up to a yearly celebration called The Unholy Masquerade.

In-house arguments over chores and paying the rent give way to style advice and hangout sessions at the local vampire bar.

It’s been a while since mockumentary aesthetics have seemed fresh in our post-The Office culture, but the clever writing and daily conflicts experienced by the characters allow What We Do in the Shadows a unique combination of dark comedy and pathos. The filmmakers incorporate zombies, banshees and, of course, werewolves into the mix, providing the viewer with a diverse cross-section of brooding outcasts all trying to get by in the Internet age.

Balancing contrasting tones like comedy and horror has always been difficult for filmmakers, but Waititi and Clement achieve the synergy brilliantly. Tension mounts even more when a human named Stu (Stuart Rutherford) joins the group, complicating the vampires’ notions of friendship until the bitter end. What We Do in the Shadows, which opens Friday, Feb. 20, at the Ken Cinema, argues rather daringly that monsters of all kinds can cohabitate.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

Opening Hot Tub Time Machine 2: In order to save a friend who’s been shot, the Hot Tub gang jumps back into the time machine and begins messing with the past.

McFarland, U.S.A.: Kevin Costner stars as a cross-country coach in a small California town who takes a team of Latino athletes and transforms them into championship contenders. Disney strikes again.

What We Do in the Shadows: Four vampires living in modern-day New Zealand struggle to find happiness and friendship in Jermaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s hilarious mockumentary. See our review on Page 20.

One Time Only Postcards From Fair: Jack Ofield’s documentary about the 1935-36 Balboa Park exposition uses vintage photographs and eyewitness accounts to tell its story.

Screens at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the Lemon Grove Library.

An Officer and a Gentleman: Nobody messes with Louis Gossett Jr., not even young hot shot Richard Gere. Screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Arclight La Jolla.

Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the Point Loma / Hervey Branch Library.

Tapas Bar: In this film from Spain, five interlocking stories revolve around a single restaurant in a gorgeous neighborhood. Screens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.

Rembrandt from the National Gallery London & Rijksmuseum Amsterdam: This documentary takes viewers through two major European museums, with emphasis on their Rembrandt exhibitions.

Screens at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 24, at various theaters. Visit fathomevents.com for details.

Bluebird: When a tragic mistake shatters the safety of a logging town in Maine,

the inhabitants must come to grips with the consequences. Screens at 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 24, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

The Two Faces of January: While traveling in Greece, a couple (Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst) meet a mysterious American (Oscar Isaac) who may be a con man. Screens at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, at the Mission Valley Library.

Why Do You Have Black Dolls: This award-winning documentary explores history, race and social justice by focusing on a little-known community that collects black dolls. Screens at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, at the Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park.

In Happened One Night: Claudette

Colbert and Clark Gable are perfection in Frank Capra’s classic romantic comedy about an heiress on the run and a reporter snooping for a story. Screens at 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Arclight La Jolla.

Pretty Woman: Julia Roberts plays a prostitute who becomes the object of affection for Richard Gere’s rich businessman. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

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

The Kings Surrender: When two police offers are killed during an operation gone wrong, S.W.A.T. team members take to the streets to exact revenge on the gangs responsible. Screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Polyester: A distraught housewife (Divine) with a philandering husband and lewd children finds hope when she encounters a hunky art-theater manager played by Tab Hunter. Screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Hillcrest Cinemas.

Dirty Dancing: Does it get any sexier than The Swayze and Jennifer Grey getting down to hot dance music? We think not. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

Delirio San Diego Film Series: Curated by the horror film festival Horrible Imaginings, this will be a surprise screening of a rarely seen genre film that will take you to the fringes of reality. Screens at 8 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 19, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Time of the Cannibals: The German counterpart to The Wolf of Wall Street follows two highly paid consultants as they wreak havoc in third-world countries looking for profit ventures. Screens at 8 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 20, at The Loft at UCSD. Food served at 7 p.m.

Birdman: A former comic-book movie star (Michael Keaton) tries to regain his artistic credibility by adapting a tragic Arthur Miller play on Broadway. Screens at 8 p.m.

Friday and Saturday, Feb. 20 and 21, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Dr. Frank-N-Furter promises refuge to a young couple whose car has broken down, then decides to show them the horror of his experiments. Screens at 11:55 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Ken Cinema.

The Duff The Duff: Bianca (Mae Whitman), a teenager who’s been labeled unattractive by her more popular friends, decides to lead a social revolution that will undermine the pecking order at her high school.

The Last Five Years: Richard LaGravenese adapts the famous musical about a struggling actress (Anna Kendrick) and her novelist lover (Jeremy Jordan) who experience the highs and lows of a volatile relationship.

The Tale of Princess Kaguya: Animation master Isao Takahata’s final film tells the story of a tiny girl who’s born in the sprout of a beanstalk and raised against her wishes to be a princess in feudal Japan. Screens through Feb. 26 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

West Side Story: If you fall in love with someone from the rival gang, be ready to sing for your life, Maria. Screens at 7 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 22, at Arclight La Jolla.

From Florida to Coahuila: The History of Black Seminoles: Tracing the history of Black Seminoles, this documentary explores their heritage and culture, which is in jeopardy of extinction. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, at the San Diego Central Library in East Village.

They Were Promised the Sea: Filmmaker Kathy Wazana follows a group of Moroccan Jews who return home from Israel to see their ancestral villages.

Screens at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, in Arts and Letters 101 at SDSU. Laggies: Megan (Keira Knightley) has a quarter-life crisis after her boyfriend proposes, then finds herself hiding out with a teenager and her weary single dad in order to avoid reality. Screens at 6 p.m.

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 21

Falling in love, wi th

a d n i c u L Williams Veteran songwriter enjoys resurgence of creativity

by Scott McDonald

“S

ome people knew they were going to be at a wedding that night, and some didn’t.”

Lucinda Williams is referring to her somewhat impromptu 2009 nuptials during the middle of a show at Minneapolis’ First Avenue. The groom, Twin Cities native and former Universal Records exec Tom Overby, had served as the gravelly voiced Grammy winner’s manager for two years before saying, “I do.”

And while the event will always serve as a fantastic anecdote for both the couple and the unsuspecting fans who were there, it also marks a turning point in Williams’ career.

From the release of her 1979 debut, Ramblin’, Williams struggled with writing songs. Even nearly a decade later, when Rough Trade released her self-titled breakthrough, the Louisiana-born singer still had difficulty crafting the album’s 11 original compositions.

Blame the emotional pain of penning dark, brooding tales of unrequited love, or Williams’ own insistence on surpassing prior works, but the process never came easy.

That is, until relatively recently.

Her 2007 album, West, was a revelation. Mining the impossible emotions of losing a parent, and guided by her new relationship with Overby, Williams wrote enough material for two albums (the extra songs from the West sessions ended up becoming most of 2008’s Little Honey).

And since that wild night of rock ’n’ roll matrimony in 2009, Williams has both expanded her lyrical focus and kept the spigot to her newfound creativity wide open.

“I guess it’s better late than never,” she tells CityBeat with a husky laugh from her Los Angeles home. “I can’t really explain it. But I know I’m an anomaly. That’s for sure.”

Case in point: 2014’s Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone. Produced by Overby and guitarist Greg Leisz, Williams’ 11th studio effort is her first double album. Featuring Elvis Costello’s rhythm section, progressive guitarist Bill Frisell and an assortment of L.A. studio musicians, the 20-song Spirit was actually edited down from a much larger cache.

22 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

“We recorded enough for three albums,” Williams says. 62—“but my songwriting has matured as I’ve matured.”

“We had so much material that we knew early on it would That tough-as-nails attitude resonates in everything be impossible to narrow it down to one. But, thankfully, we she does. For an artist whose music tends to be emotionknew which ones had to come out together.” ally vulnerable, there’s an undeniable vibe of industrialSpirit marks other firsts for Williams, as well. It’s the first strength durability to everything else about Williams. time she’s used lyrics by her recently deceased father, poet “I really enjoy that image,” she says. “I enjoy being Miller Williams (“Compassion”). And it’s the inaugural al- the bad girl, the Chrissie Hynde or Joan Jett type. And bum for her newly founded label, Highway 20 Records.

I’m also not afraid to tell it like it is in my songs. But I More than just a vehicle for her own future releases, just lean more in the direction of motorcycle dudes and and in conjunction with plenty of guidance from Overby, leather jackets. So it makes sense that I’d give that imWilliams relishes the opportunity to find pression. It’s probably the combination of and promote new talent. all of those things.”

“We really haven’t kicked it into gear Williams will remain on tour for Spirit yet,” she says. “And I’m not sure what to until the end of March, when her focus expect. I’ve never had my own label bewill return to the new record. Although it fore. But I feel positive about it, and just isn’t likely to be another double album, it hope I don’t have hundreds of artists getpromises many other surprises, including Feb. 21 ting me to sign them [Laughs]. Because I covers of The Velvet Underground’s “Pale love pretending I’m an A&R person, going Blue Eyes,” Merle Haggard’s “If We Make The Observatory into clubs and discovering great new artit Through December” and Bruce Springists. I have a good ear for that sort of thing. steen’s “Factory.”

North Park Additionally, though Frisell’s contribuAnd now, I actually have a vehicle for it.” lucindawilliams.com tions to Spirit were limited, he’ll be featured While all of this new inspiration, energy on almost every track of the next one. and expansion is coming at a time when With the release date of the new album many of her contemporaries are either winding down or relying on the rehash of classic albums in still undetermined and Highway 20 Records yet to be fully realized, Williams shows no signs of slowing down, even their past, Williams seems to be hitting her creative stride.

Her trademark voice is stronger than ever, she’s finally in with her 40-year career milestone ahead of her.

“I really don’t think like that,” she says. “When somea supportive and nurturing relationship and the most chalone mentions how long it’s been, I still have a hard time lenging part of her creative process has been figured out.

“I don’t think in terms of age,” Williams says. “I don’t believing it. But Tom and I make a good team. And it’s very understand when artists feel they haven’t ‘made it’ by the liberating to have creative control, to be able to put howtime they turn 30 and start talking about giving up because ever many songs you like on an album with no middleman it’s too late. ‘I’m too fat,’ ‘I’m too old,’ ‘I’m too tired’—none to tell you what to do.

“I have the best of all worlds, and it’s a great situation to of that flies. I didn’t even get my first break until I was in my mid-30s. So I don’t get those attitudes. Ageism only ex- be in.” ists in the pop world. It’s just not a factor in things like jazz or blues. People are sometimes surprised by my age”—she’s Write to editor@sdcitybeat.com.

Lucinda Williams

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 23

24 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

notes from the smoking patio Rebecca Joelson

Locals Only Viewers of Bravo’s Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce got a dose of San Diego music last Tuesday when a song by The Midnight Pine was featured on the show.

The band’s song “Caution” was used in the episode “Jake’s Thanksgiving Surprise,” which aired Tuesday, Feb. 10. Bravo contacted the band directly about having its music appear in the show; a licensing agent had previously sent the network the band’s cover of Radiohead’s “Exit Music (For a Film).”

“The network approached us through Facebook, of all places,” percussionist and songwriter Al Howard tells CityBeat in an email. “Apparently, it’s not just for harvesting likes.”

Howard says this isn’t the first time one of his songs was heard on television. A song by his other band, The Heavy Guilt, was featured on an episode of the South Carolina equivalent of Jersey Shore, CMT’s Party Down South.

“I don’t believe any of us have ever seen the show,” Howard says of Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce. “The last time I got a placement, a heartfelt song I wrote narrated two drunk rednecks in a shouting contest, so, regardless, this is a step up.”

“Caution” will be released as a 7-inch single for Record Store Day on Saturday, April 18. The band also

Music review Griever Our Love is Different (Vitriol) Our Love is Different, the debut album by melodic sludge slingers Griever, has been a long time coming.

The group released its debut EP, the brutally badass Inferior, back in 2011. And Griever are approaching their five-year mark as a band, having formed after Alex Jacobelli and Cory Groenenberg’s former band, Lewd Acts, disbanded in 2010. They’ve released a few singles in the past couple of years and kept up a steady live presence. And while the strength of the material on Inferior suggested their debut would be an absolute destroyer, it’s taken four years to arrive.

I’m pleased to report, then, that Our Love is Different is well worth the wait. It’s heavy as fuck, which is the bare minimum that we could have expected from the band, considering the four members’ combined years in hardcore and metal bands during the past decade-plus. But the remarkable thing about Griever’s debut isn’t the volume or intensity; it’s the melodies and arrangements.

In their more direct moments, like first song “Malice” (which follows an instrumental intro), Griever balance an accessible pile-driving sound

The Midnight Pine just released a video of the song for Valentine’s Day, which is up on The Midnight Pine’s YouTube page.

•••

The Styletones have split up. On Thursday, Feb. 12, the soul / funk band posted a note on Facebook, announcing the “official dissolution of the band.”

“We started this band with the intention of bringing something soulful and new to a stage near you and with your help, we did some wonderful things together,” the note reads. “San Diego party people, we will forever be in your debt.”

—Jeff Terich

that recalls the burly hardcore of Coliseum or the roaring psych-metal of early Baroness. Similarly, the awesomely titled “The Tie that Grinds” chugs and throttles, but it does so with dense layers of mesmerizing guitar licks that owe more to the progressive alt-rock of Failure than Mastodon.

Though just about everything on Our Love is Different unabashedly rocks, it has its subtler, tempered moments, as well. “The Endless Well” is one such incredible moment, with the band slowing its pummel to an ominous chug and Jacobelli opting for a clean vocal performance rather than his feral growl on most of the album’s faster, more abrasive songs. And that growl works remarkably well, with the sole exception of the title track. It’s the band’s catchiest song by some distance, so pairing it with such a harsh-sounding bark makes for an odd fit.

I’m willing to give Griever a pass on this one awkward contrast, considering that they’re absolutely not fucking around on the other seven songs here. Our Love is Different is a hardcore-metal hybrid done right, and another positive beacon for San Diego’s metal scene.

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

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 25

if i were u

BY Jeff Terich

Wednesday, Feb. 18 PLAN A: Figs Vision, Forebear, Digital Lizards of Doom, End of Summer @ Soda Bar. Figs Vision are a duo from Los Angeles who play smooth, synth-driven pop music in the vein of Hall & Oates, with just a touch of contemporary groups like MGMT. It’s funky, a little nerdy and most definitely catchy. PLAN B: Jean-Charles Francois Trio @ Bread and Salt. The Fresh Sound series continues with a performance by Jean-Charles Francois Trio, featuring Francois on percussion, Pascal Pariaud on clarinet and Gilles Laval on guitar. I’ll be honest—I’m not totally sure what to expect, but the combined talent is worth the surprise.

Thursday, Feb. 19 PLAN A: The Pharcyde @ Observatory North Park. This one seems like a no-brainer to me. Legendary Los Angeles hip-hop group The Pharcyde are performing their 1992 album Bizarre Ride II in its entirety. They’d be worth seeing for “Passin’ Me By” alone, but this time you get the whole album, and the show is only $5. Get on that! PLAN B: Scott

H. Biram, Jesse Dayton, Ypsitucky @ The Casbah. Scott H. Biram visits San Diego often, but his ragged, outlaw-country sound is always worth revisiting. So why not welcome him back with open arms and bottles.

Cheese, The Hamburglar and Grimace. If you read this and don’t automatically want to see Monday, Feb. 23 this insanity, then I just can’t help you. PLAN PLAN A: Body Language, Sego @ The C: “Slow Death” with Michael Zimmer- Casbah. On Facebook, Body Language man, Monochromacy, Low Filth, Serious lists its genre as “SEX.” That’s a bold statement, but there’s certainly Runners @ Space 4 Art. I something sexy about the don’t normally do a Plan C, Friday, Feb. 20 group’s synth-heavy, R&Bbut this weekend warrants PLAN A: Capsula, The Love Me Nots, it. Stay Strange is putting on inspired pop. If you’re Wild Honey, Nebula Drag @ Brick by a noise-music festival, and big on beats, grooves and, Brick. I first saw Argentinian psych-rock you better believe it’s going possibly, sex, then don’t group Capsula in 2013, opening for Os Mu- to be worth checking out. A miss this one. PLAN B: tantes, and I was impressed to say the least. variety of local experimenSales, Island Boy, Angels Like a Latin American Tame Impala, the talists will be performing, Dust @ Soda Bar. I tend group blends fuzz with mind-bending ef- in addition to a visual-art to think there’s not much fects. Great stuff. BACKUP PLAN: Louis installation and onsite tarworth writing about when the Child, Colour Vision, Latin Lovers ot-card readings. Let’s get it comes to Florida, but and DJ Leggs McGee @ The Hideout.

Orlando’s Sales are an exweird, San Diego. ception. They make pretty, gentle, acoustic dream pop Zap Mama Saturday, Feb. 21 Sunday, Feb. 22 that provides a soothing PLAN A: Lucinda Williams, The Kenneth PLAN A: Zap Mama and Antibalas @ Bel- salve for that Monday hangover.

Brian Band @ Observatory North Park. ly Up Tavern. Belgian vocalist Zap Mama See Page 22 for Scott McDonald’s story on and American Afrobeat group Antibalas Lucinda Williams, who’s as productive and are collaborating live in this special show. Tuesday, Feb. 24 inspired as ever as she closes out her fourth It’s a celebration of African music, filtered PLAN A: Cold Blue Mountain, Bhoredecade as a musician. Her career started through each act’s unique lens, and it’s sure lorde, Deep Sea Thunder Beast, Debt slowly, but 36 years after her debut album, to be funky, soulful and amazing. PLAN B: Ritual @ Soda Bar. Cold Blue Mountain she’s a living legend. PLAN B: Mac Sabbath, The Mary Onettes, Aempire, Sundrop sounds like the name of a bluegrass band, Black Fag @ The Hideout. Get ready to Electric @ Soda Bar. Sweden’s The Mary but it’s actually a pretty gnarly sludge / see the most ridiculous, and therefore most Onettes are part of the Labrador Records doom-metal band from Chico, California. amazing, cover band you’ve ever seen. Mac family, which has been putting out fantas- They play epic, incredibly heavy metal Sabbath is a Black Sabbath cover band, natu- tic indie pop for almost 20 years. This band that absolutely destroys. BACKUP PLAN: rally, but they do it dressed like McDonald’s is one of their strongest, thanks to their el- Causers, Sick Balloons, Furr Portal @ Tower Bar. characters—Ronald McDonald, Mayor Mc- egant, shoegazing post-punk sound.

26 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

HOT! NEW! FRESH! A$AP Ferg (Observatory North Park, 3/5), Kim and the Created (The Hideout, 3/5), Single Mothers (Soda Bar, 3/12), Tin Hat (The Loft, 3/12), Swimmers (HOB, 3/27), Ceschi (Soda Bar, 3/31), The Swellers (HOB, 4/3), The Preatures (Casbah, 4/9), Bane (Epicentre, 4/13), Dan Deacon (Casbah, 4/29), Doldrums (Soda Bar, 4/29), Little Dragon (Observatory North Park, 5/18), Eddie Izzard (Civic Theatre, 6/4), Brit Floyd (Civic Theatre, 6/16), Ed Sheeran (Valley View Casino Center, 6/23), Leo Kottke (BUT, 6/24), Lady Antebellum (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 7/10), Los Lonely Boys (BUT, 8/27), Def Leppard (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 9/22).

GET YER TICKETS Bleachers (HOB, 3/12), Twin Shadow (BUT, 3/13), Ani DiFranco (HOB, 3/16), John Doe, Exene Cervenka and Robyn Hitchcock (BUT, 3/22), 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), St. Lucia (Observatory North Park, 4/13), Father John Misty (Observatory North Park, 4/14), Built to Spill (Irenic, 4/14), Toro y Moi (Observatory North Park, 4/15), Ratatat (Casbah, 4/16), Marina and the Diamonds (Observatory North Park, 4/18), Iggy Azalea (Valley View Casino Center, 4/23), Waxahatchee (Casbah, 4/26), The Decemberists (Observatory North Park, 4/30), OK Go (HOB, 5/1), They Might Be Giants (BUT, 5/3), The Growlers (Observatory North Park, 5/9), The Sonics (BUT, 5/10), NKOTB, TLC, Nelly (Viejas Arena, 5/11), The Wombats (HOB, 5/13), Ex Hex (Casbah, 5/16), Lana Del Rey (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 5/16), Train (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 5/24), Xavier Rudd (BUT, 5/27-28), Spoon (Observatory North Park, 6/1), Sufjan Stevens (Copley Symphony Hall, 6/2), Brad Paisley (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 6/6), Nickelback (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 6/27), John Mayall (BUT, 7/2), Imagine Dragons (Viejas Arena, 7/21), Idina Menzel (Open Air Theatre, 8/8), Fall Out Boy, Wiz Khalifa (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 8/8), Diana Krall (Humphreys, 8/24), The Who (Valley View Casino Center, 9/14), Ricky Martin (Viejas Arena, 9/20).

February Wednesday, Feb. 18 Meghan Trainor at House Of Blues (sold out). Lotus at Belly Up Tavern. The Young Wild at The Casbah.

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

Friday, Feb. 20 Alan Jackson at Valley View Casino Center. Steve Aoki at Soma. Kina Grannis at Porter’s Pub (sold out).

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 (sold out). Hurricane Chris at Porter’s Pub. T.I. at Fluxx.

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

Tuesday, Feb. 24 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 Celtic Thunder at Balboa Theatre. Taking Back Sunday at House of Blues (sold out). Deap Vally at Belly Up Tavern.

GZA at Observatory North Park.

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.

Monday, March 2 Crocodiles at The Hideout.

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.

Thursday, March 5 Enslaved, YOB at Brick by Brick. Umphrey’s McGee at House of Blues.

Tweak Bird at Soda Bar. A$AP Ferg at Observatory North Park. Kim and the Created at The Hideout.

Friday, March 6 Sprung Monkey at Brick by Brick. Super Diamond at Belly Up Tavern. Coliseum at The Hideout. Hot Nerds at Soda Bar.

Saturday, March 7 Viet Cong at Soda Bar. Super Diamond at Belly Up Tavern. Agent Orange at The Casbah. Cheap Girls, Restorations at The Hideout. Nahko and Medicine for the People at Observatory North Park.

Monday, March 9 Kongos at House of Blues. Black Pussy at Soda Bar. Geographer at The Casbah. Comeback Kid at Epicentre. Craig Wayne Boyd at Belly Up Tavern.

Tuesday, March 10 Walk the Moon at House of Blues. Joshua Radin at Belly Up Tavern.

Wednesday, March 11

Bayside at House of Blues. A Place to Bury Strangers at The Casbah. Hurray for the Riff Raff at Belly Up Tavern.

Thursday, March 12 Martin Sexton at Belly Up Tavern.

Bleachers at House of Blues. The Dreaming at The Hideout. Single Mothers at Soda Bar. Tin Hat at The Loft.

Friday, March 13 The Twilight Sad at The Merrow. 2:54 at The Hideout. The Velvet Teen at Soda Bar. Rebel Souljahz at House Of Blues.

Twin Shadow at Belly Up Tavern.

Saturday, March 14 Tommy Castro and the Painkillers at Belly Up Tavern. Wand at Soda Bar.

Sunday, March 15 Dent May at Soda Bar. Gondwana at Belly Up Tavern. Kevin Seconds at Bar Pink.

Monday, March 16 Ani DiFranco at House of Blues.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave, Pacific Beach. 710bc.com. Wed: Open mic. Thu: Live band karaoke. Fri: Gunner Gunner, Authentic Sellout, A Will to Wander. Sat: Dazed and Confused. Sun: Karaoke.

Mon: DJ Royale.

98 Bottles, 2400 Kettner Blvd. Ste. 110, Little Italy. 98bottlessd.com. Fri: 145th Street. Sat: Whitney Shay. Sun: The Matt Smith Neu Jazz Trio.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave, Downtown. americancomedyco. com. Wed: Open mic. Thu-Sun: Trevor Moore.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St, Downtown. facebook.com/BangBangSanDiego. Fri: Autograf, Ben Beck. Sat: Mike Mago, Klatch.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St, North Park. barpink.com. Wed: ‘Funked Out Wednesday’. Fri: ‘Turn It Loose’ w/ Mr. Blow. Sat: ‘Neon Beat’. Sun: Jim Adkins (sold out).

Mon: Tori Roze and the Hot Mess. Tue: ‘Tiki Tuesday’ w/ Old Man Johnson.

Bassmnt, 919 Fourth Ave, Downtown. bassmntsd.com. Thu: Paul Van Dyk. Fri: Bassjackers. Sat: Dannic.

Beaumont’s, 5662 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla. brocktonvilla.com/beaumonts.html. Thu: Simeon Flick Duo. Fri: Rob Bondurant.

Sat: Stone Horse. Sun: Aquile.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave, Solana Beach. bellyup.com. Wed: Lotus, Pan Astral. Thu: Taj Mahal Trio. Fri: Paul Thorn, Nancarrow. Sat: The Rugburns.

Sun: Zap Mama and Antibalas. Mon: David Cook, Paul Cannon Band. Tue: Caravan to Cabo, Ease Up, Tunnel Vision, Hazmatt.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave, Carlsbad. boarcrossn.net. Thu: Odd Ball. Fri: ‘Club Musae’. Sat: Safety Orange.

Brass Rail, 3796 Fifth Ave, Hillcrest. thebrassrailsd.com. Thu: ‘Muscle’. Fri: ‘Hip Hop Fridayz’. Sat: ‘Cuba Libre’ w/ Juan Carlos Bembe. Sun: ‘Soiree’. Mon: DJs Junior the Disco Punk, XP. Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave, Bay Park. brickbybrick.com. Thu: 10 Years, Otherwise, The Glorious Sons, Luminoth.

Fri: Capsula, The Love Me Nots, Wild Honey, Nebula Drag. Sat: Gilby Clarke,

CONTINUED ON PAGE 28 February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 27

Chamber Sixx, Sinners Rage, The Dirty Work. Mon: ‘Metal Monday’.

dah. Sun: Karaoke. Mon: Dream Brother.

Tue: Big City Dawgs.

Cafe Sevilla, 353 Fifth Ave, Downtown. cafesevilla.com. Thu & Sat: Malamana.

Fri: Joef and Co. Sun: Oscar Aragon and Bruno Serrano. Tue: Noches Bohemia.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave, Downtown. houseofblues.com/sandiego. Wed: Meghan Trainor, Sheppard (sold out).

Thu: Less Than Jake, Reel Big Fish. Fri: Back In Black, Kissed Alive, Cheapest Trick. Sat: August Burns Red, Miss May I, Northlane, Erra. Sun: Ramon Ayala.

Mon: In Flames, All That Remains.

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

Wed: Marco Leong. Thu: Steph Johnson, Rob Thorsen Trio. Fri: Allison Adams Tucker. Sat: Agua Dulce. Sun: Besos de Coco. Mon: Gio and Diamond. Tue: Zaca Mesa Dinner. Tue: Ruby Duo. Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. dirksniteclub.com. Fri: Serious Guise. Sat: DJ Dizzy D. Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. dizzyssandiego.com. Sat: Larry Fuller.

Epicentre, 8450 Mira Mesa Blvd, Mira Mesa. epicentreconcerts.org. Fri: Anton Jon, REN Corey and The Tribe, Riboflavin, Mainsail. Sat: Alive and Well, Jagged Lines, Somewhat Aces, Echoed Silence.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave, Downtown. fluxxsd.com. Thu: Sliink. Fri: Made Monster.

Sat: ‘Tropicana’ w/ Whiiite. Sun: T.I. Gallagher’s, 5040 Newport Ave, Ocean Beach. 619-222-5303. Wed: Andy Mauser. Thu: Jah River, DJ Reefah, TRC Soundsystem. Fri: Funks Most Wanted, DJ Arox. Sat: The Fooks, DJ Chelu. Mon: Lord Zen and The Visionaries, Me On 9 Moons, Gonejah.

Hard Rock Hotel, 207 Fifth Ave, Downtown. hardrockhotelsd.com. Fri: Big Syphie. Sat: D-Miles.

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave, Downtown. henryspub.com. Wed: The Fooks. Thu: DJs Junior the Disco Punk, Antonio Aguilera. Fri: ‘Good Times’. Sat: DJs E, Yo-

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. kavalounge.com. Thu: ‘Acid Varsity’. Fri: ‘Toombao’. Sat: ‘Triptych’. Tue: ‘High Tech Tuesday’.

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave, Kensington. 619-284-2848. Fri: Zombie Barbie, Vaginals, Tactical Fever, Butler.

Sat: The Bassics, DJs Esquire, Glory Boy Kev. Mon: ‘Lights Out’.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave, Coronado. mcpspub.com. Wed: The Goodall Boys. Thu: Ron’s Trio. Fri: Pat Ellis and Blue Frog Band. Sat: The Brokers Band. Sun: Gonzology.

Patricks Gaslamp, 428 F St, Downtown. patricksii.com. Wed: The Rayford Brothers. Thu: The Bill Magee Blues Band.

Fri: WG and The G-Men. Sat: Mystique Element of Soul. Sun: The Fuzzy Rankins Band. Mon: The Groove Squad. Tue: Paddy’s Chicken Jam. Rich’s, 1051 University Ave, Hillcrest. richssandiego.com. Wed: DJ Kiki. Thu: DJ Moniq. Fri: DJs Drew G, Will Z. Sat: DJs Blaine Soileau, Hektik. Sun: DJ Moody Rudy.

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

Wed: Westside Inflection. Thu: Second Cousins. Fri: Homesick Hitchers. Sat: Little Kings. Tue: Karaoke.

28 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave, North Park. sevengrandbars.com/sd. Wed: Gilbert Castellanos jazz jam. Thu: Misc. Ailments, Science Fiction Jazz. Fri: Lyrical Groove. Sat: Bondurant.

Side Bar, 536 Market St, Downtown. sidebarsd.com. Wed: DJ Kurch. Thu: Jay Valdez. Fri: Deejay Al, Johnny Tarr. Sat: Kyle Flesch.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. sodabarmusic.com. Wed: Figs Vision, Forebear, Digital Lizard of Doom, End of Summer. Thu: Grizzly Business, Inspired and the Sleep, Buddy Banter. Fri: Guttermouth, Counterpunch, Caskitt, Castoff. Sat: The Parlor Mob, Gods, Spero. Sun: The Mary Onettes, Aempire, Sundrop Electric.

Mon: Sales, Island Boy, Angels Dust. Tue: Cold Blue Mountain, Bhorelorde, Deep Sea Thunder Beast, Debt Ritual.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Midway. somasandiego.com. Fri: Steve Aoki, Headhunterz, Caked Up. Sat: Smarter Than Robots, It All Starts Here, Always the Understudy, Blackcast, Undercurrent.

Somewhere Loud, 3489 Noell St, Midtown. somewhereloud.com. Sat: Haterade.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St, Midtown. spinnightclub.com. Fri: Joe Letz. Sat: ‘Eden’.

Sun: ‘Reggae Sunday’.

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

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

Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave, Normal Heights. sycamoreden.com. Thu: Jon Runion. Sun: Ashley Pond.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. casbahmusic.com. Wed: The Young Wild, Rusty Maples, Wars. Thu: Scott H. Biram,

Jesse Dayton, Ypsitucky. Fri: Surfer Blood, Talk in Tongues. Sat: Wild Child, Desert Noises, Goodnight Texas. Sun: Cursive, Beach Slang, Twinsmith (sold out). Mon: Body Language, Sego. Tue: ‘Hip Hop Beat Battle’ w/ DJ Artistic.

The Hideout, 3519 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. thehideoutsd.com. Thu: Cobalt Cranes, Soft Lions, Casanova Frankenstein. Fri: Louis the Child, Colour Vision, Latin Lovers, DJ Leggs McGee. Sat: Mac Sabbath, Black Fag. The Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla. theloft.ucsd.edu. Thu: Local Showcase with KI. Sat: Kawehi.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave, Hillcrest. theMerrow.com. Wed: Miss Massive, Snowflake, The Yukon Dreams. Thu: PM, Kitty Plague. Fri: Con Brio, Taurus Authority. Sat: AK1200. Mon: Open mic.

Tue: Crucial Blend, No Kings, The Brewhahas.

The Office, 3936 30th St, North Park. officebarinc.com. Wed: ‘Friends Chill’. Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Fri: ‘After Hours’ w/ DJs EdRoc, Ramsey.

The Tin Roof, 401 G Street, Gaslamp. tinroofbars.com/Home/SanDiego. Wed: ‘Power Hour’ w/ Pat Hilton. Thu: Freeze Frame. Fri: CLAMR, Random Radio. Sat: Mark Mackay Band, Cassie B. Sun: ‘G Street Sessions’ w/ Major Intervol. Mon: DJ LoveMachine. Tue: NEVEREADY, Lea Love.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. tiltwoclub.com. Thu: Chris Murray, Lexicons, Mochilero All Stars. Fri: The Moan, JQ and the Revue, The TTOCS Innumerable Combo, Josh Whittemore, King Steady Beat. Sat: The Moan, The Old Worries, The Budrows. Sun: Open mic. Mon: Karaoke.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St, Bay Park. tioleos.com. Thu: Blue Largo. Fri: Full Moon Fever. Sat: Hair Force. Tue: Bayou Brothers.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave, City Heights. thetowerbar.com. Wed: ‘The Ratt’s Revenge’ w/ DJs Mikey Ratt and Tiki Thomas. Fri: Supersonic Dragon Wagon, Sun Giants, Corrosive Company.

Sat: Gloomsday, Western Midwest, Rex Goliath. Tue: Causers, Sick Balloons, Furr Portal.

Turquoise, 873 Turquoise St, Pacific Beach. theturquoise.com/wordpress.

Wed: Tomcat Courtney. Thu: The Jade Visions Jazz Trio. Fri: Gabriela Aparicio (5 p.m.); Afro Jazziacs (9 p.m.). Sat: Vera Cruz Blues (4 p.m.); Goma (9 p.m.). Sun: Sounds Like Four (5 p.m.); Middle Earth (8 p.m.). Tue: Grupo Global.

Ux31, 3112 University Ave, North Park. u31bar.com. Wed: ‘Word Up’. Thu: DJ Bacon Bits. Fri: DJ R-You. Sat: DJ Qenoe.

Sun: Jah Army Soundsystem. Mon: Kid Wonder. Tue: Karaoke.

West Coast Tavern, 2895 University Ave, North Park. westcoatstavern.com.

Thu & Sun: DJ Clean Cut. Fri: DJ Este.

Sat: Will Hernandez.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St, South Park. whistlestopbar.com. Wed: ‘Strange World’ w/ DJ Deadair. Thu: ‘Astrojump’ w/ Kill Quanti DJs. Fri: ‘F-ing in the Bushes’ w/ DJs Rob Moran, Daniel Sant. Sat: ‘80s vs 90s’ w/ DJs Gabe Vega, Saul.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St, Ocean Beach. winstonsob.com. Wed: ‘Club Kingston’ w/ SM Familia, DJ Carlos Culture. Thu: ‘SUBDVSN’. Fri: Psydecar.

Sat: Piracy Conspiracy, Aloha Radio.

Sun: Karaoke. Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: Spiritual Rez.

Brendan Emmett Quigley

Across

Firing lines

1. Plays with the band 5. Mortgage adjustment, for short 9. Poet ___ Scott Heron 12. “Later, hombre” 14. Justice whose thesis was “To the Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City, 1900-1933” 15. Miner’s matter 16. Happiness from a warm gun?

18. Enemy 19. Hare ___ 20. Looking up and down 22. Billboard’s apex 23. German pistol good for shooting birds?

27. “Warp speed, Mr. ___” 29. Cut after expenses 30. “Rollout (My Business)” rapper, for short 31. Royal flush card 33. “Trigger Warning” author Gaiman 35. Harry’s pal Weasley 36. Skill in handling an Austrian pistol?

41. “Changed my mind” 42. Broccoli or cauliflower, e.g.

43. Humana offering 44. Samoa’s capital 46. Rocky high points 48. Literary masterstroke 51. Observe the power of a British machine gun?

54. Common Core org.

56. Car make that lost Ford $2.8 trillion (in 2015 dollars) 57. Sticking to the point 59. It breaks at sunrise Last week’s answers

60. Pacifist’s decision to throw breakfast food instead of using a submachine gun?

64. ___ y plata 65. Porridge 66. Hung (out) on the clothesline 67. Bill de Blasio’s alma mater 68. Nincompoop 69. Night class papers?

Down 1. Bill Simmons’s lawyer friend on his “B.S. Report” podcasts, for short 2. Decorates 3. Social surroundings 4. Drunkards 5. British flying squad: Abbr.

6. Word with maniac and surfer 7. A ways away 8. Celeron manufacturer 9. “Who knew?”

10. Attached, as a patch 11. Oscar-winning actress for “Shampoo” 13. Nincompoops 14. “Shop Your Way” store 17. “Sit ___ potato pan, Otis!”

21. Montreal’s airport code, or that actor Brynner 24. Leatherworkers 25. Maker of the GROGGY wine opener 26. Arab’s cry 28. Sealing wax resin 32. Gives off 34. Herbal brew 36. Nibbled, as a dog’s bone 37. Gemstone cutter 38. Unmasking comment 39. Flurries 40. Maid’s tool 45. “I’d like to buy ___” (“Wheel” request) 47. Seat at the bar 49. Diluted 50. Captured 52. Sorrowful reading 53. Thing that comes with a utility bill: Abbr.

55. Base counterparts 58. Something copied: Abbr.

61. Carell’s “Despicable Me” role 62. Breadbasket’s locale 63. “___ me!” (“That’s who!”)

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 29

30 · San Diego CityBeat · February 18, 2015

February 18, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 31