San Diego CityBeat • Mar 1, 2017

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FEBRUARY 22, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 1

2 · San Diego CityBeat · March 1, 2017

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March 1, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

UP FRONT | FROM THE EDITOR

JDLR (Part 2)

B

ack in December, I used this space to admit mended,” ACLU senior policy strategist Christie Hill my ignorance when it came to the journalistic told CityBeat on Tuesday.

Hill is not alone in this sentiment. Councilmemacronym JDLR, which stands for “just doesn’t look right.” I used it in the context of the mayor’s of- bers David Alvarez and Georgette Gomez cast the only fice releasing a 140-page SDSU study that concluded votes against the resolution that the council accept Blacks and Latinos were more likely to be searched the SDSU study, but not the recommendations. Alvaand questioned by San Diego Police officers after a rez even went out his way to call out his colleagues traffic stop. The study was also conveniently released for not taking any “real action.” Alvarez has been parthe day before Thanksgiving, a politically savvy time ticularly outspoken about police transparency in the to release such bad news, as most people are much past, leading the charge on issues such as releasing more focused on the holiday than on something that surveillance footage of police-related incidents to the public. He later addressed the issue otherwise may upset them. fully in a statement that said, among The San Diego City Council finalother things, that the city needed to ly got a chance to review and weigh “accept this uncomfortable realin on the study at Monday’s session. ity” and address it with “swift and Dozens of citizens also showed up decisive action.” He ended by statto give more than two hours of tesing unequivocally that “deferring timony, which varied from angry to meaningful action to a later date extremely adamant that the Counonly continues the problem.” cil implement the 10-point list of It’s ironic that the City Council recommendations proposed by the also used the same Monday sesSDSU study. These recommendasion to declare 2017 the “Year of tions range from revising the curSolidarity” in the City of San Diego, rent system of traffic stop data colcapped with a 5-1 decision to back lection to simply acknowledging the an amicus curiae brief from the City racial and ethnic disparities. of San Francisco in support of a suit In the end, nothing was really by a transgender student in Virsolved short of the council reviving ginia. While I applaud City Attorney (after 16 years!) a Citizens Advisory Mara Elliott for bringing the brief to Board on Police/Community Relations with the mayor’s office pick- Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman the council’s attention, the council should and could stand in solidarity with its own citiing most of the appointees to said council.

“We have assembled a group of dedicated men and zenry and swiftly implement the necessary changes to women to work alongside the city and help us create address these racial disparities.

“We’re definitely going to keep engaged on this isa better understanding of how to keep our neighborhoods safe,” said Mayor Faulconer in a statement to sue because it is important,” said the ACLU’s Hill, who CityBeat. “The board members will bring their unique also addressed the council on Monday during public voices to the conversation, and we look forward to the testimony. “There were clear findings from the study that show there was racial disparity happening. Black dialogue to come.”

Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman, to her credit, said and Latino drivers are twice as likely to be searched at the City Council meeting that the police department but less likely to have contraband than white drivers. would be progressively implementing six of the 10 Black drivers were nearly three times as likely to be recommendations from the SDSU study, but stopped subject to a field interview. These are troubling facts short of listing specific plans on how to implement and council heard more than two hours of public testhem. She also mentioned that addressing the other timony during which dozens of San Diegans demandfour recommendations would have to wait until state ed decisive action against racial profiling and despite this clear evidence and widespread call, they decided officials finalize their own traffic stop regulations.

“We were disappointed by Chief Zimmerman’s not to adopt the report findings.”

And until they do, well, it just doesn’t look right. lack of addressing the issues of the disparities raised in the SDSU report, as well as the lack of action

that we saw come out of the city council in terms

—Seth Combs of adopting the recommendations the study recom- Write to seth.combs@sdcitybeat.com This issue of CityBeat is dedicated to Steve Harvey. Dude just can’t get a break.

Volume 15 • Issue 31 EDITOR Seth Combs MUSIC EDITOR Jeff Terich WEB EDITOR Ryan Bradford ART DIRECTOR Carolyn Ramos ASSOCIATE EDITOR Torrey Bailey COLUMNISTS Aaryn Belfer Edwin Decker Minda Honey John R. Lamb Alex Zaragoza

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March 1, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

UP FRONT | LETTERS

IF YOU DON’T ASK

Thanks for the nice recap and for keeping the discussion going [“Q: What Does San Diego’s Art Scene Need to Thrive?,” Feb. 17]. A few notes. I am, in fact, a publicist who specializes in Arts & Culture and there are a few more. While pro-bono work is challenging, especially for a small firm like mine (one person operation), I have never, in ten years, been approached by an individual artist to help with PR or marketing. The old adage, you’ll never get if you don’t ask, is true here.

They need to be proactive to get help. Believe me, arts organizations ask me all the time!

Also, another point that was raised was the need for a trained arts critic. I believe in the power of the media to engage, educate and incite discussion. This town is lacking someone with that voice and it is one thing that will keep us from rising up to be a major arts force. Thanks for keeping the conversation going.

Toni Robin Pacific Beach

JUST SAY YES

CVN-76 Ronald Reagan seems to be the most recent successor to “cursed” Navy ships (Oriskany, Forrestal, Ranger, et al). A TB outbreak, major drug ring bust, large haz-mat spill, as well as major machinery and aircraft malfunctions, and now radiation poisoning [“Sick and tired,” Feb. 22]. I pray that Uncle Sam

6 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

and the Japanese government won’t “just say no»”and do these sailors a solid by taking care of them and their families.

Mike Loflen Clairemont

TAKING OVER

Seth, Do you not know there is a whole lot more to the story than what you reported [“Moving in and moving out,” Feb. 22]? The three artists you mentioned are just a small minority of those “being evicted”(their term, not ours). About two thirds of the artists at Space4Art also have to move out by April 1.

Only the few in the back warehouse and in the live/work lofts can remain (but probably only temporarily). The wonderful, unique arts cooperative that we created there will be gone... until we can obtain sufficient funding to build on the land we procured in Sherman Heights. There will be no more open studios, no more special events, no performances, no more gallery exhibits, no outdoor stage, no classroom space, etc. The new owners are taking over, as, sadly for us, they have every right to do. They bought the building. They are not the bad guys, though, nor is Space 4 Art. It’s just a sad commentary on the artistic life, which has been repeated over and over, not just in San Diego, but everywhere.

Lynne Jennings

East Village

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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

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

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

Letters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Spin Cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Well, That Was Awkward . . . . . .

Backwards & In High Heels. . . . .

4 6 7 8 9

FOOD & DRINK The World Fare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Bottle Rocket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Final Draught. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

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

ARTS & CULTURE Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 FEATURE: Point Loma. . . . . . 17-20 Film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23-24

MUSIC FEATURE: Red Hot Chili Peppers. . . . . . . . . 25 From The Smoking Patio . . . . . . 26 If I Were U. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Concerts & Clubs. . . . . . . . . . 29-32

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

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JOHN R. LAMB

UP FRONT | OPINION

SPIN

CYCLE

JOHN R. LAMB

No affordable housing panacea “Grub, ho!” now cried the landlord, flinging open a door, and in we went to breakfast.

—Herman Melville

T

here’s something charming about government suits hopping a trolley to get to a photo-op.

At the 12th and Imperial trolley station last Thursday, five topshelf officials with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System did just that, boarding the Orange Line en route to the first of what city leaders hope will be many more groundbreakings for low-income housing projects on MTS land.

The five remained standing around a singular yellow grab bar for the short trip out to the 62nd Street station in Encanto, talking shop—including an intense conversation about whether they’d hire a former dolphin trainer with mobile-ticketing experience to

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lead the agency’s move to a new fare-collection system.

Once arriving at the station, the group sauntered across the tracks and into new territory: converting a block-long former park-and-ride lot into affordable family rental housing. Already well into the excavation phase, the housing project known as Villa Encantada is “the first partnership between an affordable housing developer, … the San Diego Housing Commission and the Metropolitan Transit System to develop affordable rental housing near mass transit in the city of San Diego,” Wendy DeWitt, the commission’s director of business and program development, would later explain.

A beaming City Council President Myrtle Cole—apparently arriving by car—soon joined the gathering in the heart of what Cole hopes one day will blossom into the pedestrian-friendly Encanto

Village District, as the area’s community plan envisions.

To say Cole is eager to get projects like this up and running in her council district—where she could face a challenging re-election bid next year—would be an understatement. In a conversation with a member of the development team, Cole loudly noted that the original completion date was set for this year but seemed content with a 2018 opening.

“We need this,” she said to a bank of media cameras. “We need for people to live in the district…

It’s a beautiful thing. Keep it going.”

A few poses with golden shovels digging into a pre-arranged pile of dirt, and the cluster of pols and builders milled about. “So, is there a program?” MTS Chief Operating Officer Wayne Terry inquired.

“That’s it, just doing a photoop,” a staffer yelled.

One observer called it “the weirdest event,” given the lack of pronouncements amid the clamoring from City Hall when it comes to projects like these. In recent weeks, you couldn’t run into a meeting on the city’s affordable-housing crisis without someone noting the sizable land holdings of the region’s most-prominent transit agency, which purchased the San Diego & Arizona Eastern Railway in 1979 to establish the trolley line.

MTS CEO Paul Jablonski (left) and board Chairman Harry Mathis head into new affordable-housing expectations.

At a committee meeting in January, Councilmember David Alvarez—who sits on the MTS board— vented frustration in dealing with MTS. “What I see around trolley stations is not homes, not development that’s transit oriented,” he said, instead “a lot of industrial” or “nothing.”

“And I know how difficult an agency it can be,” he added, “many, many times trying to partner (to move) these things.”

When a staffer replied that MTS seems engaged, Alvarez replied, “Hope is eternal, especially with that organization.”

On the return trip from the Villa Encantada groundbreaking, MTS CEO Paul Jablonski seemed somewhat perturbed by such insinuations that the agency is somehow miserly with its land holdings.

“The city gives away everything,” he told Spin. “Every deal we touch with them, it’s because the city is giving things away. We would never give things away. I think they think it’s in their best interest to give things away. We take the opposite approach.”

That approach—leasing out land that will enhance and not detract from its primary mission to provide transit services into an unknown future—has turned off some developers, Jablonski acknowledged. “Most of the people we’ve been in contact with want control of the property. But we’re not selling the property around rail stations. A land lease is more complicated and something developers don’t necessarily want to get involved in because we’re twice as complicated as any other agency.”

He noted that land-use restrictions are tighter because projects must jump through extra hoops, including perusal by the state Public Utilities Commission. In cases like the Villa Encantada, significant parking must be provided for trolley patrons who won’t be living in the 67-unit apartment complex.

Retail components are limited— “We don’t want fast food,” the CEO implored—and developers must commit to strict maintenance standards. “It has to be a certain quality if it’s going to be associated with our station,” he added.

“The board doesn’t want to give away these assets because we don’t know what’s going to be needed 20 or 30 years from now,” the Boston native continued, his voice rising, “So why do a deal now for peanuts when 30 years from now we may be kicking ourselves and saying we had seven acres of land here and we sold it and now we’re doing shuttle launches…”

Each year, MTS compiles an inventory of land that it deems fit for joint development. The current inventory lists 20 properties in San Diego, El Cajon, Lemon Grove, La Mesa, Santee, Chula Vista and National City that range in size from less than a half-acre to more than nine acres. Excluding the Encanto station property, only two others have garnered “developer interest,” according to the inventory: the 9.37-acre overflow parking lot at the Grantville trolley station and 4.15 acres available at Chula Vista’s E Street station.

Stephen Russell, executive director of the San Diego Housing Federation, isn’t sold that it’s land leases that are the problem for developers on MTS land but rather the requirement to provide replacement parking and “whether they require to get market value. We’re actually looking for subsidized land.”

With Villa Encantada, Jablonski said, “locations like this have a lot less opportunities. That’s why the Housing Commission is involved.

When someone’s doing market rate for us, we’re not going to give them a deal like this.”

Translation, city leaders: It’s unlikely that MTS is your affordable-housing savior, just an occasional landlord.

Spin Cycle appears every week.

Write to johnl@sdcitybeat.com

MARCH 1, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 7

UP FRONT | OPINION VOICES

RYAN BRADFORD

WELL THAT WAS

AWKWARD

Thriving, resisting and flipping off the White House

A

ll I want to do is flip off the White House. I just want to raise a middle finger to that shit-ass, shitty shithouse where the world’s ugliest and dumbest leader now resides. This symbol of reserved thought, dignity and complexity houses a man that possesses none of those qualities. And I just want to extend a hearty “fuck you” to it.

But that’s not the real reason we’re in Washington, D.C. We’re here to attend the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference, the largest writerly get-together in North America.

The road from Dulles airport into Washington, D.C. is lined with dead trees. In the front seat, Julia Evans catches up with her friend, Kimberly.

Julia is the program director for So Say We All, the literary nonprofit that I’ve volunteered with for over seven years. We’re on our way to meet up with SSWA’s executive director Justin Hudnall and Matt Lewis, founder and publisher of the literary journal, The Radvocate.

I sit in the back seat—light shining through the dead trees creates a strobe effect. The landscape reminds me of Sleepy Hollow, but everything else reminds me of horror films. It suddenly occurs to me that The Exorcist might have been set in D.C. I look it up on my phone and—yes! I’m about to say something like “Hey, The Exorcist was filmed here,” but it’d pretty much be the only thing I’ve said to Kimberly thus far.

Secretly, in the back of the minivan, I flip off the Washington Monument. I evoke my inner Oprah: You get a middle finger, and you get a middle finger, and YOU get a middle finger.

The minivan descends into our nation’s capitol, delivering us into the mouth of the beast.

We meet up with Justin and So Say We All’s board member Jason Eliaser, who drives us to the convention center to set up the table. I’m pleasantly surprised by the quality of restaurants around D.C.’s convention center. Subway? Sbarro!? (which I’ve been referring to as “Sbarro’s” my entire life until Julia corrects me).

We unload So Say We All’s books. I’ve also brought a couple copies of my zine Donald Trump is a Loser wherein I wrote the phrase “Donald Trump is a loser” 10,000 times.

We reward our efforts with a bottle of whiskey and, for some reason, four boxes of ginger ale cans. If there’s one thing that writers are better at than being angry, it’s drinking.

That night, Justin, Julia, Matt and I go to a reading at a small bar near Georgetown. After the read-

ing, we emerge, drunk and slap-happy into the balmy D.C. night. The moisture in the cooling air puts halos around the streetlights, giving everything a spooky, ethereal quality. Again, I think of The Exorcist and look it up on my phone. Turns out we’re only four blocks away from the house that served as the exterior for the MacNeil residence, as well as the iconic stairs where Father Karran kills himself to destroy the demon. I force our crew to make the trek.

We take pictures in front of the house. Across the street, there’s a bar called The Tombs, and it feels prophetic, poignant and appropriate. A group of well-dressed assholes (at this stage of inebriation, my asshole radar is on-point) stands outside. We’re taking pictures on the iconic death stairs when they approach us.

“Hey, can you take our picture too?” Their faces all shine with the same insidious glee.

Matt snaps their photo. The group begins their descent.

Matt calls out: “Watch out for the devil tonight!”

They laugh. “It’s cool, man,” one of them says. “I work for him, you know?” And—I swear to God—it’s like they disappear into the night.

The next day, Julia and I take the first shift running So Say We All’s table at the book fair, which is cool because she’s somehow functioning after a night of demon possession and alcohol.

At lunch, we go to Sbarro. I take a bite of my slice of pepperoni: yep, we’re definitely in hell.

On Sunday, after the conference is over, we pull our suitcases through the National Mall.

Our flight is in a couple hours and that’s just enough time to do what I came here to do.

We pass the museums in the Smithsonian. I doubt Trump will ever go to these museums. That’s OK. Best to preserve our national treasures from fake-tan smudges.

We climb the hill to the White House. It’s been a good weekend. I feel optimistic. Despite the hellishness of D.C., I feel like we—writers, artists, thinkers—thrived. We have a tendency to succeed when the pressure is harsh. Give us hell, Trump. You can’t do worse than what we’ve been doing to ourselves.

We reach the White House. It looks so small from where we’re standing. So insignificant. I pull out a copy of Donald Trump is a Loser—the last one—and hold it up. I raise my other hand and extend my middle finger. It feels good. Chaos reigns.

I doubt Trump will ever go to these museums.

That’s OK. Best to preserve our national treasures from fake-tan smudges.

8 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

Write to ryanb@sdcitybeat.com.

Well, That Was Awkward appears every other week.

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UP FRONT | OPINION

AARYN BELFER

BACKWARDS & IN

From the flames

HIGH HEELS

T

he day I began typing these words, devastating images of Standing Rock in flames flooded my social media feeds. My eyes flooded with tears, and my heart broke yet again. Those flames are literal, but they are also a metaphor for what is happening to our country, to its people. Make no mistake: What happens to indigenous people happens to us all.

News coverage of Standing Rock has been superficial, limited and/or buried underneath coverage of every tweet and insult spewed by 45. And before that, it was buried beneath the non-stop election coverage.

And before that, beneath atrocities suffered by poor, misunderstood Ryan Lochte and the like. Nevertheless, I made it a point to follow Standing Rock closely.

Watching Standing Rock from a distance has been excruciating. I wish I could have gone and stood and supported and worked on behalf of the Water Protectors. But I couldn’t. However, my friend Blair and her husband, Matt, loaded their car with supplies donated by my family and many others, and drove to North Dakota where they spent six days working at the camp.

They witnessed firsthand the ceremonies of the Water Protectors, who prayed for the police and the children of the police. They witnessed firsthand the relentless, hours-long, middle-of-the-night water hosing of peaceful protestors by a militarized police force.

They witnessed firsthand the reactions of residents of nearby Bismarck, a community of predominantly white people who felt the Water Protectors were violent (the narrative police fed to them), and hurting their opportunities for jobs that will surely come with the Dakota Access Pipeline. This, even as they had once organized to chase the original DAPL route right out of their town and for the very same reasons the Water Protectors took their stand against it.

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Oceti Sakowin Camp Internet was spotty during this time, so Blair and Matt were only able to post a few updates to Facebook, but the updates were lengthy, thoughtful, complex. And on the morning after the Water Protectors ceremonially lit their camp on fire last week before a police raid, Matt added his reaction to the photo above. I’m sharing it here with permission. Please read it. Then read it again. Then read it out loud over dinner and honor the Water Protectors. Honor the ground we walk on, remembering that we here in San Diego are occupiers of native land.

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From Matt: “The photo here is of a significant place at Oceti Sakowin. It deserves some context. It was at the sacred fire, where anyone could come any time for warmth (and hot coffee). Bear with me, for that building’s sake.

“This photo means a lot to me. I haven’t even looked at the rest yet.

“Our last day in camp, day after Thanksgiving, afternoon, the construction foreman got a request and a rough sketch of that shelter. We’d been banging together flats all day (like those windbreaks on the left) so only about a third of it needed something special, and by the time we got everything on site, he’d also somehow had a 10’ by 18’ roof framed out, with 18’ 2x8s. Or 10s. The front was mostly open. You can kind of see the pony wall to the left of the pillar in the center. Like everything, it had a straw-stuffed stud floor.

“It was at the request of some elders; that was their place at the sacred fire. It’s where the PA was set up for announcements and speakers. It had been more of a tarp thing before. It had only snowed a tiny bit in the time Blair and I had been there, but we were expecting a lot more.

“By the time we were really building, the area around the fire was crowded and we were working mainly by headlamps and firelight, timing the impact drivers around people on the mic. At one point we had to interrupt to lift the roof up and over the long way. Sheathing that was a headache. The whole thing was rushed and so a little inefficient. Sledgehammers all around.

“One of the kitchens brought us out dinner.

Squash, rice, buffalo stew. Indescribably good. By now there was nothing to hear except drumming and singing, the Skilsaw and drivers. Elders would thank us and I would be speechless. It was such an honor to help.

“When everything was back on the truck and the shelter was in use, and the crowd and the music still growing and moving... I don’t know how to describe how beautiful the moment was. Not gonna try.

I didn’t go there for sublimity. If I had, I’m sure my imaginings would’ve been some impoverished cliché cartoon,å and with that distraction I might not have been so surprised and stunned by some of the things I saw at Standing Rock. I try hard not to speak out of turn about what this movement means, or is, and I sure as hell don’t want to sound like a tourist, but that moment of pure ecstatic joy and connection to humanity and to the Earth bears mention. No one who ever feels that can or will argue with it, regardless of politics. It felt like breathing.

“Anyway, the point is this: Here’s to that shed.

Probably eight or ten people busted their asses for hours in the crowded dark to build a better shelter from the weather. And it was received with gratitude, and immediately put to use. And it worked, for weeks and then months. And now it’s gone. Burned with dignity and further gratitude. I’m sad and I’m glad.

No Sheriff’s goon is going to take a piss in it.”

Write to aarynb@sdcitybeat.com.

Backwards & In High Heels appears every other week.

MARCH 1, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 9

UP FRONT | FOOD

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER

THE WORLD

FARE

Fighting ISIS one falafel at a time

T

here was once an old Vietnam-era slogan on posters, buttons, bumper stickers and Tshirts. Today it would, no doubt, be a ubiquitous Facebook meme: Join the Army; travel to exotic, distant lands; meet exciting, unusual people and kill them.

It had resonance because it contained more than a grain of truth. Up until the war, what percentage of the U.S. population had ever bothered to think about Vietnam? Today, who among us had even heard of Mosul or Kurdistan before the Iraq War? If you’d like to taste it, though, you don’t have to join the army: just go to Ishtar Restaurant (401 West Main St.) in the distant, exotic land known as El Cajon.

There’s a perception that all Middle Eastern food is the same: it’s all hummus and shawarma, falafel and dolma.

Like the slogan, this perception may be built on a grain of truth, but it ignores substantial differences between distinct Middle Eastern cuisines. Kurdish cuisine is one of the least known, in part because Kurdistan is divided among three countries—Iraq, Turkey and Syria.

Take, for example, kubbeh, a classic Iraqi Kurdish dish. Sometimes spelled kibbeh, kibbe, kubba or kubbi, kubbeh is a ball (or in some cases a disc) of semolina or bulgar dough stuffed with ground beef. Ishtar serves its kubbeh in a tomato-based soup studded with garbanzo beans and, believe it or not, pieces of pickle. The kubbeh dumplings are deeply satisfying, substantial without being heavy, but with a savory meatiness from the filling. The soup is comforting and familiar but those pickles give it an intriguing twist. A squeeze of the lemon with which the dish is served completes the picture.

10 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

We generally know dolma as stuffed grape leaves and, indeed, stuffed grape leaves are dolma.

But dolma can also be any stuffed vegetable. One of the best dishes at Ishtar is the dolma plate, essentially, a study in dolmata: rice and beef stuffed grape leaves, green pepper, tomato, zucchini, eggplant and onions. It is a complete meal in and of itself especially served as it is on a massive Kurdish bread called naan or yufka.

Ishtar offers meat in many forms: shawarma as either sandwich or wrapped in the naan, as kufta (ground meat on skewers) or as grilled chunks (surprisingly called tikka) along the lines of what we might think of as shish kebab. Ishtar’s least successful dish was, oddly enough, the falafel. It got the crispy outsides right but not the fluffy inside.

These were falafel that might be more effective as ordnance than food.

MICHAEL GARDINER

Dolma plate My favorite dish was the eggplant salad. It was julienned eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers marinated in slightly sweet vinaigrette.

Ishtar’s portions are immense. This dish was the one that did not stand a chance of making it to a take-out box.

Mosul is, indeed, both exotic and distant. It is misunderstood by most in America: Iraqi but different and the subject of many battles in which we can’t always tell friend from foe. But what we can do is taste it, and Ishtar helps us get at least that much in the way of understanding.

The World Fare appears weekly.

Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

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UP FRONT | DRINK

BOTTLE

BY JEN VAN TIEGHEM simply asked if there was anything I particularly didn’t like. I told her I’d prefer a flight of reds and she went to work.

The selection she served up included a California Pinot Noir, an Italian Nebbiolo, a French blend made of Grenache, Syrah and Mouvedre, and a Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles. I found the 2014 Poppy Cabernet to be my favorite—with the GSM blend a close second. The Cab first won me over with its intoxicating scents of cocoa and spices and solidified its status with rich JEN VAN TIEGHAM dark berry flavors, prompting me to order a full glass.

One of my wine-drinking cohorts also found a tasty Cabernet—the Skater Girl from right up the road in Temecula. In addition to a varied selection of wines, they also offer a beer list that pleased the non-winos in our group.

With about a dozen brews to pick from—including many Belgian and German options—our dudes both ended up selecting Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout by North Coast Brewing Company in Mendocino County.

As much as we wanted to like M Winehouse the more exotic options, it just so happened that we all found our preferences originated a little closer to home; as good an excuse as any for a return trip to try again.

ROCKET Wines of the world under one roof

I

’m not sure how the presence of M Winehouse in Little Italy (1918 India St.) escaped me, but it seems that I’ve been missing out on this quaint spot for a couple of years now.

Aptly named, the wine bar— which was clearly once a house— was most recently a clothing store, though it seems better suited for sitting and sipping than browsing and shopping. The lower level includes a small bar with a few tables, and upstairs offers additional seating as well as a selection of board games and a view of India Street.

Though the stage was perfectly set for drinking, I had a hard time deciding what to imbibe.

The wine list at M Winehouse includes selections from as close as Baja and as far as Italy; and I wavered between playing it safe or being adventurous. After I discovered it offered flights of four wines for $17, my indecision proved not to be a problem. The bartender

@SDCITYBEAT

Bottle Rocket appears in the first issue of the month.

MARCH 1, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 11

UP FRONT | DRINK

FINAL

BY BETH DEMMON

DRAUGHT Journal of a knocked-up beer writer

moderation while pregnant. Thanks for the stamp of approval, man who will never carry a baby.

3

28 weeks: Sore Eye Sudsmas event at Societe Brewing with The Urchin Feral Ale on draft. Sours are OK to drink during pregnancy, right? I tell myself their probiotics are practically health food.

weeks: It’s positive. “I won’t drink if you aren’t drinking,” says my nothing-if-not-supportive saint of a husband. I chuckle at him.

“That’s ridiculous. Why should we both suffer?” He breathes a sigh of relief and cracks open a Swami’s IPA from Port Brewing.

7 weeks: I order a root beer at Long Beach’s Beachwood BBQ and Brewing. The waiter mocks me mercilessly for my sobriety until I feel obliged to divulge my delicate condition to him even before I tell my own mother.

I steal sips of everyone else’s beers to feel better.

9 weeks: Birthday bottle share at a friend’s house.

Thank God for red Solo cups that hide the true contents of my drink. Begrudgingly stay away from where the good stuff is really popping.

11 weeks: Get a taster of McNair’s Session Ale at North Park Brewing Company. My friends are suspicious I’m not drinking more. Cover is basically blown due to lack of inebriation.

33 weeks: Redeem myself on San Diego BeerTalk Radio by not pounding a bottle of barley wine myself and going on an incoherent drunken rant.

Get razzed (good-naturedly) by the plethora of very non-pregnant guys in the room.

34 weeks: Midwife tells me oatmeal stouts help breastfeeding. I react perhaps too enthusiastically and begin compiling a list of my favorites to stock up on.

37 weeks: While manning the volunteer booth at Modern Times’ Carnival of Caffeination, an army of volunteers fight over who will bring me the most coffee and beer. I accept all tributes and curse the bathroom lines.

37 weeks: Baby shower at Fall Brewing Company. I get eyeballed by some guy as I double fist tasters of 2 AM Bike Ride American stout and Plenty for All pilsner, but it 15 weeks: The word is out. turns out he just dug my Sonic Given a strong side eye by an Youth/Dark Horse Coffee acquaintance as I clasp a full Ready to pop some bottles and a baby Roasters shirt. My resting pint of Mikkeller’s Berliner bitch face has come in very Weisse at Tiger!Tiger! Calm handy by thwarting (most) judgmental comments. down dude—at 3.2 percent ABV, it’s basically a soda. My oft-flaccid sense of guilt is waning with every drop.

19 weeks: Obviously pregnant at the Abnormal Dinner Series. Derek Gallanosa plays along and gives me smaller pours while the people around me relish in their luck, gleeful at the dregs of M3 Imperial Stout I sorrowfully leave behind.

23 weeks: Get into a conversation at Eppig Brewing with a man about how it’s OK to drink in

12 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

38 weeks: Contractions begin to increase in intensity. I sneak some of my husband’s Fortunate Islands into my own glass when he’s not looking.

Current: Frantically Googling “what beers pair best with placenta?” Surprising lack of information on the topic. Begin plotting next article.

Write to bethd@sdcitybeat.com, check her out on Instagram at @thedelightedbite, or via Twitter at @ iheartcontent.

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SHORTlist

EVENTS

ART

the

THREE YOU HAVE TO SEE

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

MIDDLETOWN

1

GOOD WOOD

Art and music collectives come and go in this town and, to be honest, not all of them are good. But The Redwoods—a tight collective of local and like-minded musicians and artists—have become something of a local force since forming two years ago.

Collectively, the members’ projects and bands are up for five San Diego Music Awards including “Artist of the Year” for the entire Redwoods family of artists, the first time in the award show’s history that a collective has been nominated.

“Me and a couple of the other members were just like, ‘let’s put a label behind it,’” says Redwoods co-founder Al Howard, who also plays in a number of the bands. “Let’s put it all under one umbrella. It just came really naturally. We were all playing together anyway.”

Howard says he was inspired after seeing the documentary Muscle Shoals, which centers on the musicians and people that made a small studio in rural Alabama the place to record for artists such as Aretha Franklin and the Allman Brothers Band.

DOWNTOWN

2 STREET SMARTS

San Diego doesn’t always make it easy for buskers and street musicians. Fortunately, no one will need a permit to perform at Seaport Village’s Buskers After Dark. This event, which takes place on Saturday, March 4 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., assumes an untamed, wild ambiance with raw street performances, as well as food and drink specials. A DJ will be playing tracks throughout the night, helping to transition between the variety of shows including those by the Strength Project, the Circus Mafia, Sam Malcolm and Alex Clark. All performances will be held at the Seaport Village Food Court (849 West Harbor Dr.) following the Busker Festival (March 4 and 5 from noon to 6 p.m.). This event is best suited for audiences over 18 and while admission is free, buskers will be accepting tips throughout the night. seaportvillage.com SEAPORT VILLAGE

Buskers After Dark @SDCITYBEAT

The Redwoods roster runs the gamut stylistically, with everything from old-school soul (Rebecca Jade & the Cold Fact) and spooky folk-pop (Birdy Bardot) to grandiose indie-rock (The Midnight Pine) and affected alt-country (Cardinal Moon). All of these bands will play at The Redwoods Revue at the Casbah (2501 Kettner Blvd). on Friday, March 3. For us, it’s a great opportunity to see some of the best local bands all in one night. For Howard, it’s just a great opportunity to play music with those he considers closest.

“These are all my friends,” says Howard. “We spend time together outside of work and that’s what The Midnight Pine makes work not work. This is a great group of people who are all great players, and I couldn’t be happier with this situation.”

The Redwoods Revue show starts at 9 p.m. and will include performances from all of the bands above as well as Dani Bell and the Tarantist. Tickets are $12 at casbahmusic.com and $14 at the door.

DOWNTOWN

3 EXIT SIGNS

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego has always been known for creative programming, but the new eXit pARTy strives to bring participants into the art in myriad ways, from performance art and art hunts to specially crafted cocktails and food. It’s anyone’s guess what the eXit pARTy could bring, but here’s what we know: The series kicks off on Thursday, March 2 ��� at ������������������� 7 p.m. with performances by contemporary artist Gina Osterloh, live music curated by A Ship in the Woods, and cocktail creations by STK, an up-and-coming restaurant set to open downtown this spring.

PACIFICO “PJ” ORTIZ LUIS Visitors should also check out Jennifer Steinkamp’s massive room-size installation Madame Curie. It happens at the MCASD downtown location (1100 Kettner Blvd.) and is free for members. General admission tickets for the eXit pARTy are $25. Partygoers must be at least 21 years Madame Curie by old. mcasd.org Jennifer Steinkamp

Eye Connect: Our Global Jewish World at Gotthelf Art Gallery, 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla. A photographic show featuring the work of artists near and far as they capture images of Jewish life around the globe. RSVP recommended. Opening from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, March 1. Free. 858-362-1351, sdcjc.org HeXit pARTy > Steinkamping at MCASD, 1001 Kettner Blvd., Downtown.

The experience-driven event strives to bring participants into the art in myriad ways, from performance art from Gina Osterloh to art hunts and specially crafted cocktails and food. From 7 to 10 p.m.

Thursday, March 2. Free-$25. 858-4543541, mcasd.org HFriday Night Liberty at NTC at Liberty Station, 2640 Historic Decatur Road, Point Loma. This monthly gallery and studio walk features open artist studios, galleries, live performances, shopping and entertainment throughout NTC’s Arts and Culture District. From 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 3.

Free. 619-573-9300, ntclibertystation.com Medium at Space 4 Art, 325 15th St., East Village. A solo show from Robert Michael Jones that explores the technologies that connect information across the globe.

Free. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 3. Free. 802-989-1524, robertmichaeljones.com HVideo Mythodologies at San Diego Art Institute, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park.

Screenings of short video works from San Diego, Tijuana and Los Angeles in conjunction with the current SDAI exhibition Boiling Process 5: Mythodologies. From 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, March 3. $5. 619-2360011, sandiego-art.org H UC San Diego Visual Arts Symposium and Open Studios 2017 at UCSD Visual Arts Facility, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. The UCSD Department of Visual Arts opens its doors for a showcase of graduate student artwork. More than 40 artists will open their studios to share their process and art practice with the public. Opening from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 4. Free.

858-822-7755, ucsdopenstudios.com/2017 HValuable Content at Linksoul Lab, 530 S Coast Hwy, Oceanside. A solo art exhibit by Bridget Rountree���������� that juxtaposes social, political and art historical imagery as a way to question perceived value and generate discussions of content. Opening from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 4. Free. facebook.com/ events/292468941168931 Artist Alliance at the Museum 2017 at Oceanside Museum of Art, 704 Pier View Way, Oceanside. An art exhibit that features artwork such as oil paintings, watercolors, photography, digital artwork, collage and sculpture by artists in the Artist Alliance membership group. From 11 to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 4. Free-$8.

ChicanaLilly at Iron Fist Brewing, 1985 National Ave. #1132, Barrio Logan. Solo art show by local artist Melody De Los Cobos who creates original works with dried corn husk, eggshells, book pages and more. Opening from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 4. Free. facebook.com/ chicanalillystudio Sparks Gallery: 2 Year Anniversary at Sparks Gallery, 530 6th Ave., Downtown.

A celebration of the two-year anniversary of Sparks Gallery with wine, appetizers, performances and music. Patrons can also check out the gallery’s current exhibition, Edge of the Ocean. From 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, March 4. Free. RSVP required. 619-696-1416, sparksgallery.com HNi Solo Mujeres: Intersecting Chicana Identities at Southwestern College

H = CityBeat picks

Art, 900 Otay Lakes Road, Chula Vista.

In conjunction with Shoulders to Stand On: Remembering the Chicana Activist Narrative, ten prominent Chicana artists and one Mexican photographer will be on exhibit including Alessandra Moctezuma, Carolyn Castaño, PANCA and more.

Opening from 11a.m. to 1 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 7. Free. facebook. com/events/1367869623263925/

BOOKS Sarah Jio at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The bestselling author and longtime journalist will discuss and sign her new novel Always, about a woman who runs into an old boyfriend only to find out he’s homeless. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 2. Free. 858-4540347, warwicks.com HT. Greenwood at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The local author will discuss and sign her novel, The Golden Hour, about a woman who becomes the caretaker at a mysterious Maine house. At 2 p.m. Saturday, March 4. Free. 858-2684747, mystgalaxy.com Writers to Watch: Seth Meyerowitz at Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., Downtown.

The author talks about his novel The Lost Airman: A True Story of Escape From Nazi Occupied France. At 1 p.m. Saturday, March 4. Free. 619-236-5800, sdfocl.org Jeanne Bellezzo at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. As part of Warwick’s ongoing Weekend with Locals program, Bellezzo will read from and sign her book, Rantings of a Bitter Childless Woman. At noon Sunday, March 5.

Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com Christine Lennon at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The L.A.based journalist and author will discuss and sign her novel The Drifter, about a Florida woman trying to escape her past.

At 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 6. Free.

858-454-0347, warwicks.com

COMEDY Dave Attell at American Comedy Co., 818B Sixth Ave., Downtown. The American Comedy Co. celebrates its fifth anniversary with a performance from the veteran comic and former host of the Comedy Central show Insomniac. At 7 p.m. Sunday, March 5. 619-795-3858, americancomedyco.com

DANCE Peter Pan at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown. The California Ballet presents the West Coast Premiere of Septime Webre’s classic ballet about the boy from Neverland. At 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 4 and 1 p.m. Sunday, March 5. $25-$102. 619570-1100. sandiegotheatres.org

FOOD & DRINK Stone IPA Madness Festival of Hops at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, 1999 Citracado Parkway, Escondido.

Stone will be showcasing the best IPAs it has to offer including special releases, pilot beers and exclusive casks. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, March 5. $15$25. stonebrewing.com

MUSIC Dublin Guitar Quartet at Conrad Prebys Music Center, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla.

A performance from the classical guitar quartet entirely devoted to new music, making their San Diego debut. At 8 p.m.

Friday, March 3. $9-$35. 858-246-1199, artpower.ucsd.edu

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

MARCH 1, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 13

EVENTS COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

AFTER DARK: ABOUT LAST NIGHT COURTESY OF FACTORY 93

Techno savvy

G

“Family Portrait” by Bridget Rountree will be on view at Valuable Content, a solo show opening from 7 to 10 p.m.

Saturday, March 4, at Linksoul Lab (530 S. Coast Hwy) in Oceanside.

EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 Masters of Hawaiian Music at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. Grammy winner George Kahumoko Jr. is performing a distinctly Hawaiian style of open tunings with slack key guitarist Kawika Kahiapo and multi-instrumentalist Nathan Aweau.

At 7:30 p.m. Friday March 3. $32-$42.

800-988-4253, artcenter.org Under the Streetlamp at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Downtown. A concert celebration featuring a male quartet singing classic hits of the American radio songbook from the 1950s and 1970s. At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 4. $35. 619570-1100. sandiegotheatres.org Shostakovich and Beethoven at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown.

Violin star Augustin Hadelich brings his sound to bear on Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, followed by guest conductor Marcus Stenz leading a performance of Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. At 8 p.m. Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 5. $20-$72. 619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD HNon-Standard Lit Reading Series at Gym Standard, 2903 El Cajon Blvd. #2, North Park. The second spring reading for Non-Standard Lit features poets Sara Larsen (Merry Hell), David Brazil (HOLY GHOST) and Manuel Paul López (Hallelujah Mama).

From 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday, March 5. Free.

619-501-4996, gymstandard.com

SPECIAL EVENTS Spring Home Garden Show at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. Three days of landscapes, hands-on demonstrations, home improvement products, educational seminars, plant sales and consultations with top experts. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, March 3, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 4, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday, March 5. $1-$9. 858-350-3738, springhomegardenshow.com HSeaport Village Busker Festival at Seaport Village, West Harbor Drive, Downtown. This annual festival features colorful street performers—from jugglers on unicycles and stilt walkers, to contortionists

14 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

oogling Lee K doesn’t go far. She’s not on Spotify, and her bio tab is blank on the electronic music website Resident Advisor. A 150-word description on her Insomniac page is the longest narrative around, and it’s scant on details.

“It’s half on purpose, half not on purpose,” says the 26-year-old techno DJ, whose real last name is Krysinski.

She doesn’t categorize herself as an introvert but tends to dodge interviews and lets her SoundCloud page and DJ sets speak for her. True to techno’s origins, Krysinski selects tracks that echo and melt with relentless percussion. Her mixes are deep and spacey, like mood music for speeding down Highway 163 when night is almost morning.

“For me, techno has a lot of energy, and even though it doesn’t have lyrics, to me, it has a lot of soul. It’s dark and hits a certain place in me.”

Downtown San Diego is where she landed her first residency at Bang Bang in 2013, but Krysinski was raised in North County, bouncing around Encinitas, Carlsbad and Solana Beach. Developing an ear for synths and basslines, she says the point of no return came after listening to English electronic groups The Prodigy and Aphex Twin, which she discovered off a friend’s unlabeled, burned CD when she was 12. Krysinski started experimenting with turntables while up in Los Angeles for college, and even though many artists flock to the city for newfound opportunities, she opted to return to San Diego’s calmer scene.

“L.A. can be very distracting,” she says. “I feel like

and acro-balancers. Parking and a shuttle service will be available. From noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 4 and Sunday, March 5. Free. seaportvillage.com HBuskers After Dark at Seaport Village, West Harbor Drive, Downtown. A less-tame version of the annual busker festival, this event will feature a DJ, food and drink specials and busker acts best suited for those over 18. Also includes special sales from more than 50 shops, restaurants and eateries at Seaport Village. From 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 4. Free. seaportvillage.com San Diego Undy Run/Walk at Mission Bay Park, 3000 E. Mission Drive, Mission Bay. A family and pet-friendly underwearthemed 5K that raises funds and awareness for colon cancer. This all ages event also includes a one-mile Fun Run, participation prices and more. From 8 to 9:30 a.m. Saturday, March 5. $30-$40. ccalliance.org/undy-runwalk

Lee K being in North County really lets me decompress when I’m home, and then I can go out on the road.”

For her next gig, she gets to stay local for San Diego’s CRSSD festival on March 4 and 5. Since her family is nearby they come out and support her, helping counteract the loneliness she didn’t expect to come with full-time DJing.

“You do the gig, and it’s a fun energy, but then you go back to the hotel by yourself. Airports and airplanes are by yourself, and then you come home and are spending hours alone in the studio.”

During those studio hours she’s curating originals for her first EP, which is expected to wrap up next month.

“I want to push it as far as I can push it,” Krysinski says. “It’s not like I want to be as big as soand-so, but because I enjoy it so much and have invested so much of myself into it, I want to see how far I can take it.” soundcloud.com/thisisleek

HSan Diego Women’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Jo and Vi Jacobs Center Celebration Hall, 404 Euclid Ave., Chollas View. The 15th annual induction ceremony and reception honors women who have positively impacted San Diego County. From 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, March 5. $25-$50. 619-233-4114, womensmuseumca.org/hall-of-fame

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS HIntersectional Feminism & Contemporary Art Panel Discussion at San Diego Art Institute, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. Speakers will present research, artwork and roles as artists, educators, and writers around the experience of people of color, the LGBTQ community, and the visibility of artists working within a largely white, male-centric art world. From 6 to

—Torrey Bailey 8 p.m. Monday, March 6. $5. 619-2360011, sandiego-art.org Distinguished Lecture Series: Henry Spiller at Conrad Prebys Music Center, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. The musician and speaker will give a talk entitled “Heavy Metal Bamboo: How archaic bamboo instruments became modern in Bandung, Indonesia.” At 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 8. Free. musicweb.ucsd.edu

WORKSHOPS Everyday Pilgrimages: Metaphors, Questions, and Omens with Tania Pryputniewicz and Lisa Rizzo at The New Ink Spot, 2730 Historic Decatur Road, Barracks 16, Suite 204, Point Loma.

Workshop with the two poets on how to use metaphors, questions and omens to write poetry. From 10 a.m. to noon. Saturday, March 4. $30. sandiegowriters.org

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@SDCityBeat

March 1, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

THEATER DAREN SCOTT

Two Krons better than one

D

iversionary Theatre is presenting two well-known and compelling works by Lisa Kron in rotating repertory. Kron’s 2.5 Minute Ride, a solo show starring Shana Wride (as Kron) and directed by Rosina Reynolds, is a devastatingly honest account of the author’s trip with her father to Auschwitz, where his parents were exterminated. It’s told simultaneously with the hapless story of Kron and her dysfunctional family’s trip to a Midwest amusement park. Wride is remarkable in the recounting of both stories, which, when woven together, testify to Kron’s love for her father.

In Well, the playwright is portrayed by Samantha Ginn, and rather than being a one-person show, this is a meta-theatrical piece in which we watch Kron’s character create, scene by scene, a “theatrical observation” that she tells us is NOT about her relationship with her mother (Annie Hinton). Of course, it is precisely that to a large degree, though this premise is also the avenue in which Kron explores larger societal issues, like racism. The other players in Kron’s exploration (Cashae Monya, Tiffany Tang, Adam Cuppy and Durwood Murray) add considerable vitality to the storytelling.

2.5 Minute Ride and Well run in rotating repertory through March 19 at Diversion-

16 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

reach Kushner’s clever exclamation point.

The Illusion runs through March 19 at the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach. $49-$53; northcoastrep.org

—David L. Coddon

Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING: Honky Tonk Laundry: The premiere musical centers on two female laundromat employees who still manage to get their hands dirty. Featuring the music of the Dixie Chicks, Martina McBride, Patsy Cline and other country music notables, it opens March 3 at the Broadway Theatre in Vista. broadwayvista.biz Next Fall: After a terrible traffic accident, a gay man begins to question his atheism when he has to turn to his partner’s Christian family. Written by Geoffrey Nauffts, it opens March 3 at the OnStage Playhouse in Chula Vista. onstageplayhouse.info

Shana Wride in 2.5 Minute Ride ary Theatre in University Heights. $15$45. Diversionary.org

T

•••

here are moments, during the North Coast Rep’s The Illusion, when it’s like you’re watching clothes talking to each other. Elisa Benzoni’s costumes (and while we’re at it, Peter Herman’s wigs) for this production of Tony Kushner’s literary fairytale are that splendid.

But somehow who’s wearing the clothes

doesn’t seem as important. That’s no knock on the cast—everyone’s tried and true, and one member of the troupe, Andrew Ableson, is prodigiously funny as an articulate fop. Kushner’s 1990 script is, unsurprisingly, composed of beautiful turns of phrase (the story is adapted from Pierre Cornielle’s L’Illusion Comique). Still, this magical tale of a stoical father looking for his prodigal son with the help of a sorcerer (Kandis Chappell) takes its own sweet time as it travels through time to

Waiting for Godot: Samuel Beckett’s classic play about two buddies waiting for a mysterious man that they hope will help them change their life for the better. Directed by Gabor Tompa, it opens March 7 at the Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre at UCSD in La Jolla. theatre.ucsd.edu

For full listings, visit “Theater” under the Culture tab at sdcitybeat.com

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TORREY BAILEY

ntil recently, Point Loma was largely recognized for its coastal topography, Naval grounds and central role in the golden state’s colonization. Historically, the tip of Point Loma’s jutting peninsula is where the first European settler, Juan Cabrillo, landed in California in 1542. His arrival was honored with the Cabrillo National Monument, which exhibits critter-brimming tide pools and the landmark Old Point Loma Lighthouse. But a little over nine years ago—when Liberty Station began transplanting arts, makers and craft beers into the former Naval Training Center—the neighborhood was rebranded as a cultural hub.

Small-time businesses have since flocked, contrasting the big-name fast food joints and strip clubs that have lined the northernmost Midway region for decades. Rosecrans Street is the main drag, spanning the majority of Point Loma, and is the oldest commercial thoroughfare in the state, according to city community development plans. While the area continues to change almost as much as the name of the Sports Arena, coastal preservation, top-notch seafood and all those adult stores are staying.

The collision of Rosecrans Street, Sports Arena Boulevard and Camino Del Rio West is an overwhelming gateway into the peninsula. With traffic roaring and the smell of In-N-Out wafting, it’s a corporate contrast to Point Loma’s overgrown, southern landscape.

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MARCH 1, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 17

TORREY BAILEY

JAMIE BALLARD

TORREY BAILEY

“When people move into coastal California, before they move up to their cliff or beachside house, the first thing they do is bulldoze everything, plant their palm trees and build their swimming pool, so these habitats are really rare and unusual,” says Andrea Compton, superintendent of Cabrillo National Monument. Her office’s floor-to-ceiling window looks almost like a straight drop into the ocean and, throughout the workday, she likes to catch a peek at the ships sailing past. Compton spends most of her time balancing human impact and natural preservation, whether that’s planning for climate change, widening trails or creating educational programs. “Our world is constantly changing so it’s about learning how to understand that and manage it accordingly. A lot of what the National Park Service does is telling stories about the natural world, the cultural world, the history and making sure we have the most accurate information to rely on.” Beginning as a half acre in 1913, the site’s history traces back through World War I and II, which is noticeable by the war bunkers.

“The whole reason the park is here is because of the community. It was the citizens of San Diego that would come out on Sundays for wagon rides and look at this view… and said this is a really special spot for everybody.”

There are many laurels Point Loma Patient Consumer Co-Operative (3452 Hancock St.) could rest on: It’s the first LEED-certified marijuana dispensary in the U.S. (thanks to solar panels and a clean air system), about 400 patients pass through the doors each day, and Snoop Dogg has been known to stop by. But General Manager Heidi Rising is most proud of the team of technicians and other staff who keep the co-op running. “Everyone here is super friendly,” she said. “We’re like a family here, we struggle together, and we build together. I feel very blessed in regards to how well everyone gets along.” For Rising, a Nebraska native, it’s hard not to have a sunny disposition in Point Loma. “The vibe here is wonderful. You have the music, the art, the beach and the sun, and I have a wonderful job I really enjoy going to,” she said. One of her favorite parts of the job is showing some love during Patient Appreciation Days, where vendors set up wares and samples for patients to peruse while they enjoy live music from the likes of reggae artists Don Carlos and Pato Banton. Rising said that the co-op’s focus on patient education sets it apart. When she’s not managing the team, you might find her at nearby Sunset Cliffs.

“It’s my favorite, favorite place that I’ve ever been to.”

—Jamie Ballard

Point Loma Seafoods (2805 Emerson St.) has been family owned and operated for more than 50 years. Terry Sizemore, the general manager and grandson of the founders, blithely preserves the dynasty and its reputation of having “the freshest thing in town.” Sizemore believes the restaurant/seafood market has become a sort of trademark in Point Loma. The shop’s integral role in the community stems from an adherence to its original concept: to sell fresh fish for a reasonable price. “One of the things that has always stuck in my mind, both from my parents and grandparents raising us, is that excellence is always what’s requested and required in anything we do,” Sizemore says. Two remodels and more than a half a century later, these values remain central to the business. For Sizemore, among the most important are quality and kinship. Point Loma Seafoods has developed ties to the community not only through the families who constitute their clientele, but also through the generations of fishermen who sell them their products and the close-knit group of employees who work there. “We like to run the business as a family business as opposed to a corporation.

People have first names and last names and families, and we like to be involved in all of that.”

—Torrey Bailey

18 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

—Sofia Mejias-Pascoe

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JESSICA BRADFORD

When I was 14, my family drove from Utah to San Diego. It wasn’t the first time we had vacationed here, but it was the first time since becoming a shitty adolescent. Back then, I would’ve rather died than interact with my family, and I spent most of the time hibernating in my Discman.

That is, until we went to Kobey’s Swap Meet (3500 Sports Arena Blvd.). It was the only thing that could muster more than eye-rolling annoyance from a teenage boy. The grit, the dirt, the stuff—I loved it all.

Not much has changed at Kobey’s in the 18 years since that So many holy treasures at the swap meet vacation. It’s still a haven for hoarders, peddlers and aficionados of junk culture. Legit business booths line the entrance, but the real treasures can be found deeper, near the back, where people seem to unload their garages unto blankets. You wouldn’t believe how many rusted, deadly tools you can buy from these sellers.

How many murders were these involved in? I caught myself thinking on more than one occasion. I’m not buying anything used in more than three murders.

Instead, I bought a pair of nice sunglasses for $6. I know 14-year-old me is super disappointed by such a sensible purchase.

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—Ryan Bradford

MARCH 1, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 19

Living in San Diego at any time in the last 50 years means you’ve probably made at least one trip to the Sports Arena—or Valley View Casino Center, as it’s now called. Maybe you caught a San Diego Sockers or San Diego Gulls game, or maybe you saw a concert—be it Kiss or Katy Perry—from one of its 16,000 seats. And if you were born before the ‘70s, you might have even seen the kind of legendary careermaking show that people talk about 40 years later. On May 24, 1969, Jimi Hendrix played at the San Diego Sports Arena, delivering a performance electric enough that it was released by Reprise as San Diego ‘69 in 1991. Anti-war protesters and gate-crashers were gathered outside, which Hendrix used as fuel for one of his most fiery performances, according to a Los Angeles Times article. On September 11, 1974, David Bowie brought his Diamond Dogs tour to the Sports Arena. The show was known for its elaborate sets with more than 20,000 moving parts, including catwalks, streetlamps and a glass “asylum” in which he sang “Big Brother.” And on December 29, 1993, Nirvana played their last show in San Diego here, just two years after an in-store performance at Off the Record in Hillcrest.

—Jeff Terich TORREY BAILEY

Comickaze

A lot has been made of last year’s opening of the Liberty Public Market and for good reason, but the Liberty Station area and NTC venues have grown into quite the arts district over the past decade, with affordable rents for first-time gallerists and museums with diverse programming. Here are some of my favorites that readers should consider checking out on the area’s Friday Night Liberty art walks (every first Friday): The New Americans Museum (2825 Dewey Road #102): In this time of strife and uncertainty, this quaint spot is dedicated to exhibitions that celebrate diversity and the immigrant experience.

San Diego Comic Art Gallery (2765 Truxtun Road) and Comickaze (2750 Historic Decatur Road): Nestled in the IDW Publishing offices, the Comic Art Gallery has some cool exhibitions dedicated to the craft while Comickaze has regular appearances and signings by artists and writers.

Malashock Dance (2650 Truxtun Road #202): The acclaimed choreographer has regular showcases at the neighboring White Box Live Arts performance space.

Women’s Museum of California (2730 Historic Decatur Road #103): Excellent local showcases with feminist themes, as well as an impressive collection of historic memorabilia from the fight for equality.

20 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

—Seth Combs

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March 1, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 21

CAROLYN RAMOS

22 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

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CULTURE | FILM

Wild at heart

Logan

Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine gets his claws bloody in dark X-Men spinoff

by Glenn Heath Jr.

L

ong before superhero movies became the domi- shares his most deadly physical trait. Having escaped nant pop parable, Westerns helped complicate the clutches of a corrupt biotech firm now trying to themes of justice, guilt, and revenge on the big erase any evidence of their “R/D gone bad,” she needs screen. The genre went through multiple cycles dur- Logan’s help to reach fellow test tube mutants hiding ing the 20th century—classical, revisionist, ironic— out on the Canadian border. but core archetypes and iconography have persisted Following in the footsteps of Casablanca’s Rick no matter the setting or native language. Many of Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) and Children of Men’s Theo these conventions appear in Logan, James Mangold’s Faron (Clive Owen), Logan moves from self-loathing stripped down and violent effort featuring the Mar- lush to reluctant protector to impassioned avenger. vel Comics character with adamantium claws.

As the stakes grow more urgent so does his capacity Always a loose canon, Logan (Hugh Jackman) has for empathy and courage. However, the rage inside been the closest thing to a cowboy the X-Men ever had. him never dissipates. Eventually, Logan quickly turns Making short work of foes during standoffs, blades into a full-blown road movie, with legions of shadspringing forth from knuckles faster than the swiftest owy storm troopers pursuing Logan, Laura and Xavier quick draw, he embodies the purest form of anger muthrough fly-over country. tants feel toward the human forces During his hero’s roller coaster trying to squash their existence. character arc, Mangold cites Shane’s By the time the film opens in 2029, infamous finale and the lasting LOGAN countless years of living and breathmark violence leaves on the psyche.

Directed by James Mangold ing this kind of wrath have taken a But the tumbleweed moral tales Starring Hugh Jackman, toll on him. of western directors such as Budd During an initial bloodbath, LoDafne Keen, Patrick Stewart Boetticher and Anthony Mann feel gan awakens from a drunken sleep like better reference points. Xavier’s and Stephen Merchant to find gang members trying to steal waking dream monologue about loss Rated R his rented limousine. The greyand redemption could easily be a bearded warrior attempts to avoid fierce campfire confessional spoken violence using the kind of comical

by Randolph Scott. Multiple savage banter often found in fizzier tent-pole releases. One moments show how quickly heroic acts can lead to shotgun blast later and things quickly devolve into to unflinching destruction, and unlike other comic book a brutal knife fight worthy of Martin Scorsese’s Gangs movies, there are lasting consequences. of New York. Mangold’s action is crisp yet doesn’t stray In the brazenly wild climax, military contractors from the messy carnage, confirming that this won’t be invade a peaceful forest to round up the collective your grandson’s PG-13 pastiche. of child mutants. Their simple existence is a threat Indeed, Logan is the kind of lean and mean B-mov- to the corporate juggernaut that could foreshadow ie that would inspire Jean Claude Van Damme to do America’s alternative future. Looking at these images the splits. Its minimalist title suggests a keen interest of oppression and panic, it’s hard not to think about in the man behind all of those X-Men myths, and for the ICE raids that have recently sent shockwaves of the first time Jackman tackles his character’s vexing uncertainty through immigrant communities all internal conflicts. The scars on the inside are just as across our country. Here, Logan’s resolve to protect crucial as those gracing his furry chest. these unfairly maligned souls takes on a political relAfter gruesomely dismantling the aforementioned evance never before seen before in the X-Men movthugs, Logan returns to his humdrum existence of guz- ies. For the first time, he’s not the hero we want but, zling whiskey, transporting ungrateful fares around El rather, the one we need.

Paso, and driving south of the border to visit the ailLogan opens wide on Friday, March 3. ing Professor X (Patrick Stewart). What has become an ordinary life gets permanently altered when Logan Film reviews run weekly. meets Laura (Dafne Keen), a volatile young girl that Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com

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MARCH 1, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 23

CULTURE | FILM

My Life As A Zucchini

Children of men

T

he sun always seems to be shining in My Life as a Zucchini, and yet darkness still very much exists. Claude Barras’ colorful stop-motion animation isn’t your typical children’s film.

It both celebrates the potential of new beginnings while refusing to shy away from the disturbing realities that caused such transitions in the first place.

Told through the eyes of Zucchini, a young boy who accidently kills his mother, thus making him-

24 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

self an orphan, Barras’ film takes place almost entirely at a staterun orphanage. Here, the sensitive central character meets a host of fellow outcasts harboring diverse backstories, each relating back to some form of familial trauma caused by homicide, sexual abuse, flawed immigration policies or mental illness.

When Zucchini arrives at the countryside facility, most of his peers are immersed in a Dickensian fog of sadness and isolation.

“There’s nobody left to love us,” says Simon, the schoolyard bully version of Oliver Twist. Over time, each child transcends the defining factors of their past to form an empathetic community, Barras’ ideal vision for France’s future.

My Life as a Zucchini also features a collective of pragmatic adults who’ve dedicated their lives to public service. Only one villain shows up momentarily representing the kind of opportunistic worldview that takes advantage of an overworked social services system. Barras doesn’t dwell on this plot point for very long, instead choosing to explore the more nuanced interactions between the children themselves.

Writer Céline Sciamma, who adapted Gilles Paris’ source novel Autobiographie d’une courgette, understands the complexity of adolescent angst very well having made the striking coming-of-age film Tomboy. As artists, both she and Barras believe the rigors of youth deserve to be represented truthfully, exploring the darkness and the light in equal measure.

Academy Award-Nominated for Best Animated Feature, My Life as a Zucchini will open on Friday, March 3, at Ken Cinema.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

OPENING Before I Fall: A seemingly charmed woman begins to experience her last day on Earth over and over again, forcing her to untangle the mystery of her own death.

Kiki, Love to Love: This documentary explores New York City’s thriving underground ballroom scene, a larger-than-life world in which LGBTQ youths of color are empowered by staging elaborate dance competitions. Opens Friday, March 3, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Logan: The X-Men franchise turns dark in this standalone character study/action film about Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) set nearly two decades after the last mutant has appeared.

My Life as a Zucchini: After accidentally killing his mother, a young boy finds hope and new friendships as a sate-run orphanage in this Oscar-nominated stop motion animated. Opens Friday, March 3, at Ken Cinema.

Table 19: A woman (Anna Kendrick) attends the wedding where she was once tapped to be maid-of-honor and gets seated at the dreaded “Table 19” with five random guests.

The Shack: A grieving man (Sam Worthington) receives a mysterious, personal invitation to meet with God at a place called “The Shack.”

For a complete

listing of movies, visit our F ilm

section in C ulture

on sdcitybeat.com.

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MUSIC almost feel bad for Nickelback.

I mean, they’re truly an awful band—it’s astonishing how they’ve managed to make a million-dollar industry out of one basic songwriting formula. But I don’t have the visceral hatred for Nickelback that pop culture suggests I should. Sure, making protest signs that say “Ted Cruz likes Nickelback” leaves a pretty sick burn, but Nickelback isn’t my go-to band when I need an example of just how reprehensible the depths of popular music can get. Maybe I’d feel different if I lived in the band’s native Canada, where their music is presumably harder to escape. But living in Southern California, I’ve grown to reserve my hostility and loathing for the one band whose music seems to cause a visceral reaction of almost physical disgust: The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

In Southern California, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are ubiquitous to the point of harassment. Their music is in constant rotation on any number of radio stations every hour of every day. Their nearly two-decade-old songs such as “Scar Tissue” and “The Zephyr Song” pollute the airwaves with their adultcontempo funk-rock melodies and Anthony Kiedis’ scat-tastic lyrical hand-jive nonsense. And while younger generations seem to find a way to try and out-awful the Chili Peppers’ soulless slap-bass meandering—like, for instance, whatever the fuck Twenty one pilots are doing—the Chili Peppers will always end up at the top of the garbage heap for one important reason: Longevity. Well after Twenty one pilots become regulars on the “Where Are They Now?” circuit, the still-animated corpse of the Chili Peppers’ relevance will continue to terrorize our ears.

I didn’t always feel this way. In the ‘90s, during my more innocent teenage years, I had a sort of soft spot for their album One Hot Minute. I’m not sure if it’s because the hit ballad “My Friends” was refreshingly free of frat-boy funk rock, or if I simply didn’t know any better, but at the time the Chili Peppers weren’t my sworn enemies. Fast forward seven years to 2002, during my junior year of college, wherein I’ve set my alarm clock to local alt-rock station 91X. I can pinpoint

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Red Hot Chili Peppers the moment that my Chili Peppers outlook went from gentle indifference to whitehot (chili) rage.

One groggy morning after what was likely too few hours of sleep, I’m wrenched from my slumber by a sequence of the most shrill and pointless lyrics I’ve ever heard: “Steak knife/ Card shark/Con job/Boot cut.” On first listen I couldn’t really tell what I was listening to, I just knew it was shit. The culprit soon revealed himself: Anthony Kiedis follows up one batch of zingers with a couplet that’s even worse: “Skin that flick she’s such a little DJ/To get there quick by street but not the freeway.” I swear, at that moment, I

could hear the faint whisper of Jim Morrison asking “who the fuck is this hack?” And because I live in Southern California—where the Chili Peppers are there to accompany you through every stage of life, from your first barbed-wire tattoo to naming your first-born child Dani California—I heard that song, “By the Way,” roughly eight million times since.

You might be starting to pick up on a trend here, namely that Anthony Kiedis is, essentially, the key element of the band that makes the difference between simply being bad and actually being the worst band on the planet. He’s easily the worst element of any given Chili Peppers song, whether it’s his cringe-worthy pronunciation in “Under the Bridge” (“take me to de place I looooove”), or the final moments of “Can’t

Stop,” at which point the music drops out and all that’s left is Kiedis’ monotone staccato raps, which with each listen sounds increasingly like he has a kazoo in his nose.

Certainly there are other So-Cal-centric bands whose music is comparably unbearable (Sublime, 311), but add Kiedis to either of those bands and watch how their music miraculously becomes that much worse.

Under ordinary circumstances I’d probably say, “but he’s probably a nice guy,” but considering Kiedis has a sexual battery conviction on his record, I can’t even say that.

The rest of the band isn’t off the hook either. While Kiedis is arguably the squeakiest wheel, his bandmates do nothing to rein in his indulgences. Sure, Flea and Chad Smith are good at playing their instruments—I’m sure we all marveled when Flea slapped, popped and thumped his way through the “Star Spangled Banner”—but that almost makes their complicity in the matter even more infuriating. They can play better music; they simply choose not to.

For all of The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ musical crimes, the thing that puts it over the top is the fact that they’ve essentially become self-appointed musical representatives of the state of California. No fewer than 20 of their songs reference California or feature California in the title or are about a girl named California or were inspired by shooting heroin in California or whose lyrics have been made into a California-shaped tattoo on some dude’s bicep. They’ve been mother’s-milking the Golden State for decades and somehow haven’t come up empty yet. That’s impressive, on some level, but the problem is they’ve become inseparable from the state itself. So let me make it clear: The Red Hot Chili Peppers do not speak for us.

The state of local radio is in flux right now, with personnel turning over at an increasing clip, but one thing that will never change is the constant rotation of Kiedis and company bro jams. It’s like we’re living in George Orwell’s 1984, but Big Brother has Anthony Kiedis’ mustachioed smirk. As Nick Cave once said so perfectly and succinctly, “I’m forever near a stereo saying, ‘What the fuck is this garbage?’ And the answer is always The Red Hot Chili Peppers.”

Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com.

Follow him on Twitter at @1000TimesJeff

MARCH 1, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 25

MUSIC

NOTES FROM THE SMOKING PATIO MIKE BLABAC

LOCALS ONLY

H

ot Nerds are getting ready to release a new album. On March 10, the trio of Nathan Joyner, Alia Jyawook and Thomas O’Connell will release Tirades in a Mental Arcade, their follow-up to 2015’s Strategically Placed Bananas, via Cereal and Soda Records. In a phone interview, Joyner said that the album was written in part as a result of his own neurotic thinking.

“It’s about being stuck inside your head,” he says. “It’s about sabotaging yourself with your own thinking.”

“Nathan is a trainwreck,” jokes Jyawook.

The band has already shared one track from the album, titled “Regurgitator,” which is even more ferocious and intense than what they’ve offered up before. Joyner says that the album has a faster and heavier sound than their previous album, which comes as a result from bands they’ve recently shared the stage with.

“We had just come off of a tour with Melt Banana and Torche,” he says. “Seeing people like that every night has an impact on the way you play, whether you realize it or not.

It’s not really intentional, it just turned out that way.”

So far, the band doesn’t have a release

26 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

Hot Nerds show planned just yet—O’Connell lives in Chicago, which makes the logistics of it a little bit complicated. However, Modern Times will be releasing a Hot Nerds coffee blend, which will be released in time with the new album. The band says that they’re working on scheduling a listening party, where fans will be able to pick up both the record and a caffeine fix.

“We drink a lot of coffee,” says Jyawook.

“The plan is to have a listening party where, if you buy a bag of coffee, you get the album for free.”

—Jeff Terich

ALBUM REVIEW Tenshun

Sound Memories (Self-released)

T

here’s arguably no beatmaker in San Diego making more abrasively peculiar sounds than Tenshun. The DJ and experimental artist, whose real name is Jon Calzo, has been involved in a number of underground projects, whether working as a solo artist, providing twisted hip-hop beats for emcee Stuntdouble or laying down massive noisescapes with Psychopop as Skrapez.

Yet very rarely does Tenshun ever simply opt for a classic boom bap beat. If he can fuck something up, he will.

Sound Memories is one of three recordings that showed up on Bandcamp in February, all of which find Tenshun involved in abstract sound collages. Yet this is the most fully formed of the three, featuring a series of tracks titled “1,” “22,” “333” and so on—you get the idea. For a series of noisy, unconventional compositions that largely evade immediate melodies, however, there’s a lot of really fun stuff happening on Sound Memories. The cacophonous “333” feels a bit like a breakdancing giant robot terrorizing a cityscape, while “22” is more atmospheric and woozy, something like a space hallucination.

When Tenshun’s at his wildest, the results are outstanding. I can’t help but feel as if I’ve discovered a secret world in Nintendo’s Metroid on the cosmically weird “4444,” and Tenshun even does his best Aphex Twin or Squarepusher-style IDM on the frantic, sput-

tering beats of “666666,” which is menacing enough to live up to its doubly evil title.

The statement from the artist on Bandcamp reads, “You either like it or not,” and that’s probably a fair assessment. This music isn’t for everybody, and for those who don’t routinely venture into the worlds of noise, experimental or ambient music, its charms might prove a bit elusive. I, for one, definitely like it. Tenshun’s page also says that these sounds “can never be created again,” which makes what’s captured here feel all the more special. They’re not meant to be performed live or become part of a repertoire of hits. They’re moments of experimentation and improvisation captured on tape before they’re lost to the ether. Now that’s some thought-provoking noise.

—Jeff Terich

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March 1, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 27

MUSIC

JEFF TERICH

IF I WERE U A music insider’s weekly agenda WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1

PLAN A: Marie Davidson, Hexa @ The Hideout. Montreal-based synth-pop artist Marie Davidson plays minimal, coldwaveinspired pop that’s abstract yet accessible, with lyrics both in English and French. It’s weird, fun stuff with just the right amount of gloom. PLAN B: Britton, KIYOSHI, PRGRM @ Belly Up Tavern. For an even more diverse set of beats, check out this cross-genre electronic showcase just a little up north, featuring Britton’s minimal techno and PRGRM’s industrial synth-pop.

BACKUP PLAN: Mrs. Henry’s Mothership @ Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, MARCH 2

PLAN A: Stevie Nicks, The Pretenders @ Viejas Arena. OK, look, I really don’t feel like I have to explain why Stevie Nicks is my Plan A, but if you’re scratching your head, listen to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and Tusk, then her solo album Bella Donna, and then you’ll be caught up. You’re welcome.

PLAN B: Death Valley Girls, Adult Books, Spooky Cigarette @ The Hideout. There have been plenty of bands that have played the kind of noisy garage rock that Death Valley Girls do—onetime San Diegans Dum Dum Girls, for instance—but their dark sensibility and sense of humor make those jangly riffs sound downright refreshing.

BACKUP PLAN: Paul Cauthen, Nena Anderson @ Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, MARCH 3

PLAN A: Birdy Bardot, Dani Bell and the Tarantist, Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact, Midnight Pine, Cardinal Moon @ The Casbah. There ain’t no party like a Redwoods Revue party, featuring five stellar bands that all share the same backing band. For more info read this week’s Short List. PLAN B: Birth, The Bad Vibes, Summer Knowledge @ Soda Bar. Birth is a newly formed band featuring members of Astra and Radio Moscow, which means there’s going to be some epic psych-rock happening here. BACKUP PLAN: Miya Folick, Winter, Garden Echo @ Che Cafe.

SATURDAY, MARCH 4

PLAN A: Laura Stevenson, Brawley, Jason Hanna and the Bullfighters @ The Casbah. Singer/ songwriter

28 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

Laura Stevenson’s upbeat songs have a little bit of punk grit in them, but more than anything they’re catchy AF pop tunes in the vein of The Go-Go’s, The Cars and Cheap Trick. Her songs’ll be stuck in your head for days. BACKUP PLAN: GAYC/DC, Geezer, No Small Children @ Soda Bar.

SUNDAY, MARCH 5

PLAN A: Shiner, Montalban Quintet, Weight of the Sun @ The Casbah. I’ve been waiting for this show for a long time.

Fifteen years to be precise, after I heard The Egg for the first time. Then the Kansas City post-hardcore group broke up. But they’re back and ready to dive into a set of powerful, melodic anthems with a heavy punch. PLAN B: Sinkane, Santino Romeri @ Soda Bar. For something with subtler grooves, check out Sinkane, whose new album (Life & Livin’ It) blends pop, soul, electronic and global styles into something danceable, funky and vibrant. BACKUP PLAN: Isaiah Rashad @ Observatory North Park.

MONDAY, MARCH 6

PLAN A: The Dead Ships, Taken by Canadians, Flames of Durga, Mike Maimone @ The Casbah. The Dead Ships won L.A. Weekly’s Best Band of 2016 award, which is quite the honor (that must mean they’re better than the Red Hot Chili Peppers—see my feature this week for more on that). They’re a fine rock ‘n’ roll band, certainly, with plenty of catchy tunes on new album Citycide.

TUESDAY, MARCH 7

PLAN A: Mykki Blanco, Cakes Da Killa @ Soda Bar. Mykki Blanco eschews hip-hop stereotypes in a number of ways: He’s a queer artist who often dresses in drag or flamboyant outfits. And his music is an innovative and hypnotic blend of trap, cloud rap and psychedelia, swirling together different sounds and styles into something that sounds like the future.

Mykki Blanco

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MUSIC

CONCERTS HOT! NEW! FRESH!

Allison Crutchfield (Blonde, 3/21), Jeremy Enigk (Soda Bar, 3/26), Dwight Yoakam (Observatory, 3/29), Festival of Dead Deer, Silent (Blonde, 4/3), Snoop Dogg, Cypress Hill (Open Air Theatre, 4/18), Beach Slang (Casbah 4/20), Lil Wayne (Open Air Theatre, 4/20), Assorted Jellybeans (Soda Bar, 4/20), Wrekmeister Harmonies (Hideout, 4/25), The Weeks (Soda Bar, 5/6), Thundercat (Observatory, 5/19), Sweet Spirit (Soda Bar, 5/20), Giuda (Soda Bar, 5/25), Modest Mouse (Open Air Theatre, 5/30), Little Hurricane (BUT, 6/2), Jessie James Decker (HOB, 6/29), Prince Royce (Open Air Theatre, 7/9), Natalie Merchant (Copley Symphony Hall, 7/18), Steve Martin and Martin Short (Open Air Theatre, 8/12), Sylvan Esso (Observatory, 8/26), Theatre of Hate (Hideout, 9/10), Goo Goo Dolls (Open Air Theatre, 9/12).

GET YER TICKETS Ghostface Killah (HOB, 3/10), The Menzingers (Irenic, 3/12), Matisyahu (BUT, 3/14-15), Teenage Fanclub (BUT, 3/16), Portugal. The Man (Observatory, 3/16), Bad Religion (HOB, 3/18), Wu-Tang Clan (Observatory, 3/20), Common (Observatory, 3/24), Oathbreaker, Khemmis (Soda Bar, 3/27), Wire (Casbah, 3/29), Why? (Ire-

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nic, 3/30), The Old 97s (BUT, 3/31), DJ Quik (Observatory, 4/1), Richard Ashcroft (Spreckels, 4/1), Squirrel Nut Zippers (Music Box, 4/1), The Damned (HOB, 4/7), Green Day (Valley View Casino Center, 4/8), STS9 (Observatory, 4/8), The Maine (HOB, 4/8), Aaron Neville Duo (BUT, 4/9), Desiigner (Observatory, 4/9), Kristin Kontrol (Hideout, 4/10), Mount Eerie (Irenic, 4/10), Of Montreal (Music Box, 4/10), Power Trip (Casbah, 4/10), A Perfect Circle (Open Air Theatre, 4/11), Father John Misty (Humphreys, 4/12), Preservation Hall Jazz Band (BUT, 4/13), Preoccupations (Casbah, 4/13), Little Dragon (Observatory, 4/16), Local Natives (Observatory, 4/17), Steely Dan (Humphreys, 4/17), Toots and the Maytals (BUT, 4/17), Mitski (Irenic, 4/19), Reverend Horton Heat (BUT, 4/20), Califone (The Hideout, 4/20), Lila Downs (Humphreys, 4/20), Lee Fields and the Expressions (Music Box, 4/20), David Crosby (Humphreys, 4/23), Vieux Farka Toure (Casbah, 4/24), Chance the Rapper (Valley View Casino Center, 4/24), The 1975 (Open Air Theatre, 4/25), Jamey Johnson, Margo Price (Observatory, 4/25), Willie Nelson (Humphreys, 4/26), Kings of Leon (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 4/28), Foreigner, Cheap Trick (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 4/29), Mariachi El Bronx (BUT, 5/5), Flaming Lips (Observatory, 5/7), Lionel Richie (Viejas Arena, 5/8), Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (HOB, 5/12), Com Truise, Clark (BUT, 5/12), Cashmere Cat (Observatory, 5/13), Conor Oberst (Observatory, 5/14), Train (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 5/14), Testament (HOB, 5/16), Chris Stapleton (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 5/18), Bryan

Adams (Open Air Theatre, 5/22), Rodriguez (Humphreys, 5/23), Brian Wilson (Civic Theatre, 5/24), NKOTB, Paula Abdul, Boyz II Men (Viejas Arena, 6/1), Lady Antebellum (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 6/4), Valerie June (BUT, 6/8), Def Leppard (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 6/16), Conflict (Soda Bar, 6/16), Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Civic Theatre, 6/26), Deftones, Rise Against (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 7/7), 2Cellos (Open Air Theatre, 7/18), Third Eye Blind (Open Air Theatre, 7/21), Metallica (Petco Park, 8/6), Diana Krall (Humphreys, 8/8), Sam Hunt (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 8/10), Incubus, Jimmy Eat World (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 8/11), One Republic (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 9/1), Green Day (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 9/13), Coldplay (Qualcomm Stadium, 10/8).

MARCH WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1 Alina Baraz at Observatory North Park.

Britton at Belly Up Tavern. Twin Ritual at The Casbah.

THURSDAY, MARCH 2 Mondo Cozmo at The Casbah. Wood Brothers at Observatory North Park.

Stevie Nicks at Viejas Arena. Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real at Belly Up Tavern. Death Valley Girls at The Hideout.

FRIDAY, MARCH 3 Miya Folick at Che Café. Senses Fail at Observatory North Park. Redwoods Revue at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, MARCH 4 ‘Experience Hendrix 2017’ w/ Buddy Guy, Kenny Wayne Shepherd at Harrah’s SoCal. Laura Stevenson at The Casbah. CRSSD Fest at Waterfront Park.

SUNDAY, MARCH 5 Immolation at Brick by Brick. Shiner at The Casbah. Temples at Belly Up Tavern.

Sinkane at Soda Bar. Isaiah Rashad at Observatory North Park. Chase Rice at House of Blues. Red Hot Chili Peppers at Valley View Casino Center (sold out).

Bon Jovi at Viejas Arena. CRSSD Fest at Waterfront Park.

MONDAY, MARCH 6 The Shins at Observatory North Park (sold out). Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at Belly Up Tavern.

TUESDAY, MARCH 7 Mykki Blanco, Cakes da Killa at Soda Bar. The Shins at Observatory North Park (sold out).

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8 Mike Pinto at Belly Up Tavern. Six Organs of Admittance at Soda Bar. Social Distortion at Observatory North Park (sold out). Blackalicious at The Casbah.

THURSDAY, MARCH 9 Lady Lamb at Soda Bar. Salif Keita at Belly Up Tavern. Whitechapel at House of Blues. Irish Rovers at Poway OnStage. Bash & Pop at The Casbah.

Social Distortion at Observatory North Park (sold out).

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MARCH 1, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 29

MUSIC CLUBS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29 FRIDAY, MARCH 10 Big Thief at Soda Bar. POS at The Casbah. Tchami at Observatory North Park.

Ghostface Killah at House of Blues.

LVL UP at Che Café. Sick Puppies at The Irenic.

SATURDAY, MARCH 11 Darkest Hour at Brick by Brick. Japandroids at Music Box. Neil Hamburger at The Casbah. G. Love and Special Sauce at Belly Up Tavern.

SUNDAY, MARCH 12 Daya at House of Blues. Menzingers at The Irenic. G. Love and Special Sauce at Belly Up Tavern.

MONDAY, MARCH 13 Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness at House of Blues. Davina and the Vagabonds at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, MARCH 14 Adelitas Way at Brick by Brick. UFO, Saxon at House of Blues. Matisyahu at Belly Up Tavern. Meat Puppets at The Casbah. Zach Williams at Soda Bar.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15 Matisyahu at Belly Up Tavern. Anna Meredith at Soda Bar. Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn at California Center for the Arts. Truckfighters at Brick by Brick.

THURSDAY, MARCH 16 Portugal. The Man at Observatory North Park. The Cadillac Three at House of

30 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

Blues. Teenage Fanclub at Belly Up Tavern. Mike Wojniak at Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, MARCH 17 Jay And Silent Bob Get Old at House of Blues. The Routine at Soda Bar. Julieta Venegas at House of Blues. California Honeydrops at Belly Up Tavern.

The Downs Family at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, MARCH 18 Jungle Fire at The Casbah. James Chance and the Contortions at The Hideout. California Honeydrops at Belly Up Tavern. Fartbarf at Soda Bar.

SUNDAY, MARCH 19 Lake Street Dive at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). John 5 and the Creatures at Brick by Brick. Bob Log III at Soda Bar. Umphrey’s McGee at Observatory North Park. Lettuce at Music Box.

MONDAY, MARCH 20 Maggie Rogers at The Irenic (sold out).

Kate Tempest at The Casbah. Wu-Tang Clan at Observatory North Park.

TUESDAY, MARCH 21 San Diego Music Awards at House of Blues. Palo Duro at Soda Bar. Allison Crutchfield at Blonde.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22 Modern English at The Casbah. WAND at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, MARCH 23 Omni at The Hideout. Electric Guest at The Casbah (sold out). Cro-Mags at Soda Bar. Blockhead at Music Box.

FRIDAY, MARCH 24 Polyphia at The Irenic. Josh Abbott Band at House of Blues. Common at Observatory North Park. Fu Manchu at The Casbah (sold out). Partybaby at The Che Café. Colony House at House of Blues. Slothrust at The Hideout. Super Diamond at Belly Up Tavern. Horse the Band at Soda Bar.

SATURDAY, MARCH 25 The Hood Internet at The Hideout. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at The Casbah.

Through the Roots at Music Box. Super Diamond at Belly Up Tavern. The Main Squeeze at Soda Bar.

SUNDAY, MARCH 26 Newsboys at Civic Theatre. Panic! At the Disco at Viejas Arena. Warbringer at Brick by Brick. Omega 3 at The Casbah. Jeremy Enigk at Soda Bar. Dwight Yoakam at Observatory North Park.

MONDAY, MARCH 27 Oathbreaker, Khemmis at Soda Bar. In the Whale at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, MARCH 28 Eisley at House of Blues.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29 Methyl Ethyl at Soda Bar. Crystal Fighters at Belly Up Tavern. The Dollyrots at The Hideout. Wire at The Casbah.

THURSDAY, MARCH 30 Tinariwen, Dengue Fever at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Why? at The Irenic.

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MUSIC Electric Six at The Casbah. Dead Man Winter at Soda Bar. Mild High Club at The Hideout.

FRIDAY, MARCH 31 Nashville Pussy at Brick by Brick. The Old 97s at Belly Up Tavern. The Orwells at The Irenic. Dog Party at Che Café.

Kane Strang at Soda Bar. Bosswitch at The Casbah.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach. Thu: Live Band Karaoke.

Fri: Electric Mud, Boxcar Chief. Sat: The Routine, Boostive. Tue: The Captain’s Son. Bar Pink, 3829 30th St., North Park.

Sat: The Rosalyns, Cochinas Locas, Goldettes.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St., Downtown. Sat: 2ManyDJs, Virgin Tears.

Sun: Claude VonStroke.

SPOTLIGHT Bon Jovi will forever be the scourge of bartenders and anyone else who has to deal with drunk white people on a regular basis. But to the rest of us, he’s fuckin’ awesome. Tell me a better four minutes of music than “Livin’ on a Prayer.” It’s perfect. Don’t contradict me, jabroni. It’s got fist-pumping “WHOA OH”s and a key change that puts orgasms to shame. And what about “Wanted Dead or Alive”? You haven’t lived until you’ve demolished a bowling alley bar karaoke night with that song. (Caveat: I’m drunk right now). Bon Jovi plays Sunday, March 5 at Viejas Arena.

—Ryan Bradford

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Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Wed: Britton, Kiyoshi, PRGRM. Thurs: Fri: Railroad Earth. Sat: Railoroad Earth. Sun: Temples, Night Beats, Deap Vally, JJUUJJUU. Mon: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

Blonde, 1808 W. Washington St., Mission Hills. Wed: ‘Dance Klassique’ w/ Caliparis. Thu: Dunekat. Tue: T. Rex live tribute.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave., Carlsbad. Fri: ‘Club Musae’.

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MARCH 1, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 31

MUSIC CLUBS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 31 Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., Bay Park. Thu: ‘Extreme Cream’. Sat: Strung Out, A Vulture Wake, Sic Waiting, Authentic Sellout. Sun: Immolation, Hellsott, Infinitum Obscure, Unblessed Domain, Warpath. Mon: ‘Metal Monday’.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Midtown. Wed: Twin Ritual, Little Heroine, The Montell Jordans. Thu: Mondo Cozmo, Sego. Fri: Birdy Bardot, The Midnight Pine, Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact, Dani Bell and the Tarantist, Cardinal Moon. Sat: Laura Stevenson, Brawley, Jason Hanna and the Bullfighters. Sun: Shiner, Montalban Quintet, Weight of the Sun. Mon: The Dead Ships, Taken by Canadians, Flames of Durga, Mike Maimone. Tue: Great American Canyon Band, Grampadrew and the Gutstrings.

Che Cafe, UCSD campus, La Jolla. Fri: Miya Folick, Winter, Garden Echo. Sun: Diners, Kan Kan, First Move, Oatmeal.

Tue: Dreamdecay, Die Missbildungen Des Menschen, Crime Desire, Heat.

Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. Fri: TNT. Sat: DJ Alex.

Dizzy’s, 1717 Morena Blvd., Pacific Beach. Fri: Ben Van Gelder. Sat: Ian Buss. Sun: Prof. Marvill’s Spectacular Aerialists Show Orchestra.

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

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Wed: Ride the Mule. Thu: DJ Yodah. Fri: ‘Good Times’. Tue: ‘50s/60s Dance Party’.

32 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

The Hideout, 3519 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Wed: Marie Davidson, Hexa.

Thu: Death Valley Girls, Adult Books, Spooky Cigarette. Fri: Sat: ‘Boogie Down’. Sun: Helado Negro.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Hippo Campus. Fri: Half the Animal, Creature Canyon. Sat: Chippendales. Sun: Chase Rice, Jason Mizelle.

Mon: Chase Rice, Jason Mizelle. Tues: Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd., Midtown. Thu: ‘Veterans respond to Standing Rock’. Fri: Bassment Collective.

Sat: ‘Ascension’. Sun: Alexusjones.

Tue: Richard Aldana.

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave., Kensington. Sat: Dreams Made Flesh, The Golden Tongues, Crooked Rulers.

Lestat’s Coffee House, 3343 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Fri: Dear Lemon Trees, Crooked. Sat: Girls & Boys, Brett Emerson Wagner.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., Hillcrest. Wed: The Visiters, Sideshow, Live Kennedys. Thu: The Collection, James Spaite, Jake Tittle. Fri: Funk Fairies, Viscous, Max Fite, L1ght Ra1l. Sat: SoundSlave, The Grind, Class Of 99. Tue: The Shifty Eyed Dogs, The Dirty Pennies, The High Rolling Loners.

Music Box, 1337 India St., Little Italy.

Thu: Urban Legend: A Tribute to Keith Urban. Fri: Lane 8, Luttrell. Sat: Bob Moses, HVOB. Sun: Thomas Jack, Tensnake, Nathan Barato.

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

Wed: ‘The Reflex’. Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Fri: ‘Nite Moves’ w/ DJs Beatnick, QURE. Sat: ‘Strictly Business’ w/ DJs Kanye Asada, Edroc. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’. Mon: ‘Metal Monday’.

OMNIA Nightclub, 454 Sixth Ave., Downtown. Thu: 4B. Fri: Steve Aoki.

Sat: Fergie DJ. Parq, 615 Broadway, Downtown. Fri: Scene. Sat: Sharps.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Wed: Mrs. Henry’s Mothership. Thu: Paul Cauthen, Nena Anderson. Fri: Birth, The Bad Vibes, Summer Knowledge. Sat: GayC/DC, Geezer, No Small Children. Sun: Sinkane, Santino Romeri. Tue: Mykki Blanco, Cakes da Killa.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd., Midway. Sat: Sleeptalk, The Color Wild, Smarter Than Robots, Petrichor, Follow Coffins. Sun: After the Burial, Emmure, Fit For A King, Fit For An Autopsy, Invent Animate, Shawshank Redeemed.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Fri: ‘Rollin’ wit Da Funk’ w/ DJs Boogieman, Cisco Kid, C Funk. Sat: Psyk Ward, Remain In Vain, Endless/ Nameless, No Knock Raid. Sun: Post Attraction, Hug, Retail Space, Cosmics.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave., City Heights. Wed: Orange Blossom Special, The New Addiction, Avenue Army.

Sat: Bossfight, Fallen Monuments, Modern Enemy, Filner Headlock. Mon: Tightwads, Electric Children, Weird Omen, The Darts.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park. Wed: ‘Kiss and Make Up’ w/ DJs Jon Blaj, Kyle Badour.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St., Ocean Beach. Fri: Gene Evaro Jr. Sat: The Travel Agents. Sun: Dom Katz. Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: Steep Ravine, The Railsplitters.

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March 1, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 33

LAST WORDS | ADVICE

AMY ALKON

ADVICE

GODDESS A Ruse Is A Ruse Is A Ruse A year ago, the woman who pet-sits for me began inviting herself over for dinner.

We started going out about three times a week. I always paid for dinner. She never introduced me to her friends, wouldn’t let me pick her up at her apartment, and wouldn’t let me touch her. Even a genial “thank you” touch on the arm got a grim response. Her reason: She didn’t want a relationship. I kept hoping this would change. Recently, I went on Facebook and saw that she’s been in a relationship with another man. Her response? “Well, I’m not sleeping with him, so I can see whomever I want.” After a long, demoralizing year, I ended things. Did I do right by getting out?

—Not A Game Player Having regular dinners with somebody doesn’t mean you’re dating. I have dinner with my TV several nights a week, but that doesn’t mean I should get “Samsung forever!” tattooed on my special place.

34 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 1, 2017

Consciously or subconsciously, this woman deceived you into thinking a relationship was possible—but she had help. Yours. To understand how you got tripped up, let’s take a look at self-deception—through an evolutionary lens. Evolutionary researchers William von Hippel and Robert Trivers describe self-deception as a “failure to tell the self the whole truth” by excluding the parts that go poorly with our goals and our preferred view of ourselves. We do this through “information-processing biases that give priority to welcome over unwelcome information”—or, in plain English: What we ignore the hell out of can’t hurt us.

Seems crazy, huh—that we would have evolved to have a faulty view of reality?

However, von Hippel and Trivers contend that the ability to self-deceive evolved to help us be better at deceiving others—keeping us from giving off the cues we do when we know we’re putting out a big fibby. As Trivers explains in The Folly of Fools: “We hide reality from our conscious minds the better to hide it from onlookers.”

Knowing that we do this can help us remember to ask the right questions—the egognawing kind—and drag the facts upstairs to consciousness and give them a long look.

Nice as it is to glimpse the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel,” it’s wise to make sure it isn’t just the one on the tip of the colonoscope.

Hyde And Seek I feel that my boyfriend brings out my best self: loving, sweet, productive. In my failed marriage, my ex seemed to bring out my worst self: unstable, selfish, lazy.

It’s almost as if I’m a different person with my boyfriend. But how different can I be?

—In A Better Place

OK, so you sometimes daydreamed about your naked ex and the things you’d like to do to him—like painting him all over with maple syrup and throwing him into a pit of starving fire ants.

To understand what’s different with your current boyfriend, consider that the relationship is an environment—one that influences your behavior just like a physical environment. (Alaska in January calls for a snowsuit, not a bikini and your rainbow unicorn water wings.)

There’s a term for the sort of relationship dynamics that bring out your best self—the “Michelangelo phenomenon”—coined by social psychologist Caryl Rusbult and her colleagues. The name was inspired by the

Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo’s belief that there’s an ideal figure hidden within each block of stone and that it’s the sculptor’s job to chip away the pieces around it until it’s revealed.

They find that in a relationship, two things foster your bringing out the best in each other. One is that your partner “affirms” your values—meaning that your partner is aligned (enough) with what you care most about. (This doesn’t mean they want exactly what you do; they just need to respect you for going for it.) Second, they engage in behaviors that encourage you to move toward your “ideal self.” This might mean urging you to acquire new skills or, at a cocktail party, asking you about the dogwalking drone you invented while you’re standing next to that trustafarian with the tech-funding hobby.

Rusbult and her colleagues observe that when individuals in a relationship improve and grow—especially through their partner’s encouragement—it makes for a better relationship and happier partners. Conversely, when their partner is unhelpfully critical, controlling, and at odds with who they are and what they want, the relationship suffers, as do those in it. Ultimately, if you say, “I barely recognize who I am with this person,” it should be a good thing—not one that leads to TV news clips of your bewildered neighbor: “We’re all just shocked. She seemed so nice, so normal. I guess she just…snapped.”

(c)2017, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

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March 1, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 35