San Diego CityBeat • Mar 6, 2019

2 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

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UP FRONT | FROM THE EDITOR

“Unacceptable” bullying

I

was a sensitive kid. When bullies and classmates were mean to me, talk behind my back or even say spiteful things to my face, I would take it very personally.

After one particular incident where a bully was telling people that I was too scared to fight him, I just couldn’t get over it. My dad attempted to teach me moves that would help me win physical confrontations, but I would only end up crying. So one day, he just said something that, while it didn’t immediately register at the time, still hits home with me to this day.

“If people aren’t talking about you, that means you’re not worth talking about,” he said.

Actually, that’s a bit of a misquote. It was more along the lines of, “If people aren’t talking shit about you, you ain’t shit,” but I’m sure readers get the gist either way. He was, in his own special dad way, offering a silver lining: That these kids and bullies saw me as important enough to even warrant their scorn.

Their behavior, in a sense, was a subconscious manifestation of their own jealousies and insecurities.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my dad’s advice while watching both Democratic and Republican members of Congress come after Rep. Ilhan Omar for her supposedly anti-Semitic remarks on Twitter a few weeks ago. For those who didn’t catch it, Rep. Omar made a rather presumptuous comment that some of her Republican colleagues, such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, often criticize her because of their strong ties to pro-Israeli lobbying groups.

Since Rep. Omar initially first sent those tweets, the controversy has snowballed in large part thanks to Fox News and other conservative outlets foaming at the mouth for any content that isn’t related to the shitshow that’s currently the Commander in Chief.

It’s the cable news equivalent of clickbait.

Oh, but how the Democrats just couldn’t resist clicking.

First, I’m not here to render or even offer an opinion on the State of Israel. Honestly, it’s something I’m very passionate about and I’ve often considered myself to be something of a Zionist in the past. Rep. Omar’s allusions that her Republican colleagues are attacking her because they’re ostensibly being paid to (albeit via pro-Israeli lobbying groups) are antiSemitic at worst and conspiratorial at best. And while she has since apologized and seems to understand now how it is that her words perpetuated and propagated anti-Semitic tropes, that still hasn’t stopped others from coming after her.

Rep. Susan Davis was one of the first local mem-

bers of Congress to address the controversy. Davis supported a joint statement from House leadership that affirmed their support of Israel. For the most part, Davis has been diplomatic in her criticisms of Omar, but couldn’t resist clicking on the Republicanspun narrative that Omar was being anti-Semitic and not, as she has asserted, simply attempting to bring attention to the problematic roles lobbyists play in Washington.

“This is a point that she and some of her defenders have been trying to make in this debate, that there is a distinction between criticizing the policies of the Israeli government and anti-Semitism,” Davis said in a radio interview on WBUR in Boston. “The political reality here is that she just hasn’t done a very good job of making that distinction in her statements. And it wasn’t good enough for Democrats.”

While I agree that Omar could have been more tactful in her larger points, that doesn’t make those points invalid. And rather than stand up for her colleague, Davis chose to simply add more fuel to the Republican bonfire.

And then there’s local Rep. Juan Vargas, who’s never seen a political controversy bandwagon he didn’t like to jump on.

“It is disturbing that Rep. Omar continues to perpetuate hurtful anti-Semitic stereotypes that misrepresent our Jewish community,” Vargas tweeted on Monday. “Additionally, questioning support for the U.S.-Israel relationship is unacceptable.”

Really? “Unacceptable?” It is absolutely acceptable to question the relationship of the U.S. and Israel, especially considering the far-right policies of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And where was this “unacceptable” language from Dems when the President was saying there were “fine people” among the protestors shouting “Jews will not replace us” in Charlottesville? The only thing that’s unacceptable here is the way that Democrats are falling all over themselves to condemn Omar, rather than helping their Democratic colleague to understand why her comments were offensive and prejudicial.

There’s something to the logic that if people keep talking about you, then they may see you as a threat.

I hope local Reps. like Susan Davis and Juan Vargas understand that by piling onto the Republican-spun controversy du jour, they’re just beginning to look like the bullies themselves.

—Seth Combs

Write to seth.combs@sdcitybeat.com

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MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 3

4 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

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UP FRONT | LETTERS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I’M GLAD I’M NOT YOUNG ANYMORE

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

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

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

A Side-Eye of Sanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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

3 5 6 7 8

FOOD & DRINK World Fare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Final Draught. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

THINGS TO DO The Short List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Calendar of Events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-13

ARTS & CULTURE Theater. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14-19 Feature: Jim Machacek. . . . . . . . . . . . 20

MUSIC Local Music Feature: Tulengua. . . . . 23 Local Music Feature: Rafter. . . . . . . . 24 The Great Local Music Review. . 26-34 If I Were U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Concerts & Clubs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36-38

IN THE BACK Astrologically Unsound . . . . . . . . . . 37 CannaBeat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

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My experiences in school were bad. I was bullied, beaten up, stalked, assaulted and harassed from my first day of preschool to my last day of high school. The effects of that will be with me to my last dying breath. I’m glad I’m not young anymore.

As bad as it was for me, though, I did walk away from it. I got out of there alive. With the phenomenon of school shootings, there are far too many young people who are not so fortunate [“Strategies on surviving a school shooter,” Backwards & In High Heels, Feb. 27]. Who then is to blame? Well, we have a list of usual suspects: a.) Administrators and teachers who are oblivious to what is really going on with the students in their schools. b.) Ditto with parents who are so wrapped up in their own lives, that they either can’t or won’t take the time to truly parent. c.) Gun shops, gun shows, or private individuals who sell, lend or have their guns stolen by those who should never be allowed anywhere near a firearm.

These are the most obvious and easy parties to blame, and I believe that they have their fair share of responsibility. However, there is another component to this that is being virtually ignored, or at the very least rarely spoken of: The lack of compassion in our society for others who are in pain, or are perceived as “different,” “weak,” “helpless,” or “losers.” The notorious assertions by many in the pro-gun lobby that the shootings that occurred at Sandy

Hook Elementary were a “hoax” or “fake news” are nauseating and indicative of this inability to have regard for the suffering of others.

What then must we do? Is there any way to stop this from happening again? It will take more than changing gun laws or “sending hopes and prayers” to those who have been affected by such a tragedy. What is required is a fundamental shift in our society as a whole, one in which there is a willingness to stop looking for those to demonize, to be more willing to embrace “the other” rather than to exclude, judge and castigate them.

And it will take finding a way to assert our own sense of self-worth without having to resort to tearing other people down.

Is such change even possible? I don’t know, but I can say with certainty that these horrors will continue as long as the status quo of human society remains in place.

A.F. Kaplan, via Facebook

CARDI B DESERVES RESPECT, OKURRR? From my perspective, Cardi B [“One of us,” A Side-Eye of Sanity, Feb. 6] has earned my respect by telling-it-like-it-is in public. You may remember that she had complained that her taxes were too high. To quote: “So you know the government is taking 40 percent of my taxes and Uncle Sam, I want to f—king know what you’re doing with my f—king tax money!”

Can we agree that taxes are, in fact, “equal opportunity” and they don’t care if you’re Cardi

B or a rank-and-file member of the Tea Party?

The Founding Fathers anticipated the current discussion that you cited regarding the need for “walls, laws, morals and community standards.” America’s founders extolled a nation of laws, for they knew that only a fairly enforced legal system could protect liberty and property against corruption and tyranny… are these the “white-defined boundaries” that you refer to? For two-and-a half-centuries, this system remains the ultimate safeguard for its citizens and has stood the test of time.

Cardi B has expressed her opinions in print/social/broadcast media without having to obtain prior approval by media authorities and without being censored. This, and the fact that dissenting opinions about her statements were expressed, are the natural outcome of the freedom of expression that we enjoy. If we want to test the expression of “accepted” opinions on the local level, I challenge CityBeat to feature a regular opinion column written by a political conservative… I suspect that your colleagues might find this “unacceptable.”

Skip Monroe, via Facebook

Response from the editor: Neither myself or my colleagues find the idea of a conservative political columnist to be unacceptable or repugnant.

The problem is that we’d have to get rid of someone in order to do that, and all our columnists are doing such a fine job that I’d hate to let one of them go. Maybe we could talk Carl DeMaio into doing it? Or maybe Morgan Murtaugh? But also, have you read Ed Decker’s column lately?

MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 5

UP FRONT | NEWS

Fighting for the coast Local Native American tribes prepare to fight back against the Trump administration’s offshore drilling policies

By Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

F

or Melissa Hill, hot summer days on the Viejas Indian Reservation were often spent lying in bed with a wet towel over her head and a malfunctioning fan creating more noise than cool air.

“You’d just hear clink, clink, clink,” she remembers. “It was so hot, but that’s all we had to cool ourselves down.”

The 23-year-old Hill is a descendant of the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, Navajo Nation and the Tonawanda Band of Seneca Indians. Trips to the beach, even on hot days were not common in her household despite the deep cultural value of the ocean and the coast for the Kumeyaay people.

Over the last couple of years, however, Hill has been making an effort to not only reconnect with the coast but also protect it.

And she’s not alone. In the last couple of years, Native American communities are becoming in-

creasingly outspoken about environmental threats, one of those being the Trump administration’s interest in opening California’s coast to offshore drilling.

On Jan. 4, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a plan to make over 90-percent of the ocean available to offshore drilling through the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program.

The plan, once finalized, would allow for the lease sale of Alaska, Pacific and Atlantic regions for potential oil and gas exploration.

The first draft proposes seven lease sales off the California coast.

There are currently no producing oil wells in the San Diego County region, but it is estimated that there are oil and gas resources off the coast of Oceanside.

Local and state elected officials in San Diego have raised concerns about the impact on the fishing

6 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

and tourism industry if an oil spill were to occur, such as the one that occurred off the Santa Barbara Coast in 1969, which killed sealife and hurt the local economy. The military’s ability to safely conduct training offshore is also a concern.

But Native American tribes say there is another impact to consider: the cultural value of the ocean for tribes in San Diego. Hill says that for the Kumeyaay people, the ocean and the coast are part of their philosophy, and although indigenous communities were pushed inland over time, many are actively pursuing that reconciliation.

“For the most part, we don’t even live by the beach. The tribes were pushed back from these coastals areas,” says Marc Chavez, programs director and founder of Native Like Water, a nonprofit that focuses on indigenous education.

Chavez, a Mexican-Indian descendant, started Native Like Water to reconnect Native American youth with their “sacred relationship to water” and help them gain a holistic education. They often go out into the ocean to surf, pray and paddle traditional Kumeyaay tule boats.

Stan Rodriguez, a member of the Santa Ysabel Band of the Iipay Nation, says the relationship with the ocean went dormant for many in the community, but that there is an

COURTESY OF NATIVES LIKE WATER

Marc Chavez and Stan Rodriguez with students from Natives Like Water interest in reviving those connections. Rodriguez is the director of the Kumeyaay Community College and says it’s Kumeyaay tradition to take only what is needed from the earth and that offshore drilling is a huge environmental threat.

“It’s not if it will happen,” says Rodriguez, referring to oil spills. “It is, when it will happen.”

In October 2018, the indigenous rights organization National Congress of American Indians published a resolution opposing offshore drilling on behalf of dozens of tribes. Native American Nations have been known to fight back to influence legislation by suing or contributing to advocacy organizations and nonprofits.

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) is expected to publish the proposed plan in the coming weeks. CityBeat could not confirm if California’s coast will still be included. Following the release, there will be a 90-day online public comment period.

According to Tracey Blythe Moriarty, a BOEM public affairs officer, the agency will also hold public meetings in coastal cities that are adjacent to areas under consideration for oil and gas leasing.

“BOEM will carefully consider all public input received during this time and provide a summary of such input, along with the agency’s analyses for the Secretary of the Interior’s review,” Moriarty said in an email to CityBeat.

The proposed plan is only the second stage and once all feedback is taken into consideration, BOEM will move forward with publishing the final regions available for oil and gas leases.

Brady Bradshaw, campaign organizer with Oceana—an ocean conservation and advocacy organization—says the biggest concern for San Diego’s coastline is all the

people who rely on coastal tourism, whether it’s fishing or recreational. He says extracting oil and gas from underneath the ocean off the coast is dangerous and often times results in spills.

Elected officials representing the county’s coastal cities were quick to renounce the proposed program. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors (then an allRepublican board) voted to pass a resolution to draft a letter in opposition in 2018. Cities like Oceanside, San Diego, Imperial Beach and Chula Vista have also approved resolutions against offshore drilling.

Bradshaw hopes the administration will take the municipalities opposition into consideration.

“This plan is so extreme and radical that it’s completely out of touch with the direction that California is moving and it’s out of touch with our best interests, not only ecologically but economically,” he says.

Congressional representative Mike Levin (D-49), whose district includes about 50 miles of the coast, echoed that sentiment. He is co-sponsoring two bills that would ban drilling leases and says he is concerned that the administration is engaging in a policy war with California on various issues.

“I can tell you that if the president chooses to move forward with plans to drill on the California coast we are going to do all we can to reject those plans at the state and federal level,” says Levin.

Still, Hill believes the community needs to organize and plan action.

“People are always thinking about 10-year solutions when we should be thinking about 100-year solutions,” says Hill. “The offshore drilling is just a temporary solution to our greed for oil. We all need to start thinking about green energy and what we can do to think about the generations after us.”

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UP FRONT | FOOD & DRINK

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER

THE WORLD

FARE T

Haute cuisine, Tecate-style

here was a time, not so long ago, when few San Diego foodies would have expected to find the best “fine dining” restaurant in our region south of the border. Was it prejudice? Jingoism? Or was it just ignorance?

Regardless, one trip to Misión 19 dispelled me of that notion. Tijuana was one thing. Sure, OK. But Tecate? Could that be possible?

A single spoonful of Marcelo Hisaki’s remarkable and refined take on tortilla soup at Restaurante Amores (Presidente Adolfo de La Huerta 30, Primera, 21400) in Tecate cured me of that perception as well.

Hisaki (son of a Mexican mother and a Japanese father) and his wife, Reyna Venegas (Executive Chef at Rancho La Puerta), are Amores’ owners. Both Hisaki (who represented Baja California in the prestigious Bocuse d’Or Mexico competition) and Venegas come to Amores with serious pedigrees, having trained with Michelin-starred French chefs Joël Robuchon, Phillipe Gauvreau and Alain Ducasse. It’s training evident in the precision of Amores’ food.

Take that “tortilla soup,” for example. At the most basic level Tortilla soup is simply garlic and chile-infused tomato soup garnished with fried tortilla strips. Hisaki punches a hole in the center of a tortilla creating a ringed ledge on which he sits an array of attractive ingredients. These include a remarkably soft octopus, radish florets, cucumber ribbons and avocado mousse. Instead of simple tomato soup, Hisaki grills and blisters the tomatoes using a classic salsa tatemada technique to deepen the flavor. If that wasn’t enough, Amores adds a touch of fine dining elegance by pouring the broth tableside.

Perhaps the dish that best charts Hisaki’s personal story is the tuna tataki carrot aguachile. Hisaki employs the classic Japanese tataki technique of briefly searing the fish but leaving it raw inside.

He beautifully plates and garnishes the fish in a Baja-style aguachile (again, poured tableside). It’s a direct and natural fusion that speaks profoundly to who Hisaki is in his heart.

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While the details of the dishes on Amores’ four-, five- and eight-course testing menus change based on the availability of top-quality ingredients, the dishes still tend to employ the same themes. If the “tortilla soup” isn’t the highlight, pork in a Tecate demiglace will surely do. On one trip, Hisaki used pork loin, garnishing it with red bean tuiles. On another trip, it was lechon with the tuiles being the brilliantly crisped skin. In each case, Hisaki sauced his wonderful composed presentation—a three-dimensional work of art on the plate—with a classic French demiglace made using Tecate’s own eponymous and famous (if not famously good) beer, as well as piloncillo (unrefined brown sugar). There may never be a better use of Tecate beer.

MICHAEL A. GARDINER

Lechon pork with cauliflower three ways On the second trip, Hisaki paired the dish with cauliflower done three ways: pureed, dried and roasted. The result was a beautiful and perfectly balanced tour de force.

Amores physical space is intimate, if not a bit awkward, but they’ve done well. Well enough, indeed, that the restaurant is moving to new, larger quarters just down the street. What’s unlikely to change is the conviction, passion and precision of the food.

The idea of haute cuisine in tiny Tecate was— not so long ago—surprising if not unthinkable. For many, it’s always been a place that’s been known as a midpoint between here and there. Now, Restaurante Amores is a reason to not only go there, but to go there again and again.

The World Fare appears weekly.

Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 7

UP FRONT | FOOD & DRINK

BY BETH DEMMON

FINAL

DRAUGHT

Music to my beers

I

t’s easy to find beer bars that cater to punks and indie rockers. Hell, Thr3e Punk Ales Brewing Company in Chula Vista uses an anarchy sign in its logo. Fall Brewing Company has a portrait of Joe Strummer from The Clash in their North Park tasting room and a beer named after a Cramps song.

But breweries that regularly play R&B? Folk?

Jazz? Not quite as commonplace.

It’s no big stretch to chalk this musical predilection up to long-held cultural biases that favor the current majority of craft beer drinkers (read: twentysomething white dudes). That same crowd also happens to dominate punk rock and its related subcultures. Strangely enough, a brewery providing an alternative is in the heart of East County.

Friday nights at BNS Brewing and Distilling Company (10960 Wheatlands Ave., facebook. com/BNSBrewingDistillingCo) don’t just bring out work-weary millennials ready to get their craft beer on. Their live music schedule caters to “the family around the corner, people young and old, the cowboy from the rodeo, mechanics to the business men and women getting off work from downtown to North County.” That’s according to Becky Russell, drummer for local rockabilly band Bonneville 7, who regularly performs at BNS. BNS has hosted country, bluegrass and other affiliated groups at their Santee brewing and distilling facility for years. Here, there’s a noticeably wider range of ages and socioeconomic diversity than many other local brewery tasting rooms. It’s one of the only regional breweries to consistently offer something different from the seemingly standard rock ‘n’ roll playlists that throw in the occasional hip-hop tune to seem edgy. Upcoming live acts include bands such as Bonneville 7, Classic Buzz, and Flipside Burners—groups all inspired by country, blues, rockabilly and/or Southern rock. “[BNS] is actually the only brewery that we play,” says Jeremy Laub, lead singer and guitarist for Whiskey Ridge, an El Cajon band that mixes country and Southern rock. “The energy in that place is really awesome. It just has a real homey feel.”

Not everyone enjoys family-friendly drinking

8 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

establishments, but every single band I spoke with mentioned that particular aspect as something they appreciate about BNS. An all-ages approach is fairly common in country and bluegrass circles as well, so it’s no surprise the brewery has endorsed this vibe.

Acoustically speaking, BNS isn’t perfect according to Flipside Burners frontman Mark Fahl.

“The room has quite a bit of echo because of the high ceilings,” says Fahl. “But they are, at the moment, remodeling and building a cool new live music room with some acoustic improvements, a new stage and an easy load in for the bands.”

DEE ANN SKAINES

Classic Buzz The new music space is set to open March 8, which means patrons can expect more bands in the future. BNS has a fair amount of live shows already lined up in the coming months with nary a Misfits cover band in sight.

BNS isn’t the only local brewery offering slightly different sounds than the ubiquitous craft beer playlist. Modern Times blasts world fusion beats at its Point Loma tasting room. Burning Beard employees encourage yeast propagation with heavy metal lullabies in their coolship house. As for me, I’m still searching for that elusive tap room dedicated to shoegaze.

Write to bethd@sdcitybeat.com or check her out on Instagram at @thedelightedbite.

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CULTURE | VOICES

RHONDA “RO” MOORE

A SIDE-EYE OF

SANITY

This was the place

T

he one person I could never say no to while in college recently asked me to come speak to her students. She wanted alumni of their scholar’s program to talk about our lives post-college, as well as the path that program threw us on and how it differed from where we planned to end up. Now, that is a subject I feel qualified to speak on.

So, at the end of February, I went back to my undergraduate university for the first time since I played solitaire through the commencement speeches (I’d still like to file a request to reclaim that time).

Being back on campus reminded me of being a student. That is, I hadn’t a clue what I was doing. I felt out of place but, somehow, not. As I wandered around, taking in all the changes, my thoughts turned, whether I liked it or not, to the things this place taught me.

This was the place where I learned to gauge a person’s sincerity. The place I was forced to live with three young, white, entitled girls, none of whom were interested in getting to know someone not at their socio-economic level.

This was the place where I learned the difference between peaceful co-existence and camping out on friends’ couches in between classes because sleeping in my dorm room was simply too much of a nightmare.

Let’s just say, that first semester I was extra thankful for that scholar’s program. For this was the place I made some seriously great friends willing to loan me a pillow and blanket.

This was the place I came to understand (the hard way) that some enemies could look you in the eye as they try to strip you of your dignity. I figured out that while some battles may be lost, it doesn’t stop them from being worth the fight.

Most importantly, I learned to viciously defend myself and my space.

This was the place where I discovered that an impromptu snow fight is a great tension breaker and a fantastically legal way to nail someone in the face with a flying object. Don’t judge me. It’s the little things that make life worth it. Besides, what else were we supposed to do with quads full of snow?

Juggling a double major (neither of which my parents liked), working full-time, and finding time to study taught me to multitask like a beast. It also helped me realize my mental strengths and weaknesses. College required a different kind of focus than I was used to. I can now freely acknowledge that I suck at asking for help. But it’s was one hell of an egocheck to admit that I needed an assist and that it was the only way I’d make it through sane.

This was the place that taught me the fine art of the barter. I slowly mastered connecting with other

people open to sharing their strengths in exchange for mine.

As a scholarship student/loan recipient, not getting my money’s worth from a professor’s lessons was unacceptable. This was the time and the place where I truly came to understand the value of a dollar. It forced me to learn to pushback. No one would care if I learned unless I demanded the attention I needed. Showing up for office hours was an eye-opening experience. The moment I invested in me, so did my instructors. It’s a lesson I’ve never forgotten and one I apply daily.

This was the place where I figured out I could be funny; where I realized that even when I thought I hadn’t said anything amusing, people would laugh.

Turns out, my regular speaking patterns are often comedic. Who knew? Definitely not teenaged me.

In the middle of sharing these lessons with the students, I realized something else: Being a Black student (and a strange one at that) attending a PWI (predominately white institution) more than prepared me to confront life’s shitstorms and survive.

In 2015, I reluctantly walked away from the field I spent over a decade mastering. I did this just as I started receiving offers where the pay matched the work I put in and reflected my worth. And I walked away for good. Falling ill repeatedly enough forced me to recognize I was killing myself to protect someone else’s bottom line. As soon as I couldn’t continue putting their business needs before my health (and personal life), they let me go.

In the end, I didn’t even warrant a face-to-face dismissal.

I finally acknowledged that no one at that company (or any company) gave a single goddamn how much I sacrificed to make work happen, so long as I did. I know, seriously slow on the uptake. Plus, this wasn’t the first time my career plans hit a speed bump and, in this case, were derailed entirely. It was a bitter pill to swallow. But I’m still standing.

It’s been 20 years since I graduated. I still have no idea when the hell that happened. On the one hand, it may explain why I’m swiftly turning into a snarkier version of my mama. On the other, it feels like I just moved the tassel on my cap to the left. I perpetually “adult” poorly, but somewhere along the way, it seems, I’ve learned to be OK with it.

My life’s been one hell of an interesting ride, detours and all. Now, I enjoy my days and in large part due to that double major I refused to be talked out of.

So, I’ll take it.

Being a Black student (and a strange one at that) attending a PWI (predominately white institution) more than prepared me to confront life’s shitstorms and survive.

@SDCITYBEAT

A Side-Eye of Sanity appears every other week.

Follow Ro Moore on Twitter at @BookBlerd.

MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 9

UP FRONT | OPINION

EDWIN DECKER

SORDID

TALES

There are just no good bedroom words for “breasts”

I

read an interesting article in Men’s Health called, “6 Things Men Get Wrong about Boobs.” The article, written by Lauren Larson, focused on how to improve the various, not-so-eloquent ways men touch and/or address breasts during a sexual encounter.

For instance, I found the first entry—titled, “Leave her bra on for a second”—to be excellent advice! According to Ms. Larson, women spend a lot of time and money selecting their sexy-time bras and want their lovers to appreciate the garment before tearing it off like some old-timey writer yanking bad pages out of a typewriter spool.

The second entry, “Compliment them,” came as a pleasant surprise. I’ve always felt pervy saying anything to a woman about her breasts; even positive things like, “You have spectacular mammaries.”

So good to know, Lauren.

The third, “Be gentle,” seems obvious, but worth mentioning, as were the fourth and the fifth tips in which she explained that motorboating may be a hoot, but it’s not sexy. However it was the sixth entry where she lost me. Here, Larson claimed the only acceptable word with which to refer to a woman’s breasts “during sex” is “boobs.”

“Every word for breasts is gross (‘breasts,’ especially),” she wrote. “But boobs, is the least gross. I won’t call your penis ‘Little Buddy’ if you don’t call my boobs ‘knockers.’”

First of all, Skipper, you can call my penis “Little Buddy” all day. The idea of being insulted over the various slang that could be used to describe my ding-a-ling is as absurd as being insulted when someone calls my testicles “nuts,” or my buttocks an “ass.” Also, if a person finds “every word for ‘breasts’” including “breasts” to be gross, I would argue that it might be the breasts themselves, and not the words, that gross them out.

Still, it’s the notion that “boobs” is the best, and only, word to use during lovemaking that is most ludicrous. Boobs? Seriously? “Boobs” is a word that prepubescent boys say when passing around dirty magazines in a tree fort with “No Gurls Allowed” painted on the door.

In Larson’s defense, there really aren’t any good synonyms for “breasts” that feel appropriate for the bedroom. Not because I think they’re gross, but because they simply aren’t dirty enough.

I mean, “breasts” will work in a pinch. Ditto “tits.”

But those words are too mainstream, too all-purpose and lacking in the salacious qualities needed when whispering sweet filthies in a lover’s ear. What word will do? It’s a mystery really. We have nicknames for genitalia, like “cock” and “pussy,” for example. Still, after hours of searching online, I could not find a single tit-onym that didn’t seem too silly, too mundane, too insulting and/or G-rated to use in the heat of passion.

Certainly not the infantile jugs, I thought, as I pe-

rused urbanthesaurus.com’s list of booby words; nor tatas, which sounds dangerously close to a size reference (read: small); nor udders which, well, if you have to ask, you’ll never know why that won’t work.

I do not advise saying “mammaries,” as evidenced by my earlier usage, nor “glands,” “gams” or “cans.” Do not use any of the various fruit and vegetable metaphors (“melons,” “tomatoes,” “rutabagas,” etc.), because of their silliness factor. Ditto animal metaphors, given that “hooters” are owls and the aforementioned “teats” makes me think I’m sucking on a hamster’s water feeder.

“Assets” feels too cold, “chest” too masculine and a “rack” is for ovens or spices—utterly asexual unless uttered during a blasphemous tryst between Rachel Ray and Guy Fieri.

“Puppies” is right out, given that asking, “May I oil up your puppies and massage them?” would likely initiate a call to the ASPCA. “Bosom” is what sprawled across my grandmother’s lap whenever she sat in her Roller Derby recliner, and “pillows” would be confusing when you consider how a wife would respond every time her husband said he wanted to cum on them (“The hell you will! That’s hypoallergenic goose down!”).

Frank Zappa called them “Mammalian protuberances” which is guaranteed to cause your lady to climb out of bed, put on her robe and say, “I forgot to wax the bannister today.”

I would expect a similar reaction to any breastonyms in the “-zonga” family (“bazongas,” “kazongas,” “ganzongas” and “bazonggas,” which I’m guessing are “bazongas” with a double G cup.

Sometimes women refer to them as “my girls” but I have a gut feeling that whispering to a woman, “I want to lick chocolate sauce off your girls,” would likely initiate a swift kick to the aforementioned nuts.

Ok, I thought. No existing synonyms will do. Fine! I will just invent my own. I thought of the many heavenly bodies of the cosmos—moons, globes, planets, dwarfs and giants. All of these would work as, eh, locker room talk, but aren’t quite right for intimate relations. The word “dwarf” made me think of fantasy fiction—you know, hobbits, druids and other halflings—but quickly realized nothing good could come from grunting, “Honey, your orcs are turning me on.”

And so, it’s with heavy heart and a great sense of sadness for the human race, that I must report: I gave up. Looks like it’ll have to be only breasts during passionate liaisons. Maybe tits, but never boobs! Sorry Ms. Larson, I would rather have my “Little Buddy” stuck to a frozen street light pole than say “boobs” to a woman in bed. Boobs would more aptly describe the men who would say that than the body part itself.

A “rack” is for ovens or spices—utterly asexual unless uttered during a blasphemous tryst between Rachel Ray and Guy Fieri.

10 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

Sordid Tales appears every other week.

Write to edwin@sdcitybeat.com.

@SDCITYBEAT

EVENTS

SHORTlist

ART

the

THREE YOU HAVE TO SEE

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

SAN DIEGO

ART HERSTORY

March is Women’s History Month, and March 8 is International Women’s Day. And while there are certainly plenty of events over the next month for women to celebrate, we thought we’d offer a few cultural events, as well as an annual march and book event (see the other two blurbs in this section), to help kick things off.

First up, on Thursday, March 7 from 6 to 8 p.m., The FRONT Arte Cultura (147 W. San Ysidro Blvd.,casafamiliar.org/thefront) in San Ysidro will celebrate International Women’s Day with the 12th annual Dia de la Mujer exhibit, which features over a dozen women artists, including CityBeat faves María Ríos Mathioudakis and Fifi Martínez.

In addition to the recent opening of the San Diego Museum of Art’s Women of the Southwest exhibition, the Balboa Park museum (1450 El Prado) will also host writer Donna DiGuiseppe, who will discuss her recent novel. Lady in Ermine: The Story of a Woman Who Painted the Renaissance, is a dramatized, but highly researched look at the life of Renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola. It happens Saturday, March 9 at 6 p.m. and tickets are $5-$10 at sdmart.org.

That same night from 5 to 10 p.m., Barrio Logan art space La Bodega Gallery (2196 Logan Ave.) will be opening its annual Venus exhibition, which will feature works from over 100 women artists working

LINCOLN PARK

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

“Changed My Mind” by Elena Karavodin in nearly every conceivable medium and includes names such as Melissa Walter, Michelle Montrose and Nuvia Ruland, to name a few. The lineup is truly amazing and more info can be found at labodegagallery.com.

Finally, we highly encourage North County residents to check out Renegade, the newest Distiction Gallery (317 E. Grand Ave., Escondido) show that will feature the work of Encinitas-based artist Elena Karavodin, who speicializes in vivid portraits of, as she puts it, “women in control, going against the grain, and exposing their own desires and vulnerabilities.” It opens Saturday from 6 to 10 p.m. and info can be found at arthatch.org.

CLAIREMONT

SHOWING UP

CREATURE COMFORT

We’re not going to guilt our readers, but we’ll just say this: If you’re showing up every year for the annual Women’s March, then you should also be showing up for the annual March for Black Women. Not only is it a great way to show true allyship in a time of political turmoil, but it’s just downright important to support Black women in their continuing struggle for true equality. All allies are welcome at the second annual march on Sunday, March 10 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The march starts at the corner of Euclid and Logan Avenue. And for those interested in further ways to help, there’s also the Black Womxn Save My Life conference from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 9 at the Skyline Hills Branch Library (7900 Paradise Valley Road). Check out facebook. com/M4BWSD for more info on both.

AARYN BELFER

Obviously, films like The Shape of Water wouldn’t exist if not for Creature from the Black Lagoon, the 1954 sci-fi horror flick which features one of the most iconic movie monsters in film history. More horrific than the creature, however, is how history has treated its creator, Milicent Patrick. Using her skills as a Disney animator, Patrick designed the creature, but she was a woman working in a sexist industry so her accomplishment was undermined by make-up artist Bud Westmore, who took all the credit. Author and horror aficionado Mallory O’Meara sets the record straight and corrects sexist wrongs in her new book, The Lady From The Black Lagoon—a fascinating deep-dive into a Patrick’s life and legacy. O’Meara will read and sign copies at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore (5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, mystgalaxy.com) on Friday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m.

ALLAN AMATO

HDia de la Mujer at The FRONT Arte Cultura, 147 W. San Ysidro Blvd., San Ysidro.

The 12th annual group exhibition focused on the various visions and approaches to defining feminine. Artists include Gerda Govine, Victoria Martínez, Teresita de la Torre and more. Opening from 6 to 8 p.m.

Thursday, March 7. 619-962-6757, casafamiliar.org/thefront HArtivismo Loko at Mesa College Art Gallery, Mesa College Drive, Clairemont.

This exhibition celebrates the work of internationally renowned muralist Mario Torero, one of the founders of Chicano Park and the Centro Cultural de la Raza. From 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, March 7. Free. sdmesa.edu HRenegade at Distinction Gallery, 317 E. Grand Ave., Ste. A, Escondido. A new exhibition from Elena Karavodin, whose vignettes focus on women in control and challenge the stereotypes of women portrayed in art. Proceeds go The Malala Fund, a nonprofit providing education to girls around the world. Opening from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 9. Free.

760-707-2770, distinctionart.com HVenus at La Bodega Gallery, 2196 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. In honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, this exhibit features art created by women from all over the world in a wide variety of media. There will be work by more than 100 female artists. Opening from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, March 9.

Free. 619-255-7036, labodegagallery.com

BOOKS HMallory O’Meara at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The writer will sign and discuss The Lady From The Black Lagoon, a nonfiction account of the life of Milicent Patrick, who created the Creature from the Black Lagoon, but never got credit. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 8. Free. 858-2684747, mystgalaxy.com HDonna DiGuiseppe at San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park.

The writer will discuss her latest novel, Lady in Ermine: The Story of a Woman Who Painted the Renaissance, a dramatized look at the life of Renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola. At 6 p.m. Saturday, March 9. $5-$10. sdmart.org.

HDon Winslow at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The acclaimed writer of Savages and The Cartel will sign and discuss his new novel, The Border. At 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 11. Free. 858454-0347, warwicks.com HSteffanie Strathdee and Thomas Patterson at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The infectious disease epidemiologist (Strathdee) and her psychologist husband will both discuss their new memoir, The Perfect Predator: A Scientist’s Race to Save Her Husband From a Deadly Superbug, followed by a Q&A and book signing. At 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, March 13. Free. 858-4540347, warwicks.com

COMEDY HTiffany Jenkins at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Gaslamp. The parenting blogger, known for her Youtube videos, will discuss her past addiction and her struggles with anxiety and depression, as well as share stories not found in her book or blog. At 8 p.m. Friday, March 8. $38.50$78.50. sandiegotheatres.org HKate Berlant at The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. The writer, ac-

March for Black Women @SDCITYBEAT

Mallory O’Meara

H = CityBeat picks

tress and acclaimed improvisational comic performs an intimate show of some new and favorite bits. At 8:30 p.m. Sunday, March 10. $15. .casbahmusic.com

DANCE HThe Joffrey Ballet at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Gaslamp. The acclaimed company will perform Justin Peck’s In Creases, which showcases his keen eye for manipulating bodies to form geometric structures. to a live score by Philip Glass. Friday, March 8. $25.50$85.50. sandiegotheatres.org

FILM The Blood Hunter: Horror Film Screenings and Panel at Scottish Rite Center, 1895 Camino Del Rio S., University Heights. Screening of a new indie horror film from RazorEdge Films directed by Trevor Styles followed by a Q&A and special guest signings. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday, March 9 and Sunday, March 10. Free. 669-253-0425, nerdvania.net HCatVideoFest 2019 at Landmark’s Hillcrest Cinemas, 3965 Fifth Ave., Hillcrest.

This one-time-only showing of endearing cat videos raises money for cats in need through partnerships with local cat charities, animal welfare organizations and shelters. From to 8:15 p.m. Monday, March 11. $15. facebook.com/TheCatVideoFest HI Stand Corrected at San Diego City College Saville Theatre, 1313 Park Blvd., East Village. Jazz Live welcomes back bassist and vocalist Jennifer Leitham for a special screening of Andrea Meyerson’s documentary about Leitham’s career as an upright bass virtuoso and her decision to undergo gender reassignment surgery.

From 6 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, March 12. $10 suggested donation.

FOOD & DRINK HBest Coast Beer Fest at Embarcadero Marina Park South, 200 Marina Park Way, Downtown. Taste beer from nearly 100 craft breweries on the West Coast, listen to local bands and enjoy bites from food trucks while raising money to help cancer patients.

From 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 9. $50$115. 619-501-1695, bestcoastbeerfest.com Beer by the Bay at Coronado Ferry Landing, 1201 First St., Coronado. Coronado’s annual beer festival features unlimited tastings from several of the best local craft breweries and regional wineries, as well as live entertainment, local fare, games and yacht rock band High Tide Society. From 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 9. $40$50. beerbythebay.com HMexico in a Bottle at Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights. A celebration of Mexican craft spirits, wine, food, music and art with a special tribute to mescal. Sample over 100 agave spirits while trying bites and cocktails from local restaurants. From 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, March 10. $40-$145. mexinabottle.com

MUSIC HSammy Miller and the Congregation at The Loft at UCSD, Price Center East, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. The Grammynominated drummer, singer and bandleader and his ensemble will play some experimental jazz. From 8 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, March 6. $9-$30. artpower.ucsd.edu HSueños, Visiones: Another Possible World at Bread and Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights. The international; music project Common Ground Voices / La Frontera shares a new musical performance

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 11

12 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

@SDCITYBEAT

THEATER CHRISTOPHER ASH

Beethoven IRL

H

ershey Felder’s one-man play with music (and what music!) is much more than a kind of “Beethoven 101.” Rather, Hershey Felder, Beethoven is a thoughtfully immersive dramatization of the life of one of the world’s great musical geniuses. As he has done previously with other masters of the classical idiom (Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Liszt), as well as towering 20th century figures (George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein), Felder combines theatrical narrative and performance on an impeccable Steinway to chilling effect�������������������������������������������������� . The show, staged at the San Diego Repertory Theatre under the direction of Joel Zwick, is a swift 90 minutes but is nonetheless a revealing portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven in all his tortured complexity.

Felder based this show’s narrative on a text by Gerhard von Breuning, the son of Ludwig’s lifelong friend, Stephan von Breuning. Gerhard was briefly a student of Beethoven, but the two were estranged later in life. Felder portrays both Gerhard von Breuning and Beethoven during the hour-and-a-half onstage. Through them, he recounts the turbulent life of one of classical music’s titans and it’s all here: Beethoven’s abiding passion for his craft, his intuition for innovation, his defiance of convention and, all too early in his career, the onset of deafness.

Just as�������������������������������������������������� with other Felder interpretations, this one transcends exposition largely because of the music. Among the beloved works of Beethoven performed are the “Emperor Concerto” and his “Moonlight Sonata,” which Felder emphasizes was not a title chosen or favored by the author. Finally, as a coda to the evening, there is a performance of “Für Elise.”

Despite all that’s been written about Beethoven over

EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 that consider questions of identity, place, belonging, connection, and shared humanity in a region historically claimed by many.

From 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, March 8.

Free. facebook.com/CGVLaFrontera HVijay Iyer & Matt Haimovitz at UCSD Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. Cellis Matt Haimovitz and jazz composer-performer pianist Vijay Iyer will perform original compositions, as well as works by J. S. Bach, Ravi Shankar, Zakir Hussain and more. From 8 to 10 p.m.

Thursday, March 7. $9-$59. artpower. ucsd.edu Ensemble Caprice: “Chaconne—Voices of Eternity” at St. James by the Sea, 743 Prospect St., La Jolla. A music program highlighting the kaleidoscopic method to spin an entire composition from a small unit of music. Includes works form Bach, Purcell, and Vivaldi. From 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Friday, March 8. $10-$45. 619-291-8246, sdems.org HOddities & Curiosities Expo at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. Browse through items including taxidermy, horror merch, odd antiques, animal and human skulls and bones and more.

From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, March 9. $10-$20. odditiesandcuriositiesexpo.com Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2 at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown. Concert featuring the debut by acclaimed Mexican pianist Jorge Federico Osorio performing one of Beethoven’s earliest breakthrough works. At 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 9 and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 10. $20-$100. 619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org Art of Élan: Fateful Encounters at San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. This concert, part of Art of Élan’s Ways of Listening series, explores the

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OPENING: Everybody Black: Poet and playwright Dave Harris’ new satire about a mad writer who is commissioned to write the conclusive study of the “Black Experience” in America. Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, it opens March 6 for six performances at the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre at the La Jolla Playhouse. theatre.ucsd.edu Footloose: The Musical: A young man moves to a small town only to find out that dancing is outlawed. Well, that doesn’t stop him from moving those hips. Presented by the Pickwick Players, it opens March 8 at the Carlton Oaks School Theatre in Santee. pickwickplayers.net Jake’s Women: Neil Simon’s classic comedy about a novelist who has flashbacks of the varying women that have come in and out of his life. Directed by Robyn Smith, it opens March 8 at the PowPAC Community Theatre in Poway. powpac.org

Hershey Felder, Beethoven the last 200 years, much of his life, and certainly his death, is shrouded in myth. But the fascination with Beethoven— be it among musicologists, musicians or simply those who are moved by the works he created—is more potent than legend. Still, it’s a stunning moment when, in depicting Beethoven’s last moments on Earth, Felder rises up from the deathbed and shakes his fist at the heavens. Even if apocryphal, it’s a depiction of a man whose fierce, unyielding spirit (and perhaps anger) left an indelible and beautiful mark on a world even if that world often cheated him of happiness.

Hershey Felder, Beethoven runs through March 24 at the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s Lyceum Stage, Horton Plaza, downtown. $25-$114; sdrep.org

—David L. Coddon

Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

people and circumstances life presents through music by artists like Georg Philipp Telemann and Nino Rota. The concert is inspired by Jusepe de Ribera’s painting “Susanna and the Elders.” At 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 12. $40-$50 sdmart.org The Colorful World of Rodgers and Hart at Athanaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. Pianist and raconteur Bruno Leone will play, sing and recount some of the more interesting stories of the careers of Broadway writing team Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. From 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, March 12. $17-$22. ljathenaeum.org HThe Scottish International Tattoo and Music Parade at California Center for the Arts, 340 N. Escondido Blvd., Escondido. This acclaimed group of performers includes Bagpipe players, drummers, musicians, singers and dancers, every last one direct from Edinburgh, Scotland. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 13. $30$60. 800-988-4253, artcenter.org Alfredo Rodríguez & Pedrito Martinez at The Loft at UC San Diego, Price Center East, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. The Grammy-nominated pianist and percussionist will perform as a duo, bringing together unique approaches to their music.

From 8 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, March 13. $9-$35. artpower.ucsd.edu

PERFORMANCE HThree Decembers at Patrick Henry High School Performing Arts Center, 6702 Wandermere Drive, San Carlos. Part of the San Diego Opera’s detour Series, this chamber opera tells the story of an aging actress and singer who is writing a letter to estranged members of her family. At 7 p.m. Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 10. $17–$162. sdopera.org

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood Live! at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Gaslamp. Based on the PBS KIDS TV series, Daniel and all his animal friends come alive on stage teaching valuable lessons of kindness, helping others and being a friend. 3 p.m. Sunday, March 10. $16.50$46.50. sandiegotheatres.org HThe Amazing Acro-Cats at MOXIE Theatre, 6663 El Cajon Blvd. Ste. N, College Area. The troupe of touring performing house cats features domesticated house felines rolling on balls, riding skateboards, jumping through hoops, and even playing in a live cat band. Various times.

Through Sunday, March 17. $25-$40. circuscats.com

POETRY AND SPOKEN WORD HPoets Without Borders at San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery, 7250 Mesa College Drive, Clairemont Mesa. The band of poets dedicated to the artistic activism will be featured alongside the public art and personal work of Mario Torero, a prominent Chicano artist. From 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Thursday, March 7. 858-349-6429, facebook.com/events/517787912081856 Long Story Short: Lies, Lies, Lies at Kava Collective, 1731 University Ave., North Park. Improvised storytelling show in which participants are randomly selected to tell true, five-minute stories related to the show’s theme. From 7 to 9:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 7. Free. sosayweallonline.com HAshley Morrow Hermsmeier at Gold Leaf, 2225 30th St., South Park. The local English and writing teacher and author will celebrate and discuss the release of her chapbook, Something Like the End. From 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, March 9. Free. 619301-1126, ashleymorrowherms.virb.com

You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown: A comedic musical featuring the beloved Peanuts comic strip characters. Presented by Trinity Theatre Company, it opens for three performances March 8 at the 10th Avenue Arts Center in Downtown. trinityttc.org Angels in America—Millennium Approaches: Tony Kushner’s modern classic about a group of New Yorkers dealing with life and death decisions in the midst of the ’80s AIDS crisis. Presented by Cygnet Theatre, it opens in previews March 9 at the Old Town Theatre. cygnettheatre.com POP Tour 2019: Light Years Away: Three fifth graders in the year 2068 tell the story of how they hope to journey into space in order to colonize a new planet. Part of the POP Tour commission, it opens March 9 for four performances at the Rao and Padma Makineni Play Development Center at the La Jolla Playhouse. lajollaplayhouse. org

For complete theater listings, visit sdcitybeat.com

POLITICS & COMMUNITY HMarch for Black Women at the intersection of Logan and Euclid Avenue, Lincoln Park. People of color and their allies are invited to participate in the second annual to support Black women in their continuing struggle for true equality. The day before the march the group will host their first Black Women’s Summit. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, March 10. Free. facebook.com/M4BWSD

SPECIAL EVENTS HSan Diego Comic Fest at Four Points

by Sheraton, 8110 Aero Drive, Mission Valley. This convention produced by fans for fans includes panel discussions, guest programs, an artist alley, cosplay and, of course, tons of comics, books, toys, and collectibles. Various times. Thursday, March 7 through Sunday, March 10. $7.50-$50. sdcomicfest.org HBreast Cancer Research Ride at Biggs San Marcos Harley-Davidson, 1040 Los Vallecitos Road, San Marcos. Riders receive lunch and an opportunity drawing ticket and can enjoy trivia games, prizes and live music. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 9. $10. 858-573-2760, komensandiego.org HMariachi Festival & Competition at Chula Vista Bayside Park, 999 Bayside Parkway, Chula Vista. Celebrate local Mexican heritage through Mariachi music, traditional ballet folkloric dancing, and a variety of arts, culture and snacks. From 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, March 10. Free. 619477-9339, mariachifest.com Gaslamp Artisan Market at Fifth Avenue between Market Street and Island Avenue, Gaslamp Quarter. Thirty local artisans showcase their homemade prod-

ucts at this weekly event. Browse clothing, homemade jewelry, flowers, and a variety of other products while you walk through the Gaslamp Quarter. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, March 10. Free. gaslamp.org Craft + Draft Pop Up Shop at Bay City Brewing Co., 3760 Hancock St., Midway District. Over 15 local makers will set up shop to sell their goods alongside local beer and bites, a photobooth and more.

From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 13. Free. sandiegomade.org

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS HA Legal Guide to Starting an Art Business at Art Produce, 3139 University Ave., North Park. Business law strategist David Lizerbram gives an interactive presentation on the legal ins-and-outs of starting an art business. There will also be discussion on how artists can best protect their work through written agreements.

From 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 7.

Free. artproduce.org International Women’s Day: Balance For Better at Women’s Museum of California, 2730 Historic Decatur Road, Liberty Station, Point Loma. Panel discussion on achieving gender parity, activism to action, and the current period of history and its prospects of gender balance. From 6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 8. $5-$10. 619233-7963, womensmuseumca.org Woman’s Worth Presents Love at Jo and Vi Jacobs Center Celebration Hall, 404 Euclid Ave., Lincoln Park. Multigenerational conversation centered around the art of love, relationships and healthy communication, led by Starla Lewis, ISHE and YahYah. From 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, March 10. $15. facebook.com/ events/383837195765358

MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 13

CULTURE | FILM

Just a girl

Captain Marvel

Brie Larson carves out some space for women in the MCU boy’s club

by Glenn Heath Jr.

T

here have been many strong female charac- an alien race at perpetual war with the Skrull, shape ters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) shifting “terrorists” who threaten their existence. On that now crisscrosses between television and the Kree home planet of Hala, Carol serves in a special cinema. Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Pepper Potts military unit led by demanding commander Yon-Rogg (Gwyneth Paltrow), and Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet (Jude Law).

Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), immediately come to mind.

During an initial sparring match, he tells her to But each of these women’s backstories, motivations, suppress all emotion in order to become a better warand desires are inextricably linked to the conflict and rior. But what he’s really telling her is to act more fates of men. like a man. Yon-Rogg’s conservative and nationalisSuper assassin Natasha Romanov (Scarlett Johans- tic teachings are put to the test when Carol comes in son), aka Black Widow, is stripped of her edge when contact with Skrull general Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) crush Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) Hulks out at the during a combat mission that goes south. end of Avengers: Age of Ultron. The unrequited love in Carol eventually finds herself crashing back down Guardians of the Galaxy is even more tedious; Gamora to Earth (her first moments are spent perusing the (Zoe Saldana) is positioned as aisles of a Blockbuster Video) an independent badass, yet in an attempt to track down her arc is perpetually stagnatthe whereabouts of a sciened by an ongoing relationship tist (Annette Bening) who’s CAPTAIN MARVEL with wiseass space cowboy Pedeveloped new technology Directed by ter Quill (Chris Pratt). The list that could end the Kree/Skrull Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck goes on and on. stalemate. She crosses paths Starring Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, As the first film centered on with a young Nick Fury (SamBen Mendolsohn and Jude Law a female superhero in this epiuel L. Jackson, de-aged but not cally never-ending series, Capdefanged) sporting two good Rated PG-13 tain Marvel thankfully refuses eyes and plenty of quips. to align itself with Marvel’s If the Blockbuster signifier corporatized brand of patriarwasn’t a dead giveaway, Capchy. This outsider story exists within a construct that tain Marvel drops every popular 1990s radio track to favors nationalist team players (e.g., Captain Ameri- let you know the time period. No Doubt’s “Just a Girl” ca), making its very existence feel special even when provides the musical accompaniment to Carol’s sweet stylistic and narrative choices are admittedly bland. photon blast beat down of multiple laser-gun totDirected by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, a film- ing baddies. It’s a bit obvious but it hits the intended making team who’ve cut their teeth on character- mark. driven indie dramas such as Half Nelson and MississipThe same could be said of Captain Marvel as a pi Grind, Captain Marvel enshrines progressive ideas whole. Brie Larson’s charming performance peaks within comic book spectacle; the fan boys and incels when she’s fighting for every young girl in the audiare going to love that so many hero moments come at ence who’s had to endure over 10 years of Marvel suthe expense of macho villains. perheroes who don’t look or think like them.

Make no bones about it, this is an unabashed femiIronically, this same audience must endure the nist origin story to its core; one that revolves around inane post-credits housekeeping Marvel must present a professional freethinking woman—amnesiac Air to connect the plot dots further, but like Black Panther, Force pilot Carol Danvers (Brie Larson)—who utilizes this is a stand alone film that actually stands alone. her extraordinary powers to challenge and ultimately Captain Marvel (opening in wide release Friday, March neuter the aggressive entitlement perpetuated by tra- 8) may not be subtle or stylistically innovative—or ditionalist men. She doesn’t ask for permission, nor even particularly great for that matter—but I’ll still does she need anyone’s approval. It wasn’t always be excited to show it to my daughter once she’s old that way, though. enough.

At the beginning of Captain Marvel, Carol’s past memories from life on Earth have been wiped clean; Film reviews run weekly. she believes herself to be a descendant of the Kree, Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com

14 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

@SDCITYBEAT

THE 28th ANNUAL

San Diego

Music Awards OFFICIAL PROGRAM

A portion of the proceeds from this event will once again benefit the San Diego Music Foundation’s Guitars for Schools program

Monday, March 11, 2019 House of Blues San Diego Doors Open at 6pm Showtime 7pm

SanDiegoMusicAwards.com

2019 San Diego Music Awards Nominees

Album of the Year Nominees Best Singer / Songwriter Evan Diamond Jessica Lerner Missy Alcazar Jimmy Ruelas Nina Francis Sarah Rogo Shane Hall

Best Jazz

Ed Kornhauser Erika Davies Euphoria Brass Band Sue Palmer & Her Motel Swing Orchestra Gilbert Castellanos Joshua White Nathan Hubbard

Best Jazz Album

Christopher Hollyday - Telepathy Danny Green Trio Plus Strings One Day It Will Ira B. Liss Big Band Jazz Machine - Tasty Tunes Joe Garrison - The Broken Jar Mattson 2 - A Love Supreme Montalban Quintet - Under the River Peter Sprague String Trio Samba Andaluza

Best Blues

Bill Magee Blues Band Casey Hensley Box Car Chief Low Volts Mercedes Moore Robin Henkel Stephanie Brown & The Surrealistics

2019 San Diego Music Awards

EARTHLESS Black Heaven

HOT SNAKES Jericho Sirens

Best Blues Album

Black Market III - Dashboard Jesus Blue Largo Before The Devil Steals Your Soul Low Volts - Roam With You S. Mathias - Boxcar Road Sue Palmer - Gems Vol. 1 The Wayne Riker Trio - Blues Breakout Whitney Shay A Woman Rules The World

Best Country or Americana

Blind Mountain Holler Enter The Blue Sky Nancarrow Nathan Raney Sara Petite Stephen El Rey Trouble in the Wind

Best Country or Americana Album

Barbwire - Long Hard Ride Berkley Hart While the Night is Still Young Jonny Wagon and the Tennessee Sons Feels Good To Be Alive Nitro Express - Country Style Shakedown String Band In the Key of OB The Color Forty Nine - s/t Trouble In The Wind - Hammer On

JASON MRAZ Know

Best Hip Hop/Rap

Bloodstone Direkt Message DJ PNutz DND & Rick B Parker Meridian The Microphone Doctors Vokab Company

Best Hip Hop/ Rap Album

Def Shon - Preppin’ My Time Machine DreCat - Made in Daygo ill Nicky - Alto Parker Meridien Twentyfirst Street Sessions Riston Diggs - Supreme Confidence Rob $tone - Young Rob $tone Tulengua - Baja Funk

Best Indie/Alternative Ariel Levine Aviator Stash Coral Bells Dead Feather Moon Imagery Machine The Bassics Wild Wild Wets

Best Indie/ Alternative Album

Nights Like Thieves Sophomore Slump The Frights - hypochondriac The Gift Machine - New Tangles The Gloomies - Romance The Silent Comedy - Enemies Multiply The Verigolds - Sea of Zebras Warsaw - Wires

O F F I C I A L

P R O G R A M

2019 San Diego Music Awards Nominees

PETER SPRAGUE & RANDY PHILLIPS Sparks and Seeds

P.O.D. Circles

PLANET B Planet B

SLIGHTLY STOOPID Everyday Life Everyday People

Best Pop

Best World Music

Best New Artist

Best Pop Album

Best World Music Album

Artist of the Year

Birdy Bardot Creature Canyon Dani Bell & the Tarantist Jara The Mittens Tori Roze & The Hot Mess Well Well Well Becca Jay - Queen of Hearts EP Corina Rose - Our Love is Freedom Daytrip - s/t Lee Coulter - Earthlee Pocket Hole - Marine Layer EP Tory Roze & the Hot Mess Baggage Claim Veronica May - Teaser

Best Rock

Great Electric Quest The Routine Schizophonics Taken by Canadians The Oxen The Slashes The Strawberry Moons

Best Rock Album

Bad Kids - Pensive Creature Canyon - Did You Want That Electric Mud - Highway Refugees Stone Horse - Gotta Get Back The Donkeys - Sun Damaged Youth The Farmers - Farmers SD The Frets - Blur EP

O F F I C I A L

P R O G R A M

B-Side Players Bi-National Mambo Orchestra Hirie Psydecar Tribal Seeds Split Finger Tribal Theory Boostive - Fried Neck Bones Crucial Blend - Enough Already Fluid Foundation - Sloo Ryde Marujah - Bad Hombres Live at Brandos Paradise Yale Strom’s Broken Consort Shimmering Lights, Hanukkah Music The Camarada Tango Quintet Tango San Diego The Amalgamated - Premium Quality

Best Local Recording

Forest Grove - s/t MC Flow - Her Highness Spice Pistols - Life’s A Drag Finnegan Blue - s/t Dirty Pennies - s/t The Havnauts - Go For It! The Tighten Ups - Tighten It Up

Best Live Performer

Schizophonics Sully & the Souljahs The Creepy Creeps The Redwoods Collective Sure Fire Soul Ensemble The Sleepwalkers Whitney Shay

Babydoll Warriors Julia Sage & The Bad Hombres Miss New Buddah Pocket Hole The Color Forty Nine The Havnauts Tularosa Hot Snakes Jason Mraz P.O.D. Redwoods Revue Slightly Stoopid The Frights Whitney Shay

Song of the Year

Earthless – Gifted By The Wind Hot Snakes – Six Wave Hold Down Jason Mraz - Have It All P.O.D. - Listening for the Silence Slightly Stoopid - Too Late (Stick Figure Remix) The Frights - Over It The Petty Saints – Troublemaker

Album of the Year

Earthless - Black Heaven Hot Snakes - Jericho Sirens Jason Mraz - Know Peter Sprague & Randy Phillips - Sparks and Seeds P.O.D. - Circles Planet B - s/t Slightly Stoopid - Everyday Life Everyday People

2019 San Diego Music Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award

“Java�Joe Flammini

2019 San Diego Music Awards

O F F I C I A L

P R O G R A M

CULTURE | FILM

Birds of Passage

Up in smoke

M

ost gangster films follow the same rise-and-fall arc: young enterprising criminals make a name for themselves by killing their way to the top.

What differentiates the narrative is its specific time and setting. Birds of Passage takes place between the 1960s and 1980s in Guajira, a desert region of Northern Colombia populated by the indigenous Wayúu people, whose economy and culture is closely tied with music and tradition.

Co-directors Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego express this overlap in the film’s colorful and celebratory opening moments. Surrounded by family and friends, Zaida (Natalia Reyes) participates in a ritual that represents her transition to womanhood. Rapayet (José Acosta) is instantly smitten and vows to raise capital to cover the hefty dowry demanded by Úrsula (Carmiña Martínez), the clan’s tiger of a matriarch.

He achieves this lofty goal by trafficking large amounts of marijuana for American Peace Corps members in the area spreading anti-communist propaganda. From these humble beginnings grows a successful drug empire that breeds guilt, greed and extreme violence.

The use of vibrant color schemes and surreal imagery in Birds of Passage marks a stylistic and tonal shift from Guerra’s previous film, Embrace of the Serpent, a rigorously stark black-and-white historical epic set in the Amazon. What connects them both is their massive scope: Each narrative seamlessly spans decades of time, calling attention to the subtle degradations of community and culture under the looming pressures of colonialism.

Birds of Passage (opening Friday, March 8 at Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas) clocks in at just over two hours yet feels rushed and incomplete. All of the gangster film tropes and archetypes are present (assassinations, betrayals), but the characters themselves are simply defined by redundant motivations.

For comparison, Anurag Kashy-

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ap’s Indian masterpiece, Gangs of Wasseypur, covers similar territory over the course of five-plus hours, giving it the space to explore complex tensions between capitalism and tradition in deeper ways.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

OPENING Birds of Passage: Gangster film set in northern Colombia about a warring family who are trying to control the marijuana trade in the 1960s and ’70s. Opens Friday, March 8, at Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas and Angelika Film Centers Carmel Mountain.

Captain Marvel: Brie Larson stars as Carol Danvers, the fighter pilot-turned-superhero who helps save the world from a galactic war between alien races in the 1980s.

Opens in wide release, Friday, March 8.

Woman at War: In this Icelandic drama, a woman named Hanna risks it all to fight the local aluminum company from ruining the environment with pollution and waste.

Opens Friday, March 8, at the Landmark Ken Cinema.

ONE TIME ONLY Tommy Boy: Chris Farley plays a wealthy man-child forced to grow up and run the family brake pad business after his father dies of a heart attack. Screens at 8 p.m.

Wednesday, March 6, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

The Favourite: Olivia Colman (fresh off her surprise Oscar win) stars as Queen Anne, the royal figurehead caught between rival backstabbing subjects in 18th century Britain. Screens at 8 p.m. Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9, at Cinema Under the Stars.

Annie Hall: A New York comedian (Woody Allen) falls in love with a quirky woman (Diane Keaton) only to find his assumptions about love and relationships turned upside down. Screens at 7:30 p.m.

Monday, March 11, at the Arclight La Jolla Cinemas.

Thelma and Louise: Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon are on the run after killing a man in self-defense during an attempted rape. At 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

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

MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 19

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

CULTURE | ART

“Rhapsody I3,” “Rhapsody C6” and “Rhapsody C1” from Music in the Key of Blue by Jim Machacek

hese days, longtime San Diego artist Jim Machacek will most likely be found in his Normal Heights studio.

Ever since he retired from a 30-year career teaching art at San Diego Mesa College, he wakes up at 7 a.m., takes his dog for a walk and, armed with a cup of coffee, begins working on his art.

When he needs a break, he tends to his garden. This helps him relax, he explains.

“I have been noticing I use the same principles of space and composition [in my garden] that I use in my art-making,” he says. “I think it satisfies some of the same needs.”

Machacek spent a good part of the past three years in his studio. During that time, he has married paper with ink, paint and a myriad of other media to give life to his upcoming exhibition, Music in the Key of Blue, which opens March 15 at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla (ljathenaeum.org).

The artist considers paper an extension of himself, and in talking about it, he uses a tone that is nothing short of poetic.

“I love paper and all of its possibilities,” he says. “Its flat expanses invite all manner of endeavors: crisp lines of graphite, soft smudges of charcoal, lyrical swaths of ink and pigment.”

“So, I make all kinds of plates and print on it... intaglios, monotypes and reliefs,” he continues. “Its suppleness demands to be embossed… Sometimes paper has a masochistic side and cries out to be cut, pierced, folded, torn and sewn.”

Now 73, Machacek is so absorbed and enamored with his work and the materials he

20 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

uses that it’s almost impossible to imagine him in a different context. Still, the former professor explains that he was born with a pen in his hand rather than a brush. He says he discovered art along the way, pushed partly by stress and partly by a desire to redefine his priorities.

“I never took art classes in high school. It never seemed like a thing to do. My first degree is in journalism,” Machacek says. “In the ’70s, I was an advertising copywriter in Chicago. But the glamor of advertising wore off in about three years. Deadlines never ended. Creativity was sometimes stifled by legal editors, corporate execs, even the clients, at times. I was drinking too many gin and tonics.”

Exhausted by the redundancy of his incessant routine, he decided to take on evening classes at a local college. When he wasn’t writing, he was studying and falling in love with the artists and the techniques and artists that would influence him later on: Henri Matisse, Jasper Jones; collage and printmaking.

As the weeks turned into months, Machacek realized that life as an artist was, after all, “a thing to do.” It was an achievable prospect. He vividly remembers the moment he finally reached the limit and decided to switch gears.

“I decided to become a full-time student,” Machacek says. “It was the first week of January, 1974, and the decision was made easier when I found out my creative team supervisor had been taking credit for my ideas.”

“I never thought I would be an artist. I never intended to be,” he insists. “But I fell JEROME AMMER in love with it, and I never stopped.”

Machacek has always embraced and nurtured this evolving nature, and the fact he developed an interest for music, eventually choosing to incorporate the new element into his work, is a testament of that. However, he makes sure to explain that visual art is and will always be his first passion.

“I am not sure I have a passion for music, but I’ve always been intrigued Jim Machacek by music. I’ve always thought about music,” he says. “I guess I look at things from an art point of view. About 12 years ago, I started thinking, ‘What would music look like… if it could look?’”

“So, I started experimenting in a few of my pieces over the years,” he continues.

“When I listen to a song now, I think, ‘Well, it looks like this, so that’s going to be a major piece.’ [George] Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue has always been one of my favorite musical pieces. I downloaded it, and I just played it

while I sat there at my desk. First, I drew, then I painted. So, I listened to music to get inspired. I played it and painted along, too.”

And to the sound of Rhapsody in Blue, Machacek created 70 mixed-media pieces that he affectionately calls “painterly prints.” These are yet another proof of his perpetual wishes to transform and develop.

He explains he borrowed the term from a 1980 Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition of monotypes, and that gave him the idea of using printmaking in a softer, more liquid way, and one that would create something similar to a painting. The 70 prints will be displayed at the opening of Music in the Key of Blue while Jim’s friend, pianist Alex Davis, plays selections from Rhapsody in Blue and other “blue” songs on a grand piano.

Still, Machacek says his most recent efforts didn’t start as a synesthetic experience.

Indeed, despite often drawing and painting while listening to music, the artist doesn’t exactly see colors through musical notes. As he worked to put together Music in the Key of Blue, he says he used his imagination to create pieces that would flow with the notes. He pushed colors to follow the rhythm perceived by his ears, and the mixed media were a tool for that.

His colors simply danced with the music.

“I don’t really see music. I don’t see it that way. I just thought it was an interesting concept,” he says. “The first project I was working on… It was music from [the opera] Carmen, and I thought, ‘What would this look like if it was hanging in the air?’ That’s how the concept got started. But I don’t see it. I just imagine things. I am not really trying to copy something that I see in my mind.”

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I

remember it like it was yesterday. Fifteen years ago, I walked into The Casbah hoping to oh-socasually run into then-CityBeat music editor Troy Johnson. I had a feeling he might be there since he had plugged the show on his local TV show, Fox Rox. This was long before the days of social media so a little in-person networking (read: stalking) was sometimes necessary for young, aspiring music writers such as myself.

He did end up being there so I walked up to him with the confidence of a mediocre music writer (which I totally was) who thought his shit never stank and came right out with it.

“I want to write about music for CityBeat,” I told Troy. He replied with something along the lines of oh, well, we’re not really looking or we’re not really hiring right now, but I was relentless. I had more than a few Arrogant Bastards in me at that point. How apropos considering I probably came across like an arrogant bastard.

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“No, you need to let me write something,” I maintained. He smiled and laughed and explained to me that CityBeat was going to be trying out a new concept for an upcoming special issue. Something that, as far as he knew, had never been attempted at any other weekly: They were going to devote an entire issue to local music. What’s more, they were going to devote an entire section to reviewing any album or demo that was submitted to them. Simply put: If it was local music, they would review it.

“If you want to write some reviews, we’ll see how you do and maybe you can do some more stuff,” Troy said.

I walked out that night feeling like Bogie at the end of Casablanca. Not only was it the beginning of beautiful friendship between Troy and myself, but here I am, years later, in the editor’s chair, overseeing the 15th Local Music Issue. Even now, this issue has never ceased to be a massive undertaking. Whereas we once called the music review portion of the issue the “Great Demo Review,” we changed it last year to simply be

called “The Local Music Review.” At the end of the day, the word “demo” never full encapsulated the variety of submissions we’d get. And as always, we had a few submissions that really stood out to us and we dubbed them “ExtraSpecialGood.”

We only received 77 submissions last year, which was a little scary, but I’m happy to report we received nearly 120 this year (almost a new record). As has always been the case with this issue, the review process was completely luck of the draw. Whereas I have historically been much more critical, other writers such as Ben Salmon and Lauren Kershner almost always find a silver lining.

For the artists who had their work reviewed by someone like me or, perhaps, Jackie Bryant or Ombretta Di Dio, I hope they take our criticisms as constructively as possible. After all, just as I walked into The Casbah 15 years ago to try to talk a music editor into letting me write for him, we all have to start somewhere.

—Seth Combs

MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 21

22 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

@SDCITYBEAT

EMILIANO LEDEZMA

T H E C U LT O F

E U TUL NG A The cross-border, bilingual, bi-national and multi-racial hip-hop trio are the band San Diego needs now

By SETH COMBS

O

f the many inside jokes and clever asides Amari Jordan and Alan Lilienthal share, there is one that repeats throughout our interview at a South Park coffee shop.

“He made me join a cult,” says Jordan, pointing to Lilienthal. “I always tell people, this is a cult and I was brainwashed or something. He put something in my drink.”

“That must have been a strong drink if it’s still working,” Lilienthal jokes in response.

Jordan just snaps back, as only two people with a deep musical connection could understand.

“Yeah, he’s definitely a cult leader. I’ll swear to that shit ’til the day I die.”

The “cult” in this instance is Tulengua (tulengua.mx), the bi-national, cross-border, bilingual and multi-racial hip-hop trio made up of Jordan (aka La Reina Negra), Lilienthal (aka alan lili) and Jaime Mora (aka Jimmy, aka Jimmy.thevillain).

In the little over a year the group has been together, the trio has established a solid fan base not only for their music, but also for their outspokenness and support of progressive issues especially when it comes to the border. Their debut album, Baja Funk, received a lot of attention for the group’s decision to donate all profits from album streams to Border Angels, a migrant’s rights nonprofit. The group even collaborated with the nonprofit for the video and single, “Selva.”

“The idea for the group was always to have people from both sides of the most-crossed border in the world,” says Lilienthal. “To me, we’re going through this period of both bor-

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Amari Jordan, Alan Lilienthal and Jaime Mora ders melting because of globalization, but also nationalism is on the rise. So I was like, OK, we can be an example of this community—this higher unity that represents a borderless idea and that I think is good for our region. Music is the universal language, and as idealistic as that sounds, I genuinely believe that music can do that.”

This makes sense considering Lilienthal’s own cultural background. Originally from Mexico City, his family moved to San Diego when he was still a boy. He played in a number of local bands growing up, but says he had a restless, revolutionary spirit. When he was 21, a friend in New York City told Lilienthal about the Occupy Wall Street movement. He says he hopped on a Greyhound bus to New York the next day. After New York and a stint in the Bay Area, Lilienthal bounced around Europe trying to find his purpose before San Diego and Tijuana began calling him back.

“For some reason while I was [in Europe], Tijuana started really pulling me,” Lilienthal says. “It was like something about going back to where my great-grandparents came from, finding this sense of roots, and figuring out who I was… I really wanted to use what I’m good at to be able to help in my hometown: San Diego and Tijuana.”

Around the same time, Jordan was doing her own searching. She grew up almost entirely in San Diego and was working on a solo career as an MC before she met Lilienthal at a Wu-Tang-themed rap battle in Barrio Logan. She says the idea of joining a group, one that stood for something, was immediately appealing.

“I was looking for something in my music that was a call to action,” Jordan remembers. “When Tulengua came around, I thought that’s dope that someone’s doing that… I realized at the time I met [Lilienthal] was that I was looking for something that was going to give more of a wake-up call to everybody about some of the more serious things going on, especially in our community. I’m here and I’ve been here my whole life basically, so those are things that impact me too.”

For Lilienthal, seeing Jordan rap that night in Barrio Logan was just as much of wake-up call.

“I went to go see my friend Ric Scales battle, because he always wins,” Lilienthal recalls. “So I show up and the first round is Ric and Amari. And Amari goes first and as soon as she finishes I turned to my friend and was like, ‘Holy shit, Ric is gonna lose. Who is this person?’”

The feeling was similar when Lilienthal discovered Jaime Mora’s music two days later while searching the hashtag #Tijuana on the music-streaming platform Soundcloud.

“I reached out to him and was like, ‘Hey man, I love your beats, let’s make music together’ and he was like, ‘I don’t have a car, but if you want to come to Rosarito, I’m here,’” remembers Lilienthal “I was like, ‘OK, I’m coming.’ I’m sure he thought, ‘Yeah, sure. Some guy from San Diego who found me on SoundCloud,’ but I showed up to his house the next day and immediately it was a kind of brotherhood.”

The familial vibe was completed when all three began rehearsing together. One of the more unique elements of Tulengua is that, despite Jordan’s teasing of Lilienthal that he is a cult leader, the group does seem to have a musical democracy. Each member contributes beats, instrumentation and feedback while Jordan raps in English and Lilienthal rotates between Spanish and English. Mora has recently started contributing vocals as well, such as singing the hooks and chorus on the group’s new single, “Real.”

“We’re a young band. We’re just finding our flow. I think we’re just finding what works with us,” says Lilienthal. “It’s very collaborative now and the music is way cooler… All three of us make music, all three of us play instruments and all three of us make awesome beats.”

Another element that makes Tulengua unique to the scene might be how the group is incidentally breaking down ethnic and racial stereotypes as well. For example, one might see Lilienthal on the street and think that he’s not Mexican because of his fair skin (“most people think I’m Arabic,” he says). He acknowledges that people are often shocked when he starts to rap in Spanish at the group’s live shows.

“It’s more important than ever, because of all of Trump’s shit,” says Lilienthal. “People have a very narrow idea of what a Mexican looks like. Mexico is just as diverse as America.”

“When he starts rapping in Spanish, even if the crowd doesn’t speak Spanish, it’s like they really want to know what he’s saying,” agrees Jordan, who also surprises audiences when she plays electric guitar during Tulengua’s live shows. “And then when we perform in Mexico, even if they don’t understand me, they’re so supportive. Everyone is connecting and you can see the people you touch.”

The group plans on dropping new singles throughout the year until they drop another album, possibly in the summer, which Lilienthal says may break from the group’s more oldschool hip-hop sound.

“It’s definitely not classic hip-hop and it might turn some people off, because it goes into more modern territory,” Lilienthal says. “Sometimes it goes into a little more metal, like metal beats and distorted guitars. You know, it’s just a little weirder.”

“You see, there he goes culting,” says Jordan.

“We can be the first cross-border cult,” Lilienthal says, laughing. “As long as we do positive things, I’m down with it being called a cult.”

Tulengua performs March 9 at the grand opening of Sleep Bedder’s new North Park boutique, Sommeil, as well as March 16 at Jolt ‘n’ Joe’s in the Gaslamp.

MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 23

LIZETH SANTOS

Rafter Roberts icture shimmering hi-hats from a vintage drum machine. Luminescent organs bubbling like a jet in a jacuzzi. Over this gentle, lo-fi backdrop, Rafter Roberts coos a lullaby of modern anxiety: “The few hours you have / Slip away from you / You can’t make it last / The hours pass.”

The song is “Scalability Anxiety,” and it comes off Rafter’s new album, Rhythm Box. The blissful atmosphere and resigned lyrics speak to the realities of life in a society dominated by career goals, family expectations and digital algorithms. If Malcolm Gladwell once wrote that it takes 10 years to master your craft, it’s also true that it gets harder to start achieving your dreams the older you get.

With his latest project, though, Rafter stares mortality in the face and declares: fuck you!

Rhythm Box is the first of 12(!) fulllength albums that Rafter (who performs under his first name) plans to release over the next 12 months. Coming out on Rad Lazer—the label co-owned by him and wife Lizeth Santos—this massive body of work is the end result of a seemingly impossible task he took on at the beginning of 2016: to write and record an entire album each month for a year.

“It was an absurd challenge. I didn’t even expect myself to be able to keep up.

But as I did it and as I kept the momentum,

24 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

it was—and still is—thrilling,” Rafter says, sitting in a corner booth at Black Cat Bar, a couple blocks from the church-turned-studio space he shares with Santos and their teenage son in City Heights.

“For me, one of the major themes of being a young person in the world was trying to figure out if I was superhuman. And if so, how? Were there bounds to it?” he adds.

“Most artists might make three to five albums in their lifetime. And major artists might make 10 to 30. I just felt like, what do I believe in? Can I believe in an unlimited potential and capacity?”

At the age of 43, Rafter is no spring chicken, but he’s got little to feel anxious about when it comes to his successful career. He’s worked with major artists like Sufjan Stevens and released albums that plumb everything from talk-box funk to black-metal to dub reggae. Though he hasn’t made much money on his solo endeavors (“I make hundreds of dollars every decade!” he jokes), he has secured a nest egg by writing music for TV commercials and brands.

Still, like all of us, Rafter is only human.

When we meet, he looks pale and exhausted as he nurses a pint of extra-smelly IPA. His dog recently passed away, and the whole family is in mourning.

Meanwhile, the world is moving faster.

The gates of technology have let loose a Biblical flood of information and data, to the point where it can feel like nothing is

sacred or new anymore. For example, when Rafter brings up the topic of punk and experimental noise, he says he’s bored with it all. Whereas artists like the Sex Pistols and Japanese noise-monger Merzbow used to sound rebellious and liberating to him, now there are a million others just like them, playing the same old thing.

“The rebellion that jazz came from, the rebellion that rock came from, the rebellion that punk came from, even the rebellion that pure fucking hellish noise came from is all so established and rote and conservative at this point,” Rafter says, referring to Merzbow. “Which is really rough, because when you want that intense rebel spirit of punk and freedom and exploration and actual chaos… like, I know what I’m going to hear when I listen to a Merzbow record. It’s almost like turning on fucking Dolly Parton!”

Not everybody would agree that the best answer to this existential dilemma is an epic mp3 data dump. But there’s a lot to love about Rafter’s album-a-month goal.

He wrote the songs in between his advertising gigs. Holed up in a studio workspace dubbed the Dream Hut, he’d take up an idea or specific set of instruments and push himself to work quickly and move forward.

“I just developed a habit of, like, ‘OK, well, that’s sent off to this client, so now I’m going to switch over to this record,” he says. “I think it’s up to 14 [albums] right

now. But by the time it’s been 14 months, I probably will have written at least, like, six or seven more.”

The albums set to come out this year are gleeful pop nuggets run through a kaleidoscope of experimental ideas. Rhythm Box is an opus to the strangeness and struggles of daily life, cast in the lo-fi warmth of vintage organs and old-timey drum machines.

Persuasion summons catchy melodies from a bevy of gongs, chimes, xylophones and snares. Alder Vaults offers up sweet ballads made from what Rafter calls a “big weird wall of blinking lights and wires.”

Everyone has the things they do to feel young, important, immortal. For Rafter, it’s chasing down these endless rabbit holes.

Lucky for us, he usually comes back with something beautiful and inspired.

“I mean, you can make a record out of anything. I think that’s the thing about art that feels profound: It really is boundless,” Rafter says. “There aren’t rules. Everything else in life, there are. You have to treat the ones you love with care and kindness, or else you’ll have consequences from that.

You have to do a decent job at your work, or else you’ll run out of money. But art? You can make a thing and then set it on fire, and shit on it, and then put gold and diamonds all over it, and microwave it again and again on high for three days, and that’s OK. That’s art, and that’s beautiful. Nothing else in life has that freedom to it.”

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MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 25

Above Borders

“It Feels Like” and “My Mind” The name is a little cheesy but I appreciate the sentiment. Putting that aside, Above Borders seems like a hard rock band that might be better live than their recorded songs. Distorted guitar and bass and thumping drums come together well, but the vocals seem a bit strained, like the singer is halfway between screaming and singing. Go full scream! soundcloud.com/user-394339443

—Jackie Bryant

Albatross Overdrive

“Ascendant” Good old fashioned butt-rock with a sludgy edge. Best taken with three shots of bourbon and a case of the clap. albatrossoverdrive. com

—Peter Holslin

Amon

“Paid Off” Amon has been building buzz over the past few years with fine projects like The Other Side and The Lost Files. His latest endeavor is a striking video for “Paid Off,” a compact three-minute banger that sets his versatile flow against what sounds like a vintage soul sample that has been sliced and diced almost beyond recognition. Amon’s voice is compelling whether he’s rhyming at a mile a minute or stretching out the song’s aspi-

26 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

rational hook: “I got schemes to make my dreams go off.” amonrahh.com

—Ben Salmon

Aviator Stash

Prescribed Aviator Stash’s band bio vaguely cites “a wide variety of influences.” This is very true.

I was sonically pinballed from singalong bar anthems to ’50s high school slow dance songs. Then, the entire album ended with a sharp left turn into a synth-heavy ’80s jam.

Wrapped in a bright, quirky package of colorful choruses, Prescribed has the remedy for a multitude of musical cravings. aviatorstash.bandcamp.com

—Lauren Kershner

The Backstage Poets

“Sunday Girl” and “Can’t Explain” The kind of music that makes me question all logic and reason, as well as the existence of music in general. You know that sound a Keurig coffee machine makes when it’s pretty much done and it lets out that one last gurgley spit of mostly water for good measure? That sounds better than this band.

“Sunday Girl” is basically a generic Beatles rip-off that sounds as if it were produced for the sole purpose of selling it to a “Retire in Florida” ad campaign. The lyrics for “Can’t Explain” are so pedestrian they make The Who’s “I Can’t Explain” look like Nabakov.

There’s a guitar solo. Wait, there’s two guitar solos. Cool beans. Kill me now. reverbnation. com/bacrstagepoets

—Seth Combs

baji

“Bungry” The artist known only as baji is a guitar player by trade, but more recently has been producing hip-hop and electronic music.

“Bungry” isn’t so much a single track as it is a mini-mixtape of sorts, clocking in at nearly 10 minutes long. There are lots of cool sounds here—softly glowing synths, skull-shuddering bass, sturdy beats, an Artifacts sample—but they come and go so quickly that it’s hard to ever get attached.

Hopefully baji will take a few of his best ideas and expand on them. soundcloud. com/bajibajibaji

—Ben Salmon

Dominico Andretti feat. J. Lisk

“Losing Control” Overly dramatic club-rap anthem that sounds like something Turquoise Jeep would parody. The DJ Snake-esque synth hooks seem designed to maximize hit potential. But actually, it just sounds desperate. soundcloud.com/dominicoandretti

—Peter Holslin

Andrew Barrack

4 Songs Andrew Barrack’s voice is a pleasant surprise. As soon as it floats through my headphones, I realize how ill-prepared I am to have my ears flooded with such sweet strains of Bruno Mars-esque soul with a silk-smooth falsetto. Teetering between rhythmic funk and sultry pop-rock, the first three singles are dangerously danceable. songwhip.com/ artist/andrew-barrack

—Lauren Kershner

Beast Alchemy

Potions II Well-rounded electronic album with moody builds, turntable scratching, Ethiopian vocal samples and a wide variety of peaks and valleys that keep me listening even when I think I’m about to get bored. Some of the synth and drum sounds are a bit on the generic side, and the endless traversing between styles gets a bit schizophrenic, but it ain’t bad. soundcloud.com/beast-alchemy

—Peter Holslin

Beduwiin

Lonely at the Club With an album called Lonely at the Club, a few things are required. Beats? Yes. Auto-tune?

Yep. A song called (all caps), “GOIN CRAZY?”

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MUSIC REVIEWS CONT’D FROM PAGE 26 Check! The rapping is decent enough, even with the auto-tune, but it feels like this album has been done before. Like, many, many times before. soundcloud.com/beduwiin

—Jackie Bryant

Belladon

“Carnival” This song makes me think a crazy creepy clown is going to sneak up behind me and kill me. But wait, “Carnival” is actually about a woman realizing she’s being toyed around with by a fuck boi (you go, girl!). Although I enjoyed the overall message of the song, of all the breakup songs in this world, this one’s not for me. belladon.bandcamp.com

watching Friends (this is a Seinfeld office) [Edit note: Friends is trash. Childish trash.

–S.C.]. There’s an episode where Ross fancies himself a musician and plays his “sound” for everyone at the coffee shop. It’s really just a bunch of random sounds from a keyboard and not really good. In Formation is kind of like that but with the added bonus of strange lyrics. bonsoir.bandcamp.com

—Andrea Lopez-Villafaña CHAD AND LINDSEY TUTHILL

—Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

E X TR A S P E C I A LG O O D

Demo #1 I really struggled to get through this album and not because I don’t enjoy punk, but because of the fuzzy sounds that overwhelm the lyrics. I kept checking if my headphones were broken but no, it’s the production. bidingtime.bandcamp.com

The Beautiful State

Visitors There’s something simultaneously novel and familiar about The Beautiful State’s brand of hip-hop. The vocal delivery is a mix of Eminem’s confidence, Snoop’s swagger, and a beachside slam poet, but the samples are what makes Visitors wild. It’s not every day that you hear Pretty Girls Make Graves sampled in a rap song. Same goes for Ben Folds Five’s “Brick” and Modest Mouse’s “The World At Large.” Given the melancholy nature of these songs, it goes without saying The Beautiful State’s music leans toward the sad side, and probably not the type of bangers that would light up a house party, but the craftsmanship is stunning enough to warrant a solid party for one. thebeautifulstate.bandcamp.com

—Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

Bleach

Thank You, Thomas EP Sinister, steamy rap perfect for when you’re about to hook up with a supermodel or offload a kilo of blow, whichever comes first. soundcloud.com/birdybleach

—Peter Holslin

Body Salt

Dark Seed Bright Bloom This sounds like a Jason Mraz-style, fitted cap-wearing troubadour bro who ditched the coffeeshop for the nightclub. Duo Ezekiel Morphis and Jonathon Bruhin offer honeyed croons about desire and lovesickness over industrial-strength EDM synths and bashingand-booming drums. It’s hard to imagine this really taking off without some stronger hooks and better songwriting, but it’s honestly kind of interesting. soundcloud.com/user-760807315

—Peter Holslin

The Boomsta

Easily Diggable Inquiries About the Galaxy This album is, in a word, fun. It’s impossible not to start wiggling just seconds into hearing the opening track (“The Forest”), but the rest of the album meanders through different electro styles, while remaining eminently danceable the entire time. The vocals rely on Fever Ray-esque auto-tuning and shine best on songs like “Getting an Early Start.”

Still, they could have done away with the vocals entirely on other songs in favor of beats only. theboomsta.bandcamp.com

Bonsoir

—Jackie Bryant

In Formation Unlike everyone here at CityBeat, I enjoy

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—Ryan Bradford

Boxcar Chief

Hitchhikers and Tagalongs Boxcar Chief strikes a squarely Americana jam sound that sounds like Gov’t Mule, the Allman Brothers and The Black Crowes met at an intersection at 10 miles an hour (after all, they were all stoned). It’s solid rock that, not so long ago, might have had the band ticketed for big things. Solid songwriting, strong genre-appropriate vocals, a dose of attitude and decent chops make for an album I’ll be listening to long after this issue is off the stands and the paper’s turned yellow. facebook.com/boxcarchief

Brooklyn G

—Michael Gardiner

Demo Brooklyn G’s trip-hop sound is introspective and delicate. It stays in the background and subtly whispers truths that may either come from a therapy session or from a psychotic episode. There’s a certain terrifying, sexual element in that murky voice that begs for

—Ombretta Di Dio

Tim Brown

Oh My and North of North Just like so many men before him did, Tim Brown has a guitar and a lot of things to say.

Things that have to do with girls, loneliness and seasons. And sure, Tim Brown is no Jackson Browne or Cat Stevens, but he still deserves some credit for trying to express those universal feelings. North of North is a bit rawer than Oh My. Probably because it came out some 15 years before Brown’s second album. But in those 15 years, Tim hasn’t changed much. Wherever “north of north” is on the map, it certainly is a place crowded with guitars and girls and loneliness and seasons. timbrownmusic.com

Biding Time

attention. Too bad this demo only contains three tracks.

same thing goes for Cola James’ “Black & White.” The new project from former Verigolds frontwoman Jenna Cotton, this song is pretty catchy and it grew on me. I could see this playing in a soundtrack to a movie about badass chicks kicking butt. instagram. com/colajames_

—Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

—Ombretta Di Dio

Kimmi Bitter

West Side Twang EP I listened to this immediately after reviewing Kimmi Bitter’s ’70s rock outfit, The Night Howls. In her solo project, she sounds like a completely different artist. From the first line of Western-drawled notes backed by twangy slide guitar, all I can think is how this chick is really versatile. She glides effortlessly from Janis Joplin powerhouse vocals to smooth Patsy Cline stylings. It’s a little too ’60s country jukebox-ey for me, but one thing is for certain: Whatever Kimmi Bitter does, she does it well. soundcloud. com/kimmibitter

E X TR A S P E C I A LG O O D Blankouts

Out Of Place EP Blankouts like to play coy on the internet, filling their social media with show flyers, abstract art and the occasional candid photo that gives us a glimpse at the band (or is it just one guy?).

There are no names, no band bios, no descriptions. In a way, this enigmatic presence aligns nicely with Blankouts’ sound, a blurry blend of bouncing bass lines, fuzzy guitars and vocals mostly sighed and mumbled. Those are some of the hallmarks of great indie rock, and Blankouts also sound like a band that has a Modest Mouse record or two on the shelf. But what makes Out Of Place great is that, as inscrutable as these songs may initially seem, they’re also little multi-part journeys. They reveal themselves across repeated listens before opening up into the sunshine melody of “Never Better,” the album’s closer. “Everything feels so uncertain now,” the singer slurs in “Hologram,” one of the Out Of Place’s modest peaks.

“Everything feels like it’s falling down.”

Ain’t that the truth. blankouts.bandcamp.com

—Lauren Kershner

Brent Hollingworth

“Treat Her Right” “You don’t treat her right / so I will”—ain’t no fucking around with this classic ’80s boogie funk. This band’s sex jam comes complete with synth washes and a wicked talk-box solo. Dam-Funk has a much more tender touch, but I appreciate the willingness to commit all the way. soundcloud.com/brenthollingworth

—Peter Holslin

Calculon, Neve & Jaybee

“Leads” and “Comfort Zone” A very British-sounding slab of dub-inflected drum ‘n’ bass. “Leads” has some nice sculpted bass and a little snap in the snare, while old-school ravers will dig the hardcore hoover accents and pulsating vocal samples of “Comfort Zone.” The sound effects are a little too late ’90s sounding, and it could be a bit more soulful, but I’m sure this sounds good on molly. soundcloud.com/calculon

Cola James

—Ben Salmon

The Colour Monday

—Peter Holslin

“Black & White” This kind of thing always happens to me.

I don’t really care for electronic music but then I’ll watch the music video, which usually involves a lot of cool dancing, and just like that, I have the song on repeat. The

4 songs This is easy-listening music that struggles to find its way. While it’s clear there are talented musicians within the band’s ranks, it seems as if each band member is playing to a different genre while hiding under the “psychedelic” umbrella. I’m most distracted by the vocals, though. It’s like every time a pretty, meandering guitar riff tries to fight its way through, it’s covered up by a flat

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sum of the words in the titles outnumber the quantity of lyrics I can decipher collectively from the four tracks. The riotous punk vocals are often washed out by strains of static-y guitar and clanging drums, which is perfect for angsty headbanging, but not for singing along. figcourt.bandcamp.com

MUSIC REVIEWS CONT’D FROM PAGE 27 voice and forgettable lyrics. soundcloud. com/thecolourmonday

—Jackie Bryant

COMMANDc

Demo If COMMANDc were a season, they would most certainly be an extremely cold winter.

The four algid tracks on their first demo are heavy on synths, conservative with lyrics and designed to appeal to the most sentimental and patient among us. Mike Turi is behind this project, but the music here stands more than a few steps away from Wild Wild Wets. commandc.bandcamp.com

Final Path

—Ombretta Di Dio

Dre Trav x Tall,Drk

Come Alive Now EP These youngsters play a nice little combo of ’00s emo-pop and early Elvis Costello. The songs are catchy, but they need to move beyond the reggae-inspired guitar and stick to their pop-punk strengths (“Lucky Penny”) and earnest balladry (“Stalemate”). soundcloud.com/daytripsd —Seth Combs

Free & Untethered I’m not a huge fan of country or bluegrass, but I respect Levi Dean and The Americats for their purity. By that, I mean they don’t try to commercialize or popify their music like the majority of what gets played on country radio. There’s also a carefree spirit to these songs, which makes us feel as if we’ve stepped inside a small-town honkytonk where the bartender pours doubles for the price of singles. levidean.com —Ryan Bradford

Dive Vibe

Take the Vibe, Feel the Vibe Their name may really push you to feel it, but that vibe is still quite hard to catch while listening to Dive Vibe. The feel-good sound of the ’60s falls flat in these seven, repetitive tracks, and it gets closer to a tired Eagle-Eye Cherry than anything The Beach Boys ever did. divevibe.bandcamp.com

DJ Pnutz

—Ombretta Di Dio

2019 Music Preview EP Some of these beats seem to be works in progress, but they’re coming along nicely. While the moody psychedelic soul of “Snakes” could stand to be a lot moodier, “Epic” is a truly gargantuan stomper with basslines descending like UFOs and dirty drums cracking bones. “Rising” is another killer beat, topped off by gospel voices and wailing organs, while “Fly Style” rides on a sweet flute sample. I could imagine a Kanyetype rapper spitting over some of this stuff, although it sounds pretty good as is. djpnutz.bandcamp.com

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—Peter Holslin

Yamms This outstanding album reminds me of Madlib and Freddie Gibbs’ 2014 collaboration, Piñata, in the way both explore a contrast between psychedelic beats and grounded rhymes. Using jazz samples, cinematic colors and trunk-rattling bass, producer Tall,Drk creates a powerful backdrop for rapper Dre Trav to offer up impressionistic storytelling and insights about life and death. His husky voice sounds weighted with experience. His rapping style is relaxed and measured, as though he’s thinking on every verse before delivering it. On the stunning “Skies of Violet,” Trav opens up about the passing of his mother, outlining the impact she left on his world and wondering how he should process his emotions as he visits her in the hospital. But the mood never gets too heavy on Yamms—the celebratory wordplay of “My Ppl/Authentic Ones” and the trippy low-rider funk of “Geddituhp! Interlude” shows that Trav and Drk also have fun reveling in hiphop’s more elemental pleasures. Rap music often doesn’t get the attention it deserves in San Diego, but we should be proud to have artists of this caliber in our midst. fanlink.to/YAMMS

Levi Dean & The Americats

In the Way of Salvation EP Escondido’s Final Path makes metallic hardcore that sounds like it was carved out of a mountainside, with extra attention paid to the suffocating guitar riffs, ten-ton drum beats and scowling vocals. Opening track “Will to Act” is like being run over by the treads of a tank, while the closer, “Salvation,” is like being shot from said tank into a churning swirl of pure anger. Roar! finalpathca.bandcamp.com

E X TR A S P E C I A LG O O D

Daytrip

—Lauren Kershner

—Peter Holslin

Down Big

High in the Valley​/​Down on the Boulevard EP The horns in this EP’s first track, “High in the Valley,” clearly reveal the fact that there are Beirut fans in the band. Though a little copycat-ish, it’s done well and makes for a great single. This is a road trip soundtrack, with twangy guitar riffs and dusty vocals that are perfectly suited to the open road. downbig.bandcamp.com

The Ethos Project

—Jackie Bryant

The Ethos Project Self-professed “progressive folk,” but I liked the songs that didn’t really try to act folky.

E X T R A S P E C I A LG O O D Shane Hall

West EP, River EP and Queen EP Shane Hall’s latest triple EP is a road running in three different directions.

On the first road—West—I feel like I’m riding on the back of a motorcycle with Hall’s bluesy vocals crooning sexy, desert rock into my ear en route to the next dive bar. The second—River—is a long, dead end road where we’ve picked up ‘harmonica and fiddle’ who are hitchhiking to the county fair square dance.

I’m not sorry to leave them behind in the rearview as we travel down the third road—Queen—which simmers in sultry R&B soul (and, damn, where was he hiding those high notes before?). The whole time I’m listening, I’m trying to pinpoint who he sounds like. Otis Redding? James Brown? Maybe a little Jimi Hendrix? Regardless of who he reminds me of, I feel like I’ve unearthed one of the music world’s best-kept secrets.

Even with the square dance detour, the overall journey is one I’d gladly take again. shanehallofficial.com

—Lauren Kershner

Trey McCullogh’s dreamlike, distorted vocals pair best with his compositions when things are not straightforward. Each piece was incredibly long (possibly too long), but all were richly composed and layered. I’d love to see what this band could sound like with a good producer. At times, I got major late ’90s Sea and Cake or Gomez vibes, particularly on tracks like “Went Away to Limbo (for Holiday),” and “Slow Goodbye.” Would listen again. youtube.com/user/TheEthosProject

Fig Court

—Julia Dixon Evans

The Gross Chills EP I think I was more intrigued by the song titles (“Ghetto Love” and “Black and Beautiful”) than I was by the songs themselves.

Perhaps that’s because, put together, the

—Ben Salmon

Finnegan Blue

Finnegan Blue There’s a thin line between folky and folksy, and I’m afraid that Finnegan Blue—while they’re certainly fun, spirited and talented— fall into the latter category. Even when I try to overlook the fact that they pepper in elements of funk and reggae (really?) into their ham-fisted folk, I can’t help but feel like this is music I’d try to ignore at a farmer’s market. Then Finnegan Blue starts in with their Jesus and God lyrics and my eye twitches and I’m squeezing an heirloom tomato way too hard. soundcloud.com/finneganblue

—Seth Combs

Tony Ford and Lindsay Gella

Echoes of 852 Shambolic country tunes from a couple Minnesota transplants. Tony can’t sing, and I’m honestly kinda sorry if nobody’s ever told him that before. They seem to make a good pair, though their songwriting needs work. (facebook.com/TonyAndLindsay). Speaking of which…

Tony Ford

Mpls I hesitate to call this an “album”; it sounds more like the demos of someone just beginning to learn how to write songs. After failing to muster enough energy to sustain a melody on the previous two tracks, shakyvoiced Ford finally gets somewhere in an achingly slow folk balled called “The River,” setting the mood through gentle strums and ghostly organs. (tonyford.bandcamp.com) But wait, there’s more…

Lindsay Gella

“Hazy Hills” Quaint little country tune about heading west to the wind and waves. Ideal for playing as background “atmosphere” in a coffeeshop.

—Peter Holslin

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SHEA CHEATHAM

MUSIC REVIEWS CONT’D FROM PAGE 29

the corner of Cockney Rejects and Public Image Ltd. The band still has some teenage angst to express. And although teenage may be a thing of the past for these guys, nostalgia definitely isn’t. Mayday seems to be an ode to that. Which brings us right to…

Kate Rose Gold

“Shooting Star” This track off Gold’s upcoming album is a solid R&B jam about two lovers who decide to end things in order to pursue their respective dreams. Not exactly novel territory, but the song itself is a nice little bop that’s as mellow and smooth as a Newport on a warm day. Hopefully the rest of the album is just as pleasing. soundcloud.com/kassrosegold

Hurricane Kate

—Seth Combs

Grim Glum

E X TR A S P E C I A LG O O D

“Herons” and “Champion” “Grim” and “glum” are definitely suitable adjectives for the melancholic soundwaves drifting out of my speakers. With the first reverb-drenched a capella notes in “Herons,” it’s reminiscent of The xx’s minimalistic dream-pop. Sad, yet seductive. soundcloud. com/grimglum

The Hand of Gavrilo

Life Like EP This was categorized on Spotify as “dream rock,” though I would say it veers closer to sleepy. Less like the liminal space between consciousness and unconsciousness and more like the weight of a cat napping on your lap, it’s nice, but only if you really don’t feel like doing anything else. hectorpoof. bandcamp.com

The Hand of Gavrilo EP It’s extremely difficult to sound smooth in an art-rock band. Yes, there is a level of badassery that comes from being able to pull off jarring time signatures and spastic dynamics, but style? Not really. The Hand of Gavrilo, on the other hand, has it in spades, which is why their three-song EP feels so revelatory. The sound they create is that of a dark romance—vampiric and tinged with danger. If Interpol had jarring, frightening love with Fugazi, the result might be something close to The Hand of Gavrilo. “Left for Dead” explodes out of the gate with a throbbing bass and and driving syncopated drums—all at a breakneck pace. It doesn’t sound sexy at first, but then vocalist Franco Rakigjija swoops in with a croon so smooth that it’s hard not to fall under the spell. Throughout the album, his voice fits between a jittery (and masterful) rhythm section and shimmering, post-punk guitars. When Rakigjija shrieks—a sound akin to Refused’s Dennis Lyxzén—we’re not repelled, but pulled deeper in. This is the sound of night creatures when they hunt, and we’re the willing prey. thehandofgavrilo.bandcamp.com

—Lauren Kershner

Sirenna Harris

“Who” Listening to this single, I feel like I’m caught in a ’90s R&B time warp. A sonic hybrid of Ashanti and SZA, Sirenna Harris’ smooth vocals outshine the archaic computer-generated beats they float over. With some glossier production, I could hear this on the radio. If she was going for a cross between retro, premillenium hip-hop and modern, albeit low budget electro-pop, then she nailed it.

—Lauren Kershner

Hectorpoof

—Christin Bailey

Hello Noon

Into Place Listening to this album is like sipping Slurpees at the beach with your high school crush, but definitely without any booze snuck into it. Into Place is wholesome pop with early ’00s influences (anyone remember Keane?). They’re a little too saccharine for me—it’s feel-good music for people who already feel good—but if you need some clean, hopeful tunes, this is for you. hellonoon.com

Mike Holmes

—Carolyn Ramos

“Simba” Despite the fact that Holmes starts this hiphop track by rhyming “lava” with “lava,” this in absolute head-bobbing track with a haunting beat courtesy of Yondo. Two minutes of reflection and wisdom to what I assume is Holmes’ son, these are lessons we

—Ryan Bradford

could all take to heart. This track made me want to listen to the rest of his music and it’s just as good. soundcloud.com/supimholmes

—Seth Combs

The Humble Crab

The Humblezt The struggle of being a critic is that I love being an evil bitch. For all the fun he’s having, I cannot enjoy this Ween pastiche. As in “Sir Kid of House Rock,” where the band proclaims “witches… give zero fucks for as long as they live.” Well, they got me there. thehumblecrab.bandcamp.com

Hurricane Kate

—Christin Bailey

Mayday You will find Hurricane Kate somewhere at

30 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

Amaizing Amaizing is quite literally almost identical to Mayday. The majority of the tracks featured in Mayday can be found on this album. What changes is mainly the order of the songs. But I couldn’t say whether that’s a rational decision or not. I guess it’s sometimes good to shake things up? hurricanekate.bandcamp. com —Ombretta Di Dio

Idiot Bombs/Ninja Night Race

Techno Remix ’86 Split Music for adults who self-identify as Ghostbusters fans and who, in any form of media consumption, principally value getting the reference. If thinking “Yes, I’ve seen Gremlins” is not enough for you, then there’s little else to carry you through even though the songs are only thirty-seconds long. shredthegnarrecords.bandcamp.com

E X TR A S P E C I A LG O O D Daniel Koestner

Donut County (Original Soundtrack) Donut County is a quirky video game where you play a hole in the ground.

You cruise around, encountering colorful characters of all kinds while trying to suck things into your orbit, and Koestner—a PhD candidate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography—helps bring the world to life with a mellow soundtrack of glitchy hip-hop and sweetheart indie pop.

This album has the blunted, laid-back feel of a Low End Theory beat-tape, only everything is rendered on a miniature scale—like mice with tiny guitars and Roland samplers. Highlights “Breaking Ground” and “Pup Odyssey” are perfect lullabies, while the funky “Bk Squad” plugs into the great Technicolor beyond. Put this on when you need to study, or if you’re hoping to reenact some fond childhood memories.

—Christin Bailey

Iran Rayú

Leisure Lo-fi hip-hop tracks that unfold like long, druggy daydreams. Some of this sounds a bit too rudimentary and sorta like the rap equivalent of “eenie-meenie-miney-moe,” but the dark vibes keep it interesting. Rayú could do a lot with his mellowed monotone, and the creeping, lock-step beats of tracks like “Magic” and “Dear Diary” are crude in a cool way. soundcloud.com/iranrayu

—Peter Holslin

IZE

Friends The beats bump and they can rap, but when it comes to the lyrics, IZE covers money, women and haters in predictable ways.

There’s an effort to tap beneath the surface with the subject of betrayal on the last track, “Trends.” In their email, IZE tout themselves as an Asian-American collective, but drop “n**ga” a few times in the first track <FACEPALM>. Too PC? Maybe. But it feels like a lack of creativity. Gonna Tiger-mom these dudes and say, “Do better, fellow Asians.” soundcloud.com/ize_music

—Carolyn Ramos

Jahori Dub

The Southern Californian Way What would a group named Jahori Dub know about being distinctly Southern Californian?

Last time I checked, reggae doesn’t have its roots in Southern California. So, right off the bat, The Southern Californian Way is a lie.

It doesn’t get better after listening to it either—it’s classic frat reggae and that’s about it. facebook.com/SoCalWay

—Jackie Bryant

—Peter Holslin

JR Music Club

Demo JR Music Club sound like they have just emerged from a cryogenic chamber after accidentally falling into it in the year 2000.

Seriously, it’s scary how good they nail the sound of turn-of-the-century pop bands like TLC (acoustic guitars over programed beats? Check!), Destiny’s Child (fantastic trade-off vocals? Check!) and Backstreet Boys (earnest admissions of love free of irony? Check-plus!). Seriously, this wormed its way into my head so hard that I forgot what year it was and considered getting frosted tips.

—Ryan Bradford

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MUSIC REVIEWS CONT’D FROM PAGE 30 The Libras

Rivalry When it comes to goth and new-wave, The Libras did their homework. Channeling Alien Sex Fiend, Clan of Xymox and even a bit of Adam and the Ants, The Libras would have probably found a spot into one of my high school mixtapes. If only they had been around 15 years ago! rivalry. bandcamp.com

—Ombretta Di Dio

Left In Company

PRJCT BLUBYRD Left In Company doesn’t make albums.

They create dynamic little worlds. The long-running project revolves around Generik and Aneken, two multi-talented musicians with a take on hip-hop that’s both deeply rooted in the genre’s glory days and decidedly forward-thinking at the same time. Like the group’s past albums (including a couple “ExtraSpecialGoods”), PRJCT BLUEBYRD is a sort of sonic diorama packed with booming beats, synth zip-zaps, psychedelic vibes, tractor-beam melodies, a variety of voices and plenty of atmosphere.

It’s a world well worth exploring.

@SDCITYBEAT

—Ben Salmon

Loosen the Noose

Loosen the Noose OK, let’s just put aside how highly problematic it is that a bunch of white dudes named their band Loosen the Noose and literally have a song that references “slave labor” (“Bones”), albeit about how it’s bad or something. Honestly, I couldn’t get over the wretched chorus.

While all four members of this band are individually talented, their collective blues/rock/ funk hybrid is derivative, soulless and unlistenable. loosenthenoose.bandcamp.com

(seriously, who calls their album Barf?), but it turned out to be a set of fully formed, rather excellent trap-rap bangers. MAG00N has a twanging drawl resembling that of Vince Staples, and he spits rhymes like a star pitcher with a mean curveball. The track “dats rad” is the obvious highlight, but I also dig the trippy synths of “mojo” and the meditative “wassup creeps.” Hit that weed pen and enjoy. ffm.to/barf

presence with lushly layered harmonies but also an edge of British new-wave bounce.

The artist’s voice feels timeless and ’80s pop-goth at the same time. He’s a total mystery and I think the songs are even better on account of the only internet presence: a yahoo email address.

Visitor It sounds like it’s made on a big gray computer sitting on a maple veneer computer hutch with a pull out keyboard tray in a hermetic room that needs to be vacuumed.

If this is the reality, I recommend opening a window. If it’s a stylistic choice, I kinda like it. mesten.bandcamp.com

—Peter Holslin

—Seth Combs Boone Mayer “Sand” Lucid Dream This wobbly instrumental could soundtrack 4 songs a scene in a western by Wes Anderson. (Here If you want evidence of San Diego and, spe- is Bill Murray feeding his horse. Here is Bill cifically, blink-182’s lasting legacy when it Murray brushing his horse.) Mayer keeps it comes to pop-punk, look no further than casual by coughing just after the Spanish Lucid Dream. Multicultural and co-ed, the guitar intro, then continuing on by highquartet mostly specialize in punk-by-num- lighting each instrument with its own 8-bar bers with the same power chords and sub- solo. Innocent GarageBand fun. itunes.apject matter that’s been done a million times ple.com/us/artist/boone-mayer over. Still, there’s a market for this kind of

—Carolyn Ramos music right now so I can’t help but feel like songs such as “Family Business” and “Love Yourself” will garner a lot of local fans. Lu- Me + Not Me Demo ciddreamsd.bandcamp.com I liked this. The opening track is delight —Seth Combs ful: a steady melody that feels like an entire crowd could belt it out together, plus the MAG00N texture of some sort of Casiotone descant Barf that never feels as cute or twee as you’d exI went into this expecting it to be terrible pect. The vocals are a deep-voiced, moody

—Julia Dixon Evans

Mesten

—Christin Bailey

Mikey Sykes

“Blind” This track was just on the verge of being an “ExtraSpecialGood,” but I just couldn’t help but wish there were more. Over a perpetual drum machine beat, this seven-minute jam mixes some synthy darkwave vocals over some garage-rock guitars that results in a sound that recalls Suicide or even San Diego’s own Crocodiles. And just when you think Sykes is going to go on like this forever,

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MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 31

MUSIC REVIEWS CONT’D FROM PAGE 31 he breaks it down to just that beat and then throws in droning keyboard and a guitar solo.

Looking forward to seeing how this project shakes out. soundcloud.com/mikeysykes

—Seth Combs

NAEL

Do We Stop Living?

Wait, there are three separate tracks here?

It’s a little difficult to tell where one song ends and another begins. NAEL’s generic new-wave instrumentals ape Chromatics and New Order, and it’s not a bad sound, but I quickly got annoyed at the redundancy.

This would be good if you’re Ryan Gosling in the movie Drive, and you spend hours in your car being psycho and shit. naelsd. bandcamp.com

—Ryan Bradford

The Naked i

Grin and Bear It EP This band says they’ve been called “you’re mom’s favorite local band.” And while I can’t picture my mother enjoying this (she’s a Juan Gabriel and Luis Miguel kind of gal), I really liked this EP. It’s catchy and makes me want to dance. Does that make me a mom? thenakediband.com

—Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

EMILIO AZEVEDO

One Hot Planet

Bom Kulu EP and “Scarlett” Way over yonder on the East Coast, bands like Moon Hooch and Horse Lords are making weird rock ‘n’ roll using the saxophone as a featured element. One Hot Planet seems to be the West Coast wing of this trend, with a lineup of two saxes and a drummer that have so much energy, you’ll hardly notice that it’s the brass that’s moving your ass.

The Bom Kulu EP is fun and punchy, even if it does start to wear a bit thin across three songs. onehotplanet.bandcamp.com

—Ben Salmon

One Inch Punch

It’s Complicated I’ve listened to enough Rock 105.3 to know there’s no lack of plodding, mid-tempo numetal, but it still catches me off guard when I hear new bands willingly create this kind of adult angst. But I’ll give credit to One Inch Punch for taking the best of that genre as their influences. The melodic heaviness of Deftones mixed with the operatic vocal stylings System of a Down isn’t good per se, but it also could’ve been a lot worse. A lot worse.

At least there isn’t any scat-rapping. oipmusic.bandcamp.com

The Night Howls

The Night Howls EP There isn’t a single moment or note that falls flat on The Night Howls’ self-titled EP. In a blaze of 70s rock-inspired glory, the fiery vocals of lead singer Kimmi Bitter spew infectious choruses over wailing guitar riffs and anthemic drum lines that had me unapologetically headbanging while listening in a coffee shop on a quiet Sunday afternoon. thenighthowls.com

—Lauren Kershner

No Kings

No Kings EP There’s nothing about reggae band No Kings’ music that distinguishes it from other local reggae bands. For those who are local reggae fans, this is probably a good thing. For the rest of us, it’s hardly surprising. No Kings are a typical OB reggae band and nothing more. nokingsband.com

—Jackie Bryant

32 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

After (h)Ours In After (h)Ours, pianist and singer-songwriter Jessica Lerner gives a completely transparent view or the different stages of being in a relationship. There’s the seduction, the love, the sadness and the hope. “Under These Sheets” is one track that particularly stands out, with lyrics like “memorizing your perfect face.” It perfectly describes the feeling of happiness that comes from spending time with a special somebody. The song is slow, but picks up toward the end, giving a sense of determination to be there for a special someone even when times are bad. Another favorite from this album is “Come On.” Lerner manages to encapsulate the desperation that comes with wanting to be with someone you love (but can’t have) with lyrics like, “Come on / come on / don’t leave me this way / I know you think about me.” This is an album to get lost in. jessicalernermusic.com

Palomino

No Filter Never Say Never sounds like a band that was put together by parents in a well-meaning but misguided attempt to appeal to “the youth.” Their earnest rap-rock and poppunk anthems sound about 20 years out of date, and their super-positive, motivational messages will make you want to cut yourself just to spite them. Still, at least they don’t traffic in the toxic misogyny common to so many mainstream emo bands. neversayneveraz.bandcamp.com —Peter Holslin

Jessica Lerner

—Ryan Bradford

From the Stretch It’s been a minute since lo-fi, drunken garage rock was all the rage, and listening to Palomino’s sassy From the Stretch, I realized how much I’ve missed it. Forget Red Hot Chili Peppers or Sublime—this is Sourthern California music. It’s what I want to listen to when the sun is shining, the temperature hits 90 degrees, and I’ve got a six-pack of Miller Lites to kill. The album is quick and dirty, but has a disarming confidence about it. It’s nothing new, but this is a case of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” palomino.bandcamp.com

Never Say Never

E X T R A S P E C I A LG O O D

—Ryan Bradford

Cici Porter

Demo Porter has been in the music business for some time now and spent over 20 years with San Diego band Bordertown. She took a break from music but she’s apparently about to release a new project. Porter’s vocals in “Not to Care” showcase her abilities as an artist and they pair well with the bluesy tune. However, she should try to avoid tunes like “Mermaid” and “This is Not a Love Song.” They don’t do nearly enough to demonstrate what she’s capable of because the lyrics are simple, almost lazy. reverbnation. com/ciciporter

—Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

Courtney Preis

Halfway There This is that kind of feel-good music that’s smooth with a little hint of cheerfulness mixed in. Preis is a pop/indie artist who likes to switch up the tempo of her songs for a unique sound. “Wild Things,” in particu-

—Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

lar, is my favorite and I love how the music speeds up as she realizes she might have been too “wild” and free for the guy who left her. soundcloud.com/courtneypreismusic

ity? A good backstory? A little extra can go a long way. soundcloud.com/quigonjae

Marklyn Retzer

—Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

Pruit Igoe

Tag Damn, didn’t expect to get my head fucked with this hard. Ted Washington is a wellknown poet and writer in San Diego, and when his words are matched with experimental and avant-garde sounds, the result is a Lynchian trip. It’s made even more bleak by Krista Coppedge’s noir-movie trumpet, but as ominous as the music is, Washington’s lyrics are beautifully positive, as he often sings/shouts/yells about the purity of art as it intersects with social issues. Basically, it’s like listening to someone screaming from the void about how beautiful life can be— which might be the most poignant metaphor for creating art in our current political era. pruittigoe1.bandcamp.com

Qui-Gon Jae

—Ryan Bradford

“Warning” I’m impressed by Qui-Gon Jae’s rapping skills. He has a laid back confidence where he’ll hang back on the beat, and then go in hard with triplets and double-time flows.

Not sure how I feel about the name though.

And I can’t help but feel like something is missing. More personality? More eccentric-

—Peter Holslin

Dandelion Tattoo Well-produced as it is, this shit is cheesy. I’m going to try to be positive here, so [cracks knuckles] Marklyn Retzer is an earnest songwriter. His lyrics are as basic and simple as the type of love he lauds, and maybe that’s OK. The overall effect—the songwriting, the tone of his voice, the simplicity of the melodies—made me feel like I was listening to a children’s album, and yeah, maybe that’s OK too. Album art includes a barefoot-on-thebeach pic and a special thank you to yoga. marklynmusic.com

—Julia Dixon Evans

Rightovers

Die Cruisin’ and Kruise Kontrol EP If you wear flannel even in summer and drink a lot of cheap beer and Singles is your favorite movie and you have a poster of every indie rock band that was popular from the years 1990-2002 on your bedroom wall, then Rightovers is definitely for you. “That’s Good” is the perfect grime-pop anthem, like if Oscar the Grouch turned out to be a huge Paul Westerberg fan. “Go” is a shameless Strokes ripoff while “Along for the Ride” has

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GRANT REINERO

Rommii

“all my love” If this isn’t already being played in dance clubs across the country, it really should be. Rommii’s slick electronic production—mixed with Ashley Mehta’s soulful, honeyed vocals—is tantalizingly infectious. After only one listen, I find the bass-bumping chorus playing on a loop inside my head, gripping me with the urge to shake it out on the dancefloor.

E X TR A S P E C I A LG O O D Manuok

Spirits EP Listening to the three songs on Spirits is like sinking into a hot tub in the black of night while snow falls around it. “Ides,” the first track, is slow, ethereal and light. The bare vocals have a forced weakness to them that lay the groundwork for the build to come— kind of like winter’s first snow dusting. The slightly deeper second track, “Cellars,” continues the momentum with additional backup instrumentals while still retaining a modicum of mellow restraint. “Breaks,” the final song, ends the EP with a bang, exploding into heavier guitar, echoed vocals and drumming that becomes a roomfilling jock jam. Overall, Spirits is a trip through early-’00s indie rock: Each song has a distinct style that seems representative of a varied line-up at a hyper-indie music festival, like, say, Iceland Airwaves. Maybe all the snow references are due to the fact that I’m writing this from a snowbound landscape, but Spirits is a small collection that reminds me of the beauty in melancholy and contemplation.

—Jackie Bryant

—Lauren Kershner

Our Love is Freedom I have mixed feelings about Our Love is Freedom. On the one hand, Rose’s talent as an artist especially shines in “Love is Everywhere (Acoustic),” which is a better version of the pop one she released in 2015. And in “Sweet Potato,” Rose perfectly captures the “giddy” feelings of being in love. However, the rest of the pop songs on the album fall short by comparison. They are just too repetitive even if they manage to get stuck in your head in an annoying way. soundcloud.com/corina-rose —Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

Rudy Blue

“Passionfruit Bats” The chorus is literally a guy cumming the words “paaasssssionfruit bats” and then the song segues into some kind of epic guitar hook. They sound like that band of drunks (Flickerdick? Dickerstick?) that ended up winning over the overachieving San Diego band on that VH1 reality show Bands on the Run (VH1 needs to bring that show back). Yeah, it sounds bad, but I have to say “Passionfruit Bats” got stuck in my head so there could actually be something here. Paaasssssionfruit bats! Paaasssssionfruit bats! soundcloud. com/rudyblue

—Seth Combs

$eem MUSIC REVIEWS CONT’D FROM PAGE 32 the rustic varnish of a Guided By Voices gem but ends up falling flat. The B-side, “Want You,” goes straight for the shoegaze pleasure centers with its driving drums and pealing guitar noise. Derivative but not too shabby. therightovers.bandcamp.com

—Peter Holslin

Andy Robinson

Andyland The things you’ll find in Andyland: -Instrumental music that could be best described as better than elevator muzak and worse than everything else.

-Palm trees, but the kind that need to be trimmed and may impale you with a dead branch -The greatest album art ever (is he really surfing a wave on a mandolin?!)

-One otherwise pretty cool middle-aged guy with a Jimmy Buffet sense of style and way too much time on his hands. andyrobinsonmusic.com

@SDCITYBEAT

—Seth Combs

WeedTape At one point during the last track in the five-song WeedTape, $eem raps: “I’m fucking serious about this weed shit.” Bear in mind that he’s just rolled through four tracks respectively titled “Marijuana,” “Smoke Hella Weed,” (which features the refrain: “Smoke hella weed that’s what I want to do / That’s what I do, I smoke hella weed”), “Smoke With My Guys,” and “Blunts to Paper.” So even though the beats are derivative and the rhymes are as inspired as Wesley Willis, I’m just happy that $eem uh... seems to have found his calling. soundcloud.com/seemkparks

—Ryan Bradford

Shakedown String Band

In the Key of OB While OB may be the main theme of this album, Shakedown String Band would probably better fit somewhere on the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia. Still, this band does its best to prove that banjos, harmonicas and mandolins can find their place by the beach. And the result may surprise you. shakedownstringband.org

Dream Come True Odes to women, troops and a closed Dick’s Last Resort franchise, Shark Jones is like a band that was algorithmically generated by a 30-years-divorced uncle’s Facebook timeline. But their jarringly analog existence is even more startling—to buy their CD, you need a stamp and a checkbook! raisedeyebrowrecords.com

—Christin Bailey

Darren Sherrill

Corina Rose

Shark Jones

—Ombretta Di Dio

“Think About It” OK, who brought their smooth-ass uncle to this party? Listening to this track is like watching your parents dancing to Smokey Robinson. Or like sipping free cocktails at a bayside Maxwell show [Edit note: Yassssss, queen! —S.C]. I wish it had an original edge somewhere, anywhere, but this is a cheesy, easy, throwback R&B listen.

E X TR A S P E C I A LG O O D Julia Sage and The Bad Hombres

“Ni De Aquí, Ni De Allá” I’m a sucker for a ballad especially one in Spanish. Sage has a beautiful voice that pairs well with this kind of Mexican folk song. This song breaks my heart and makes me want to open up a bottle of tequila to help wash down the lyrics. It’s the ideal song for a border town. After listening to the band’s new song, I did a little digging and I found a video of Sage performing a cover of “La Llorona,” which is one of my favorite songs by Chavela Vargas. Sage does the song justice and has made a new fan so I will be keeping an eye out for any upcoming songs. soundcloud.com/ juliasage

—Carolyn Ramos

SHINDIGS

C h ill a nd SHINDIGS know where they are going and how to get there. Their relaxed dream pop hits all the right notes, which is why you should listen to their album while looking at paintings by Chagall or discussing your next trip around the world. This band makes music that belongs in the soundtrack of a coming-of-age movie, and I hope it does end up there some day. shindigs.bandcamp. com

—Ombretta Di Dio

The Snack Packs

Three live tracks Once you get past the chatter of the SPACE bar crowd that clutters these recordings, it’s quite apparent that Snack Pack knows how to lock into a sweetly soulful groove and stay there until the night has been sufficiently swayed away. The only real surprise comes about three minutes into “Believe,” when the duo shifts from a drowsy Jack Johnson vibe into a legitimately funky jam. Here’s hoping there’s more of that on any future studio recording.

—Ben Salmon

Sol Orchid

Sol Orchid EP It was the summer of 1999 and “Maria Maria” by Santana was everywhere. Despite my best efforts to avoid it, I just couldn’t escape that song. Now, a SoCal version of Santana, with the addition of a powerful female vocalist who reminds me of Janis Joplin, has somehow found its way back to me. solorchid.com

SOLV

—Ombretta Di Dio

Chrome Serferz No one can ever say that Ariel Iribe isn’t trying to do something serious with SOLV. It’s dissonant, mesmerizing and inherently confrontational. What his soundscapes

—Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

lack in engineering, production and accessibility, they almost make up for in sheer provocative insistence. Almost. It is not an easy listen and the band truly doesn’t give a shit to be so. And Iribe wants—no, seriously needs—you to know that. solv.bandcamp. com

—Michael Gardiner

Sometimes Julie

Breaking EP Sometimes Julie is enjoyable some of the time, but highly unoriginal all of the time.

Monica Sorenson is a very capable singer, but mostly this quartet plays the kind of upcycled, classic rock gibberish one might hear at The Rock church when the pastor really wants to get the crowd pumped. sometimesjulie.com

—Seth Combs

The Star Channels

“Wayside” It’s hard to judge a band off one track, but this co-ed duo seem to be going for something a little rockabilly with some surf-rock mixed in for good measure. Ali Kurzeja’s singing voice is serviceable for that kind of vibe, but limited enough in that it won’t exactly earn her

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SARAH MORGAN PHOTOGRAPHY

MUSIC REVIEWS CONT’D FROM PAGE 33 a starring role in a community theater production of Grease anytime soon. They could play at a Hot Rod show or a tiki festival or something. IDK. Rockabilly is stupid.

—Seth Combs

Mike Stockapler

3 Songs Listening to The Swedish Models makes me miss eras I never even experienced. Swirling in vintage vocal distortion, dreamy harmonies, and classic rock ‘n’ roll, this is Beach Boys meets Buddy Holly meets The Mamas and The Papas. Cue nostalgia.

E X TR A S P E C I A LG O O D

Strange Creatures

The Sea Monks

Demo After numerous failed Google attempts to find Strange Creatures and only getting images of strange sea creatures, I decided to listen to their demo. Nothing particularly stood out to me other than their song “Swansins,” which has no lyrics but has a very intoxicating sound. I had that one on repeat but not the rest.

Gasoline I had all of my family band jokes (insults) ready for this one but, alas, this rockabilly album—stuffed equally with originals and covers—is actually impressive and fun. Sixteen-year-old Noah Kapchinske fronts the band, his younger brother Kai plays the drums, and daddyo plays bass. It’s easy to forget these are kids, partly because Noah’s voice is gritty beyond his years, and partly because they’re all so goddamn talented. I loved the cover of “Memphis,” but originals like “Liar Liar” and “Gasoline” also pack a lot of songwriting promise and style.

The kids are all right. seamonks.com

—Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

Suge KNice

“Simple Green” and “M4L Magic” I grew up in a time when the prevailing wisdom among most of my peers was that guitars ruled and drum machines weren’t “real” instruments. That’s bullshit of course, which is why now I can’t help but support anyone willing to take the time to make some chill beats. Suge KNice does exactly this—“Simple Green” was even a final project for his studio recording class. I can’t imagine these rudimentary productions leading to bootyshaking on the dancefloor any time soon, but you gotta start somewhere. soundcloud. com/suge_knice

—Peter Holslin

Sulk Slogan

slappað af {beat tape} Sulk Slogan produces sleepy beats, which isn’t to say that they’re boring. Rather, it’s the type of music that would sound good on a rainy day, drinking chamomile tea and being really, really high. The dreamy, indie instrumentals add an intriguing pop element—a mix of hip-hop lite and The Eels. The music starts to sound the same after awhile, but it’s a pleasant sameness. I imagine a lot of weed goes into producing this type of music. sulkslogan.bandcamp.com

—Ryan Bradford

34 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

—Lauren Kershner

T. Ka$h

—Lauren Kershner

—Ben Salmon

The Swedish Models

Light and Dark EP Multi-instrumentalist Mike Stockapler’s first solo project could easily be the soundtrack to a bad ’80s road trip flick. The four tracks waver between obnoxiously upbeat Tears for Fears synth-pop, and melodramatic piano ballads that sound like Radiohead B-sides. Don’t get me wrong, there is true musicianship here. I just can’t stop picturing a neon-clad couple cruising down the highway in an ’80s roadster, top down, hairsprayed manes flying behind them in a breeze of John Hughesmanufactured optimism. soundcloud.com/ user-894145868

grunge salvos, but with more classic rock vibes than punk. The guitars are crunchy, the bass lines dig deep, the arrangements show potential and, in a bit of twist, the singer is a woman. There are some promising parts here but work left to do. superseniorsd.bandcamp.com

—Julia Dixon Evans

Sunset at Duck Pond

6 Songs There was something cinematic about this stuff, particularly the first track of this ambient album, what with its haunting, wordless female vocals floating atop a steadily rhythmic landscape. The second track had a bit of a new-age driving grind to it, and kinda felt like it could be the menu music to a futuristic horror DVD. If you’re into that.

I think these tracks could each be twice as long, maybe with more phases and movements to each. I know it’s just a demo, but it still felt over way too soon. soundcloud. com/bklyn05

Super Senior

—Julia Dixon Evans

Your Inner She Dragon Every year, this issue brings in at least one band that gives me pre-Bleach Nirvana vibes.

This year, that band is Super Senior. The two songs Super Senior submitted rumble and lurch like some of Kurt and company’s early

“White Horse” This is by far the least frightening trap-rap song about the apocalypse I’ve ever heard.

T. Ka$h carefully enunciates every word like he’s Bill Nye in the middle of science class.

He references Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” and rhymes “funny” with “money.” It’s not good and the Grim Reaper would be ashamed. soundcloud.com/tkashmusic

—Peter Holslin

Tonëriche

The Collective This album is a discordant hip-hop dance pop mash-up that is best as a sum of its parts, but falls apart when listening to tracks out of order or on their own. Overall, there are too many other competing sounds and styles to listen to multiple songs in a row without any kind of beat drop. soundcloud. com/toneriche

—Jackie Bryant

Trains Across the Sea

Before it Ends Trains Across the Sea should really be called Truckers Across America because the album’s full of rootsy, American trucker rock that just oozes “authenticity.” Or maybe a 1960s TV sitcom simulacrum thereof. Sometimes it seems like frontman Andy Gallagher is in on the joke—and the album’s certainly filled with good songwriting—but then I remembered this is supposed to be an album, not a sitcom. trainsacrossthesea.bandcamp.com

—Michael Gardiner

Tweez Babii

“Car Head” I really don’t know why anyone needs to hear an entire song about getting oral sex in a car. A sticky (no pun intended) line or two to make someone laugh or fill in a lyrical gap? Sure. But hearing, “I want some head in the car,” which is the main hook of this jam, over and over again until my brain threatens to seep out my ears is cringe-worthy at best.

That said, that hook is really catchy. facebook.com/FdwTweez

—Jackie Bryant

Vlush

Vlush The instrumentals behind Vlush’s self-titled album recall classic SoCal beach rock vibes that are decent enough. But the vocals are flat as hell and, when paired with the dreadful “I hate myself” lyrics, listening to this is just plain painful. They perform better on the more upbeat screamy songs, but that’s about it. vlushsd.bandcamp.com

—Jackie Bryant

War for Candy

War for Candy EP War for Candy is not the kind of band I would normally listen to but I honestly enjoyed the band’s six track EP. Vocalist Leigha Shaker’s voice is beautiful and I was particularly fond of “Madly,” as it gave me more of an ’80s hard rock vibes but a little more, well, hardcore. warforcandy.bandcamp.com

—Andrea Lopez-Villafaña

Wellington, Jr.

Multiverse West Coast, conscious-rap lite with a pseudo-Ghostface flow. Wellington is introspective, but his reflections lack poetry. His lyrics are common, but not like Common.

“Sometimes I feel infinite / Sometimes I feel like shit.” See what I’m saying? soundcloud. com/wellington_jr

—Carolyn Ramos

Year of the Dead Bird

Year of the Dead Bird The noise and prog metal elements are all there: guitars, distortion and instruments upon instruments. Zero lyrics. But Year of the Dead Bird is not your typical Tool or Russian Circles simulator. The band knows how to pick up the pace and throw some punk in there the as well. “Panda Pass Out” is a good example of that. yearofthedeadbird.bandcamp.com

—Ombretta Di Dio

YL the Hippie

Sucka Free Standard-issue San Diego street rap with generic beats and bravado rhymes. Normally it’s cool if a rap album sounds like it was recorded in somebody’s bedroom, but in this case it just sounds wack. soundcloud. com/heippie

—Peter Holslin

Young Wants

Happy Boring EP Happy Boring might have complied with the Truth-in-Advertising laws if only they sounded a bit more “happy.” Instead, these five songs sound like punk on Valium, only with more reverb. There’s a mildly pleasing retro sound to some of it, but it just doesn’t quite make up for the vapid lyrics and the utter lack of any innovation. youngwantsforlife. bandcamp.com

—Michael Gardiner

@SDCITYBEAT

MUSIC

IF I WERE U

BY CITYBEAT STAFF

Our picks for the week’s top shows

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6

PLAN A: Black Midi, Band Argument @ SPACE. We can’t readily tell you to check out Black Midi’s music online because, well, there isn’t any. The London-based math rockers have little-to-no online presence and have relied primarily on old-school word-of-mouth buzz. But that buzz is huge and this might be one of those shows people look back on and say, “I saw them way back when.” BACKUP PLAN: ‘San Diego Music Awards Best Blues Album Showcase’ w/ Sue Palmer Trio, Wayne Riker, S. Mathias & The Honeycombs, Blue Largo @ Tio Leo’s Lounge.

THURSDAY, MARCH 7

PLAN A: Soft Kill, In Mirrors @ Soda Bar. Local music fans may remember goth-rockers Soft Kill from their early days in San Diego.

Now based in Portland, the band continues to expand its sound, moving from a synthheavy vibe to a more post-punk Cure sound.

PLAN B: The Wameki, The Natives, Kids N Propane @ The Tower Bar. Wanna hear some totally bizarre shit? Check out Tokyo

@SDCITYBEAT

band The Wameki’s music on Bandcamp. It’s brutal, shittily-recorded mutant blues-punk that should sound even more jacked up in a live setting. BACKUP PLAN: ‘San Diego Music Awards Showcase’ w/ Spice Pistols, Parker Meridian, Well Well Well, Imagery Machine, Marujah and Finnegan Blue @ Bar Pink.

FRIDAY, MARCH 8

PLAN A: Numb.er, Topographies, O/X @ The Whistle Stop. With gloomy post-punk delivered in a snidey, accented voice, Numb. er sound more like they’re from London than L.A. Bay Area shoegazers Topographies and locals O/X round out an excellent, albeit dark lineup. PLAN B: ‘BrokenBeat SD’ w/ Suade, St4rfox, Shatterbrain @ SPACE. This experimental EDM night is one of the few nights in town where locals can hear electronic music that goes well beyond the oonce-oonce, fist-pumping club nights that

are everywhere in S.D. BACKUP PLAN: ‘The Redwoods Revue’ w/ Jake Najor & the Moment of Truth, The Midnight Pine, Dani Bell & The Tarantist, Birdy Bardot @ Music Box.

SATURDAY, MARCH 9

PLAN A, part 1: Band Argument, Loolowningen, Shades McCool @ M-Theory Music. Band Argument is a new local group to watch closely, what with their stellar mix of punk, art-pop and math-rock. Do show up early for fellow math-rockers Loolowningen, who are traveling all the way from Tokyo for JAMES SAKERT this show. Plus, it goes down at 5 p.m., which leaves plenty of time to get to… PLAN A, part 2: Author & Punisher, Silent, Warsaw, Beatriz Viterbo @ Moustache Bar. Get on the trolley, head to Tijuana and check Numb.er out this stellar lineup of local and regional bands. Regular readers should already be familiar with one-man metal machine Author & Punisher, as well as Mexicali goth-punks Silent. BACKUP PLAN: Welles @ SPACE.

SUNDAY, MARCH 10

PLAN A: Empress Of, Salt Cathedral @ The Irenic. If there were any justice in the world, Lorely Rodriguez (AKA Empress Of) would be a household name by now. Her

2018 single, “When I’m With Him,” is a bilingual bop with an ’80s inspired sound and an unshakeable chorus. Go see her while she’s still under-the-radar. PLAN B: Better Oblivion Community Center, Christian Lee Hutson @ Music Box. This new project from Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst might be the best thing the latter has done in years. Their self-titled debut is filled with beautiful and plaintive folk and rock songs that make us hope it’s a side-project that lasts. BACKUP PLAN: Julia Holter @ The Loft @ UCSD.

MONDAY, MARCH 11

PLAN A, part 1: San Diego Music Awards @ House of Blues. A great night for local music filled with upsets and surprises, as well as some killer performances from local artists such as Veronica May, Planet B and Shane Hall (which is one of this year’s “ExtraSpecialGood” picks in the Local Music Review). PLAN A, part 2: ‘San Diego Music Awards After Party’ w/ Dead Feather Moon, Babydoll Warriors, Daytrip @ The Casbah. Hang out with some of the winners while enjoying a nice variety of local talent.

TUESDAY, MARCH 12

PLAN A: MadeinTYO, Thutmose @ Music Box. Hip-hop shows can be a dice roll, but the chance to see Atlanta-via-Tokyo rapper MadeinTYO’s “Uber Everywhere” and “Ned Flanders” in a live setting is just too tempting. BACKUP PLAN: Monsterwatch, The Havnauts @ Soda Bar.

MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 35

MUSIC

CONCERTS HOT! NEW! FRESH!

Garth Algar (Soda Bar, 3/18), Boogaloo Assassins (Music Box, 3/23), Demasiado (Casbah, 3/27), Sekta Core (Soda Bar, 3/31), DAB (Brick By Brick, 4/6), The 131ers (Soda Bar, 4/8), The Mondegreens (Soda Bar, 4/9), This Includes You! (Music Box, 4/20), Wayne “The Train” Hancock (Soda Bar, 4/22), Weatherbox (Che Cafe Collective, 4/26), Vokab Kompany (Music Box, 4/26), Seth Meyers (Balboa Theater, 5/3), Diary of Dreams (Music Box, 5/12), Carsie Blanton (Casbah, 5/14), Dawn of Ashes (Brick By Brick, 5/14), Death by Stereo (Brick By Brick, 5/18), Dead Boys (Casbah, 5/22), Downtown Boys (Che Cafe Collective, 5/23), Sacred Reich (Brick

By Brick, 5/28), Sebadoh (Casbah, 6/7), Kid Congo and The Pink Monkey Birds (Casbah, 6/10), Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons (Viejas Concerts in the Park, 6/16), We Were Promised Jetpacks (Casbah, 7/22), Nile (Brick By Brick, 11/27).

GET YER TICKETS Hatebreed (HOB, 3/7), YG (Pechanga Arena, 3/7), Action Bronson (HOB, 3/13), Cold Cave (BUT, 3/19), Boy Harsher (Casbah, 3/20), Mike Doughty (Soda Bar, 3/23), Queensrÿche (Casbah, 3/27), Black Moth Super Rainbow (BUT, 3/31), Vince Staples (Observatory, 4/2), Anvil (Brick By Brick, 4/4), San Holo (Observatory, 4/5), Taking Back Sunday (Obser-

vatory, 4/6-7), Meat Puppets (Soda Bar, 4/7), T-Pain (Observatory, 4/9), David Archuleta (California Center for the Arts, 4/17), Passion Pit (Observatory, 5/1), Seth Meyers (Balboa Theater, 5/3), Chromatics, Desire (Observatory, 5/4), Dead Boys (Casbah, 5/22), Brad Paisley (North Island Credit Union Ampitheatre, 6/1), Local Natives (Observatory, 6/19), Priests (Soda Bar, 6/26), Billie Eilish (Cal Coast Credit Union, 7/13).

MARCH WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6 Naked Giants at The Casbah. Band of Horses at Observatory North Park (sold out). G. Love, Special Sauce at Belly Up Tavern. Nightly at Soda Bar. Joe Jackson at Balboa Theater. Tyler Carter at House of Blues. Black Midi at SPACE.

THURSDAY, MARCH 7 The Bellrays, The Atom Age at The Casbah. YG at Valley View Casino Center.

Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds at Belly Up Tavern. Soft Kill at Soda Bar. The Real McKenzies at Brick By Brick.

FRIDAY, MARCH 8 Mudhoney, Claw Hammer at The Casbah. Conan at Brick By Brick. Redwoods Review at Music Box. Griffin House at Soda Bar.

SATURDAY, MARCH 9 Welles at SPACE. The Monochrome Set, The Coathangers at Soda Bar. Common Kings with Natalli Rize at Observatory North Park. Ella Vos at Belly Up Tavern.

You Me At Six at Music Box.

36 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

SUNDAY, MARCH 10 Empress Of, Sid Sririam at Soda Bar. Makana Shawn and Lehua at Belly Up Tavern. Better Oblivion Community Center at Music Box (sold out). Kate Berlant at The Casbah.

MONDAY, MARCH 11 Pete Yorn at Belly Up Tavern. The Suffers at Soda Bar. Dead Feather Moon at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, MARCH 12 Black Uhuru at Belly Up Tavern. Monsterwatch at Soda Bar. Sights and Sages at The Casbah.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13 Action Bronson at House Of Blues. Gordon Lightfoot at Balboa Theatre. Billy Idol, Steve Stevens at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Jesika von Rabbit at Soda Bar. Headphone at The Casbah.

THURSDAY, MARCH 14 Yung Gravy at Music Box. Blaqk Audio, Silent Rival at Observatory North Park.

MOSSS at Soda Bar. Lazerpunk at Brick

By Brick.

FRIDAY, MARCH 15 Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe at Music Box. Droeloe at Observatory North Park.

Gene Evaro Jr at Soda Bar. Emo Nite at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, MARCH 16 Noname at Observatory North Park. Hypocrisy at Brick By Brick. Madlib at Music Box. Rhett Miller at Soda Bar.

SUNDAY, MARCH 17 Watsky at House Of Blues. Shing02 & The Chee-Hoos at Music Box. Moon Hooch at The Casbah. The Downs Family at Soda Bar.

MONDAY, MARCH 18 Rivers of Nihil at Brick By Brick. Plainwrecks at The Casbah. Garth Algar at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, MARCH 19 Cold Cave at Belly Up Tavern. WAND at Soda Bar.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20 Boy Harsher at The Casbah (sold out).

Green Leaf Rustlers at Belly Up Tavern.

THURSDAY, MARCH 21 Bailo at Music Box. Downers at Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, MARCH 22 Journeymen at Music Box. The Spazmatics at Belly Up Tavern. Steve’n’Seagulls at Soda Bar. Veronica May Band, Ariel Levine, The Havnauts at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, MARCH 23 Damage, Inc. at Brick By Brick. Mike Doughty at Soda Bar. Hot Flash Heat Wave at The Irenic. Ryan Bingham at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Boogaloo Assassins at Music Box.

SUNDAY, MARCH 24 Matt Nathanson at Music Box. Ayla Nereo at Soda Bar. Infinite Floyd at Belly Up Tavern.

MONDAY, MARCH 25 Acid Mothers Temple at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, MARCH 26 Plini at SOMA. The Cat Empire at House Of Blues.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27 Queensrÿche at The Casbah. Blue Oyster Cult at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Jade Jackson at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, MARCH 28 Galactic ft. Erica Falls at Belly Up Tavern. Electric Six at The Casbah. Wet x Kilo Kish with Helena at Observatory North Park. Gorilla Biscuits at The Irenic. SWMRS at Music Box. Angel Du$t at House Of Blues. The Dollyrots at SPACE.

FRIDAY, MARCH 29 BROODS at Observatory North Park. She Wants Revenge at Music Box. Messern Chups at Soda Bar. Reyno at House Of Blues. Three Mile Pilot at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, MARCH 30 Donna Missal at The Casbah. Rubblebucket at Music Box. Citizen Cope at Observatory North Park. The Driver Era at The Irenic (sold out).

SUNDAY, MARCH 31 Black Moth Super Rainbow at Belly Up Tavern. Aborted at Brick By Brick. Sekta Core at Soda Bar. DJ Artistic’s Hip Hop Battle Bot at The Casbah.

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 37

@SDCITYBEAT

BY CHRISTIN BAILEY

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 36

APRIL MONDAY, APRIL 1 Whitney Rose at Soda Bar. Ruby Boots at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, APRIL 2 Dilly Dally at The Casbah. Vince Staples at Observatory North Park.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3 Al Stewart at Belly Up Tavern (sold out).

Missio at Music Box. Bad Suns at Observatory North Park. Cassie B at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, APRIL 4 The Havana Cuba All-Stars at Music Box. Anvil at Brick By Brick. Easy Wind at Belly Up Tavern. Trevor Hall at Observatory North Park. Reaction Phase at Brick By Brick.

FRIDAY, APRIL 5 Girlpool, The Dip at Soda Bar. Dead Feather Moon at Belly Up Tavern. Strangelove at Music Box. San Holo at Observatory North Park. Anthem at Brick By Brick.

SATURDAY, APRIL 6 Sweet Spirit at Soda Bar. This Wild Life, Sleep On It, crooked teeth at House Of Blues. Yonder Mountain String Band at Belly Up Tavern. Taking Back Sunday at Observatory North Park. DAB at Brick By Brick.

North Park. Mt. Joy at Music Box. TEN FE at The Casbah. Meat Puppets at Soda Bar. Ashes of Acres at Brick By Brick.

MONDAY, APRIL 8 Max Frost at The Casbah. Combichrist at Brick By Brick. The 131ers at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, APRIL 9 T-Pain at Observatory North Park. Jimmy Vaughan at Belly Up Tavern. The Mondegreens at Soda Bar.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10 J.S. Ondara at The Casbah. Turnover at Observatory North Park. Matisyahu at Belly Up Tavern.

THURSDAY, APRIL 11 Matisyahu at Belly Up Tavern. Messthetics at The Casbah. Space Jesus at Music Box. Little People at Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, APRIL 12 Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band at Humphreys. Cafeteras at Music Box. The Highwayman Show at Belly Up Tavern.

Sacri Monti at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, APRIL 13 Baby Bushka - Kate Bush Dance Party at The Casbah. Common Sense at Belly Up Tavern. Dabin at Music Box.

SUNDAY, APRIL 14 AK at House Of Blues. Flipper with David Yow at The Casbah.

SUNDAY, APRIL 7 Taking Back Sunday at Observatory

@SDCITYBEAT

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 38

ASTROLOGICALLY UNSOUND Weekly forecasts from the so-called universe ARIES (March 21 - April 19): Lots of people are announcing their candidacy for President of the United States lately and if you don’t feel like finding out who any of them are, you can just write me in.

TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): Your idea of planning is like banning nail files from being taken on international flights. Just like that flight, you’re still contributing to mass pollution that will make the planet uninhabitable.

GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): You need a world that spins faster on its axis. That way, everyone is flung off the planet and floating in space with all the satellite debris.

CANCER (June 21 - July 22): Look, I don’t want to say it’s a great time to declare bankruptcy. I mean, is it really ever a great time to declare bankruptcy?

But, really, it’s a great time to declare bankruptcy.

LEO (July 23 - August 22): Meditate this week on a little piece of wisdom that a Leo once told me many years ago: Windfarms are one of the top-10 killers of birds.

VIRGO (August 23 - September 22): You can change your mind about getting off the escalator only for about three seconds.

This isn’t a metaphor. Just don’t hold up the escalator by trying to walk back up from halfway down.

LIBRA (September 23 - October 22): Nobody can tell if the inflection at the ending of your sentences indicates a question or not, but that’s fine because you don’t know if it does either?

SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21): This week, you will be repaid all the debts you are owed, but because you never really share with anybody, I don’t imagine it will be much of a windfall.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 December 21): If you stick your hand between the blades of fans, the blades will just thud softly on your hand without hurting you at all. Do you really want to risk it though?

CAPRICORN (December 22 January 19): Even when you feel all alone, remember that there is a crow somewhere who feels wronged by you and will remember your face until the end of its life.

AQUARIUS (January 20 - February 18): You know, if you feel like it, you can just… write a poem. Anyone can. No one even has to see it. On second thought, it’s really much better for everyone if nobody does.

PISCES (February 19 - March 20): Everyone has interior lives just like you.

Well, not just like you. Not everybody is thinking about you all day long. That’s not what I meant. Don’t read it that way.

Astrologically Unsound appears every week. Follow Christin Bailey on Twitter at @hexprax.

MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 37

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 37 MONDAY, APRIL 15 Summer Cannibals at Soda Bar. Kero Kero Bonito at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, APRIL 16 Iceage, Shame at The Casbah. Dermot Kennedy at Observatory North Park. Sebastian Maniscalco at Humphreys.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 Sebastian Maniscalco at Humphreys.

David Archuleta at California Center for the Arts.

THURSDAY, APRIL 18 Integrity at Brick By Brick. Kero Kero Bonito at The Casbah. Smino, EarthGang, Phoelix Observatory North Park. Bastard Sons Of Johnny Cash at Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, APRIL 19 The Interrupters, Culture Abuse, Skating Polly at Observatory North Park. Yob at Brick By Brick. Metalachi at Music Box. Los Lobos at Belly Up Tavern (sold out).

SATURDAY, APRIL 20 Michael McDonald at Belly Up Tavern.

Night Beats at The Casbah. Imagery Machine at Soda Bar. This Includes You! at Music Box.

SUNDAY, APRIL 21 Ufomommut at Brick By Brick. Brent Cowles at Soda Bar.

MONDAY, APRIL 22 Wayne “The Train” Hancock at Soda Bar.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach. Wed: Major Interval. Thu: Electric Mud. Fri: Manic Fanatic. Sat: The Chocolate Revolution, Triton Eye, Thirty House Premiere. Sun: Karaoke. Tue: Little Evil, Old Nick and The Skulls.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St., Normal Heights. Wed: ‘#HipHopWeds’.

Thu: Jonathon Lestat. Fri: ‘House Music Fridays’. Sat: ‘Cake’. Sun: ‘Phantasy Lounge’. Mon: ‘Organized Grime’. Tue: ‘Cardio Hip Hop’.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Chris Hardwick.

Fri: Chris Hardwick. Sat: Chris Hardwick.

Tue: Open Mic. The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Road, Spring Valley. Wed: Karaoke. Fri: Mission G, Interfate, Aghori. Sat: Deilucrii, The Ghost Next Door, Shield of Snakes, Mezzoa.

Mon: Trivia. Tue: Karaoke.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St., Downtown.

Fri: Hotfire, Morelia, Ocean Roulette, Sly Turner.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St., North Park. Wed: ‘Kocktails with Katrina’. Thu: ‘2019 SDMA Nominee Showcase’. Fri: OrchidxMantis, Sights & Sages. Sat: DJ Mike Delgado.

Sun: ‘Rat Sabbath’. Mon: Julia Sage & The Bad Hombres. Tue: ‘Tiki Tuesday’.

Beaumont’s, 5665 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla. Thu: Mike Myrdal. Fri: Rare Form.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Wed: G. Love, Special Sauce, Ron Artis II, The Truth. Thu: Sister Sparrow, The Dirty Birds, VTA. Fri: BETAMAXX, Third Project. Sun: Makana & Shawn, Lehua. Mon: Pete Yorn. Tue: Black Uhuru, Onesty, Vibes Up Strong.

Blonde, 1808 W. Washington St., Mission Hills. Wed: ‘Dance Klassique’. Thu: ‘Hype

38 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · MARCH 6, 2019

Beatz Party’. Fri: ‘We Are Yr Friends’. Sat: ‘Mystic Mistress’. Tue: ‘Techit EASY’.

Parq, 615 Broadway, Downtown. Thu: YG. Fri: DJ Dynamiq. Sat: ATB.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., Bay Park. Thu: The Real McKenzies. Fri: Conan. Sat: The Iron Maidens.

Pour House, 1903 S. Coast Highway, Oceanside. Wed: Open Mic. Thu: Nowhereland. Fri: The Paragraphs. Sat: Aviator Stash. Sun: Kimmi Bitter. Mon: Trivia.

Tue: DJ Lexicon Devil.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Midtown. Wed: Naked Giants, Twen. Thu: The Bellrays, The Atom Age, Space Force.

Fri: Mudhoney, Claw Hammer. Sat: The Coathangers, SadGirl, The Ghost Dance.

Sun: Kate Berlant. Mon: Dead Feather Moon, Babydoll Warriors, Daytrip. Tue: Sights and Sages, Well Well Well, Downers.

Che Cafe, 1000 Scholars Drive S, La Jolla. Thu: Open Mic. Fri: Espresso, Cardboard Boxer, Law, Chutes, Eric Schroeder. Sat: Pink Sock, Azuresands, Slater. Sun: Wristmeetsrazor, Outlier, Meth, Slow Decay, Palace of Mourning.

Tue: Oak Palace, Young Wants, Down Time, Distressor.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Bay Park. Fri: Peter Sprague, Sinne Eeg. Sat: ‘Vintage Jazz Cafe’.

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown. Fri: Mo Beats.

Sat: Bootleg Kev. Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave., Downtown. Fri: Shabazz. Sat: DJ Shaffy.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Wed: Tyler Carter. Thu: Andrea Gibson. Fri: Fan Halen. Sat: Joel Taylor, Craig Stickland. Sun: Chad & Rosie. Mon: Robert Allen Shepherd. Tue: ABBA Mania.

Humphreys Backstage, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. Wed: Tradewinds. Thu: DJ Chuck. Fri: Funks Most Wanted. Sat: Wildside. Sun: The Groove Squad. Mon: Blue Largo. Tue: Nathan James.

The Irenic, 3090 Polk Ave., North Park.

Sat: Summer Salt, Motel Radio, Kid Bloom (sold out). Sun: Empress Of, Salt Cathedral.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd., Midtown. Sat: ‘Shaft’s B Lineup’.

Lestat’s Coffee House, 3343 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Sat: The Go Aheads, The Sea Monks. Sun: Peter Mulvey, Michelle Lewis. Mon: Open Mic. Tue: ‘Comedy Night’.

Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla.

Fri: ‘Tritones Winter Show’. Sun: Julia Holter.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave., Coronado. Wed: Goodall Boys. Thu: North Star. Fri: Bonneville 7. Sat: Ron’s Garage. Sun: Alternatives. Tue: Steve Brewer.

Martinis Above Fourth, 3940 Fourth Ave., Hillcrest. Wed: Amy Armstrong. Thu: Jonathon Karrant. Sat: Riccardo Berdini.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., Hillcrest. Thu: Ugly Boys, Might Be Taken, Sometimes Island. Fri: Sluka, The Donnis Trio, Fairplay. Sat: ‘Club Sabbat’.

Sun: ‘Burlesque Sunday Tease’. Tue: Neko Neko Neko, Ba Bete, Grand Curator, BMPV. Music Box, 1337 India St., Little Italy.

Thu: Eli-Mac, New Kingston, For Peace Band. Fri: Redwoods Revue. Sat: You Me At Six. Sun: Better Oblivion Community Center (sold out). Tue: MadeinTYO. The Office, 3936 30th St., North Park.

Thu: ‘No Limits’. Fri: ‘After Hours’. Sat: ‘Strictly Business’. Sun: Tribe of Kings.

Mon: ‘Motown on Mondays’. Tue: ‘Night Shift’.

OMNIA Nightclub, 454 Sixth Ave., Downtown: Thu: ‘Undone on Thursday’. Fri: Kaskade. Sat: DJ Shift.

Panama 66, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park.

Wed: ‘The Wednesday Jam Session’. Fri: Rob Thorsen Trio. Sat: Trio Gadjo. Sun: ‘Funk Jam’.

Proud Mary’s, 5550 Kearny Mesa Road, Kearny Mesa. Wed: ‘Blues Jam’. Thu: Tomcat Courtney. Fri: Fred Heath. Sat: Chris James, Patrick Rynn.

The Rail, 3796 Fifth Ave., Hillcrest. Fri: Trivia.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave., Hillcrest.

Wed: ‘Mischief with Bianca’. Thu: ‘#LEZ + House Music’. Fri: ‘Electro-POP!’. Sat: ‘Voltage’. Sun: ‘Discoteka’.

Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave., La Mesa. Wed: ‘Boss Jazz’. Thu: Swing Thing. Fri: Chloe Lou & the Liddells, the Babydoll Warriors. Sat: Frankie T. & The Triple B. Tue: ‘Everything and Anything Jam’.

Rosie O’Gradys, 3402 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Thu: DJ Ratty. Fri: Sean Hicke Group. Sat: Acoustic Revolt. Tue: ‘Acoustic Night’.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Wed: Nightly, Phangs. Thu: Soft Kill, In Mirrors, Hours. Fri: Griffin House, Lee Coulter. Sat: The Monochrome Set, Smokescreens, SIXES. Sun: Sid Sriram.

Mon: The Suffers, Nick Crook. Tue: Monsterwatch, The Havnauts, D.Wrex.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd., Midway.

Sat: The Model Youth.

SPACE, 3519 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights.

Wed: Black Midi, Band Argument, Language of Flowers. Fri: ‘BrokenBeat’. Sat: Welles, The Hiroshima Mockingbirds.

Sun: Reptaliens, Battery Point.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St., Midtown. Fri: Pros-pect. Sat: DJ T. Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Wed: Paul Gregg. Sun: Coral Bells. Tue: Trivia.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Fri: Wanted Noise, The Midnight Block, Corre Diablo, The Rough. Sat: Half Car Garage. Sun: ‘PANTS Karaoke!’.

Tin Roof, 401 G St., Downtown. Wed: ‘The Corner’. Thu: Keep Your Soul Duo. Fri: Keep Your Soul Duo. Sat: Keep Your Soul Duo. Sun: Karaoke. Mon: ‘Beats and Booze Industry Monday’. Tue: Keep Your Soul Duo. Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St., Bay Park. Thu: Tommy Price and The Stilettos. Fri: The Siers Brothers. Sat: Sugaray Rayford.

Mon: ‘Sexy Salsa and Sensual Bachata’.

Tue: Big Time Operator Orchestra.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave., City Heights. Wed: Powersolo, Alvino & The Dwells, The Hiroshima Mockingbirds.

Thu: The Natives, The Wakemi, Kids N Propane. Fri: The Pegs, Berzerkers. Sat: Tracy Soto, Robot (re)pair, The Dodges, Matt Caskitt. Sun: Beerwolf, Mortar Liquid Squid. Tue: WitchHands, Encrypted, Precious Child.

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

Wed: DJ Ukeim. Thu: ‘BoomBox Thursdays’. Fri: DJ Freeman. Sat: ‘Bacon Bits’.

Sun: Arkaingelle, Maka Roots. Mon: ‘#31 Flavors’.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park.

Thu: Baseball Gregg. Fri: Numb.er, Topographies, O/X. Sat: ‘Booty Bassment’.

Mon: ‘Electric Relaxation’.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St., Ocean Beach.

Wed: ‘Club Kingston’. Thu: Stefan Hillesheim & The Power of Love, Clapton Hook. Fri: Kitchen Dwellers. Sat: Easy Wind. Sun: Karaoke. Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: Choose Your Own Adventure, The Josh Rosenblum Band.

@SDCITYBEAT

BY LARA MCCAFFREY

IN THE BACK

CannaBeat Taking it to the bank

B

anking remains one of the greatest challenges when it comes to owning a cannabis business. In fact, because of federal laws that still recognize cannabis as a Schedule I drug, banking is more or less nonexistent for the cannabis industry.

However, a recently introduced state senate bill aims to change that, at least in California. State Senate Majority Leader Robert Hertzberg, a Democrat representing the San Fernando Valley, is the main author of Senate Bill (SB) 51. The bill proposes a limited purpose state charter bank license for privately funded banks that service cannabis. The license would be administered and regulated by California’s Department of Business Oversight.

“We’ve got all sorts of public safety issues around [cannabis banking],” says Hertzberg. “We have to come up with a way to make this work. There’s almost over 900 banks’ branches in California that could easily be converted into bank branches to handle cannabis cash.”

SB 51 will have limited purpose charter banks operate within a closed loop sys-

@SDCITYBEAT

tem, says Hertzberg. SB 51 “would prohibit a cannabis limited charter bank or credit union from engaging in banking activity with any other financial institution that lacks a limited purpose charter issued under these provisions,” reads the bill’s text.

Because cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, traditional banks regulated by the federal government risk violating laws like the Bank Secrecy Act and USA Patriot Act if they bank with cannabis businesses. As a result, many of those businesses are forced to run on a cash-only system.

Hertzberg’s bill has just been introduced and is a follow-up from SB 930, a bill he authored in January 2018. The bill was eventually held up in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and ostennsibly died late last year. Hertzberg notes that SB 51 is basically the same bill as SB 930.

The bill could have some problems, however. During his time as state treasurer, John Chiang and the Cannabis Banking Working Group (which he chaired) commissioned a cannabis banking feasibility study. Entitled “State-backed Financial Institution (Public Bank) for the State of California Servicing the Cannabis Industry

government agency nor from the private sector, so legislation would be needed to allow it to operate without insured deposits.”

Like the report, Sen. Hertzberg acknowledges setting up a state bank isn’t the most effective solution. But SB 51 does make it so that a cannabis limited charter COURTESY OF ROBERT HERTZBERG bank or credit union can attain private insurance.

“In seeking and retaining private insurance, a cannabis limited charter bank or credit union may do all things and assume and discharge all obligations required of it that are not in conflict with state law,” reads SB 51’s text.

The senator says that solving cannabis banking issues isn’t going to be easy, but he’s ready for the challenge.

“This is a decision made by the voters who said they wanted this cannabis Sen. Robert Hertzberg industry,” says Hertzberg. “It’s our job “The bank cannot be formed and oper- to make sure it works, to make sure that ate under current California statutes, thus people are protected, to make sure that the requiring multiple legislative changes to product is safe [and] to make sure that the allow bank formation,” reads the report. money surrounding the industry is han“By way of example, our research indi- dled safely and thoughtfully.” cates that the bank would not be able to obtain deposit insurance either through a CannaBeat appears every other week.

Feasibility Study 2018,” it was conducted

by San Diego-based Level 4 Ventures and published in December 2018. It noted the difficulty establishing a state charter bank and concluded that the federal government must move cannabis out of Schedule I status to truly solve cannabis’ banking issues.

MARCH 6, 2019 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 39