San Diego CityBeat • Apr 8, 2015

Culture

News

Another Purr-fect day at downtown’s warm, fuzzy Cat CafÊ

Sketchy science claims to reverse abortion pill results

Almighty Music Father John Misty sings about love, warts and all

By Peter Holslin

2 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

#SDCityBeat

#SDCityBeat

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

Up Front | From the editor

The IRS: Not phoning it in Contrary to gut instinct, there are times when you in-process note makes one wonder: Was my tax need to talk to a human being at the Internal Revreturn accidentally deleted by an octogenarian enue Service. This seems counter to common sense, employee who’s just learning to use a Mac? Give though. We’re raised to dodge their calls and lose me specifics. Tell me if there’s a delay because you their snail mails. You’d rather get stuck in an elevacan’t file a form in crayon, or there are tear-drop tor with a flesh-eating zombie whose breath reeks of marks covering the income line, or Red Bull is not red-curried brains than choose to chat with the IRS. a work-related expense.

If your intent is to never interact with them, There’s no number for phone assistance availthere is hope. Commissioner John Koskinen reable on the IRS website. If you can sniff out the right cently announced the federal agency is so underSan Diego IRS field-office number, recall there’s an staffed that his team is purposefully not answering industry-standard 60-percent chance you won’t get 60 percent of incoming taxpayer calls. through. You might, however, get a pre-recorded Fail! Hurray? message that directs you to check the Where’s My Taxes are due April 15. As the deadline looms, Refund? website. When you loop back, it’s nice the you have a better chance of flipping a coin to detersite does inform taxpayers that statuses are only mine the number of exemptions you should claim updated once a day. So no need to check back twice than you do of getting through on the help line. within 24 hours. Um, starting at what time?

While some of us have been dialing the agency, The IRS: Go to our website. Don’t call us. And frantically trying to determine if Viagra is a viable we won’t call you. medical deduction, what have the emThe irony will be thick if my refund arployees at the IRS been doing? Recovering rives on April 24. That’s Tax Freedom Day from March Madness? Playing tax-form 2015. It’s the date calculated by the Tax Sudoku? Prank-calling freshman conFoundation that signals when you’ve earned gressmen with a fake Kevin Spacey Southenough money to pay off your tax burden. ern drawl saying they’ve been picked for a This year, you’ll need to work an average of cameo on Season 5 of House of Cards?

114 days to get to this point. That’s roughly No, silly. The IRS appears to still be 31 percent of your annual income. busy back-burnering corporate loopholAmericans will pay $3.28 trillion in feders, sticking it to Tea Partiers and ferreting eral taxes this year, and $1.57 trillion to the John Koskinen out mom-and-pop business owners who states. IRS Commissioner Koskinen says under-claimed doily sales for the previous tax year. if his agency had more staff, the federal government The boss went on record to say that public-ascould have fished out another $2 billion in revenue. sistance lines are being ignored. Glad Mr. Koskinen Confusing. Perhaps no good can, or will, come of doesn’t oversee a suicide hotline. getting through on the phone to the IRS. Be warned I’ve got firsthand experience being ignored by that if somebody calls your phone and says they’re the IRS. This year I was due a refund, which I was with the IRS, they’re a scammer. Tightly guarding planning to blow on a big Moons Over My Hammy their customer-service brand, IRS officials defiantbreakfast at Denny’s. I e-filed early. Seven weeks afly note they’d never call a taxpayer. The IRS will ter my payback was due, I was no closer to financonly stick it to you via the post office. ing that sweet ham-’n-eggs, two-cheeses-on-sourNot surprisingly, 40 percent of IRS employees dough morning sammy. are four years from retirement eligibility. Three There’s a section on irs.gov for tracking an expercent of their workers are under 30. That makes pected refund. You can also Google “Where’s My it unlikely the IRS will friend us on Facebook. Or, Refund?” Go ahead and type in your Social Secutweet me that my refund just needs a signature on rity number on the site. Sigh, your personal inforpage three to get processed. mation is already compiled in a handbook they It’d be nice to get my tax situation resolved. Sopass out door-to-door in China. There’s also a mocial media proactivity would be a modern fix. But bile app for tracing your refund called IRS2Go. (I the thought of what photos the IRS would post on can’t wait for the video game: Grand Theft 1040.)

Instagram does give me pause.

The problem with an online inquiry is that —Ron Donoho the only reply is a message saying your taxes are Write to rond@sdcitybeat.com. still being processed. Two months of getting the This issue of CityBeat is dedicated to long-suffering San Diego Padres fans. Faith springs anew.

Volume 13 • Issue 36 Editor Ron Donoho

Staff Writers Carly Nairn, Joshua Emerson Smith

Contributors Ian Cheesman, David L. Coddon, Seth Combs, Kelly Davis, Tiffany Fox, Michael A. Gardiner, Glenn Heath Jr., Peter Holslin, Dave Maass, Scott McDonald, Jenny Montgomery, Susan Myrland, Jim Ruland, Ben Salmon, Jen Van Tieghem, Amy Wallen

Web Editor Ryan Bradford

Production Manager Tristan Whitehouse

Music Editor Jeff Terich Arts Editor Kinsee Morlan

Art director Lindsey Voltoline Columnists Aaryn Belfer, Edwin Decker, John R. Lamb, Alex Zaragoza

Production artist Rees Withrow MultiMedia Advertising Director Paulina Porter-Tapia

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

Advertising inquiries Interested in advertising?

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

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

Vice President of Finance Michael Nagami Vice President of Operations David Comden Publisher Kevin Hellman

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

4 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

#SDCityBeat

Up Front | Letters

ILL-CONCEIVED CONVERSATIONS First of all, I think it’s great that CityBeat now has an amusing editor with a teen-age daughter.

As a parent, your tone and perspective seem less assured, less doctrinal and more humanly relatable. Second, the idea of a conversation on race relations with any stranger sounds like a terrible idea for way more than the commercial reasons you mention [“Coffee talk on race relations,” April 1]. Besides which, as a white person, I have never had a black barista at any Starbucks anywhere.

Maybe Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz should start talking to his own personnel office. Finally, there also was a hilarious op-ed expansion on this well-meant clinker of an idea in the Los Angeles Times: “And now a word from our PR team on racism” by John Kenney.

Frances O’Neill Zimmerman, La Jolla

ANOTHER CUP OF COFFEE Thank you for this great editorial [“Coffee talk on race relations,” April 1]. I have been participating in a racial focus group for the past year and a half in my community. As a result, about a year ago I was compelled to go into the Starbucks on Fairmount Avenue in City Heights to get some coffee.

While there, I noticed that most of the customers, with the exception of myself, were people of color. I noticed a white woman who appeared to be the manager at a table, going over some paperwork. I asked her if she had a moment and asked her if Starbucks had a diversity policy when hiring

#SDCityBeat

baristas. She said they did, and I then asked her to look around the store at her customers and then view the all white baristas behind the counter. I told her that while they may have a policy, it did not look like they were implementing it. I can see if it is a Starbucks in a mostly white neighborhood that they might have white baristas, but in City Heights, come on now. After reading your editorial, I decided to drive by the City Heights Starbucks and sure enough, only one Hispanic and the rest were white baristas, while customers in the store were very diverse. Talk is cheap and nobody seems to really get this.

On the

Cover

Dorothy Kwiat, Talmadge

NEW EDITOR ALERT I picked up a CityBeat and was pleasantly surprised to see Ron Donoho in the editor’s chair. How lucky they are to have him at the helm. I have followed the journey of the paper since its inception, and was always disappointed that it never positioned itself to be a respected rival of The Reader. The audience was there, but I felt the editorial content never delivered the goods to be taken seriously.

It smacked of the old “underground” newspaper rhetoric that left town years ago. The editorial on Starbucks [April 1] is very “Donoho,” coherent and witty, and was a delight to read in CityBeat. I hope this sets the tenor for the other writers on staff.

Jack Lane, Encinitas

Emma Elizabeth Tillman, pictured here with her husband, John Tillman (Father John Misty), photographed this week’s cover shot of the musical artist.

She graduated from UCLA with an MFA in film directing. She is currently in pre-production in New Orleans on her first feature film, tentatively titled Alligator, about a semi-incestuous brother and sister struggling to find their way back to each other after a long estrangement. Her film and photographic work is informed by bad dreams, intimacy and psychoanalysis. To see more of her photos, go to emmaelizabethtillman.bigcartel.com.

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

Up Front | News Lindsey Voltoline

to keep the pregnancy viable. According to Morrell, if women did nothing after they took mifepristone, about 50 percent of the time, which is a ballpark figure (studies have shown it to be between 20 and 70 percent), women would need to take misoprostol to complete the abortion, as the mifepristone was not effective enough alone.

When mifepristone was first studied in the 1980s, it was used in a far larger dosage and could be used as an abortion pill on its own, Morrell said. However, many studies on the drug have taken place since, and a safer and more reliable regimen is to take the two pills, as mifepristone in given is a far lower dosage. The fact that half the pregnant women who take mifepristone remain pregnant—a fetal heartbeat is still present—has nothing to do with their progesterone levels.

D

Can you reverse an abortion?

A pro-life San Diego County doctor has developed a controversial procedure with national implications

by Carly Nairn

W

hen Rebekah Buell found out she was pregnant she was 17 and a half, in a bad marriage and already had one baby boy. Living with her parents, she decided she wasn’t in a position to have a second child. She went to a clinic that provides abortions near her home and discussed with a nurse the possibility of having a medical abortion.

A medical abortion is a regimen of ingesting two pills—mifepristone, commonly known as RU-486 or Mifeprex, and misoprostol. Typically used within the first seven to nine weeks of pregnancy, the first pill blocks the receptors of the hormone progesterone, causing the lining of the uterine walls to shed, similar to menstruation.

Misoprostol is taken two days later, which induces contractions of the uterus, emptying its contents.

Buell took the first pill, and says she then regretted the decision. She found a website called Abortion Pill Reversal, a portal that promotes a controversial treatment developed by a family physician based in Escondido.

6 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

The idea of reversing an abortion is making national waves. On March 30, Arizona formalized a law that requires doctors providing medical abortions to inform patients that the procedure can be reversed. Arkansas followed suit with a similar law on April 7. That is not the law in California.

The development of the idea of reversal started in 2007, when Dr. George Delgado heard that a colleague had given a large dosage of progesterone to a woman to combat the effects of mifepristone. The woman kept the pregnancy.

Delgado has a medical degree from UCDavis and works as the medical director for Culture of Life Family Services, which runs a pair of pro-life clinics in San Diego County and is in charge of the Abortion Pill Reversal website.

He got a call a few years later from another woman asking for the same treatment. Hailed as a pioneer in the pro-life community, in 2012 Delgado published a peer-reviewed article in the medical journal The Annals of Pharmacotherapy on abortion-pill reversal, citing six case studies, four of which led to births. Delgado worked on the article while in San Diego County, although not all his patients were from the county.

The article details Delgado’s approach.

Basically, after a woman takes the first abortion pill and decides not to take the second pill and keep the pregnancy, the first step is to find out if the embryo is viable—that is, if it still has a heartbeat. Generally, a

heartbeat can be detected in an ultrasound in the eighth week of pregnancy. If there is a heartbeat, then a doctor provides large doses of progesterone to counteract the mifepristone. The progesterone is injected, or given orally or vaginally.

“I have known how to use progesterone in pregnancies to try and prevent miscarriage, so I reasoned that I could use the progesterone to outcompete the mifepristone,” Delgado told CityBeat.

“Let’s be clear: These claims are not based in sound science,” said Cita Walsh, vice president of marketing and communications for Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, in an email response from the organization about Delgado’s approach. “There is no scientific or medical evidence to suggest that reversing a medication abortion is possible. Furthermore it has not been tested for safety, effectiveness or the likelihood of side effects.”

Dr. Kathleen Morrell, a Reproductive Health Advocacy Fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health and a working OB-GYN in New York, said that if doctors started experimenting with treatments like Delgado’s, they would lose the valued trust between patient and doctor. “[It] hasn’t gone through that rigorous scientific protocol,” said Morrell about abortion-pill reversal. “It really limits us as doctors. I wonder if patients will start to think what doctors are doing to them.”

One of the controversial aspects of Delgado’s method is the need for the hormone

espite a broad consensus in the medical community that Delgado’s approash doesn’t save a pregnancy, Buell defended her treatment. She started a six-week course of twice-a-week injections and vaginal insertions. She said her medical insurance covered it with a $50 copay. After six weeks, she was still pregnant. She credited her fast reaction time after taking mifepristone.

“I’m not sure what would have happened,” she said about doing nothing after taking mifepristone. “I had gotten my injections within 24 hours. Without getting injected with progesterone, I don’t think I would have been able to maintain that pregnancy,” she said.

Buell, who gave birth to a second son, is now a pro-life advocate who speaks at events, such as January’s Walk For Life in San Francisco. She counsels pregnant women considering Delgado’s approach.

“This encounter changed my life,” she said about finding Delgado’s website and going through his treatment. “I know it sounds cliché, [but] it changed everything. What’s wrong with a girl changing her mind?”

Delgado said some women who decided to take progesterone changed their minds again, and took misoprostol to finish their abortions.

“We have seen them go back and forth, and that’s their choice,” he said.

His treatment is more successful when the pregnancy is farther along, Delgado said. This doesn’t surprise Morrell, who said that mifepristone’s effectiveness decreases the longer a pregnant woman waits to start an abortion.

Delgado said that 60 percent of the time he’s given progesterone, the woman has kept the pregnancy. Delgado and an international network of doctors connected by the website have given progesterone to 87 women who have given birth. He also said that 75 patients who took progesterone after taking the first abortion pill are currently pregnant.

“Mifepristone is not associated with birth defects, that has been our experience here, too; we have not had any birth defects.

It either kills the baby, or it doesn’t,” he said.

He said reversal-procedure side effects include swelling around the injection area, fatigue and sometimes heartburn.

Women who call the hotline on the Abortion Pill Reversal website are set up

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Up Front | News with a doctor who is willing to give the progesterone. Many tise on bus stops, benches and places low-income womof the doctors work in “pregnancy crisis centers,” pro-life en might frequent.

Delgado said many of the women who want his proceclinics like Delgado’s that provide counseling, ultrasounds dure are influenced by social constraints and testing for pregnant women, but and are not given enough time to reflect sometimes give inaccurate or misleadabout their decision to have an abortion. ing information about abortion without “Women are hardwired to nurture actually providing abortions. their unborn babies, that’s just the way That’s the opinion of Sierra Harris, they are developed,” he said. “Whenevassistant director of ACCESS Women’s er there is a medical treatment available, Health Justice in Oakland, a nonprofit these women should know there is that that provides information to women option, and the abortion centers aren’t about reproductive options. ACCESS telling them at this point.” has its own “healthline” where inforPro-choice advocates disagree strongly. mation on abortion procedures is dis“Planned Parenthood’s health care pensed. The healthline works throughout California. providers follow rigorous medical stan“Many of the women who call in dards and guidelines, developed ushave been to a pregnancy crisis center ing the most current medical evidence and say that the clinic tells them they available,” Walsh, Planned Parenthood’s can have a free abortion, but they are spokesperson, wrote. “A woman who is definitely not clinics that provide aborthinking about ending her pregnancy tion services, and end up trying to talk receives accurate and unbiased inforwomen out of abortion.” mation about her options: parenting, Harris decries the methods used by adoption and abortion.”

Pregnancy Crisis Centers (PCCs).

Morrell questioned how many “Their tactics are shaming,” she women actually seek out a way to stop said. “They try to talk women out of it. their abortions.

That’s really hard, on a personal level.”

“Most women are very thoughtful Planned Parenthood Today in California, there are more when they decide to have an abortion,” PCCs (155-plus) than abortion providshe said. In her 10 years of practice, she ers, Harris said. said she has never come across a patient wanting to stop an abortion.

There are at least 16 PCCs in San Diego County. The centers are concentrated in Latino and low-income communities, Harris said, and adver- Write to carlyn@sdcitybeat.com.

“

There is no scientific or medical evidence to suggest that reversing a medication abortion is possible.

—Cita Walsh

”

ca nna BIZ News on all things weed

Amid Justice Department warning, locals race for pot-shop permits While folks scramble to open the city’s first permitted medical-cannabis dispensaries, federal prosecutors said they’ll continue to target such activity, despite congressional direction to lay off states.

Last week, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice (DOJ) told the Los Angeles Times that new federal rules to block the agency from going after states that allow medical cannabis, such as California, don’t apply to individuals or organizations.

Lawmakers fired back, calling the DOJ’s interpretation wrong. California Reps. Sam Farr and Dana Rohrabacher, who co-sponsored the amendment, voiced strong frustration.

“The Justice Department’s interpretation of the amendment defies logic,” Farr told the Huffington Post on Friday.

An amendment to the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill signed by President Obama in December, the legislation defunded DOJ activity that would “prevent [states] from implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana.”

However, the new rules have yet to be tested in the courts, and federal prosecutors seem determined to continue forfeiture proceedings against three Bay Area dispensaries, including the Harborside Health Center in Oakland.

“It does mean that dispensary owners are at risk of prosDavid Blair, CEO ecution,” said Bill Piper, direcand co-owner of A tor of national affairs for the Green Alternative Drug Policy Alliance. “It’s unlikely, but it’s a fear that they will have to live with.”

That hasn’t stopped dozens of entrepreneurs in San Diego from applying to run dispensaries under the city’s permitting system, which the City Council approved by ordinance a year ago. The first-comefirst-served system allows for 36 dispensaries, capped at four in each council district.

So far, the city has approved four dispensaries, including A Green Alternative, which opened in Otay Mesa several weeks ago at 2335 Roll Drive. The next permitted storefront expected to open will be located at 658 East San Ysidro Blvd., followed by one at 8888 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. and another at 3452 Hancock St. Adding to the competition between would-be potshop owners, dispensaries cannot be located within 100 feet of residential areas or 1,000 feet of each other. That means that many folks who go through the long and costly application process may end up with nothing.

There are currently 32 applications being processed by the city, including a whopping 14 in District 2, which includes Pacific Beach and Point Loma. Council Districts 5 and 9 have no pending applications.

At the same time, city code-enforcement officials said there are currently 48 active cases against unpermitted dispensaries. The City Attorney’s office estimates that it’s shut down roughly 250 storefronts.

—Joshua Emerson Smith

#SDCityBeat

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 7

Up Front | Opinion

Sordid

Edwin Decker

Tales

Treason! Pledge of Allegiance read in Arabic!

I’m sure you’ve heard the one about the New York high school that committed “treason” by permitting a student to recite the Pledge of Allegiance over the school’s PA—in Arabic.

The reading was arranged by the school’s foreign language department to commemorate National Foreign Language Week, which, unsurprisingly, caused droves of quasi-ignorant, xenophobic uberpatriots to get their pissers all in a twist because the hermetically sterile biocontainment tank in which they keep their America immersed was somehow infiltrated by something—gasp—foreign.

The way they reacted, you would have thought the kid had translated it to say, “I pledge allegiance to jihad / on the United States of America / Death to the Republic, for which it stands / One nation, under siege, with car bombs and beheadings for all.”

Conservative blabbermouth Laura Ingraham rhetorically asked on her radio show, “What if skinheads want to [say] the Pledge of Allegiance? Are we going to [let them] do that too?” Which, as far as bad analogies go, is like a muskrat ordering scallops from a libertarian social worker.

But that’s how it was in the media, on social media and in middle-American dining rooms where drooling, half-senile grandpas muttered from the kid’s table about how “The Pledge of Allegiance should only be spoken in English” and that we are “One nation under God, not Allah.” Lots of folk, mostly on Fox News, even went so far as to say that Arabic is the official language of terrorism, subscribing no doubt to the syllogism: “When Arabic = Islam, and Islam = Terrorism, then Arabic = Terrorism.”

Or, as Aristotle once said, “When A = B and B = C, then A = R you on crack?”

What follows are some reasons why the above arguments can only have been made by frequent users of hard drugs.

“Are we going to let skinheads say the Pledge of Allegiance, too?” As I said, bad analogy. Arabic is a language. Skinhead is a person. A very bad person.

A contemptible-waste-of-organs-type person. However, Arabic, like all languages, is morally neutral. It is merely a vehicle to convey ideas. Sure, Arabic can be used to convey objectionable ideas, like, “Death to the infidels.” However, it can also be used to convey more amiable messages such as, “Would you like a bon bon?” or, “I believe it’s time for your sponge bath, sire.”

“We are not ‘One nation under Allah.’” Sure we are. Putting aside that all deities are fictitious constructs designed to keep us calm during thunder storms, the word Allah, in Arabic, means God. It’s not as if Allah is some different God who lives in the sky overlooking the desert from the mount of his 10-story camel. If you look at an Arabic Bible (yes,

there are Bibles written in Arabic), God is called Allah throughout—just as Hashem is God in Hebrew, just as Dios is God in Spanish, just as Bono is God in the green room.

When Arabic = Islam and Islam = Terrorism, then Arabic = Terrorism. Anybody who doesn’t have a bag of flag lapel pins where their brains should be knows that Islam does not equal terrorism. And Arabic does not equal Islam any more than English equals Christianity. Arabic is a language. Islam is a religion.

Talk about apples and naranjas! Arabic is spoken by 250 million people, including millions of Christians, Jews, Buddhists and atheists, whereas nobody speaks Islam. Because Islam is not a freaking language!

See how the connection is tenuous? Not only is Arabic spoken by millions of followers of religions other than Islam, only 20 percent of the world’s Muslims speak Arabic. Because—like every other religion—Muslims speak the language of the country or region in which they live, which is pretty much every language, including, duh, English. But if after all this you still feel the need to excise it from your existence, then at least be consistent and resign yourself from ever counting or doing math again. Because the numbers 0 through 9 that you use so often?

They are called Arabic numerals— the same ones the terrorists use.

“The Pledge of Allegiance should be spoken in English only.” This language territorialism always befuddles me. I mean, yes, for efficiency and convenience, we should default to a single language.

But how does occasionally reciting the Pledge in a foreign tongue hurt us? I would argue that it does the opposite. Diversity is stronger than singularity. That’s why large gene pools are better than small ones; that’s why 12 jurors of varying races, genders, careers and classes are better than 12 straight, white, upper-middle-class dentists. It is why it’s best to have an architect, a demolitions expert, a chopper pilot and a surly, yoked, bling-bedecked mechanic who don’t take no guff on your A-Team.

Yes a lot of people feel the Pledge should only be spoken in English, but nobody ever explains why. I mean, seriously, what does it matter?

“Pledge” is a solemn promise. “Allegiance” is loyalty to a government, group or cause. And “America” is that country in which you live. The United States.

The one you want everyone to honor. What difference does it make if someone pledges to it in Arabic, or Mandarin, or Azerbaijani, even? Christ, you could say the Pledge in Korowai, the language of the braineating cannibals of Papua, and it would still be a vow to our republic—no less solemn, no less binding.

“

Arabic is a language.

Islam is a religion. Talk about apples and naranjas!

”

8 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

Sordid Tales appears every other week.

Write to edwin@sdcitybeat.com.

Up Front | Food

by michael a. gardiner Michael A. Gardiner

The Harar Special vegetarian combination

the world

fare

No need for silverware

The building housing Harar Ethiopian Restaurant (2432 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights) is barely more than a shack, though a colorful one.

It wouldn’t look entirely out of place at the perilous edges of Tijuana, or Addis Ababa. It’s not clear that its large dining room would withstand a heavy rain (never much of a concern in Ethiopia).

At the heart of the cuisine is injera, a crepelike and spongy flatbread that accounts for two thirds of the caloric intake of Ethiopians. It is to Ethiopia the same as corn tortillas are to Mexico, or pasta to Italy. Injera is made from teff, an ancient, iron-rich, low-gluten grain (a totally gluten-free version was made for us on one trip) grown in Ethiopia’s highlands.

Injera not only stands in for bread in Ethiopia, but also for plates. The remarkable variety of stews that constitute the core of Ethiopian cuisine come to the table served on a massive stretch of injera. Bread? Check. Serving utensil? Check.

The best choice for your first trip to the restaurant is the Harar Special. Like most Ethiopian food, it arrives at your table with a platter covered in injera, which, in turn, is covered with little piles of each of the dishes. The Harar Special includes a variety of meat stews and vegetable dishes.

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Doro wat, a spicy chicken-leg stew, is Ethiopia’s national dish. At Harar, sega wat (spicy beef and onion stew) is better, its heat coming from berbere, the classic Ethiopian red-chile-based spice blend.

Better still is yebeg alecha, a mild lamb stew with ginger, garlic and a kiss of chile peppers and soft spices. It was the best of the meat dishes.

The Harar Special also included four vegetarian dishes, each of which is also offered on the Vegetarian Combination: misir wot (red lentils in a pepper sauce), ater kik (split peas with onions, garlic and herbs), gomen wot (collard greens with garlic and ginger) and yatakelt wot (cabbage, carrots and potatoes with onions, ginger and garlic).

The standout for me was the ater kik. A lot like an Indian split-pea daal, the combination of the earthy legumes, ginger and turmeric made for a rich mouth-feel and deeply satisfying dish.

The gomen wot was also quite good, an Ethiopian counterpart to the South’s greens in pot liquor.

All of the food at Harar is—taken on its own— hearty and rich. But each dish is made to blend with the injera. The flavor profile, in the end, is adjusted by the injera’s slightly sour flavor (think sourdough bread). The result is food that is comforting but also exciting.

The overall experience at Harar is like that, too—comforting and exotic. Especially in the rear dining room; it’s as if you wandered into someone’s backyard halfway around the world, and the host treated you like an honored guest.

The World Fare appears weekly.

Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 9

Up Front | Drink

beer &

chees

by ian cheesman

festival walls, so the biggest benefit of a brew fest is the ability to sample wares from multiple unfamiliar breweries on a compressed timeline.

Taking a moment to peruse the festival’s Finding brew festival fortune website and perform the cost-benefit analysis can pay dividends later. That said, the massive A decade ago, brew festivals in San Diego were volume of beers at the Festival of Beers akin to an old-timey circus rolling into town. (citybeatbeerfest.com) on April 18, Rhythm & Their scarcity gave them an allure that kept me, Brews (sdrhythmandbrews.com) on April 25, San and many others, captivated. Since that time, Diego Beer Fest (sandiegobeerfest.com) on June surging interest in craft beer and exploding 15 and the International Beer Festival (sdfair.com) counts of local brewers have created a seemat the Del Mar Fair from June 20-22 offer the best ingly unquenchable demand for more. At least chances of finding undiscovered territory. nine brew festivals are coming in the next three For veterans in the craft-brew circuit, months, a count that doesn’t include a pair that festivals that are more specific in their offerings just came and went. tend to provide the biggest value. Stone Brewing Most brew fests have a pretty standard Co.’s Oakquinox (stonebrewing.com) on April recipe. Your ticket entitles you to shuffle 26 graciously itemizes all the brews in advance. through innumerable short lines, closing every While this is not a service most brew fests offer, transaction with (a pittance of ) delicious beer. you can often get better informed by following It’s simple and people obviously love it, but a festival’s Facebook event page, where they the volume of essentially identical events has commonly share confirmed offerings. created pressure on the market to differentiate.

Be on the lookout for ways brew fests sweeten What are the differences that matter? the deal. Over the last couple years, more are ian cheesman including food, or even booze, as part of admission. It’s made fan favorites of the (recently concluded) Mission Valley Craft Beer & Food Festival and Bacon & Barrels (baconandbarrels. com) on May 9.

If maximizing caloric density isn’t your thing, there’s also an emerging trend to produce brew fests that are more intimate in design.

FestivALE (78festivale.com) on April 12 and Sorrento Valley Brewfest (sorrentovalleybeerfest.yapsody. com) on May 15 proudly limit ticket availability and advertising, to encourage an atmosphere where communities can familiarize themselves with regional beers and meet the brewers who produce them.

Even if you’re not the sort to CityBeat’s Beer Club birthday bash obsessively distill events down to a As in life, the spice of beer festivals tends checklist of benefits, a little homework will go a to arise from variety, specifically the variety of long way. Your reward will come later, inside a festival’s complimentary taster mug. brewers attending. However, don’t make the mistake of letting raw brewery counts alone Beer & Chees appears every third week. inform your decision. Your hard-earned cash Write to ianc@sdcitybeat.com. is technically redeemable for beer outside

10 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

#SDCityBeat

#SDCityBeat

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 11

Up Front | Food

by Ron Donoho

Urban

Eats

The Half Door opens all the way A few friends have taken to calling the newest East Village eatery “The White House.” Far from presidential, the new spot is an Irish brew pub called Half Door Brewing Company (903 Island Ave., halfdoorbrewing.com). It does have a shiny white coat of exterior paint, and certainly exudes the feel of a historic, important place.

The 4,000-square-foot wooden house dates back to the 1900s. It’s situated at the corner of Ninth and Island avenues, just two blocks from Petco Park. Half Door has quickly gained a following among downtown locals, and is sure to be jamming on Opening Day for the San Diego Padres, as well as home-game days and nights all baseball season.

Half Door is owned by the Drayne family, which has operated The Field Irish Pub for nearly 20 years in the Gaslamp Quarter. Siblings Stacy and Dan Drayne are overseeing operations at Half Door. The goal is to carry on the Irish tradition of being a cultural hub where people spill in and out throughout the day.

They’re brewing their own suds onsite. The beer offerings change weekly, even daily, but keep an eye out for the Irish dry stout and the Irish red ale.

12 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

The dark wooden bar is located inside on the first floor. If you get no kicks from beer, wine and spirits are offered, too. Note, it can get cozy, and a little loud inside at the bar. When there’s a crowd, it’s not easy to traverse from one end of the joint to the other.

The restaurant has two floors, and most of the dining area is outside, on wrap-around balconies. It’s airier outside and there’s much more elbow room.

At dinnertime, Half Door has the traditional Irish fare—fish and chips, and a brewer’s pie with beer-braised short ribs and puff pastry. I went for the house burger with Irish white cheddar cheese. It wasn’t greasy; it was pleasantly moist.

Another day for lunch, I opted for the vegetable stir fry. It comes with oyster mushrooms, coconut ginger rice, green beans, pickled carrots, cabbage, scallions, roasted red peppers, sugar snap peas, macadamia nuts and sweet chile soy glaze. I was trying to impress my vegetarian girlfriend. But the waitress noted you could add a meat, and I weakened and opted for beef, which was a mistake on my part and overcooked by the kitchen.

My dining companion gave a green thumbs up to a poached-pear salad with roasted beets, arugula, goat cheese, candied walnuts and honey vinaigrette.

The beefed-up Padres lineup will probably help bring pre- and post-game business to the Half Door. I’ll be back on off days.

Urban Eats will appear every third week.

Write to rond@sdcitybeat.com.

#SDCityBeat

Up Front | Voices

Ryan Bradford

Well, that was

awkward

Fur and loafing at The Cat Café Last year, I became a cat dad.

I’d be lying if that statement didn’t spur some internal conflict. I used to roll my eyes at the cat images that littered my social-media feeds, or smugly expound on the effects of the cat-carrying parasite toxoplasmosis (“Excreted through their feces!”).

In a society that refuses to tolerate bipartisanship on the topic of four-legged friends, I was happy to stoke the fire for Team Canine.

But after plans to move into a new place fell through, my wife and I needed an outlet to spend all the emotional energy we had built up for A Big Change. Dogs aren’t allowed where we live, and that’s how we came to adopt Harvey, aka Harvard D Cat, aka Harv-Harv, aka Tom Cat Harverford, aka Sweet Handsome Boy, aka….

Oh, I should stop here and mention that there’s a good chance I’m suffering from toxoplasmosis. How else to explain the drastic, unexpected shift from being a dog person to a cat person?

How else to explain the manic thoughts and red tinge that enters my vision when Harvey’s near?

Or, the crazed reaction to him doing literally anything? (Hold on, he’s looking out the window right now and it’s so cute.)

I know this is ridiculous. And somewhere, way back in the corner of my brain, there’s Sane Ryan, screaming against the crazy catman stereotypes brought upon by the parasitic effects—which a friend refers to as “The Meow-Meow.” So before The Meow-Meow (imagined in this scenario as loving, smothering tabbies) completely buries Sane Ryan, let it be known that he recognizes the unbelievable, insane shit that cat owners do/say/think.

Which might help explain the existence of things like The Cat Café (472 Third Ave., Downtown, catcafesd.com).

The Cat Café is a place where you can enjoy a snack or beverage while hanging out with cats. To anti-catters, this probably seems like the ultimate in bougie indulgence at best, or, at worst, a cynical exploitation of the Internet cat craze.

Before getting Harv-Harv, I could’ve probably understood these attitudes. I’m not a fan of bringing animals to places normally reserved for people.

It seems unfair for an animal to endure loud environments and the threat of being stepped on. However, those thoughts are the product of Sane Ryan, who for all intents and purr-poses, is mostly dead.

My first thought when I heard about The Cat Café was: meow meow meow meow meow meow (which roughly translates to “I’m excited” but with troubling and vaguely sociopathic undertones).

I went during an afternoon, which is the point in the day when Harvey McHarverston usually takes his nap. I wanted to experience it at its least busy,

and I guess I imagined everyone—cats and staff—all chilling in sunbeams and being cutie-patooties.

I ordered an iced coffee and passed through three doors that separated the café from the cat arena, which was large, well-lit and adorned with art that I could only describe as “seductive cat.” Piles of cats slept on surfaces throughout the room, including protruding shelves and a carpeted Eiffel Tower platform, standing about 7 feet tall.

I quickly learned that it’s not just a place to hang with cats, but also a sort of halfway home that works in tandem with The Humane Society.

All resident cats were available for adoption. The employees were incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and eager to introduce everyone to the cats: Michelle and Miguel (siblings from the same litter and super cute!), Figaro (sleeping on a high shelf and also really cute!), Beans (black cat and oh so cute!), Lady (hidden but I’m sure really cute!) and Momo (a little grumpy, but cute all the same!).

I posted up at a table and pretended to work in an effort to look not totally desperate for one of the cats to jump on my lap. A young mom sat at my table and I held my breath every time her toddler went near grumpy Momo. Memories of when Señor Harvey von Kittycat killed a bird flashed in my mind: The poor bird ran around our condo with its head hanging by a string—all while our cat strutted around giving You think I give a shit? looks. I think there comes a time when every cat owner realizes their pet is psychotic, and I hoped this wasn’t the day we found that out about Momo.

“Are you looking to adopt?” I asked the mom.

“No, my roommate is allergic. Plus, my old cat only recently disappeared,” she said. “He was 11 years old, a good age for a cat.” I suspected this trip to The Cat Café was probably serving more therapeutic purposes for her than as entertainment for her child.

“He was a tough cat,” she continued, full of pride.

“The neighborhood bully.” She grabbed a streamer wand off the floor and wistfully wiggled it in front of Beans’ face. When Beans gave no reaction, she wiggled it in front of her son, who pawed at it.

“My cat’s an indoor cat. Pretty soft around the edges,” I said, and immediately felt awful for divulging Professor Harvicus M.D. Esquire’s stoutness to the woman.

It was then that an employee walked in and announced that Michelle and Miguel had both been adopted! I looked at the woman. I aww’d, she aww’d; I laughed and she laughed. Then we both meowed. Everyone was meowing.

“

The Cat Café is a place where you can enjoy a snack or beverage while hanging out with cats.

”

#SDCityBeat 13 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

Well, That Was Awkward appears every third week.

Write to ryanb@sdcitybeat.com.

April 8, 2015 · San Diego #SDCityBeat CityBeat · 13

EVENTS

SHORTlist

ART

the

Three you have to see

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

HPolyester at Conrad Prebys Music Center, Room 313, UCSD campus, La Jolla. An installation by collaborators Curt Miller and Nichole Speciale, in which audio transducers are embedded in suspended, unzipped sleeping bags to create an immersive sound environment in an intimate space. From noon to 6 p.m. Thursday, April 9, and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 11. ucsdmusic.blogspot.com HIchiyo Yamamoto: The New Face of Imari at Japanese Friendship Garden, Balboa Park. The Friendship Garden’s new exhibition celebrates Yamamoto’s technique of glazing porcelain with pure platinum instead of traditional gold or white gold. Opening from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 10. 619-232-2784, niwa.org San Diego Botanic Garden ArtFest at San Diego Botanic Garden, 230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas. Twenty artists will be showing and selling their works at this annual fair. There will also be a quick draw contest, an Asian art show and live music. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 11, and Sunday, April 12. $8-$14.

760-436-3036, sdbgarden.org

Untitled mural by PANCA

1

MONSTER BASH

We had a blast at the last Monster Drawing Rally back in September, but the name is a bit of a misnomer. Inspired by the Southern Exposure event in San Francisco, one could easily get the impression that people were just drawing monsters. Some of the participating artists are great at drawing monsters (Brian Dombrowsky is a one of our faves), but here the word “monster” refers more to the sheer scope of the thing. More than 150(!) artists will be participating in the event, where groups of artists sit around a communal table and, well, just do their thing. “It’s

2

A TIME TO DANCE

Forget hot-tub time machines. There’s more cardio involved when you dance your way through time. Live Arts Fest 2015’s “Modern Masters & Movements” will chronologically present 100 years of American modern dance, via live performances, films, classes and workshops, over 10 consecutive days (Tuesday, April 14, through Saturday, May 2). Modern dance originated at the turn of the 20th century, when hoofers rebelled against the two dominant forms at the time, ballet and vaudeville. San Diego Dance Theater will explore its space at NTC at Liberty Station (2650 Truxtun Road) to showcase how dance has evolved. Check for a featured performance by Bob Cohan, founder of London Contemporary Dance and former director of the Martha Graham Company. Tickets to each show are $20, but the big bargain is a $100 Festival Pass, good for all 10 shows. sandiegodancetheater.org

Krampus by Pamela Jaeger

really fun and there’s a great energy all night,” says Pamela Jaeger, one of the artists coming back for the second rally. “It’s just fun to meet so many artists at once and walk around to see them all working at the same time.” Starting at 5 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at the San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park (1439 El Prado), artists will participate in hour-long stints at the tables with new participants rotating in after an hour is up. What’s more, all the art produced on-site will be for sale for $60 (admission is $5). There will also be beer from Deschutes, live screen-printing from Bujwah Clothing and Circles & Squares, plus live music from Pesos, Wild Honey and Low Filth. sandiego-art.org

3

OPPOSITES ATTRACT

Inspired by his travels in Western and sub-Saharan Africa and pictographs of the San Diego tribe of San Luiseño Indians, Kim MacConnel brings his sharp-yet-playful abstract paintings to Quint Gallery in La Jolla (7547 Girard Ave.). The opening reception for Black & White takes place Saturday, April 11, from 6 to 8 p.m., and will present MacConnel’s works, which entail enamel paint on wood boards in the exhibit’s named stark shades. This will be MacConnel’s 10th solo exhibition, and he plans to attend the reception. After viewing his paintings, head down the road to Dolphin and Hawk Art Gallery, which will be featuring five artists that night as well. Black & White will run through May 2. quintgallery.com

Think Pink at Art on 30th, 4434 30th St., North Park. The grand opening of Art on 30th will feature local artists displaying works with the color pink to help raise funds for breast cancer charities. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, April 11. 619894-9009, arton30th.com HKelly Vivanco at OBR Architecture, 3805 Ray St., North Park. A solo art show from the local painter who’s influenced by the imaginary and surreal within the world of nature. Opening from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 11. artbykami.com HKim Macconnel: Black & White at Quint Contemporary Art, 7547 Girard Ave., La Jolla. Macconnel’s 10th solo exhibition features new paintings that harken back to the artist’s pattern designs from the late 1980s to early 1990s. Opening from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, April 11. quintgallery.com HThe Nightmare in Wonderland, Part II at ArtHatch, 317 E. Grande Ave., Escondido. This �������������������������������������� group exhibition curated by Italian artist Ixie Darkonn will feature works by pop-surrealist artists from around the globe, all paying tribute to Tim Burton.

Opening from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 11. 760-781-5779, arthatch.org Paradise Found at Art Tradition Gallery, 321 E. Grand Ave., Escondido. A fine art painting show exploring moments of communion with the ephemeral and featuring works from Alexisandra Babic, Kotinca, Bradley Kaskin and Darrel McPherson.

Opening from 5 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, April 11. arttraditiongallery.net HEbony G. Patterson at Lux Art Institute, 1550 S. El Camino Real, Encinitas.

The Kingston-born artist will show off new works, which incorporate glitter, fabric silk flowers and jewelry for an evocative statement on the changing forms of masculinity and working-class identity. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 11. $5.

760-436-6611, luxartinstitute.org eARTh Exhibit at Dolphin and Hawk Fine Art Gallery, 7742 Herschel Ave., La Jolla.

A “green carpet event” organized to raise awareness about environmental concerns and featuring work by local artists. Opening from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 11.

858-401-9549, dolphinandhawk.com

SUE BRENNER

HMonster Drawing Rally at San Diego Art Institute-Museum of the Living Artist, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park. More than 150 artists will create full-fledged artworks on site that will immediately be made available for $60 each. Artists include Chris Martino, Mark Murphy and Pamela Jaeger. Music performances by Pesos

Blythe Barton Dance

14 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

Black & White 8 by Kim MacConnel

and Wild Honey. From 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 11. sandiego-art.org Charles Dozer at COAL Gallery, 300 Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad. The award-winning photographer and computer artist will show off multi-medium 2D and 3D art, photography and computer art.

Opening from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 12. 760-707-3939, coalartgallery.com

BOOKS Judy Reeves at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The author will present her new how-to guide for female writers, Wild Women Wild Voices: Writing from Your Authentic Wildness. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 8. 858-4540347, warwicks.indiebound.com Romancing San Diego 2.0 at Barnes & Noble La Mesa, Grossmont Center, La Mesa. A signing and panel event featuring romance Georgie Lee, Sarka-Jonae Miller, Lisa Kessler, Sherrie Miranda, Teresa Carpenter and more. At 4 p.m. Saturday, April 11. barnesandnoble.com HCoffee with Kafka at Pan’s Garden, 506 21st St., Sherman Heights. Celebrate 100 years of Franz Kafka’s literary classic, The Metamorphosis, with a salon-style discussion, dramatic readings from the novella and a short film screening of Nabokov’s famous lecture on the book. From 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, April 12. $10 suggested donation. 619-528-1108, coffeewithkafka.org Jan Moran and Anita Hughes at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The two authors will sign and discuss their newest romance novels, Scent of Triumph (Moran) and French Coast (Hughes).

At 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 13. Free. 858454-0347, warwicks.indiebound.com Terry Shames at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The mystery author will sign and discuss the fourth in her Samuel Craddock series, A Deadly Affair at Bobtail Ridge. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 15. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Raymond M. Wong at Mesa College, 7250 Mesa College Drive, Kearny Mesa.

Wong discusses his memoir, I’m Not Chinese: The Journey from Resentment to Reverence. At 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 15. 619-388-2360, raymondmwong.com

COMEDY HThe World According To… Edwin Decker and Jesse Egan at Finest City Improv, 4250 Louisiana St., North Park.

This week’s special guests are CityBeat’s own Edwin Decker and stand-up comic Jesse Egan, who’ll tell personal stories that’ll be used as inspiration for improv.

At 8 p.m. Friday, April 10. $10. 619-3066047, finestcityimprov.com Laughter for a Cure at Brass Rail, 3796 Fifth Ave., Hillcrest. Comedians Erik Knowles, Michael Boris, Steven Briggs and more play a special show to raise funds for the Make A Wish Foundation. Also includes a raffle and live music. At 1 p.m.

Saturday, April 11. $15. brownpaper tickets.com/event/1381364 Tonight in San Diego Taping at Horton Grand Theatre, 444 Fourth Ave., Downtown. A live taping of the comedy talk show web series with a rotating cast. This week, Jeff Krapf and co-host Jesse Egan will interview media mogul Chris Cote and musician Alyssa Jacey. From 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Monday, April 13. $7. tonightinsandiego.com

DANCE HThis Land Is Your Land at White Box Live Arts, 2590 Truxtun Road, Studio 205,

H = CityBeat picks

#SDCityBeat

EVENTS Point Loma. youTurn2015 presents Mark Haim’s acclaimed work with live music from Tomcat Courtney and visual art creations from Kim Neihans, Yolande Snaith, and more. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 10, and Saturday, April 11. $20-$25. 760-533-5146, youTurnarts.com HA Midsummer Night’s Dream at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown. The California Ballet Company presents this new interpretation of Shakespeare’s comedy set to the music of Mendelssohn. At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 11, and 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, April 12. $37.50-$87.50, californiaballet.org HLive Arts Festival at White Box Live Arts, 2590 Truxtun Road, Studio 205, Point Loma. Jean Isaacs curates a living history of dance, organized around ten evenings that follow the development of modern dance in the United States, from the early 20th Century to today. See website for full schedule and times. Kicks off Tuesday, April 14. $20. 619-2251803, sandiegodancetheater.org

FOOD & DRINK VinDiego Wine and Food Festival at NTC at Liberty Station, 2640 Historic Decatur Road, Point Loma.

Wine and food enthusiasts can sample more than 300 award-winning wines from more than 75 wineries, as well as food and appetizers from more than 20 local restaurants. From 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, April 11. $95-$125. 760-805-2131, vindiego.com Hwy. 78 Festive(ale) at Walnut Grove Park, Olive and Sycamore streets, San Marcos. Craft beer tasting event featuring North County breweries. Includes food trucks, live music and proceeds benefit music and arts education. From 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 12. $20-$30, 78festivale.com HChef Celebration Dinner Series at Tom Ham‘s Lighthouse, 2180 Harbor Island Drive, Downtown.

Chef Celebration’s annual Dinner Series pairs teams of top chefs with ambitious young talent creating weekly, multi-course meals for one evening. From 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 14. $65. 619-291-9110, tomhamslighthouse.com

HEALTH & WELLNESS Spring for Health at Paradise Point Resort, 1404 Vacation Road, Mission Beach. Victoria Sweet, an associate clinical professor of medicine at UCSF, will discuss health issues and her book, God’s Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine. At 6 p.m. Friday, April 10. Suggested donation. bastyr.edu/benefit Healthy Living Open House at Bastyr University California, 4110 Sorrento Valley Blvd., Sorrento Valley. Learn about the benefits of natural medicine at Bastyr University Clinic. Includes healthy cooking demos, botanical medicine-making demos, expert

talks and clinic tours. At 1 p.m. Saturday, April 11.

Free. bastyrclinic.org The Science of Resilience: How to Thrive in Life at UCSD Medical Education and Telemedicine Building, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. Dr. Darlene Mininni, author of The Emotional Toolkit, will discuss how resilience, emotional intelligence and mindfulness can affect physical health. Registration is required. From 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 15. Free. 858-534-6299, scienceofresilience.eventbrite.com

MUSIC The Music of Nicholas Deyoe at Conrad Prebys Music Center, UCSD campus, La Jolla. Nearly a dozen musicians come together to explore the music of composer Nicholas Deyoe. Part of the UCSD Department of Music’s annual Springfest concert series. At 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 8. Free. (858-534-3448, ucsdmusic.blogspot.com HSpringfest at The Loft Part II at The Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla. Night two of Springfest at The Loft features new music by UC San Diego graduate student Josh Charney with performances by Kyle Motl, Tommy Babin, and Andrew Munsey. At 8:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 8. Free. ucsdmusic.blogspot.com HTastings: A Musical Sampling of Season 201516 at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown.

Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong leads this onehour concert featuring snippets of the San Diego Symphony’s upcoming season. Includes beer and cocktails from Snake Oil Cocktail Company. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 9. Pay what you can. 619-2350804, sandiegosymphony.org 400 Years of Sound Texts at Conrad Prebys Music Center, Experimental Theatre, UCSD campus, La Jolla. A celebration of performance works from Shakespeare to Stein to 21st century writers.

Explores the music of the speaking voice and the grammar of pure sound. At 8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 9. Free. ucsdmusic.blogspot.com HConcerto Koln at Cuyamaca College Performing Arts Theatre, 900 Rancho San Diego Pkwy., El Cajon.

The acclaimed period-instrument orchestra from Cologne, Germany, perform Baroque selections as part of the San Diego Early Music Society’s International Series concerts. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 9. $30-$35. 619-660-4627, sdems.org HOn Structure at Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights. The Fresh Sound Series presents the experimental music and theater collective featuring Jessie Marino and Natacha Diels who use sonic and visual elements to break with traditional roles of the performer, audience and space. From 7:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, April 9. $15. freshsoundmusic. com/s2015.html Deana Martin: A Tribute to Dean Martin at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown. The daughter of the legendary Rat Pack member performs the hits of her famous father backed up by conductor Matthew Garbutt. At 8 p.m. Friday, April 10, and Saturday, April 11. $20-$85. 619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org Thalma de Freitas at The Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla. The singer, songwriter and actress joins Grammy award-winning producer Kamau Kenyatta to illuminate the power of Brazil’s most popular music, samba. At 8 p.m. Friday, April 10. $12$28, artpwr.com Baroque to Britten: Opera Scenes at Smith Recital Hall, 5500 Campanile Drive, College Area. SDSU Lyric Opera Theatre presents an evening of opera selections featuring the universal themes of love, war, romance, oppression, death and deliverance. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 10, and Saturday, April 11. $10$20, facebook.com/events/1101905673168739 Daniil Trifonov at Sherwood Auditorium, 700 Prospect St, La Jolla. For the final concert in the Frieman Family Piano Series, the Russian pianist will play a solo recital featuring works from Bach, Beethoven and Liszt. At 8 p.m. Friday, April 10. $30-$80. 858454-3541, ljms.org

“Mountain Goat” by Kelly Vivanco will be on view at a solo show from 6 to 10 p.m.

Saturday, April 11, at obrARCHITECTURE (3817 Ray St., North Park).

#SDCityBeat

Buddy Guy at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Downtown. The legendary bluesman, ranked in the top 25 of Rolling Stone’s “Greatest Guitarists of All Time,” stops by as part of the La Jolla Music Society’s Jazz Series. At 8 p.m. Saturday, April 11. $27-$77.

619-570-1100, ljms.org

CONTINUED ON PAGE 17 April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

EVENTS | THEATER

THEATER Family ties strained in Sunset Park Sunset Park is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, but it also sounds like the name of a nursing home, doesn’t it? A place to spend the sunset years of one’s evaporating life. This analogy doesn’t come out of a clear blue sky. Marley Sims’ and Elliot Shoenman’s play Sunset Park finds two self-involved adult children, Carol and Roger, wrangling over what to do with their elderly mother, Evelyn, and the old apartment she’s living in that could be an investment coup for them. And in a flashback that parallels the principal story, the young Evelyn and her blue-collar husband are struggling to ease his sick and aging crank of a father into a seniors facility.

Sounds like a scream. But Sunset Park is written as a comedy, albeit with serious undertones. A current production of the play at Scripps Ranch Theatre under the direction of Eric Poppick lays the comedy on thick, especially in the first act. It isn’t consistently successful. Carm Greco, apparently channeling Mama Sophia from The Golden Girls, overplays her hand, and, like Brenda Adelman as Carol, beats the New Yawk inflections and mannerisms to death.

Charles Peters is more measured and convincing as well-to-do son Roger, and—in the parallel story—Kristin Woodburn (as young Evelyn), David Ryan Gutierrez (as her husband Benny) and Haig Koshkarian (playing the dying father-in-law) accredit themselves well.

The revelations of Act 2 bring gravitas to the proceedings, though even when Evelyn recounts the pain of coping with a deteriorating, abusive inlaw, followed by the sudden death of her husband at only 42 years old, you still get the feeling that Carol and Roger would choose a “home” for their mother over too much inconvenience. Co-playwrights Sims and Shoenman may be best known for their Home Improvement TV scripts, a fact that makes the sensitivity of this play more impressive when compared with that Tim Allen nonsense. In other words, Sunset Park does address difficult and sadly all-too-relevant issues in American family life, and generally speaking, it does so thoughtfully. At Scripps Ranch Theatre, the execution isn’t always there, but the spirit is willing and the realities are unapologetic.

Sunset Park runs through April 19 at the Legler Benbough Theatre at Alliant International University in Scripps Ranch. $26-$29. scrippsranch theatre.org

—David L. Coddon Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING Sea of Souls: In this dramatic musical, a young folk singer tries to find her biological mother in a small West Virginia town.

Presented by Ion Theatre, it opens April 9 at the URBN CNTR 4THE ARTS in Hillcrest. iontheatre.com Self-Made Man: The Frederick Douglass Story: A free, one-man show written and performed by Phil Darius Wallace about the legendary African-American leader. It starts at 6 p.m. April 9 in the University Student Union Ballroom on the CSU San Marcos campus. csusm.edu/sofa Seussical, Jr.: A family-friendly musical where all of Dr. Seuss’ characters share the stage at the same time. Presented by

16 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

KEN JACQUES

Left to right: Brenda Adelman, Carm Greco and Charles Peters Visionary Youth Theatre, It opens April 9 at Visionary Performance Space in La Mesa. visionarydancetheatre.org The Balcony: Originally written by French political activist Jean Genet, this play tells the story of a dystopian society where people are controlled by corporations. Presented by Chronos Theatre Group, it opens April 10 at the Tenth Avenue Arts Center in Downtown. chronostheatre.com Freud’s Last Session: A fictional meeting between renowned psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and novelist C.S. Lewis results in a lively discussion about love, war, sex and everything in between. It opens in previews April 10 at Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado. lambsplayers.org The Hallelujah Girls: The aging ladies of a small Southern town band together to improve their lives after losing a friend.

It opens April 10 at the Lamplighters Community Theatre in La Mesa. lamplighterslamesa.com Parallel Lives: Two women play 40 different characters in this sketch-style satire. Presented by Talent to aMuse Theatre Company, it opens April 10 at the Tenth Avenue Arts Center Forum Theatre in Downtown. talenttoamuse.com The 39 Steps: Written by Alfred Hitchcock, the two-time Tony Award winner mixes romance and comedy with the suspense of a spy thriller. It opens April 10 at the Welk Resorts Theater in Escondido. welkresorts.com Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992: Examines the 1992 L.A. riots with a series of monologues recounting the personal stories of people who were there. Opens April 10 at the Cal State San Marcos Performance Hall. csusm.edu/sofa Reflections: A Journey Through Musical Theatre: San Diego Play Company presents a one-night-only performance of iconic musical theater numbers. There are two performances at 5 and 8 p.m. April 11 at RAW Space Off Broadway in the Gaslamp. www.facebook.com/sdplayco Uncanny Valley: Set 40 years in the future, this world-premiere play centers on a neuroscientist working to give humans immortality by downloading their thoughts and memories into an A.I. being. It opens April 11 at Lyceum Space at Horton Plaza in Downtown. sdrep.org The History of Invulnerability: A free reading of a new play

by David Bar Katz about Jerry Siegel, the creator of Superman. Part of “Remembrance Readings” for Holocaust Remembrance Day, it starts at 7:30 p.m. April 13 at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach. northcoastrep.org Wagner New Play Festival: The annual series of plays— three full-lengths, two one-acts and a staged reading—written, directed and performed by UCSD graduate students. Opens April 14 at UCSD in La Jolla. theatre.ucsd.edu Unnecessary Farce: A comical tale of an embezzling mayor trying to outrun his accountant, the law and a couple of hitmen. Opens in previews on April 15 at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach. northcoastrep.org

For full listings,

please visit “T heater ” at sdcit ybeat.com

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EVENTS Wave Energy Series No. 3 at Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, UCSD campus, La Jolla. The third installment of this annual event highlights experimental sound production practices. Includes new compositions from Sam Dunscombe and Joe Cantrell who’ll perform a piece using three turntables and materials from broken sound equipment. At 8:30 p.m. Saturday, April 11. Free. ucsdmusic.blogspot.com HSynthesizer Petting Zoo at UCSD, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. Part of the UCSD Springfest Series, the Audio Electronics Club invites music enthusiasts to get hands-on with their hand-built instruments, effects, and controllers. From 3 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 11. Free. 858534-2230, ucsdmusic.blogspot.com HConverge at Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union, 5500 Campanile Drive, College Area. SDSU artists-in-residence the Hausmann Quartet will play a multicultural concert titled “S​ongs Across the Sea: A Musical Migration to the Americas.” At 4 p.m. Sunday, April 12. Free. 619-5945200. m​usicdance.sdsu.edu

to 11 p.m. Saturday, April 11. $15-$20.

619-520-8353, omoachecubanculture.org Cancerstock at Moonlight Amphitheatre, 1200 Vale Terrace Drive, Vista. The inaugural music and health festival will feature bands, guest speakers, comedians, live artists, vendors and more to raise money for cancer charities. From noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 11. $20-$38, cancerstocksandiego.com Spring to the Past at Balboa Park. Several local groups of period costumers will gather in different locations in the park for group picnics and social meetings.

Includes 1915-period bike riders, historical re-enactors, trained docents and dance groups. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, April 11. Free. facebook.com/ events/1496816113864581

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS Transnational Labor: A Struggle Within the Struggle at Cal State San Marcos, 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road, San Marcos. Celebrated civil rights activist Dolores Huerta discusses fighting for social justice in an increasingly global economy. Takes place in the University Student Union Ballroom. At 6 p.m.

Wednesday, April 8. $10. 760-7504000, eventbrite.com/e/dolores-huertatickets-15039768352 Dreamers: An Immigrant Generation’s Fight for Their American Dream at Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace, 5998 Alcala Park, USD, Linda Vista. USD’s Trans-Border Institute presents author

and journalist Elieen Truax, who’ll discuss the state of immigration and immigration reform. From 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, April 9. Free. 619-260-7509, sandiego. edu/peacestudies/institutes/tbi/index.php Myrlie Evers-Williams at UCSD Price Center Theater, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. The NAACP chairwoman emeritus, civil rights activist and widow of Medger Evers will give a lecture, “Tomorrow’s Leaders: Building on the Legacy of Selma.” At 7 p.m. Thursday, April 9. 858534-2230, helenedison.ucsd.edu Atmospheric Rivers: California Rainmakers at Birch Aquarium, 2300 Expedition Way, La Jolla. Scripps researcher Marty Ralph discusses the long narrow bands of highly concentrated moisture that play a crucial role in both water supply and flooding across much of the U.S.

West Coast. From 7 to 8 p.m. Monday, April 13. $5-$8. 858-534-FISH, aquarium. ucsd.edu 1915-2015: The Reality of the Armenian Genocide After 100 Years at Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village. Salpi Ghazarian, director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, will lead a discussion on the Armenian Genocide, which took place in the late Ottoman Empire during World War I. At 6:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 15. 619-236-5800, sandiegolibrary.org

For full listings,

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

Camera Lucida at Conrad Prebys Music Center, UCSD campus, La Jolla. Principal musicians from the San Diego Symphony and distinguished performance faculty from UCSD present a chamber-music concert featuring selections from Brahms and Messiaen. At 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 13. $25, sandiegosymphony.org

OUTDOORS Gardens Then and Now at Francis Parker Lower School, 4201 Randolph St., Downtown. A self-guided tour of private gardens in neighborhoods surrounding Balboa Park, many of them in historic homes and designed by famous San Diego landscapers. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Saturday, April 11. $25-$30. sdhort.org

SPECIAL EVENTS East Village Opening Day Block Party Kick off baseball season with this blockparty event with live music, a beer garden, food trucks and more. On J Street between Sixth and 10th avenues. From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 9. Free.

619-297-4007, eastvillagesandiego.com La Jolla Concours d’Elegance at Ellen Browning Scripps Park, Coast Boulevard, La Jolla. Check out various types of fine automobiles at this 11th annual auto show.

From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, April 10, Saturday, April 11, and Sunday, April 12. $40-$325, lajollaconcours.com Bud Browne: Surfing’s First Filmmaker at California Surf Museum, 312 Pier View Way, Oceanside. A two-day celebration of the father of the surf-film genre includes an exhibition opening and lecture on Friday and a film screening on Saturday. At 7 p.m.

Friday, April 10, and Saturday, April 11.

Free-$10, surfmuseum.org Explore Salk Open House at Salk Institute, 10010 N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla.

This annual event featues staff-guided lab tours, self-guided architectural tours, science booths and talks by Salk researchers.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 11.

Free. 858-597-0657, salk.edu/exploresalk Speakeasy: A Roaring ’20s Hypnosis Party at Wang’s North Park, 3029 University Ave., North Park. A ’20s-themed hypnosis show that features live electroswing music and a performance from The Hypnosisters. From 7 p.m. to midnight.

Saturday, April 11. $15-$20. 619-2917500, hypnosisters.tixato.com Noche Cubana at World Beat Cultural Center, 2100 Park Blvd., Balboa Park. A celebration of Cuban music, dance and culture, featuring live bands, Rueda de Casino dancers, authentic cuisine and a Salsa class. From 7

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April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 17

Culture | Art Jennifer Spencer

Local artist Helen Redman celebrates life, death and motherhood in two decades-spanning exhibitions B y S eth C ombs he word “layers” gets thrown around a lot. Sometimes it’s used to describe the actual texturing of a piece, but more often, it’s used to describe something indescribable, something beyond the immediate aesthetics of the piece—that beyond the canvas, there’s a story, or even multiple stories. There are sometimes so many layers that, eventually, and often too quickly, we’ll move on to the next piece of art, content that we at least got some of the story from the last.

There are layers upon layers when it comes to the figurative works of Helen Redman (birthingthecrone.com). So many stories, so many voices. Her new exhibition at the Mesa College Art Gallery, The Other Side of Birth (through April 14), is a multi-decade, multi-faceted and, yes, multilayered account of not only her life’s journey as an artist, but as a woman and mother.

There’s almost 60 years’ worth of work on the walls, as will be the case when the exhibition’s sister show, Through a Mother’s Eye, opens at the Women’s Museum of California on April 23. The sheer scope of the exhibi-

18 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

Helen Redman under Branches of the Tree tions can proverbially be described as, well, a tree trunk: Beautiful and circular, and when sliced open, reveals a multi-blanketed account of where that organism started, and where it ended.

“It’s like a play on the branches on the tree and it’s also a comment on age,” says Redman, as she stares up at “Branches of the Tree,” a mixed-media portrait of her and her two children, Nicole and Paul, done on six birch plywood boards. “I’m so far along in the life cycle that my children now have white hair. It really is a trip.”

But there is something else going on in “Branches” or, rather, someone else. Throughout the piece, there are tiny footprints, a baby’s footprints, that seems to unite the six separate canvases into one thematic piece.

“Those are birth footprints from Paula,” Redman says.

Paula was her first-born daughter who died at 20 months old in 1964, just before Redman gave birth to Nicole.

“It affects you and the family forever, and it’s a part of my life, but it was the art that helped me stay the course.”

In many ways, “Branches” represents the end—or at least one of the final chapters—of the story that the exhibition is attempting to tell. Not only is the piece the most recent one in the exhibition (it was completed in 2014), it’s likely the first and last piece viewers will see as they come and go. And while the show itself could be seen as a survey or a retrospective, it doesn’t move in a linear or chronological fashion. Rather, it showcases each of the various members of Redman’s family, individually. In one corner, Nicole goes from a baby inside her mother’s belly to a pubescent teenager to a woman pregnant with her

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Culture | Art

Nicole in my Arms own babies. In the other corner, Paul goes from a baby in a bib to an introspective youth to a fully confident gay man traveling the world. Turn around and you’ll see three grandchildren, as well as portraits of Redman herself made throughout her life.

On the surface, the theme seems conceptually obvious: that this is an exhibition about family as well as motherhood. But even Redman herself has a hard time summing up what it all means.

“I mean, what’s the sound bite? There is no sound bite,” she says, laughing. “You know, it’s like when people say it’s a ‘family show,’ but somehow I feel that, whatever it is, there’s something in the art that people will pick up what they’re meant to pick up.”

Inspired by artists like Alice Neel and Frida Kahlo, Redman began her career as an artist in her early 20s while studying at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

She became pregnant with Paula a few years later. Being that it was the early ’60s, many thought she’d put down the paintbrushes and settle into a life of domesticity, but she says that was never an option.

“Nothing pushes your artistic boundaries more than children,” Redman says. “A lot of people talk about how having a child opens their creativity. My creativity was open before I ever had a child. I was an art student when I was pregnant.”

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Paul in Jaques’ Arms At the time, Redman was experimenting and eventually developed a figurative style that combined stylized shapes and bold colors. Whether there was a transition period or not, it would appear that Redman’s work took a much bolder turn after the death of Paula and the birth of Nicole. She acknowledges she may not have been able to mourn Paula’s passing in a healthy way because, almost as quickly as she lost her first infant daughter, her second was born.

“I’m a child of death,” says Nicole Barchilon-Frank, Redman’s daughter, calling from Bayside, California. “Because I experienced Paula’s death inside my mother’s body, my birth and her death are forever twinned. They will never not be linked.”

Still, Redman’s paintings of Nicole after her birth in 1964 are vibrant in both color and execution. She continued with this type of painting after she divorced her first husband, remarried, and moved to San Diego in the late ’80s. It wasn’t until she was well into her 50s, and going through menopause, that her work, at least on the surface, took a slightly darker turn. Her self-portraits often depicted her as a skeleton or as having a skeleton hand. She says it wasn’t until the mid-’90s that she was truly able to face the passing of her daughter almost 30 years before.

“This child who was in me [Nicole] has been psychically affected by it, but I also realized that every member

Gestating of the family is affected,” Redman says. “There’s this piece called ‘A Mother Speaks to Her Children Through Generations’ that tries to say that we all carry something from the death. It doesn’t matter if you were there. A family carries that. At least ours makes it that more open.”

So, by that logic, it would be tempting to think that both of Redman’s shows are about the other side of birth.

The opposite. As in, one day you’re born, and then you reach the other side. Death. Mortality. Redman agrees that’s part of it, but doesn’t get caught up in this interpretation or dwell on her own mortality. She’s lived a big life and certainly has proof of it. The story, the writing, is literally on the wall.

“It is about life,” Redman says. “Frida Khalo, in her last painting, she’s with a bright watermelon and she’s dying and it’s called ‘Viva la Vida.’ It’s this celebration of life, because you have a choice when things happen to you.

You’re either going down and you’re drowning, or somehow you’ve got to swim.”

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 19

Culture | Art

Seen Local A Language All Her Own

20 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

Seth Combs

From a distance, it almost looks like Arabic or, perhaps, a unique style of calligraphy. Hieroglyphics?

Wingdings?

Artist Brittany Segal (brittany-segal.com) says there’s little point in busting out Google Translate when it comes to making sense of her pen-on-canvas, black-and-white pieces. The words in what she describes as “emotional-abstract” works aren’t written in any official language. And they’re not necessarily written in a language only she can decipher.

Like a preacher speaking in tongues, it’s just something that pours out of her unfiltered, decipherable to those who believe. For her, the words mean nothing. And, yet, they mean everything.

“They’re honestly diaries of just whatever was going on that day or that week,” says the 26-year-old Segal, who grew up in Downtown.

One piece in her Golden Hill studio twists and turns 16 times forming quadrilateral shapes on the canvas. When asked the title of the piece, she’s quick to point out that, whether it’s her pen pieces or her abstract oil paintings, none of them have names.

“I don’t like names,” says Segal, who just wrapped up a solo show at ACD Gallery in North Park. “When you look at a title, people try to figure out what’s going on and I’d just rather they appreciate it for what it is and take their own feelings from it.”

Segal says she became an artist “out of the womb.” Her mother and father bought her easels and paint when she was in kindergarten and she hasn’t stopped since. Geographically, she’s bounced around almost as much as she’s bounced around schools (“I’m highly dyslexic; just no good at school,” she says), but after a sojourn in New York, she moved back to San Diego and decided to try to make a career as an artist.

Two years ago she held a pop-up show in her Golden Hill studio, which led to a solo show at Soze Gallery in Hollywood. Most recently, she was chosen as the “launchpad artist” for the annual Art San Diego contemporary art fair that happens in November. She’s made a fan of organizer Ann Berchtold, who wants Segal’s pieces prominently on display at the entrance to the event. On the surface, it could seem a little all-in-the-family that she was chosen. Segal’s father, Jonathan Segal, is a prominent local architect and her mother, Wendy, has worked for Art San Diego in the past.

“That was actually my biggest worry,” says Segal, pointing out that she doesn’t even know what the word “nepotism” means. “That terrified me. I love my dad’s work and everyone knew that I was an artist, but I was still Jonathan Segal’s daughter. It was important to me to do this on my own and not have my parents involved. It was important to me to prove it to everyone, but it was also important to me that I prove it to my family.”

She points out that she barely breaks even with her work and that she recently sold a piece to a man in Denver who saw her work on Instagram and has never met her or her family. Others are starting to notice as well. She was recently commissioned to do a piece for Ryot, a Vice-style news website that’s beginning to delve more prominently into the arts. She’s also working with metal artist Matt Devine on a possible dual show in L.A. this summer. She’s starting to see the fruits of her labor and thinks she’s finally on the verge of being the career artist she’s always wanted to be.

“There was one point where I wanted to move to London,” Segal says. “I didn’t because I want to create my own empire here.”

—Seth Combs

Brittany Segal

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April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 21

Culture | Film

A prodigal son returns Hal Hartley talks irony, performance and the devil

by Glenn Heath Jr. Hal Hartley makes films about the absurd pervasiveness of contradiction. In his comedies, high art lives alongside low art, chaste and sex are mentioned in the same breath, and peaceful souls ponder desperate acts of violence. “Irony is a great way to highlight contradiction,” says Hartley, who spoke to CityBeat over the phone while promoting his new film, Ned Rifle. “I look around and see contradiction everywhere, in what people Aubrey Plaza and Liam Aiken say, what people do, and what they feel.

Those characters that strive not to be contradictory tors like Martin Donovan represent a classic Ameriare the heroes and heroines, but they tend to be out- can male,” he says, “a certain idea of masculinity that side the wider society.” has nothing to do with machismo. It’s masculine, but Ned Rifle represents the final leg in a trilogy about they are filled with doubt.” a family of outcasts that Hartley has been exploring By the end of Ned Rifle, Liam Aiken also embodies for nearly two decades. Henry Fool (1997) is named the same sensibility. The once-child actor of Road to after the brazen devil-like character played by Perdition now moves in much the same way as the Thomas Jay Ryan who befriends meek garbageman- classic Hartley male, broodingly pushing back his turned-poet Simon (James Urbaniak) and becomes long hair while grappling with the contradictions infatuated with a young woman named Fay Grim that surround him. Aiken holds his own against (Parker Posey). His past eventually catches up with Hartley’s stable of talented thespians, including him and he’s forced to flee the country. In 2006’s the dominant force that is Thomas Jay Ryan. Their Fay Grim, a full-blown espionage thriller where ev- characters form an antagonistic relationship that beery angle is a Dutch tilt, Fay scours Europe tracking comes more complicated around redemption, an arc down her once lover. that completes itself in the film’s This third film is named after hauntingly sublime final moments.

Ned Rifle the couple’s only son, Ned Rifle Hartley comments on the endDirected by Hal Hartley (Liam Aiken), who has been put ing with pride. “By that point, Starring Liam Aiken, into witness protection with a reNed’s going to take responsibility, Aubrey Plaza, Thomas Jay ligious family and Reverend Danstop the madness and face the muiel Gardner (Martin Donovan). sic,” he says.

Ryan and Martin Donovan Upon his 18th birthday, the devout When asked if this was a shift Rated R Ned leaves the safe confines of his from his previous work, the filmspiritual home and takes revenge maker somewhat agrees. “It has a against his absent father. lot to do with age, since you change as you get older.

“I wanted to find an improbable situation in the Even in my core material, there’s a different tenor, a story of Ned. You would not expect this young man different tone as you grow older and allow life to hapto be the son of Henry and Fay,” Hartley says. “Ned’s pen. I think I’ve allowed life to impact this process.” reactionary at the beginning, which is what happens Ned Rifle, which opens Friday, April 10, at the Digiin some sense to those people that are traumatized.” tal Gym Cinema, represents Hartley at his funniest, Ned meets a mysterious woman named Susan most outlandish, thoughtful and absurd. But it also (Aubrey Plaza), who holds her own secret history contains a great measure of hope. At the beginning, with Henry and Simon. Every character in Hartley’s Ned represents a new generation of young people trilogy is connected by trauma, artistic expression or searching for a level of certainty they have not reblood. The power and frustration of this influence ceived from politics and mass culture. By the end, he’s doesn’t wane with the passing years; it only grows found a more powerful form of certitude that’s less selfish and comes out the other end all the wiser. more potent.

Dialogue is pivotal to Hartley’s aesthetic, and he often enlists the same actors to express these long- Film reviews run weekly. gestating feelings in verbose and physical ways. “Ac- Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com.

Drawing with light

The Salt of the Earth

22 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

Famed photographer Sebastião Salgado surveys the many stages of his multi-decade career in The Salt of the Earth. Co-directed by Wim Wenders and Julian Ribeiro Salgado (Sebastião’s son), the film juxtaposes Salgado’s work with his memories in beguiling ways.

One feels both the weight of the actual image and the responsibility and passion felt by the artist.

The Salt of the Earth traces Salgado’s photographic phases with more clarity and understanding than his personal life.

Perhaps it’s because his profession often took him to the far corners of the Earth, away from family for long periods of time.

The younger Salgado reminisces about the void he felt during those years, and the film acts as a way for the two of them to reconnect. Wenders’ inspiration is far

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Culture | Film more traditional; he was floored

by Salgado’s photographs of the massive Serra Pelada goldmine in Brazil taken in the early-’80s.

Like all great artists, Salgado’s interests and aesthetics evolved over time. Initially a photographer focusing on the working class, his work eventually turned more political, addressing with brutal clarity some of the worst tragedies in Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. These included the mass famine in Ethiopia and genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia. Documenting these events took a toll on Salgado, and Salt of the Earth gives him a

Opening Havana Curveball: A young and enthusiastic teenager decides to create a grand plan of supplying Cuba with baseballs after being inspired by the holy words associated with his Bar Mitzvah.

Kill Me Three Times: After a botched assignment, a professional hitman played

by Simon Pegg gets wrapped up in three different tales of murder, blackmail and revenge.

Mr. Kaplan: An older Uruguayan man of Jewish descent suspects a fellow community member of being a runaway Nazi, and enlists the help of a retired police officer to investigate.

Ned Rifle: The final leg of Hal Hartley’s trilogy that includes 1997’s Henry Fool and 2006’s Fay Grim, this drama/absurdist comedy tells the story of a young man who sets out to take revenge on his criminal father.

The Longest Ride: An older man reflects back on his life while he’s trapped in a crashed car.

The Salt of the Earth: Wim Wenders and Julian Ribeiro Salgado’s documentary examines the life and work of famed photographer and activist Sebastião Salgado.

White God: An army of dogs wreaks havoc all across a European city after one particular canine is cast out by the father of its owner, a young girl named Lili.

One Time Only Una Piccola Impresa Meridionale (A Small Southern Enterprise): The Italian comedy looks at a family of outcasts trying to find some sense of balance.

Screens at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 9, at the La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas.

Wild: Reese Witherspoon plays a tormented young woman who decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail in order to find herself. Based on the popular memoir by Cheryl Strayed. Screens at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 10 and 11, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

The Room: The best worst movie of the 21st century has to be seen to be believed. Screens at 11:55 p.m. Saturday, April 11, at the Ken Cinema.

The Judge: Robert Downey, Jr. plays an attorney who returns to his small-town home to defend his court judge father who is suspected of murder. Screens at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 12, at the Point Loma / Hervey Branch Library.

The Double: A young man (Jesse Eisenberg) living in a dystopian future meets his doppelganger at his place of employment. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 13, at the San Diego Central Library in

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momentary forum to explain how he grappled with this crippling loss of faith in the human race.

Despite its magnificent scope and insight into Salgado’s process, The Salt of the Earth, which opens Friday, April 17, doesn’t uncover much about the man himself or his critical relationship with wife Lélia, who edited all of his compilations. This seems like a glaring omission in hindsight, especially considering the impact of this collaboration on the trajectory of Salgado’s career.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

East Village.

In Secret: Elizabeth Olson stars as a sexually repressed young French woman trapped in a loveless marriage during the 1860s. She meets a mysterious stranger who offers her the freedom she has never felt before. Screens at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, at the Point Loma / Hervey Branch Library.

Calvary: A Catholic priest (Brendan Gleeson) living in Ireland has his life threatened by a parishioner, and then decides to begin a week of self-reflection that could change his life. Screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, at Scripps Ranch Library.

I am a Girl: A documentary that explores the lives of six young girls experiencing the trials and tribulations of growing up.

Screens at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, at La Jolla Village Cinemas.

Now Playing An Honest Liar: This documentary explores the worldview and life of James Randi, renowned stage magician and skeptic of the paranormal.

Danny Collins: Al Pacino plays an aging rock star who discovers a 40-year-old letter written to him by John Lennon, the contents of which force him to reassess his life.

Furious 7: The criminal pit crew led by Vin Diesel and Paul Walker is back and ready to battle with Jason Statham’s villain in this globetrotting action film that is sure to have some out-of-this-world stunts.

The Lovers: Time travel, romance, and swashbuckling action: Who could ask for more from a Josh Hartnett movie?

Screens through Thursday, April 9, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Welcome to New York: Abel Ferrara’s insane film follows Mr. Devereaux (a character played by Gerard Depardieu based on Dominique Strauss-Kahn), a powerful economic titan who also has a voracious sexual appetite. Screens through Thursday, April 9, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

While We’re Young: Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts play insecure and bored 40-something’s whose life together gets a boost after meeting a young hipster couple (Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried).

Woman in Gold: Helen Mirren plays an elderly Jewish women who, with the help of a young lawyer (Ryan Reynolds), attempts to reclaim the possessions stolen from her by the Nazis during WWII. Get Hard: A white-collar criminal (Will Ferrell) bound for San Quentin enlists the help of a smooth-talking friend (Kevin Hart) to prepare him for life behind bars.

Home (3D): An alien on the run from his own species lands on Earth and makes friends with an adventurous young girl trying to find herself.

October Gale: Patricia Clarkson and Scott Speedman star in this thriller about a killer stalking the residents of a remote Canadian island. Screens through Thursday, April 2, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Queen and Country: John Boorman’s playful sequel to his autobiographic hit Hope and Glory finds the character of Bill Rohan entering the army right before the Korean War. Screens through Thursday, April 2, at the Ken Cinema.

Serena: Bradley Cooper stars as a logging baron trying to make it rich in Depression-era North Carolina. His business starts to crumble after meeting a mysterious young woman (Jennifer Lawrence) with a traumatic past.

Seymour: An Introduction: This tender documentary about pianist Seymour Bernstein doubles as a passionate love story about the power of craft and music.

The Hunting Ground: Investigative documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick looks at the wave of sexual assaults on college campuses across the United States.

Wild Canaries: The mystery film gets a hipster twist in this madcap comedy about a bickering couple that tries to uncover the circumstances surrounding the mysterious death of a neighbor. Screens through Thursday, April 2, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Merchants of Doubt: Robert Kenner’s documentary about pundits-for-hire tells an unspeakable truth about corporate malfeasance in America today.

The Divergent Series: Insurgent: Super-revolutionary Beatrice Prior (Shailene Woodley) confronts the powerful alliance that threatens to tear her society apart.

The Gunman: Sean Penn plays a former special-forces soldier who must clear his name after his old compatriots try to frame him.

The Wrecking Crew: This documentary tells the story of The Wrecking Crew, a group of studio musicians who helped revolutionize the West Coast sound and win multiple Grammy awards in the 1960s and ’70s. Screens through Thursday, March 26, at the Ken Cinema. ’71: During a violent battle in the middle of Belfast, an English solider is left behind to fend for himself against a hostile community.

Ballet 422: Jody Lee Lipes’ documentary goes backstage at New York City Ballet to watch the process of an exciting new choreographer named Justin Peck.

Cinderella: Kenneth Branagh’s lavish live-action retelling of the classic fairy tale stars Lily James as the servant stepdaughter who wins the heart of a dashing prince.

Deli Man: Hungry? This delicious-looking documentary takes a look at the history of delicatessens in New York City and the United States at large.

Run All Night: A former hit man (Liam Neeson) must go back to his old ways to save his son from a mafia boss out who’s for revenge.

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

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 23

Music

The

horror show

human experience

of

Father John Misty sings about love, warts and all

By Peter Holslin

t’s a Wednesday afternoon, and Josh Tillman don’t believe that love is this thing; that you find is in a glade. A lemon glade, to be exact. The love. I think that you either make it with anoth33-year-old songwriter, better known as Fa- er person, or it doesn’t exist. It doesn’t exist out ther John Misty, is speaking to me by phone there. It’s an illusion that we either choose to from another part of the country. But he sure cultivate or not.” has a gift for setting a scene. I can hear birds Tillman himself is no stranger to illusions. chirping over the connection. He says sun- Though he’s recorded 10 solo albums over the light is refracting mystically through the trees. years, his post-Fleet Foxes sound reportedly Also, he’s holding a sledgehammer, swinging it took root thanks in part to a shit-ton of psychearound lackadaisically. delic drugs. “I ran down the road, pants down Why the sledgehammer? I ask. to my knees / Screaming ‘please come help me, “I don’t know. I just picked it up. that Canadian shaman gave a little too much I wanted to see how it felt,” he says, to me!’” he sings in “I’m Writing a Novel,” a adding with characteristic sarcasm: “I Dylan-esque folk-rock number off his 2012 wanted to imagine how it would feel to album, Fear Fun, the first official Father John murder a San Diego music writer with Misty release. a sledgehammer.”

For all the inspiration and epiphany he’s gotTillman has the singing voice of a ten from those experiences, though, he says he’s gentleman, the facial hair of a lum- come to see in the months he spent working on bersexual, the sartorial grit of a GQ Honeybear that good songwriting doesn’t come model gone rogue. The son of enthu- from hippie-dippie otherworldly stuff. siastic Christians, he grew up with a “You know, for me, what was really amazreligious education only to abandon ing about this year was kind of coming to a rehis flock and eventually play drums alization that it’s not magical, and that it’s not for celebrated Seattle beardo band based on the intervention of these designed Fleet Foxes. In 2012, he ditched those externalities that I’m able to write songs. That guys ,too, decamping to the folk-rock it’s this thing that fucking comes from me,” he sanctuary of L.A.’s Laurel Canyon to says. “And it’s like, you can either sit down and reinvigorate his sound and create the Fa- fucking do it, or you can sit around and wait for, ther John Misty name. And now, here he is, like, Zeus to come down from on high and finger your anus.” standing in a glade.

And Zeus isn’t coming? I ask.

I had to ask him for a dictionary definition “He never came down,” he says. “I think of “glade.” Basically it’s a fancy word for forest clearing. And that’s Father John Misty for you— a lot of artists deal with this thing where for some weird reason, you aren’t willing to accept insightful, charismatic and kind of a smart ass.

We’re on the phone because Sub Pop has re- responsibility for what you’ve made. It has to be attributed to some other cently released Father John thing. Some kind of freak acMisty’s new album, I Love cident.”

You, Honeybear. The 11-track This more realistic outeffort revolves around his reApril 14 look shows through in I Love lationship with his wife, the filmmaker Emma Elizabeth Observatory North Park You, Honeybear. In “Chateau Lobby 4 (in C for Two Tillman, but it also takes on Virgins),” Tillman describes the institution of love as a Fatherjohnmisty.com a raunchy sexcapade over a whole, and to that end it’s both beautiful and conflicted. While the orches- tableau of brilliant strings, shiny acoustic guitral arrangements, piano-man confessionals tars and triumphant mariachi horns. Later, and West Coast indie flourishes come straight in “Holy Shit,” he wonders how a long list of from the singer-songwriter tradition, Tillman institutional crises and political talking points takes every chance at subversion with his lyrics, stack up against personal experience: “Maybe contrasting heartfelt ruminations on love and love is just an economy based on resource scarcommitment with mean jokes, graphic imagery city / What I fail to see is what that’s gotta do with you and me.” and tossed-off colloquialisms.

For Tillman, this “you and me” is the key “Insert here a sentiment re: our golden years,” the strapping tenor murmurs at the end of album to understanding love. The way he sees it, love closer “I Went to the Store One Day,” deliberate- isn’t a “magic cure-all” that will make life perly besmirching the emotional climax of the most fect and ideal. It’s a partnership, a bond of solitender acoustic ballad to come out so far this year darity and mutual understanding—“having this other person,” he says, “with whom you try to with an unsightly bit of e-mail shorthand.

The Tillmans, who live in New Orleans, have make sense of this fucking chaotic horror show been happily married for almost two years. that is the human experience.”

These days, he and Emma seem to be doBut for this songwriter, tackling love head-on proved to be a challenge. An aloof romantic like ing just that. And whether they’re sampling Bon Iver can hide away in a cabin and write a the boredom and pain of life, or its wonder and break-up album with no trace of embarrassment magic, their partnership is sure to grow—espeor self-consciousness. Father John Misty, on cially since they’ve spent so much time in recent the other hand, is terrified of letting his guard months tucked away together in their New Ordown and surrendering to wide-eyed, full-bore leans homestead, focusing on creative pursuits.

“We’re kind of like the neighborhood sentimentalism.

“Love is always written about in the context freaks,” Tillman says. “We have this hearse, of the divine, and I’d say that this is not a partic- and we’re just so obviously from California. ularly divine album about love,” Tillman says. “I It’s embarrassing.”

I

Father John Misty

Emma Tillman

24 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

#SDCityBeat

#SDCityBeat

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 25

Music

notes from the smoking patio Locals Only Tijuana’s Brujos Brewing is teaming up with black-metal group Ruines ov Abaddon for a special limited-edition brew called “Night Hag.” It’s a black IPA (7-percent ABV) that’s “dark and bitter,” just like the band’s intense music.

The beer is a variation on an award-winning IPA that Brujos released in a small batch last year.

“We tweaked it a bit,” says Brujos brewer and co-owner Sam Zermeno, in an interview at Rip Current in North Park. “It’s not that much different from the recFrom left: Ruines ov Abaddon’s Allan Castaneda, Ben Cockerham, ipe that we won the award for. It’s Chris Bourne, Brujos’ Sam and Angel Zermeno, with Night Hag IPA. a little more roasty.”

Zermeno says that he became friends with mem“A lot of the underground people have to work tobers of the band about three or four years ago, and gether to promote each other’s art,” says Ruines ov has been talking with Ruines vocalist Chris Bourne Abaddon bassist Allan Castaneda. “It’s just friends for a while about doing some kind of collaboration. helping friends out.”

For now the beer will only be available at shows on Ruines ov Abaddon’s tour kicks off on April 17 in the band’s upcoming North American tour, which Salt Lake City, at The Woodshed. spans 24 days, from mid-April to early May. But Ru— Jeff Terich ines ov Abaddon are discussing some possible events to coincide with the introduction of the new brew.

“When we get back from the tour, we’re planning I hope you enjoyed my April Fool’s prank in last on having a tasting party,” Bourne says.

This isn’t the first time a local band has teamed up week’s Notes from the Smoking Patio, “Seven New with a brewery. Just last year, Pizza Port collaborated San Diego Bands to Watch.” All of those bands are, with death-metal group Eukaryst for their Eukaryst of course, fictional, but if you had a good laugh, then mission accomplished!

Imperial Stout.

•••

Tag It and Bag It If you search for albums tagged “San Diego” on Bandcamp, you’ll find some interesting stuff. In this semiregular column, we sift through recent postings and report on our findings.

Limited by Infinity by Future Age: Future Age use the tags “acoustic” and “grunge,” which are two things that rarely go together (see: Days of the New, Seven Mary Three). But Limited by Infinity is neither, really. The EP sounds a lot more like Smashing Pumpkins’ “Mayonaise” (one of their best tracks, easily), or some of the dreamier tracks from Failure’s Fantastic Planet. It’s definitely got some shades of the ’90s, but it doesn’t sound dated in the slightest.

Left Overs Vol. 5 by Mr. Brady: Despite being titled Left Overs Vol. 5, this set of tracks by local MC Mr. Brady is a pretty strong collection of artful raps juxtaposed with a wide selection of beats, which range from booming electronic sounds to the crackly sample style of Madlib. Some of it is pretty lo-fi, but that only adds to the warm, underground charm.

Boundary by Undercurrent: This two-track release—essentially a 7-inch single—is all hardcore intensity, melodic emo textures and the occasional rush of black-metal fire. Undercurrent recall the early ’90s era of screamo, when bands like Swing Kids and Heroin were destroying stages. I’m always interested in hearing bands that can balance intensity with great songwriting, and Undercurrent definitely has my attention.

26 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

Undercurrent This is Pizza Boy by Pizza Boy: I couldn’t resist sampling a release by someone who calls himself Pizza Boy, and I’m definitely not disappointed.

Pizza Boy delivers (pun not intended) emotionally charged, personal rap verses over lush, psychedelic beats that sound like Prefuse 73 in his prime. I don’t want to call it “emo rap,” but that’s sort of what it is—and it’s good!

Demo(n)s by Otherways: OK, first of all, I can barely read anything on this band’s Bandcamp page; teal on purple is just painful to the eyes. But the music is admittedly pretty interesting. It’s full of hazy, gothic guitar textures, with some distorted vocals on top. Otherways still have a ways to go before perfecting this sound, but there are definitely some interesting ideas here.

—Jeff Terich Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com.

#SDCityBeat

#SDCityBeat

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 27

Music

Jeff Terich

If I were u A music insider’s weekly agenda

Wednesday, April 8 PLAN A: Kimbra, Mikky Ekko @ Observatory North Park. Kimbra first made a name for herself singing alongside Gotye on his hit single “Somebody That I Used to Know,” but I’m more interested in her high-energy, disco-fueled pop numbers, which are a lot more fun to dance to. She’s also collaborated with math-metal band The Dillinger Escape Plan, which makes me like her just that much more. BACKUP PLAN: White Violet, Geronimo Getty, China Clippers @ Soda Bar.

weekend a night early, then this is where the party’s going to be. BACKUP PLAN: The Widows, Sir Coyler and His Asthmatic Band, The Grim Imperials @ Tower Bar.

Friday, April 10

PLAN A: Hills Like Elephants, Wild Wild Wets, Schitzophonics, Gloomsday @ The Casbah. Hills Like Elephants are releasing a new album, Tall Tales, that finds the group taking on more of a postpunk aesthetic. And their recordrelease show is loaded with other great bands, like psych-rockers Thursday, April 9 Wild Wild Wets and the unstoppable duo Gloomsday.

PLAN A: Action Bronson, The Hear the new jams, see some Alchemist, Meyhem Lauren @ other great local acts and make Observatory North Park. Aca night of it. PLAN B: Andrew tion Bronson is a character. He’s Jackson Jihad, The Smith a former chef, hosts a web Street Band, Jeff Rosenstock, cooking series called “Fuck Kimbra Chumped @ The Irenic. Andrew That’s Delicious” and gives a pretty hilarious interview. But the man’s got Jackson Jihad’s folk-punk style is a blend of a gift for rapping, and if you want to start your high-energy acoustic strums and witty, smart

28 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

lyrics in the vein of The Mountain Goats. It’s super fun stuff—more so than you might have ever imagined from a dude with an acoustic guitar. BACKUP PLAN: The English Beat, Coastal Frequency @ Belly Up Tavern.

Saturday, April 11 PLAN A: Peaking Lights, The Most Hi, Chill Pill, Identity+, Other Bodies DJs @ Soda Bar. Los Angeles duo Peaking Lights are an unconventional bunch, juxtaposing psychedelic electronics against dub rhythms.

It’s dreamy, disorienting and catchy all at once. So if you haven’t spun their records yet, start with 936 and become intoxicated with their grooves, then soak in the vibes firsthand. PLAN B: The Underachievers @ Observatory North Park. The Underachievers aren’t like most hip-hop outfits.

The Brooklyn group treats psychedelics like windows to new planes of enlightenment.

Not that you need to participate to fully appreciate the otherworldly vibe they create.

Their beats and rhymes are mystical enough without chemical enhancement.

Sunday, April 12 PLAN A: Antemasque, Le Butcherettes, Sister Crayon @ Belly Up Tavern. In case you weren’t already familiar, Antemasque is the new project of Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, formerly of At the Drive-In and The Mars Volta. It’s closer to the former than the latter, with high-energy rock songs instead of drawn-out prog odysseys. But with these two, anything is

possible. PLAN B: Tomorrow’s Tulips, Feels, Tarek Wegner @ The Casbah. I managed to make it this far without directing anyone to a garage- or surf-rock band, but if you’re going to see one this week, make it Tomorrow’s Tulips. They’re weird enough to break through the monotony of garage-rock oversaturation, and with some good melodies at their disposal, for that matter. BACKUP PLAN: Yasiin Bey, aka Mos Def @ Observatory North Park.

Monday, April 13 PLAN A: Once and Future Band, Sacri Monti, Monarch @ Soda Bar. Once and Future Band is a trio from the Bay Area that makes trippy jams from elements of psychrock and jazz-fusion. It grooves, but in a disorienting way. It’s good stuff.

Tuesday, April 14 PLAN A: So Stressed, Causers, Moonpool @ Soda Bar. So Stressed is a pretty good name for this noise-punk band, which creates chaotic swells of feedback and distorted riffs that feel both crushing and claustrophobic. By Tuesday night, you might want to get some stuff out of your system, so this seems like the show to do just that. PLAN B: Meshuggah, Warbringer @ House of Blues. The style of death metal that Meshuggah play has come to be known as “djent,” based on the guitar sounds they make.

And that’s, admittedly, pretty stupid, but it doesn’t mean their music isn’t pretty awesome when they’re on, which they usually are. Nerd out to those riffs, man.

#SDCityBeat

Music

Concerts HOT! NEW! FRESH!

Ms Mr (Casbah, 5/4), The Deftones (HOB, 5/10), Main Attrakionz (Soda Bar, 5/26), Pinata Protest (The Hideout, 5/29), Everlast (BUT, 5/30), Walk Off the Earth (Observatory, 6/3), Crowbar (Til-Two Club, 6/4), The Original Wailers (HOB, 6/17), Bleak (Soda Bar, 7/7), Anjelah Johnson (HOB, 7/12), Pokey Lafarge (Casbah, 7/25), Say Anything (HOB, 7/29), Jake Miller (HOB, 8/9), Fireworks (HOB, 8/16), Ariana Grande (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 9/9), Luke Bryan (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 10/16), John Waters (Observatory, 11/30).

GET YER TICKETS Ride (Humphreys, 4/16), Drive By Truckers (BUT, 4/22), Waxahatchee (Casbah, 4/26), Helmet (BUT, 4/29), Dan Deacon (Casbah, 4/29), Kinky (Observatory, 5/2), Tennis (Irenic, 5/2), Moody Blues (Humphreys, 5/6), Dwight Yoakam (Observatory, 5/8), David Guetta, Pitbull (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 5/8), The Growlers (Observatory North Park, 5/9), The Sonics (BUT, 5/10), NKOTB, TLC, Nelly (Viejas Arena, 5/11), Timber Timbre, Xiu Xiu (Irenic, 5/12), The Waterboys (Humphreys, 5/15), Little Dragon (Observatory North Park, 5/18), Speedy Ortiz (Soda Bar, 5/19), X (Observatory, 5/2223), Ciara (HOB, 5/27), Spoon (Observatory North Park, 6/2), Awolnation (HOB, 6/3), The Rentals (Irenic, 6/4), Common Sense (BUT, 6/6), ‘X-Fest’ w/ Penny-

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wise, Cold War Kids, Public Enemy (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 6/7), Best Coast (Observatory North Park, 6/26), Mono (Casbah, 6/28), Third Eye Blind, Dashboard Confessional (Harrah’s Resort, 7/18), Imagine Dragons (Viejas Arena, 7/21), Between the Buried and Me (Observatory, 7/22), Melt Banana, Torche (Casbah, 7/28-29), Bill Maher (Humphreys, 8/2), Darius Rucker (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 8/2), Juanes (Civic Theatre, 8/2), Milky Chance (Soma, 8/3), Echo and the Bunnymen (Humphreys, 8/6), The B-52s (Humphreys, 8/15), The Who (Valley View Casino Center, 9/14), Future Islands (Observatory, 9/23), Foo Fighters (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 9/24), Florida Georgia Line (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 10/3).

April Wednesday, April 8 The Maine at House of Blues.

Thursday, April 9 The Preatures at The Casbah. Blue October at House of Blues. Interpol at Humphreys by the Bay (sold out). Action Bronson at Observatory North Park.

Friday, April 10 Hills Like Elephants at The Casbah.

Andrew Jackson Jihad at The Irenic.

Peelander-Z at Soda Bar. Three Days Grace at House of Blues (sold out). The English Beat at Belly Up Tavern.

Saturday, April 11 The Underachievers at Observatory North Park. Buddy Guy at Balboa Theatre. D.I. at Brick by Brick. The English Beat at Belly Up Tavern.

Sunday, April 12 Antemasque at Belly Up Tavern.

Monday, April 13 St. Lucia at Observatory North Park.

Bane at Epicentre.

Tuesday, April 14 Drive Like Jehu at The Casbah (sold out).

Built to Spill at The Irenic. Father John Misty at Observatory North Park (sold out). Meshuggah at House of Blues.

Wednesday, April 15 Toro y Moi at Observatory North Park.

Thursday, April 16 Bruce Hornsby at Balboa Theatre. Ratatat at House of Blues. Ride at Humphreys by the Bay. Clean Bandit at The Observatory North Park.

Friday, April 17 The Cribs at The Casbah. Cash’d Out at Belly Up Tavern. Good Riddance at Brick

by Brick. Belle and Sebastian at Observatory North Park (sold out).

Saturday, April 18 Reckless Kelly at Belly Up Tavern. Marina and the Diamonds at Observatory North Park (sold out).

Sunday, April 19 Morgan Heritage at Belly Up Tavern.

Monday, April 20 Bone Thugs-n-Harmony at Observatory

CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 29

Music North Park.

Saturday, May 2

Tuesday, April 21 Sebastian Bach at Belly Up Tavern.

Wednesday, April 22 Lady Lamb the Beekeeper at Soda Bar. Drive By Truckers at Belly Up Tavern.

Thursday, April 23 Al Di Meola at Balboa Theatre. Pete Yorn at Belly Up Tavern.

Friday, April 24 Dead Milkmen at Belly Up Theatre.

Nikki Lane at Soda Bar. Turbo Fruits, Eternal Summers at The Merrow.

Sunday, April 26 Waxahatchee at The Casbah. Reptar at Soda Bar. The Six String Society at Belly Up Tavern.

Tuesday, April 28 Buck 65 at The Casbah.

Wednesday, April 29 Dan Deacon at The Casbah. Doldrums at Soda Bar.

Thursday, April 30 Inter Arma at Soda Bar. The Decemberists at Observatory North Park (sold out).

May Friday, May 1 OK Go at House of Blues. Manic Hispanic at Soda Bar.

30 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

Neil Hagerty at The Hideout. Kinky at Observatory North Park.

Sunday, May 3 They Might Be Giants at Belly Up Tavern.

Monday, May 4 Ms Mr at The Casbah.

Tuesday, May 5 Mariachi El Bronx at Belly Up Tavern.

Wednesday, May 6 Moody Blues at Humphreys by the Bay.

Thursday, May 7 Herb Alpert and Lani Hall at Belly Up Tavern. The Mowgli’s at The Casbah.

Friday, May 8 Metalachi at The Casbah. Dwight Yoakam at Observatory North Park.

Saturday, May 9 The Bangles at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). The Growlers at Observatory North Park.

Sunday, May 10 The Sonics at Belly Up Tavern. The Deftones at House of Blues.

Monday, May 11 NKOTB, TLC, Nelly at Viejas Arena.

Tuesday, May 12 Timber Timbre, Xiu Xiu at The Irenic.

Wednesday, May 13 The Wombats at House of Blues.

Thursday, May 14 Lord Huron at Observatory North Park.

Ava Luna at Soda Bar.

Friday, May 15 Young Dubliners at Belly Up Tavern.

The Palace Ballroom at The Casbah.

Two Gallants at Soda Bar. The Relationship at House of Blues. The Waterboys at Humphreys by the Bay.

rCLUBSr

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

Thu: Live band karaoke. Fri: Coachella viewing party. Sat: Curbside Vinyl, Cold Craft, The Harry James Conglomerate.

Sun: Karaoke. Mon: DJ Royale.

98 Bottles, 2400 Kettner Blvd. Ste. 110, Little Italy. 98bottlessd.com. Fri: Rebecca Jade. Sun: Matt Smith Neu Jazz Trio.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St, Normal Heights. airconditionedbar.com.

Wed: ‘Electric Martini’ w/ DJ Jeneration Y. Thu: DJs DJ Ala, Mikeytown. Fri: DJ Junior the DiscoPunk. Sat: Mike Czech.

Sun: DJs John Reynolds, Karma.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave, Downtown. americancomedyco. com. Wed: Open mic. Thu: Battlecast.

Fri-Sat: Joey Diaz. Sun: Tom Segura.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St, Downtown. facebook.com/BangBangSanDiego. Fri: Tjani. Sat: Redlight.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St, North Park. barpink.com. Wed: Taurus Authority. Thu:

#SDCityBeat

Music The Husky Boy All-Stars. Fri: The Downs Family. Sat: The Milkcrates DJs. Sun: ‘Rat Sabbath’. Mon: ‘Wreckordmania’.

Tue: ‘Tiki Tuesday’ w/ The Fink Bombs.

Bassmnt, 919 Fourth Ave, Downtown. bassmntsd.com. Thu: Mixed Reactions.

Fri: UZ. Sat: Ashley Wallbridge.

Beaumont’s, 5662 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla. brocktonvilla.com/beaumonts.html. Sat: December’s Children. Sun: Blaise Guld.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave, Solana Beach. bellyup.com. Wed: Andrew McMahon in the Wildnerness, Haerts.

Thu: Horn if You’re Honky, Smooth Harbor Yacht Club. Fri: English Beat, Coastal Frequency, DJ Unite. Sat: English Beat, Viernes 13, DJ Unite. Sun: Antemasque, Le Butcherettes, Sister Crayon. Mon: Gramatik. Tue: George Ezra, Ruen Brothers (sold out).

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave, Carlsbad. boarcrossn.net. Fri: ‘Club Musae’. Sat: SM Familia.

Brass Rail, 3796 Fifth Ave, Hillcrest. thebrassrailsd.com. Fri: ‘Hip Hop Fridayz’.

Sat: DJs XP, KA. Sun: ‘Soiree’. Mon: DJs Junior the Disco Punk, XP. Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave, Bay Park. brickbybrick.com. Thu: Damballa’s Toybox, Black Tango, Eden H, Danni Knapp. Fri: Well Hung Heart, Killmama, Mountain Tamer. Sat: Matt Voodoo and the Traitors, The Spooky, Cult Vegas.

Mon: ‘Metal Monday’.

Cafe Sevilla, 353 Fifth Ave, Downtown. cafesevilla.com. Thu: Malamana. Fri: Joef and Co. Sat & Sun: Aragon y Serrano.

Comedy Palace, 8878 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, Clairemont. thecomedypalace.com.

Wed: Beast Mode Comedy. Fri: Sean Tweedley.

Comedy Store, 916 Pearl St, La Jolla. lajolla.thecomedystore.com. Fri: Adam Ray. Croce’s Park West, 2760 Fifth Ave., #100, Bankers Hill. crocesparkwest.com.

Wed: Ben Gottesman. Thu: Ruby Blue Quartet. Fri: Allison Adams Tucker. Sat: Eve Selis. Sun: Choro Sotaque. Mon: Dave Scott and Irving Flores. Tue: Steph Johnson and Rob Thorsen.

Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. dirksniteclub.com. Fri: Teaser.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. dizzyssandiego.com. Sat: Nathan Collins.

Epicentre, 8450 Mira Mesa Blvd, Mira Mesa. epicentreconcerts.org. Fri: The Indys Are Coming, Meridian, The Cosmic 418s, Sean Hiatus, Skyler Shibuya. Sat: Somewhat Ace, Speech Impediments, The Dead Blue, The Tones.

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown, Downtown. f6ixsd.com. Fri: DJ XP. Sat: DJ Kurch.

Sun: DJ Decon.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave, Downtown. fluxxsd.com. Thu: Bixel Boys. Fri: DJ E-Man. Sat: DJ Mustard.

Gallagher’s, 5040 Newport Ave, Ocean Beach. 619-222-5303. Wed: Greg Cryns.

Thu: Shoreline Rootz, DJ Reefah, TRC Soundsystem. Sat: Wild Side, DJ Chelu.

Sun: Cheezy and the Crackers. Mon: ‘Strictly Hip Hop’.

Hard Rock Hotel, 207 Fifth Ave, Downtown. hardrockhotelsd.com. Fri: Desolace, Alien Monster, LC55, Laura Gravelle.

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave, Downtown. henryspub.com. Wed: The Fooks. Thu: Johnny Tarr, DJ Junior the Disco Punk.

Fri: ‘Good Times’. Sat: DJs E, Yodah.

Sun: Karaoke. Mon: DJ Antonio Aguilera, Keokoa. Tue: Big City Dawgs.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave, Downtown. houseofblues.com/sandiego. Wed: The Maine, Real Friends, KnucklePuck, The Technicolors. Thu: Blue October. Fri:

#SDCityBeat

Three Days Grace, Islander. Sat: Betty Who, Parade of Lights, SirenXX. Tue: Meshuggah, Warbringer.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. kavalounge.com. Wed: ‘Jungle and DnB Wednesday’. Thu: ‘Progress Techno’. Fri: ‘Junglist Friday’. Sat: ‘SUBDVSN’. Sun: ‘Fire Tribe fundraiser’.

Tue: ‘High Tech Tuesday’.

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave, Kensington. 619-284-2848. Sat: Omar Mania.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave, Coronado. mcpspub.com. Wed: Goodall Boys. Thu: The Sophisticats. Fri: FourWay Street. Sat & Sun: Ron’s Garage.

Tue: 3 Guys Will Move U. Numbers, 3811 Park Blvd, Hillcrest. numberssd.com. Thu: ‘Throwback Thursday’.

Fri: ‘Harness’. Sat: ‘Club Sabbat’. Sun: ‘RnB Divas’. Tue: Karaoke Latino.

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

Patricks Gaslamp, 428 F St, Downtown. patricksii.com. Wed: The Rayford Brothers. Thu: The Fuzzy Rankins Band. Fri: Len Rainey’s Midnight Players. Sat: WG and the G-Men. Sun: Johnny Vernazza.

Mon: The Groove Squad. Tue: Paddy’s Chicken Jam. Porter’s Pub, 9500 Gilman Dr., UCSD campus, La Jolla. porterspub.net. Thu: The Electronic Soap Box. Sun: King Lil G. Rich’s, 1051 University Ave, Hillcrest. richssandiego.com. Wed: DJ Kiki. Thu: DJ K-Swift. Fri: DJs Dirty Kurty, Will Z. Sat: DJs Taj, Vaughn Avakian. Sun: DJs Cros, Brynn Taylor.

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

Wed: Westside Inflection. Thu: Flipside Burners. Fri: Black Market III. Sat: CaliCo. Tue: Karaoke.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave, North Park. sevengrandbars.com/sd. Wed: Gilbert Castellanos. Fri: Rebecca Jade and the Cold Fact, Erik Canzona and the Narrows. Sat: Stevie and the Hi-Staxx. Mon: DJ Tah Rei. Side Bar, 536 Market St, Downtown. sidebarsd.com. Wed: DJ Brett Bodley.

Thu: Vince Delano. Fri: Deejay Al. Sat: DJ Kaos.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. sodabarmusic.com. Wed: White Violet, Geronimo Getty, China Clippers.

Thu: Three Bad Jacks, Hard Fall Hearts, Sewer Rats, The Tramplers. Fri: Peelander-Z, The Touchies, Chica Diabla. Sat: Peaking Lights, The Most Hi, Chill Pill, Identity , Other Bodies DJs. Sun: Halcyonaire, Ohioan, Plastik Deer. Mon: Once and Future Band, Sacri Monti, Monarch.

Tue: So Stressed, Causers, Moonpool.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Midway. somasandiego.com. Sat: Short Stories, Guidelines, Scarlett Avenue, Little Heroine, Alive and Well, Teenage Exorcists.

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

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

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

Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave, Normal Heights. sycamoreden.com. Thu: Taken by Canadians, Cardboard Pioneers. Sun: The Big Decisions.

The Balboa, 1863 Fifth Ave, Bankers Hill.

619-955-8525. Fri: The Verigolds, Rosewood and Rye. Sat: Splavender, Citrus and Katie.

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Road, Spring Valley. 619-469-2337. Wed: Karaoke. Thu: ‘Club 80s’. Fri: Philosophers

Raygun. Sat: The Infiltrators.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. casbahmusic.com. Wed: Figs Vision, Nicky Venus, Christine Sako. Thu: The Preatures, The Bots, Bloods Band.

Fri: Hills Like Elephants, Wild Wild Wets, Schitzophonics, Gloomsday. Sat: Elliott Brood, Shelby Earl, Pall Jenkins. Sun: Tomorrows Tulips, Feels, Tarek Wegner.

Mon: Killer Party, The Seks, Oddball.

Tue: Drive Like Jehu, Octagrape, Big Bad Buffalo, DJ Mario Orduno (sold out).

The Hideout, 3519 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. thehideoutsd.com. Thu: Billy Idolized. Sat: Loom, The Love Dimension, AJ Froman.

The Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla. theloft.ucsd.edu. Fri: Thalma de Freitas. Sat: Kehlani and Pell. Tue: Jim Black.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave, Hillcrest. theMerrow.com. Wed: Ves Frank, Mike Wojniak, LA Edwards. Thu: Amigo, Dexter Riley Xperiment, The FockeWolves. Fri: Igor and Red Elvises. Sat: Processor, Snailfight, Hammered, Idols Plague. Sun: The Accidentals. Tue: Cloud Mammoth, FFT, Cloudside.

The Office, 3936 30th St, North Park. officebarinc.com. Wed: ‘Friends Chill’. Thu: DJ Myson King. Fri: DJs Kid Wonder, Saul Q. Sat: DJs Kanye Asada, Saul Q. Mon: ‘Luxury Disco’. Tue: DJ Ramsey.

The Tin Roof, 401 G St, Gaslamp. tinroofbars.com/Home/SanDiego.

Wed: Rock Out Karaoke. Thu: Cassie B Band.

Fri & Sat: Jonathan Lee Band. Sun: Allen and Maria. Mon: Pat Hilton. Tue: Morning Fatty.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. tiltwoclub.com. Wed: Shallow Cuts, Santa Ana Knights. Thu: Annabelle Chairlegs, Some Kind of Lizard, The Cardielles, Moonshine. Fri: The Amalgamated, The Hashishians, Black Pearl. Sat: Brian Ellis’ Reflection, Diamond-Ortiz, DJ Hotthobo, XL Middleton, Eddy Funkster, Black Belt Jonez. Sun: Open mic comedy. Mon: Karaoke.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St, Bay Park. tioleos.com. Thu: Blue Largo. Fri: Pleazure.

Sat: 7 Word Story. Tue: The Bayou Brothers.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave, City Heights. thetowerbar.com. Wed: ‘The Ratt’s Revenge’. Thu: The Widows, Sir Coyler and His Asthmatic Band, The Grim Imperials. Fri: Fermentor, Man vs. Man, Fantasy Arcade. Sat: Rubber Biscuit, DJ Stack-Aly, DK Brown, Lil Al. Sun: Homeless Sexuals, Nasalrod, Jovie and the Issues. Mon: Saint Shameless.

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

Wed: Tomcat Courtney. Thu: The Jade Visions Jazz Quartet. Fri: Gabriela and La Buena Onda (5 p.m.); Afro Jazziacs (9 p.m.). Sat: Vera Cruz Blues (5 p.m.); Son Pa Ti (9 p.m.). Sun: Sounds Like Four (5 p.m.); Tomcat Courtney (7 p.m.). Mon: Patrick Dowling. Tue: Grupo Global.

Ux31, 3112 University Ave, North Park. u31bar.com. Wed: DJ Mo Lyon. Thu: DJ Man Cat. Fri: DJ Bacon Bits. Sat: DJ Saul Q. Sun: Nesian NINE, KL Noise Makerz.

Mon: DJ R-You. Tue: Karaoke.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St, South Park. whistlestopbar.com. Thu: DJs Mike Turi, Mark Garcia. Fri: The Widows, Creepy Creeps. Sat: ‘Booty Bassment’ w/ DJs Rob, Dimitri. Tue: ‘Not Happy’ w/ Jon Blaj.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St, Ocean Beach. winstonsob.com. Wed: ‘Club Kingston’ w/ Johnny Love, DJ Carlos Culture. Thu: Rising Son, Jehua. Fri: Poor Mans Whiskey. Sat: Warrior King. Sun: Karaoke.

Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: Meeting of the Meyends.

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 31

Last Words

Brendan Emmett Quigley

Across

A-holes 72. Keg party rentals 73. Burst into tears

1. Block letters?

4. Starting from 8. PR flack’s job 13. Kind of guitar everyone can play 14. Play guitar 16. Euripides classic 17. Hosp. room with cardiac monitors 18. Brew some Chinese tea quickly?

20. Rope wrapped around a calf 22. Tight end Gronkowski 23. Sweet potato ___ 24. Promoter of all things Istanbul?

29. North Carolina athlete 31. Australian bird 32. She plays Anouk on “The Slap” 33. Top spot in a Köln countdown 36. Outing announcement 40. “Quit fooling around with Moe!”?

44. Fishing line attachment 45. Magazine with the annual Style Icon issue 46. 101 teachers, often: Abbr.

47. Lear, to Regan 49. Actor who played old Bilbo Baggins in “The Hobbit” 52. Folks who meet up and drink Belgian-style witbiers?

57. Objectivist writer Rand 58. Despite, briefly 59. Villains of some fairy tales 62. Dogs who are in heaven?

67. No. to enter when the company voicemail begins 68. Licoricelike seed 69. “___, bar the door!”

70. Place to get a wrap 71. Cord fiber (TILES anag.)

Last week’s answers

Down 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Make a wake Typesetter’s unit Stymie Landed Letter run “Catch-22” character who got concussed by a prostitute 7. Like many house pets 8. “Editorially,” in brief 9. “The 2000 Year Old Man” comedian Brooks 10. Bring home from the shelter 11. Lamp figure 12. Excited 15. “Don’t go there,” initially 19. Hautboy’s more-common name 21. Ndamukong of the Miami Dolphins 25. Cannabis resin 26. Like the best of the best 27. Skip past 28. Sport whose champion is called yokozuna 29. Pulls hard 30. “Tell it like it is!”

34. Kings org.

35. Manfred’s predecessor as Commissioner 37. Run Time?

38. “___ in Calico” (Manhattan Transfer number) 39. Backwoods assent 41. ___ English 800 (malt liquor) 42. Drum fill 43. Quickly burn 48. Inflict upon 50. Hanging implements 51. Warm embrace 52. Religion whose prophets include Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Krishna, and Buddha 53. French city on the Rhone River 54. Not turned on 55. “Well, then” 56. Rather lean 60. Event when new demos are shown 61. Grab with tines 63. Letters on a handbag 64. Teensy 65. Guess made while cruising: Abbr.

66. Tear up NOTE: If you like the puzzles, consider backing Brendan’s Kickstarter: kck.st/1OBITOc

32 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

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#SDCityBeat

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 33

34 · San Diego CityBeat · April 8, 2015

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#SDCityBeat

April 8, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 35