San Diego CityBeat • Apr 19, 2017

UP FRONT | FROM THE EDITOR

Missed opportunities

I

like to be as thematic as possible when it New York Times business section as an excomes to this space. I knew our “4:20 is- ample. The headline says it all: “A Real Estate sue” was approaching when, a little over Boom, Powered by Pot.” The piece lays out just a month ago, the San Diego Board of Super- how beneficial growing facilities have been to visors (BoS) narrowly passed a county-wide once-blighted neighborhoods and industrial ban on all marijuana businesses in unincor- areas in places like Massachusetts and Maine.

“Commercial real estate developers say porated areas. This includes dispensaries, they have never seen a change so swift in so farms and industrial grow facilities.

What’s an unicorporated area? Well, many places at once,” says the article.

Have readers been to places such as these areas actually make up a majority of San Diego County. Areas include places Spring Valley, Otay and Tecate lately? No ofas varied as Julian and Jacumba, as well as fense to our readers who live in those areas, more familiar areas like Spring Valley and but I sure as hell don’t want to live there. I Sweetwater. Supervisor Dianne Jacob led the didn’t even know there was an area called charge on the ban, citing problems in other “Mountain Empire” until I started to do research for this piece. For us city folk, it’s states where marijuana has been legalized. easy to dismiss these areas as simply “the “We only need to look at Colorado to sticks” but given the current housing realize that the legalization of maricrisis in the incorporated areas of the juana has been a disaster and has not county, isn’t it time to start thinking produced the net revenue that was ahead (or, in this case, east and north) expected,” she said. when it comes to places that are ripe This is absolute nonsense. Acfor development? cording to the state of Colorado’s For readers who live in one Department of Revenue, the state of these unincorporated areas, had $1.1 billion in marijuana Supervisor it’s important not to believe the sales in 2016, and the state pulled Dianne Jacob hype that the all-Republican BoS in $200 million in tax revenue from those sales. And guess where a lot of that is trying to sell. It’s that same old song-andmoney goes: Mostly to schools, including dance; touting themselves as pro-business programs that teach effects of marijuana and pro-jobs while also using “family values” use. And according to recent articles in Re- wedge issues to scare voters into thinking uters, The Washington Post and The Denver their neighborhoods will turn into druggedPost, marijuana use in Colorado teens has out war zones just because someone wants not risen since legalization and use among to open up a dispensary or a grow facility.

Marijuana can help transform neighborteens in Colorado was actually found to be hoods for the better, but only if readers let lower than the national average.

Make no mistake, legalization has not been their elected officials know where they stand. a disaster in any of the states that have cho- Supervisor Greg Cox—who along with Supersen to legalize it. But it’s not so much the ban visor Ron Roberts, were the only two superon shops and dispensaries that I’m concerned visors to vote against the ban—had it right with, but rather the short-sightedness of the when he pointed out a campaign to collect Supervisors when it comes to the potential signatures to place a referendum that would jobs and economic growth that could come overturn the ban. With over 50 percent of with putting grow facilities in these areas. voters in these unincorporated areas having These areas and neighborhoods are ripe with already voted for legal marijuana, one would warehouse spaces that could support such think our local officials would have gotten the businesses, and while there’s always the risk message already. Yet their vision remains a little hazy. Time for them to sober up. of robberies, the pros far outweigh the cons.

Let’s take a recent front-page article in the

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APRIL 19, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 3

UP FRONT | LETTERS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

MOTORHOMING IN

All right, I can see how a bad example or a bad experience could make a really long-term effect on us [“If he builds it, will they come?,” April 5]. I personally think that maybe we should give a camping site for the homeless. Maybe where all those motorhomes are at in National City. Slightly monitored with a few rules, I believe they can possibly have their own community so they won’t have to stay on an unsteady curb where people use it to walk on. Just a thought I guess.

David Plandor Chula Vista

PARTY OF BUSINESS

I agree, the proposed border wall/fence is a waste of money, resources, and time [“A pig is still a pig and a wall is still a wall,” April 12]. Likewise beefed-up Border Patrol. The anti-immigration politicians— generally Republicans—are not serious about curbing illegal immigration. It’s a wedge issue exploited for political purposes. Rule-of-thumb: wedge issues distract attention away from agenda voters should reject.

If politicians were serious about curbing illegal immigration, they would target employers who hire illegal workers. With no jobs available, there would be less incentive to come to the U.S. illegally. But the GOP are the party of business and business wants cheap labor so the GOP have done little to effectively curb illegal immigration. On the other hand, Republican voters largely oppose immigration, and the Republicans have convinced them that they are ardently fighting illegal immigration. For many years Republicans have done a remarkable job of successfully straddling a fence.

Dan Jacobs Mira Mesa

4 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

MORE IMPORTANT

This is in response to David Jankowski’s letter April 12, “Not A Priority”, which is critical of CityBeat’s editorial [“If he builds it, will they come?,” April 5]. First off, Seth’s editorial was a remarkably deadon accurate analysis of the problem. San Diegans have made both homelessness and road improvements their biggest concern, plus the bundling of those two issues with a Convention Center expansion, where the two get only a tiny bit of the new tax revenue generated, is at least misleading. Housing is an entitlement under the State Constitution, which makes Cities responsible for providing housing for the poor, unlike the other 49 states where that is the job of Counties. None of this has anything to do with caring, compassion, sympathy or humanitarianism. Homelessness affects everyone, not just the homeless. This has to do with tourism, city prestige, attracting investment capital, real estate values, public health and safety, clean streets and sidewalks, abatement of drug abuse, taxpayer costs of police-ambulance-cleanup, and other issues more important than a Convention Center expansion? Obviously. Most cities are losing money on their Convention Centers, plus there are a lot of other competing cities, even in a shrinking market. If you care about San Diego you need to help solve its biggest problem. My idea was to use any changes in the Convention Center or Qualcomm Stadium for temporary homeless shelter, whenever not in other use.

Dr. John Kitchin

San Diego Homeless News Downtown

ARTS & CULTURE

UP FRONT From the Editor...................................3 Letters ................................................ 4 News: Weed whack-a-mole...............5 News: Grass ceiling............................6 Sordid Tales ........................................7 There She Goz.....................................8

FOOD & DRINK The World Fare...................................9 Dishing It Out ...................................10 The Beerdist.......................................11

Theater.............................................. 15 FEATURE: Head Crammers.............. 18 Seen Local......................................... 19 Film.............................................. 20-21

MUSIC FEATURE: Astronoid ...................... 22 Notes from the Smoking Patio........ 24 If I Were U........................................ 26 Concerts & Clubs........................ 27-29

THINGS TO DO The Short List.................................... 12 Calendar of Events...................... 12-14

LAST WORDS Advice Goddess............................... 30

ON THE

COVER

This week’s blaze-worthy cover comes from local artist Aubrey Sawicki, who goes by the name “Skindiana Bones,” a name she says carried over from her rollerderby days. Her love of skate culture, riot grrrl music and graphic novels is evident in “Hope Fiend,” a piece whose origins she says are, well, “kinda personal.” “Chalk it up to utter heartbreak and the human tendency to seek solace from thoughts and reality via mind-altering aids,” says Sawicki. “It’s one of the first pieces I ever painted—acrylic on canvas board—and belongs to a set called the ‘Pretty Vacant Collection.’” Readers should definitely check out more of Sawicki’s work at skindianabones.com or on Instagram at @skindiana_bones.

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SHUTTERSTOCK

UP FRONT | NEWS

Weed whacka-mole Cities like Lemon Grove struggle to crack down on illegal dispensaries and accommodate legal ones

by Maya Srikrishnan

W

hen Lydia Romero first started as city manager of Lemon Grove in 2016, she remembers standing in front of the City Council and being asked to prioritize shutting down illegal marijuana dispensaries. That day, Jan. 19, 2016, the city banned all medical marijuana-related businesses.

A year later, thanks to a voter initiative allowing medical marijuana dispensaries, Lemon Grove must figure out how to legally fit the very businesses it’s been fighting.

As cities like Lemon Grove grapple with marijuana policies, they’re finding something strange: The most effective way to crack down on illegal dispensaries might be to help legal marijuana businesses thrive.

Starting in 2015, illegal marijuana businesses started popping up in unprecedented numbers in Lemon Grove.

So Romero and her sole code enforcement employee started a game of legal whack-a-mole, trying to shut down the illegal businesses.

It was frustrating, she said. Most of the operators and property owners where the dispensaries were located don’t live or have offices in Lemon Grove.

“They come under the dark of night,” Romero said. “They hide behind everything—LLC business names—and you can’t track down who the operators are or their offices.”

Occasionally the city would luck out and the Sheriff’s Department would get involved, forcing the dispensary’s hand.

Sometimes the city would close one shop down, only to have another pop up on the same property.

The November measure to allow medical marijuana dispensaries in Lemon Grove passed by only 90 votes. The city started accepting applications for legal dispensaries on March 20.

As Lemon Grove starts to allow medi-

@SDCITYBEAT

cal marijuana dispensaries into the city, Romero said that the passage of Proposition 64, a statewide measure legalizing marijuana, and increased regulation could actually help cities in their fight against illegal dispensaries—though Lemon Grove will continue to ban recreational marijuana businesses within city limits.

“Regulation is ultimately your greatest path to shutting down illegal dispensaries,” said Kimberly Simms, an attorney who represents many clients in the cannabis industry.

Over the next few years, Simms said she expects a black market resurgence, as some businesses that have operated in the gray for years are unable to get legal permits.

Some of those illegal businesses are run by people who will never follow the rules, but many are run by people who have been operating with unclear rules for years.

It will be up to local and state regulations to make sure that unpermitted businesses can’t operate as successfully as a legal one. That will ultimately come down to two things: whether local policies allow for legal businesses to operate successfully, meeting market demand for marijuana products, and how they enforce the rules.

Both have been major issues in San Diego County.

There have been iterations of medical marijuana laws at the state level since Proposition 215 passed in 1996.

That means some businesses were simultaneously following state law and breaking local laws, in parts of the state where local jurisdictions didn’t want marijuana businesses in their cities and counties.

In 2013, a court decision in Riverside determined that cities could enforce marijuana regulations through their zoning and land-use codes. That allowed cities to start prosecuting illegal dispensaries for violating zoning codes.

In the city of San Diego, the rule change

played out this way: After overturning a temporary suspension on the city’s crackdown on illegal dispensaries in 2013, the city attorney’s office began going after illegal dispensaries in earnest. In 2014, the City Council decided to start permitting medical marijuana dispensaries.

The city decided that businesses would have the opportunity to operate legally as long as they weren’t currently running an unpermitted dispensary.

Lemon Grove has taken a hard line on people who used to have illegal dispensaries. If the city knows that a person applying for a permit is tied to an illegal dispensary, it will deny the permit. La Mesa, on the other hand, is handling things the way San Diego did and giving people a chance to work above ground.

While there are still lots of unpermitted dispensaries in San Diego, permitting some businesses has helped bring down that number.

In 2018, it will become abundantly clear which businesses are legal and which aren’t, because state and local permitting will be in sync. In order to get a state permit for any marijuana business, businesses first need to prove they have local permission to operate.

“It’s a total atmosphere change,” said Alex Scherer, founder of the legal medical marijuana dispensary Southwest Patient Group, who previously had a dispensary shut down by the San Diego city attorney.

“Now there’s clarity to the law and clarity to the rules. Before these rules, it was just fought out in courts. Now it’s clear who is legal and who isn’t and how to comply.”

Romero also said she’s hopeful that having a legal industry will lead to some selfpolicing within Lemon Grove’s new cannabis industry, so the legal businesses will help the city keep the illegal ones in check.

That has happened in San Diego, said Simms.

“Licensed dispensaries are frustrated that there are so many unpermitted stores and delivery services,” she said.

Scherer and Simms also said that legalizing the industry will change things from the consumer’s side. As the industry becomes more mainstream, consumers will be able to discern differences between products and go to the legal dispensaries that offer higher quality.

Simms and Cynara Velasquez, political director of the Association of Cannabis Professionals and one of the authors of the medical marijuana ballot measure in Lemon Grove, warned against the way Lemon Grove seemed to be doing business with legal dispensaries.

After a month of accepting permits, the city has already received complaints.

Last month, several representatives of the cannabis industry appeared before Lemon Grove’s City Council to complain about how difficult the city was making the process.

Some of the speakers said the city didn’t give a comprehensive list to applicants of the types of facilities dispensaries couldn’t be close to—for example, schools and churches. Other jurisdictions, they said, had given applicants such a list.

“I’ve been watching the process closely here in Lemon Grove, and we are a little concerned with how the initiative is being implemented and the additional conditions staff has put on the permits,” said Velasquez.

If legal businesses don’t feel welcome, Simms said, they won’t come to Lemon Grove. That might mean that the city will continue to play whack-a-mole with illegal operators.

Originally published on voiceofsandiego. org, San Diego’s non-profit investigative news source.

APRIL 19, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 5

TORREY BAILEY

UP FRONT | NEWS

Grass ceiling Marijuana industry opening up to women nationally and Latinas locally

By Torrey Bailey

C

annabis is a female plant, so we’re going to own it,” said Adelia Carrillo, CEO of Direct Cannabis Network, an Encinitas-based, business-to-business website for marijuana entrepreneurship and technology.

Carrillo launched Direct Cannabis Network in 2016, joining the increasing number of women taking a seat at the head of the marijuana table. In 2015, women made up 36 percent of leadership positions in the cannabis market, surpassing the 22 percent national average for women in senior management positions in all other industries, according to Pew Research Center. At 36 percent, there are already more women in leadership roles in cannabis than in other new sectors such as tech, where 20 percent of top positions were held by women in 2013, according to the University of Denver.

“It’s that connection that we,

“

as women, have with the plant, with wanting to help others or with wanting to take care of people,” Carrillo said.

Because cannabis is unmapped territory, women can design their own paths, and the industry’s open-mindedness has made it that much easier to climb to the top, Carrillo said. Kimberly Simms, who started the San Diego branch of the female-centric cannabis group Women Grow, agrees.

“It’s an opportunity for women to come in with a really equal, level playing field and say, ‘This is what I can bring,’” Simms said.

“I’ve had my moments of machismo, but generally speaking, I feel like I’m always kind of surprised when I encounter that in the cannabis industry.”

In addition to running Women Grow, Simms has been a cannabis lawyer for eight years and notes that this kind of camaraderie between sexes isn’t common in

6 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

the overall legal system where only one-in-three professionals were female in 2014.

The largest quantity of industry women executives can be found in cannabis testing labs, where they hold 63 percent of the top positions. The business of infused products is the runner-up, with women holding 48 percent of executive roles. In Chula Vista alone, there are two marijuana-related cosmetic companies headed by women. Paola Nunez is the cofounder of Queen Concepts & Co., which produces hemp-infused age defying serums. Similarly, Sophie Felix is a partner at Rx Canna Care, which creates CBD-infused anti-aging creams, lip plumpers and cellulite creams. In Golden Hill, Vanessa Corrales’ THC and CBD-infused cotton candy company B Edibles also markets its products toward women.

“There are social media influencers who are trying to push the image of cannabis away from the stereotypical couch potato into the more alive, work harder, slay, wake up and grind kind of women empowerment methods with colors, glitter and glam,” Corrales said.

Scrolling through B Edible’s Instagram feed, there are photos of women playfully eating the medicated cotton candy, drawings

Adelia Carrillo of Direct Cannabis Network and Vanessa Corrales of B Edibles of flower-filled joints and phrases like “Put this in your mouth,” which Corrales said have been well-received.

“On my Instagram, I see more and more tags and people direct messaging me, Latinas, saying ‘This is awesome. I love your message.’”

While this pink-centric marketing campaign may not appeal to all women, it’s an alternative to stereotypical cannabis culture that not only allegedly appropriates Rastafarianism, but is often accused of objectifying females too. “[The marijuana industry] is allowing women… to call out certain moments when they may be placed as a more sexual object and to say this isn’t good for our industry, you don’t need to sell sex in this,” Carrillo said. “There are other ways to grow your business. There is a broader audience than just men in this industry now. It’s growing and transforming, and that’s not going to go good with the brand.”

In addition to being leaders in their respective fields, Felix, Nunez, Carrillo and Corrales are all also Latina. Corrales said that although the local scene lacks diversity, that is slowly changing. She goes on to add that cultural stigma is a culprit holding back cannabis-forward, MexicanAmerican entrepreneurs.

“I’m Mexican, and all I grew up knowing was that having marijuana or having anything to do with marijuana in Mexico or the U.S. was such a bad thing,” she said. “Being so close to the border, I feel like a lot of Latinas that would want to be in the medical marijuana business or are already cooking with marijuana to treat themselves are really scared to be open about it.”

Proposition 64 passed with 57 percent of the vote in November, but 56 percent of Latinos opposed

legalization in 2015, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. However, in the same survey, four in 10 Latinos reported they were in favor of legalization, marking an all-time high for the demographic.

In hopes of banishing the shame Corrales said is shared within the culture, she and Carrillo plan to begin a group for San Diego-based Latinas in the cannabis industry. So far, they have a pending meeting to discuss the manifestation process.

“I want to see how we can assist, how can we help, what the community need is, what do you guys need to be compliant and to be a little bit safer and be open to say you smoke marijuana and to know you aren’t a drug dealer or a narco, and that it doesn’t mean that you’re a bad person,” Corrales said.

One main goal of this group would be to create educational pamphlets and hold meetings in Spanish, which she said isn’t an available option through San Diego’s pre-existing cannabis groups, even though one-third of the county’s population is Hispanic. There is the national group Minority Cannabis Business Association, but a local branch has yet to be created. And until the MexicanAmerican community establishes itself within the cannabis industry, Corrales said she’s there to translate and spread information she’s accessed through English-speaking groups and lawyers like Simms.

“We have so many awesome women in our community, generally speaking, that have great attributes,” Corrales said. “And in knowing more about cannabis, they can join the cannabis community that we have now and use whatever they’re passionate about to push cannabis in the right direction.”

Write to torreyb@sdcitybeat.com

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UP FRONT | OPINION

EDWIN DECKER

SORDID

TALES

Why I’ll never eat a pot brownie ever again, seriously—like ever!

T

he Denver man who claimed that eating marijuana-infused candy caused him to murder his wife was sentenced to 30 years in prison last week—and there was much rejoicing.

The general feeling among the public is that the man, Richard Kirk, was bullshitting. However I’m not so sure. During the police interrogation—according to forensic psychologist, Dr. Max Wachtel— Kirk was exhibiting symptoms of “excited delirium” which, though rare, can manifest after eating weed.

Symptoms of excited delirium include delirium, anxiety, hallucinations, speech problems, disorientation, violent and/or bizarre behavior, sweating, overheating and increased strength. Of course, I understand the skepticism about this condition. If I hadn’t experienced it myself, I would be skeptical too. And though my behavior was never violent, I did suffer most of the other symptoms. In fact, every single one of the handful of times I have eaten a baked marijuana treat ended up becoming a nightmarish experience more ferocious and bizarre than the worst psilocybin bugout I have ever encountered.

There was the time in the early ‘90s when I was relaxing on the couch with my then-girlfriend.

When the dope kicked in, my heart rate shot up to a BPM count that would impress Skinny Puppy. I began sweating profusely, twitching and, eventually, hallucinating. This went on for hours and at times I thought I was dying.

The worst part was when her face began changing. First she turned into a previous girlfriend, then she became my boss, then a witch, Barbara Bush, a former teacher and several other faces I can’t remember until, finally, she became the person that sent me dashing out into the street gasping for air—my mother.

There was another occasion when I was standing outside a friend’s apartment in Hollywood. Instead of the normal sounds of a bustling city, what I heard were jungle noises—the hoots and whistles of exotic birds, the cacophony of monkeys rollicking in the canopy—as if the city was a hologram and the THC merely exposed the jungle reality beneath—like the sunglasses in They Live.

But of them all, it was the first time I ate marijuana that was the most horrifying, bizarre, intense and—as you will soon learn—unbelievable episodes of them all.

J. and I were two high-school sweethearts celebrating our first anniversary at a fancy restaurant.

Sometime before we left the house, we each ate a pot brownie. Then we took my 1966, primer-black Mustang with the rusted floorboard and finicky solenoid to the restaurant. I say finicky because every now and then it would only go click when I turned the ignition key.

When this happened, I had to lift the hood and bang the solenoid with handle of a screwdriver and try again.

So it was a busy Saturday night. We waited about 20 minutes to be seated, ordered our meals and held hands and chatted while waiting for our food. It was shortly after the apps arrived when I began to feel the anxiety. Then the sweating. The BPMs accelerated, followed by disorientation, terror and, of course, hallucinations. That was when the frogs hit the fan.

There was a nearby table of four men in their 40s.

Until that moment I was unable to hear anyone’s conversation over the drone of the room. However, at this point, it was as if the men’s voices were amplified. And what I thought they were saying scared the Christ out of me. Somehow I got it into my head that they were undercover cops talking about arresting me for being on drugs. It was pure paranoia of course, but it caused my symptoms to worsen exponentially. In a panic, I ducked out to the men’s room to pull myself together.

Once there I couldn’t believe what I saw in the mirror.

My hair was soaked and matted with sweat. The shoulder and chest area of my shirt was also drenched. There were dark circles under my eyes and my face was emaciated, skeletal. So horrified was I by the monster in the mirror, I slowly backed away in disbelief, like they do in the movies, and bumped into the stall behind me.

Needing to use the toilet anyway, I pulled on the door handle. But it was stuck. I yanked and pulled the handle until a voice from inside yelled, “Somebody’s in here asshole!”

Shell-shocked, I staggered back to the table and my waiting, distraught girlfriend.

“What’s going on? You’re scaring me,” she said.

“Shhh,” I whispered. “I’m trying to hear them.”

I listened to the men some more as they further discussed my upcoming arrest and how they were going to have their way with my girlfriend once I was handcuffed. Well that was all I could bear. Utterly convinced I was about to be arrested and my girl raped, I whispered, “We have to leave, Now!” Then I threw a wad of cash on the table, grabbed her arm and led her toward the front door—passing our incoming entrees on the way.

Once outside the building, I shouted, “Run! They’re after us!” We raced across the parking lot, with me looking back the whole time expecting them to burst out the door with guns drawn.

We jumped into the car, I turned the key and—click.

Again, just like in the movies, with a car that wouldn’t start and bad guys on the way. I opened the hood and rapped the solenoid. Then I jumped back in the car, fired her up and careened out of the parking lot and off into the night.

I listened to the men some more as they further discussed my upcoming arrest and how they were going to have their way with my girlfriend once I was handcuffed.

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Sordid Tales appears every other week.

Write to edwin@sdcitybeat.com.

APRIL 19, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 7

UP FRONT | VOICES

THERE SHE

ALEX ZARAGOZA

GOZ

Have you ever been anxious ON WEEEEED?

I

discovered CBD oil at a cannabis convention I was covering for LA Weekly. In between having cannabis-infused lotion rubbed on my arms and acquiring as many samples of edibles I could by walking past the same booth repeatedly but changing my jacket so as to go unnoticed, I came across a large display for a CBD oil company. A pretty blonde woman walked up to me.

“Hey there! You ever tried CBD oil?” I told her no, that I don’t really smoke weed. I’m more partial to alcohol. I’m a writer. I said that as if she knew writing and alcohol are bedfellows.

CBD hemp oil, or cannabidiol oil, is a cannabis compound with a low-THC grade.

Meaning it’s oil extracted from hemp that has little-to-no psychoactive ingredients. Meaning you’re not high off your ass contemplating if anyone can tell you’re blazed out of your mind while considering having Postmates deliver some dank buffalo wings to your apartment. Meaning you can take it, feel chill as fuck and function as you regularly do because you aren’t stoned. Meaning I take it at work sometimes and bless it for making that possible.

The blonde weed babe rattled off a list of all the benefits of CBD oil. That list had been rehearsed, it was longer than a goddamn CVS receipt, and it included helping with inflammation, nausea, epilepsy and anxiety.

Anxiety, at that point in my life, had become a beast I had to wrangle every single day. It’s still something I have to manage, but back then it was bad.

Like, really bad. Work stress, plus exhaustion, plus a genetic predisposition for anxiety and depression, plus society being awful, was wrecking my chill.

The person I was with, a former boyfriend, perked up when the weed babe mentioned anxiety. I know it was mostly out of genuine concern, but suspected it was probably a teeny bit out of that “please dear God, whatever fixes her” sense of desperation, because my anxiety had started to affect our relationship.

Often men don’t understand or even forgive female anxiety, even if they, themselves, deal with the disorder. Men like their women pleasant and easy going. They like their ladies like they like their yacht rock. Anxiety is not yacht rock. Anxiety is EDM played in a tight, crowded, too-hot room flashing with strobe lights. Basically, the worst.

Obviously, we all like people to be pleasant and easygoing. Acting that way is how Ted Bundy got so many nice ladies to help him get something from his car. Womanhood isn’t the most pleasant thing in the world though, so we react differently.

As women, we often feel the weight of the world heavy on our shoulders/uteruses. Discrimination and misogyny in its many forms is very real for us all the time. And then there’s the pressure we put on ourselves to be more productive, to be fitter, to work harder, to be a good person. And sometimes we get sad. Sometimes everything is fantastic. Womanhood is complicated.

We’re holding a lot on our backs, hunched over like Nosferatu, trying to be cute while walking down the street, then having to tell some dick not to stare at our tits. Anxiety stems from all this (and other stuff too) while simultaneously being exacerbated by it.

Anything can be a trigger.

Men can’t possibly know how this feels because they don’t experience the world as we do. The world and our culture was built to be yacht rock for men and loud, horrible EDM for women. It makes our anxiety feel so much bigger. It’s not a bitch fit. It’s not “crazy.” It’s female humanity. I say this so you fellas out there get where us anxious ladies are coming from, and can empathize rather than shame us for not being easy like Sunday morning all the time. To love and care for us even when we’re difficult like Friday evening at the office.

A few weeks ago I had my first public reading. I’ve spoken in front of an audience before.

Hell, I’ve gotten on all fours and grinded on a karaoke stage while singing Adina Howard’s “Freak Like Me.” But something about this had my anxiety bubbling hard. I could feel it up and down my arms. I’d be talking about some major personal stuff, as opposed to, like, telling a room full of strangers how I want a freak in the morning, a freak in the evening, just like me. So my whole body was fidgeting from anxiety, like I needed to jump out of my skin and run.

Usually a good jog helps quell my anxiety, but I didn’t have time to get a run in then wash my armpits and contour my face. The margarita I smashed into my face before also didn’t do much. Then I remembered.

Duh, CBD oil. A few drops under the tongue and within 20 minutes my body felt like I was sitting in a jacuzzi. I felt like myself again. The jacuzzi version of myself, at least. I stepped up to the mic and read my story.

While Xanax and other medication for anxiety helps many people, I wanted to find a more natural approach. CBD hemp oil did that for me. I can’t always be yacht rock, but I can get myself close to it when I need it.

The world and our culture was built to be yacht-rock for men and loud, horrible EDM for women.

It makes our anxiety feel so much bigger.

8 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

There She Goz appears every third week.

Write to alexz@sdcitybeat.com. @SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | FOOD

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER

THE WORLD

FARE

OK, it’s just San Diego gringo tacos that suck

A

bout a month ago I wrote in this space that San Diego tacos suck and “the problem isn’t them, it’s us.” We’re getting the tacos we deserve, the ones we’ve asked for. It didn’t take long for me to be informed of the error of my ways.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” opined one Facebook friend. Others informed me I’d simply been to the wrong places (some suggesting ones I had already frequented). But one, Chris Mejia of Baja Test Kitchen, brought me to a place that proves it’s not all San Diego tacos that suck, just the gringo versions.

The place in question, Mariscos y Birrieria El Prieto (3031 Main St., facebook.com/ElPrietoMar) in Chula Vista, isn’t exactly a restaurant and it isn’t exactly a taco truck. It’s two taco trucks permanently facing each other across a de facto courtyard defined by a large blue pop-up tent. On the east side of the courtyard is a mariscos (seafood) truck, on the west side is a birria truck. Patrons order from each truck separately and as many times as they want.

Both trucks are good, but the mariscos one is better. Their fish taco is, perhaps, the best I’ve tasted. It is neither Rubio’s ordinary nor trendy tempura-style (though there is a case to be made that the origin of fish tacos lies in the tempura style). This, though, is fish taco perfection.

The batter is crispy, shiny and golden and the fish inside was moist and flavorful. With a squeeze of lime and a few squirts of the nuclear orange habanero salsa, the brilliance of the San Felipe-style fish taco reveals itself.

The shrimp taco is good too, but would be better still if the shrimp were larger. A better choice is the shrimp aguachile tostada: fresh (and raw) shrimp “cooked” only briefly in a lime-based sauce

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with chile, hot sauce, salsa negra (think chipotles, soy sauce and molasses) and accompanied by thinsliced onion and cucumber. It is refreshing, full of character and flavors that wake up the whole palate. It may have been a little heavy on the salt, but it was nothing close to boring or ordinary.

The birria tacos from the other truck are good, if not great: full of the sweet spices that define birria but lacking a bit of the vinegar and salt that balance out the savory and sweet spice flavors. The free consommé (broth from the birria), on the other hand is perfection: deep, mysterious and soul satisfying. Frankly, the fish consommé a la diabla from the mariscos truck (also free) is equally good.

A better bet from the birria truck is the Taco Loco. A combination of al pastor, carne asada and crispy tripe, it certainly may sound crazy but it makes sense in the mouth. It is a symphony of the meaty, savory and minerally all tied together by the caramelization of the meats.

MICHAEL GARDINER

Taco de pescado y consomme The food from these trucks is not exactly dietetic. In fact, scratch that, it is not for anyone trying to diet. Physical trainers and cardiologists are not exactly going to be happy the choices on the menu, but for patrons, this food will satisfy the soul.

More importantly, these are not gringo tacos and they do not suck.

The World Fare appears weekly.

Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

APRIL 19, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 9

UP FRONT | FOOD

BY JAMES VERNETTE

DISHING IT

pain. He expects to offer different versions for the recreational market.

“I’ve found that a hybrid works best for flavor and potency,” he says. “When it goes rec we will be making more low-dose edibles between 5-20 mg of THC with a mix of indica with sativa.

COURTESY OF Baked goods DR. ROBERT’S BAKERY If we were to use only indica, people would have too much of a sedative effect.

A sativa-only brownie wouldn’t have hese are interesting times to enough effect.” be in the consumable cannabis Experts believe the edibles market business. could be the big force driving the future Recreational marijuana is legal in pot market since eating pot California (yay!), but the state is still doesn’t have the dangers working on implementing the licensing associated with smoking process for businesses that want to sell or the smell. However, the weed.

Dr. Robert’s good doctor warns newbies One of those businesses is Dr. Bakery’s extra not to bite off more than strength Robert’s Bakery (drrobertsbakery. brownie they can chew—literally. com), a local bakery that has specialized “If someone hasn’t eaten in medical marijuana edibles since 2012, but is hoping to capitalize on an expected a pot edible, I recommend our peanut butter cookie cannabis boom next year when it becomes legal because it is one of the lowest doses we make and it to buy and sell weed in the state. Dr. Robert sells tastes like it should—like Grandma used to make,” his bud-packed baked goods at more than 30 Robert says. “Eating an edible is completely dispensaries and deliveries between here and San different and long lasting. We would like people Francisco. He hopes to go bigger, much bigger, by to start off taking smaller 25 mg portions and not overdo it, even though they taste so delicious and this time next year.

“We are geared up and ready for 2018 when you really want to eat the whole brownie.”

Though Dr. Robert is excited about the future, recreational sales are legal,” Robert says. “Another nice change is we can now gift our edibles to in many ways, he and other cannabis-oriented baristas or good friends in the restaurant industry businesses are in limbo.

“For us, licensing could be easier if we knew without the stigma it once had.”

It’s not that hard to figure out that Dr. Robert where to purchase or lease a building before the real is not, in fact, a real M.D., but a professional chef estate prices go sky high,” he says. “We have no idea with 30 years of experience. During that time, what the prices of licensing will be.”

Currently, Robert and staff work out of a home he also grew marijuana for 17 years, and made cannabis cookies for friends and family. The kitchen; the city hasn’t told them where they can bakery biz started in 2012 after a series of events rent, lease or build a professional kitchen.

“Our home kitchen is brand new and cleaner that led him to it.

“After some health issues in 2008, I started than most restaurant kitchens I’ve worked in,” he eating more edibles rather than smoking the says. “We’ve tried to be as transparent as we can be cannabis,” he says. “Out of the blue, I had received with taxes, lawyers, CPAs, etc., but on a personal a call from a friend who had a friend with a lot of level, it’s very stressful.

“With restaurants, you have guidelines. In cannabis trim and wondered if I had any interest.

We connected and many experiments later, my the cannabis industry, we don’t have guidelines first professional cannabis edible was born and we that we can depend on, yet. Dr. Robert’s Bakery is hoping to grow into a multi-million dollar company decided to make a business of it.”

Dr. Robert has eight items on his menu, from in California and into the rest of the country when vegan granola clusters to an extra strength legal.” chocolate brownie. The goods are all medical grade that are cooked for certain effects, such as relieving Dishing It Out appears every other week.

OUT T

10 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

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UP FRONT | DRINK

THE

BY ANDREW DYER

BEERDIST A barrel of money in the East Village

its parent company has no say in what beers are brewed and it has the capital to grow, expand and inor delays aside, 10 Barrel Brewing Co. realize the vision of its original founders.

10 Barrel brewpubs have sprouted up in most of (1501 E St.) is opening in East Village.

Depending on who you ask, it is either the major beer cities west of the Mississippi. In adthe end of something great or the beginning of dition to its original pub in Bend, Oregon, there are now locations in Portland, Denver, Boise and, now, something greater.

The AB Inbev-owned brewery (the “AB” stands San Diego. Each location has its own brewer who, for Anheuser-Busch) has enjoyed a welcome re- according to Wales, is free to create and brew their ception from the moneyed developers at Maker’s own recipes.

This strategy lends credit to the critique that 10 Quarter. The five-block area of derelict warehouses are owned by a consortium of real estate interests, Barrel is trying to, as many have claimed, “pass itand 10 Barrel is just the first of many new develop- self off as local.” Wales does not deny this.

“The pubs localize the brand,” he says. ments that could potentially transform the neigh“I have full permission to brew the best beer borhood for the better.

The cranes and sounds of construction can be possible,” said Ben Shirley, 10 Barrel San Diego’s seen and heard from a barstool at Monkey Paw head brewer. Shirley got his start at Deschutes Brewing Co. (805 16th St.). Its owner, Scot Blair, is Brewing in Bend, Oregon, before moving over to 10 Barrel six years ago. not happy.

ANDREW DYER One argument in support of 10 Barrel is the jobs it will create. A few weeks ago, it held a job fair at SILO in Maker’s Quarter.

“Around 500 people showed up,” said 10 Barrel General Manager James Gomez. “We hired 110.”

Blair is unmoved by those numbers.

“Are they going to create jobs? Sure,” he says. “But do the ends justify the means?

Couldn’t Maker’s Quarter have made it a little more affordable for a local brewery to go in there? A local brewery could also have created jobs.”

From left: James Gomez, general manager; Ben Shirley, San Diego Good or bad, 10 Barrel is Innovations brewmaster; Garrett Wales, co-founder, 10 Barrel; AB InBev’s answer to craft’s Tommy Fraioli, executive chef encroachment on its turf, “The only ‘maker’ in Maker’s Quarter, the only and objectively the manifestation of its move to one who has ever been in Maker’s Quarter, is Mon- co-opt the culture of craft beer. Not only has AB Inkey Paw,” he says. “The greedy pricks, the real es- Bev acquired local breweries, but it is now backing tate fuckers—these guys used AB InBev to develop the beer/ travel/ lifestyle website October (oct.co), a dilapidated space. The owners didn’t want to in- a partnership with the popular websites Pitchfork and Good Beer Hunting. vest any money in it.”

One of October’s self-proclaimed journalists Development issues are just one facet of why 10 Barrel’s entry into San Diego has been met with so published a glowing review of 10 Barrel and remuch resistance from the beer community. There buked criticism of “big beer” after a paid junket to is, of course, the classic David vs. Goliath narrative Oregon. Now, not only is the ownership of “local” of craft beer vs. big beer, something 10 Barrel co- breweries being obfuscated, so is the content of websites who cover the industry. The inclusion of founder Garrett Wales doesn’t buy into. “(The critics) are a very small but vocal minor- a disclaimer acknowledging AB InBev’s role as an investor doesn’t absolve that conflict of interest. ity,” he says.

While it’s not the end of the line for local craft Noting other craft brewers—such as Stone, among others— have taken private equity or taken beer, it is the beginning of a new era. The industry on large foreign investments, Wales called criticism is going through its own growing pains unrelated of 10 Barrel for selling to AB InBev “hypocritical,” to big beer, so it is unlikely 10 Barrel will be the adding that at least with 10 Barrel, the big-money sole cause of future hiccups. Whether locals will embrace 10 Barrel as “local” remains to be seen. backer was transparent.

Craft beer is big business now, and major play- Wales thinks they will.

“It’s not a chain,” he says. “There are no menu ers have bought in. Firestone Walker and Lagunitas took on foreign partners and Constellation Brands or beer guidelines. It’s not 10 Barrel in San Diego; famously paid $1 billion for Ballast Point. From a It’s 10 Barrel San Diego.” business perspective, 10 Barrel’s move to sell to The Beerdist appears every other week.

AB InBev back in 2014 was a smart one. Wales said Write to andrewd@sdcitybeat.com

M

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APRIL 19, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 11

SHORTlist

EVENTS

the

THREE YOU HAVE TO SEE

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

BARRIO LOGAN

1

DAY IN THE PARK

The last year has been monumental but Steering Committee. “But the fact that the park is nonetheless tough for Chicano Park and now a national landmark, it’s now secure for future the residents of Barrio Logan. Sure, there was the generations. This annual celebration is a recognifact that the iconic, mural-filled park was desig- tion of our heroes and their legacy.”

This year’s 47th nated a National COURTESY OF CHICANO PARK STEERING COMMITTEE annual fest—held Historic Landmark from 10 a.m. to 5 by the National Park p.m. on Saturday, Service, but there April 22—includes was also the hortraditional dance rible October car and musical percrash that killed formances from four people and the more than a dozen passing of musician groups including and park co-founder Ballet Folklórico Ramón “Chunky” Nanahuatzin, GruSanchez just a few po Folklórico Pasión weeks later. a México and MuSo while there jeres en Resistencia. might be a tinge There will also be of melancholy at this year’s Chicano Chicano Park Day the annual lowrider Park Day, the annual festival along Logan Ave. has car show from the Amigos Car Club, children’s art always been about celebrating and honoring the workshops and, of course, food and crafts vendors. community. The legacy of Sanchez in particular There will be a number of neighboring art venues plays a prominent role in this year’s theme of “El that are open during the day, as well as a “Sleepwalking” afterparty at Blonde (1808 W. WashingCorazón Del Pueblo” (the heart of the village).

“It’s a big loss for the community and we contin- ton St., Mission Hills) that features DJs spinning ue to go forward, but most of the founders are aging lowrider oldies all night. As always, the fest itself is and it’s just the reality that we’re losing people,” free and open to all ages. All info can be found at says Josephine S. Talamantez of the Chicano Park chicano-park.com.

GASLAMP

2

POINT LOMA

3

NOT-SO-HAPPILY EVER AFTER

For readers who keep expressing a desire to go to the opera, but never actually do, the last chance to attend a performance this season is nearing.

With a season that introduced two experimental operas, the grand finale of the season is Italian opera La Traviata. This opera is about a prostitute who falls in love with a nobleman, and like most operas, there isn’t a happy ending. With similar themes, La Traviata is also the same opera that Richard Gere takes Julia Roberts to attend in Pretty Woman. Performances will be showing at the San Diego Civic Theater on Saturday, April 22, Tuesday, April 25 and Friday, April 28 at 7 p.m. with a matinee performance on Sunday, April 30 at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $50 to $299. sdopera.org COURTESY OF SAN DIEGO OPERA

SEEING STARS

With billions of dollars potentially being cut from the National Park Service under President Trump’s budget proposal, supporting national, state and local parks is more important than ever. One way to show support is attending Cabrillo Under the Stars, an elegant evening event featuring gourmet food, craft beer, local wine, a silent auction and incredible views.

The Jack Straws will be on hand providing live entertainment for the evening, and Ballast Point, Campo Creek Vineyards and Barons Market are just a few of many vendors providing food and drinks. The event runs from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, April 22 at the Cabrillo National Monument (1800 Cabrillo Memorial Drive). Attendees must be 21 or older. Tickets are $45 to $60 and proceeds benefit Cabrillo National Monument’s educational programs. cnmf.org MA1216 / FLICKR

ART

DANCE

HDowntown at Sundown at MCASD Downtown, 1001 Kettner Blvd., Downtown.

MCASD’s after-hours event offers free admission and guided tours of exhibitions at MCASD and the SDSU Downtown Gallery.

Includes specials at local businesses and live music. From 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 20. Free. 858-454-3541, mcasd.org

HLive Arts Fest at White Box Live Arts, 2590 Truxtun Road, Point Loma. Ten nights of dance performances spanning modern and postmodern to installation art, including three international artists/ groups. Various times through Sunday, April 23. $20-$120. 619-225-1803, sandiegodancetheater.org

HA Step Away at MCASD Downtown, 1100 Kettner Blvd., Downtown. An exhibition of eleven graduating artists from the Visual Arts MFA program at UCSD. Artists include Trevor Amery, Morgan Mandalay, Amy Reid and more. Opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 20. Free. 858-4543541, visarts.ucsd.edu HAll Natural at SDSU Downtown Gallery, 725 W. Broadway, Downtown. Seven artists explore the boundaries of contemporary art using natural materials as primary components. Artists include Stephanie Bedwell, Jennifer Anne Bennett, Roman de Salvo and more. Opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 20. Free. 619-5016370, art.sdsu.edu HDomesticACTion at Art Produce Gallery, 3139 University Ave., North Park. Patrons will join textile artist Michelle Montjoy to knit giant looms to create a collaborative installation that will evolve throughout the artist residency. Opening from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 22. 619-584-4448, artproduce.org

BOOKS HKarolyn Smith at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. As part of Warwick’s ongoing Weekends with Locals program, Smith will sign and discuss her children’s book, Sophia the Bionic Cat. At 2 p.m. Sunday, April 23. Free. 858-4540347, warwicks.com Katie Smith Milway at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The award–winning children’s author will sign and discuss her new book, The BananaLeaf Ball. At 3 p.m. Monday, April 24.

Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com Donia Bijan at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The writer and restaurateur will discuss and sign her new book, The Last Days of Café Leila. At 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 24. Free. 858-4540347, warwicks.com HLiterary Arts Festival at Grossmont College, 8800 Grossmont College Drive, La Mesa. This 21st annual fest features readings, workshops, signings, panel discussions and more from established and respected authors from around the country. Various times. Monday, April 24 to Thursday, April 30. 619-644-7000, grossmont.edu/laf Jeff Guinn at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The bestselling historical writer will discuss and sign his new book, The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. At 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 25. Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com Jennifer McMahon at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The suspense novelist will be promoting her latest book, Burn Town, about a family haunted and damaged by multigenerational crimes. At 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 25. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com HDaniel Suarez at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The bestselling novelist will sign his latest near-future tech thriller, Change Agent, which tackles the dark possibilities of genetic manipulation. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 26. 858-2684747, mystgalaxy.com

La Traviata 12 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

Cabrillo National Monument

H = CityBeat picks

FILM HSan Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase at Ultra Star Mission Valley, 7510 Hazard Center, Mission Valley. The seventh annual, eight-day showcase will feature 20 films and documentaries from 10 countries.

Various times Thursday, April 20 through Thursday, April 27. $9-$100. sdaff.org

FOOD & DRINK HTaste of Point Loma at United Portuguese S.E.S. Inc., 2818 Avenida de Portugal, Point Loma. Sip and savor your way through Point Loma and Shelter Island during this annual event featuring samples from dozens of area eateries.

Shuttle services will be available to attendees throughout the night. From 5:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, April 19. $15-$25.

2017tasteofpointloma.eventbrite.com HCityBeat Festival of Beers at Lafayette Hotel, 2223 El Cajon Blvd., North Park. Sample brews from dozens of local, national and international breweries while enjoying crafty food and local bands such as The Liquorsmiths, Imagery Machine and more. A portion of proceeds benefit the San Diego Music Foundation. From 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 22. $20-$47.50.

619-296-2101, citybeatbeerfest.com

MUSIC HAriel Quartet at Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, UCSD campus, La Jolla. The young, award-winning quartet will be making their San Diego debut with a program that includes selections from Beethoven, Mahammed Fairouz and Robert Schumann.

At 8 p.m. Friday, April 21. $45-$59. 858534-8497, music.ucsd.edu/concerts HEmerson String Quartet at La Jolla Presbyterian Church, 7715 Draper Ave., La Jolla. The acclaimed classical music foursome will play selections from Mozart, Shostakovich and Dvorák. At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 22. $30-$80. 619-235-0804, ljms.org HBroadway Now! at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Gaslamp. The San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus will perform favorite songs from the world’s greatest new musicals including Wicked, Hairspray, The Book of Mormon, Chicago, Jersey Boys and more. At 8 p.m. Saturday, April 22 and 3 p.m. Sunday, April 23. $25-$70. sandiegotheatres.org

PERFORMANCE HLa Traviata at San Diego Civic Theatre, 1100 Third Ave., Downtown. The last performance of the San Diego Opera season is the age-old story of man-meetsprostitute and falls in love, with disastrous results. At 7 p.m. Saturday, April 22, Tuesday, April 25 and Friday, April 28.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, April 30. $50-$299. sdopera.com Dr. Seuss’ The Sneetches at Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., Downtown.

With the help from the San Diego Symphony, Seuss’ parable about the folly of discrimination gets a unique musical treatment in this “storybook” concert. At 2 p.m. Sunday, April 23. $10-$25. 619-2350804, sandiegosymphony.com

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 14 @SDCITYBEAT

@SDCityBeat

april 19, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

BOOKS: THE FLOATING LIBRARY Cruising into the past

I

n San Diego Lowriders: A History of Cars and Cruising, authors Alberto López Pulido and Rigoberto “Rigo” Reyes trace the evolution of the city’s lowriding culture from 1950, when jobs were plentiful and cars were rolling off the assembly line, to 1985, when cruising was outlawed.

Pulido is a professor of ethnic studies at San Diego State University and an award-winning documentary filmmaker. Reyes teaches a course on immigration at the University of San Diego and has been an active lowrider since 1975. Their story is told through the lens of 28 lowrider car clubs—some of which are still active today— that shaped the movement and left their marks on both the cars and the scene.

Mathias Ponce, a member of the Serra Car Club, is credited with the innovation of lowering cars. Ponce felt that American cars of the 1940s and ‘50s rode too high and he altered his car for a smoother ride.

Car clubs spread south, and the culture took root in places where Mexican ingenuity and Chicano pride meshed. As one would expect, it’s a colorful history.

Though the photos are predominantly black-and-white, a 16-page color insert showcases the creativity of the culture.

One 1964 Buick Riviera is shown through the years as it passed from owner to owner. Each time it changed hands, their own-

ers did more than give the car a fresh coat of paint—they gave it a new identity.

The authors drive home the point that “there was always a strong work ethic within the lowrider car customizing scene and a high value placed on crafting and building a car from scratch, personalizing it and truly making it your own creation.”

Despite the longstanding history of community service, lowrider car clubs have been subject to unfair stereotyping.

In fact, the incorporation of hydraulics that can lift cars at a moment’s notice was an innovation introduced after San Diego police started ticketing cars for being too low.

The positive impact of lowrider culture is something I have witnessed in my own community in Southeast San Diego. Lowrider car clubs were vital to the success of the Halloween Trunk or Treat and the Holiday in the Hills events sponsored by Project REO in Paradise Hills, and are involved in countless toy drives and fundraising events throughout San Diego and Tijuana every year.

For anyone who’d like to learn more about this fascinating subculture and check out some cool cars, cruise on over to Barrio Logan for Chicano Park Day on Saturday April 22. Or, at the least, pick up a copy of San Diego Lowriders.

—Jim Ruland

Write to jimr@sdcitybeat.com.

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

EVENTS POETRY & SPOKEN WORD HLocal Authors Reading & Mixer at Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park. Mingle with local wordsmiths while listening to readings from Julia Dixon Evans, Hari Alluri, Ted Washington, Sunny Rey and more. At 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 19. Free. facebook.com/events/288904838218379 HVAMP: Recalling Home at San Diego Mesa College, 7250 Mesa College Drive, Clairemont. Students tell stories about where they feel most at home, be it a figurative place, a physical location or even a cultural identity. From 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, April 20. sosayweallonline.com

SPECIAL EVENTS HChicano Park Day at Chicano Park, National and Logan Avenues, Barrio Logan. Visitors to this 47th annual event will experience traditional music and dance, live bands, classic lowrider cars, food, arts and crafts vendor booths and much more. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday, April 22. Free. chicano-park.com HCabrillo Under the Stars at Cabrillo National Monument,1800 Cabrillo Memorial Drive, Point Loma.

An elegant evening event featuring gourmet food, craft beer, local wine, a silent auction and music from The Jack Straws. Proceeds benefit Cabrillo National Monument’s educational programs. From 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, April 22. $45-$60. cnmf.org Linda Vista Multicultural Fair at 6900 Linda Vista Road. The 32nd annual multicultural fair and parade features ethnic-food vendors, multicultural performances, carnival rides, a kid’s zone, rock climbing wall and more. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 22. Free. 619-746-8223, lindavistafair.org

14 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

“Littoral Drift #06” by Meghann Riepenhoff will be on view at All Natural, a group exhibition opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 20, at the SDSU Downtown Gallery (725 W. Broadway, Downtown).

HHappy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare at Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park. Celebrate The Bard’s 453rd birthday with live music, Sonnet Karaoke, a life-sized board game, interactive puppet theatre show and more From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 22. Free. 619-231-1941, theoldglobe.org

@SDCITYBEAT

THEATER Motor City blues

JIM COX

M

oxie Theatre co-founder Deli����� cia Turner Sonnenberg, one of the best directors in town, is at the helm of a new co-production between Moxie and the Old Globe Theatre. As you’d imagine, the cast she directs in Skeleton Crew, a long-winded but gripping play by Dominique Morisseau, is in good hands.

The third work in Morisseau’s three-play “Detroit Cycle” takes place entirely in a break room at an automaking plant in Detroit that is on the verge of being closed.

Trapped in the desperation of that situation are Faye (Tonye Patano), the no-B.S. philosopher queen of the factory line; Reggie (Brian Marable), the conflicted blue collar-turned-white collar supervisor; angry (and gun-packing) young Dez (Amari Cheatom); and the resolute and very pregnant Shanita (Rachel Nicks). The fiercely expressive Patano carries the drama, but all four are splendid and, each in his or her own way, sympathetic.

Morisseau’s play, which was presented three years ago at the Globe’s Powers New Voices Festival, is sharp and illuminating, portraying hard workers who may be havenots but who are not losers, and whose sacrifices are noble ones. Yet devices like expectant Shanita’s symbolic dreams are overdone. Morisseau’s points are best made bluntly and achingly, but without metaphor.

@SDCITYBEAT

if you will, Travels with My Aunt succeeds because it relies on Greene’s delicious language more than on impersonations.

Travels with My Aunt runs through May 7 at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach. $43-$50; northcoastrep.org

—David L. Coddon

Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING: Heathers: A musical adaptation of the classic ‘80s movie about two high school lovers who start killing their classmates. Directed by Manny & Tony Bejarano, it opens April 21 at the OnStage Playhouse in Chula Vista. onstageplayhouse.info Silent Sky: Lauren Gunderson’s new play about the forgotten women of the Harvard Observatory, who made breakthroughs in the field of astronomy.

Directed by Robert Smyth, it opens April 21 at the Lamb’s Players Theatre in Coronado. lambsplayers.org

Tonye Patano (left) and Brian Marable in Skeleton Crew Skeleton Crew runs through May 7 at the Old Globe’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, Balboa Park. $29 and up; oldglobe. org ••• ust as Graham Greene’s 1969 novel Travels with My Aunt was a highly entertaining read, so too is playwright Giles Havergal’s 1989 stage adaptation.

While it’s more substantial than a staged reading, the play doesn’t really require

J

any sets or props—just a few cracking good actors to inhabit the characters of stuffy Henry Pulling, his flamboyant Aunt Augusta and some vivid peripheral characters. North Coast Repertory Theatre’s production of Travels with My Aunt really can’t miss with a cast that includes Richard Baird, James Saba (a comical Aunt Augusta) and David McBean. Benjamin Cole is the fourth actor on stage, the one who doesn’t say much. A gimmick show,

Anda’s Love: In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Old Globe presents a staged reading of Joshua Sobol’s drama about a German reporter and an Israeli woman who find they share a surprising bond. Directed by Barry Edelstein, it happens April 24 at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. theoldglobe.org

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

APRIL 19, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 15

CULTURE

CityBeat s taffers pack up a bowl of our favorit e stoney books, ap ps, films a n d m o re

Magazine writer and novelist Mike Sager has smoked weed in a staggering, strange variety of places: at 14,000 feet in the Nepalese Himalayas and on the beach of Marlon Brando’s private island with a topless Tahitian translator, to name just a few locales. He’s smoked with the likes of Snoop Dogg (who coughed when sampling Sager’s preferred strain), Rick James (who, for the record, never actually said “I’m Rick James, bitch”), Roseanne Barr and “Freeway” Rick Ross—the real drug trafficker, not the rapper.

These and other stories are part of Sager’s collection, Stoned Again: The High Times and Strange Life of a Drugs Correspondent. The stories contained within are often humorous, sometimes sad and always compelling. Sager’s poignant prose erases the boundaries between celebrities, homeless people, drug addicts and others to uncover a central truth that may as well be his reporting mantra: People are just people, after all, and “if you can share your spit on a joint, the possibilities seem endless, wouldn’t you agree?”

—Jamie Ballard

There are few things more annoying than weed culture. When it comes to movies, the only thing that could get me excited about stoner culture is to throw some horror into the mix, and that’s what Halloweed (streaming on Netflix) attempts to do. Don’t get me wrong: Halloweed is not a great movie. In fact, it’s not even a good movie, but there is a certain charm in how bad it is. The basic plot of Halloweed involves two stoner step-brothers who move to a small town to escape the stigma of being related to a convicted serial killer. However, after a baby-masked killer starts murdering people (one hour into the film!), the brothers become prime suspects. (Wow, typing that out makes the movie sound like it has a plot!). This movie’s pretty much a string of gay-panic jokes and a lot of D-list actor cameos, including Jason Mewes (natch), Danny Trejo and Ray Wise. But I wasn’t high when I watched this, so that’s just, like, my opinion, man.

—Ryan Bradford

I rarely get high. A reliable whiskey buzz is a tried-and-true state of mind that I don’t mess with often. If I do plan on mixing, it would be with art and storytelling—visual trips like Gail Simone’s new comic book series, Clean Room. To start with, all of the covers by artist Jenny Frison are beautiful, panic-inducing pieces. Even in a non-altered state, I was staring too long. Clean Room follows journalist Chloe Pierce on her mission to know everything about Astrid Mueller and her organization. Mueller is a self-help cult leader who invites her devotees into a sterile, white room to have their demons exorcised.

These demons (guilt, shame and fear), however, turn out to be literal monsters, and it’s horrifying and magnificent when they materialize thanks to artist Jon Davis-Hunt. Who knew I’d be addicted to a series full of suppressed memories, body invasion and gore? Not me, but I’ll continue to consume.

There’s something about doom metal that lends itself well to listening in altered states of consciousness. Perhaps it’s the all-encompassing sound of low-tuned riffs and the massive distortion, which often feels like being draped in opaque clouds of smoke. Or perhaps it’s the extended duration of the tracks, which unfold and extend seemingly into infinity. Pallbearer’s third album Heartless (Profound Lore) contains some of the most concise and immediate tracks of their career, but they’re also some of the Little Rock, Arkansas band’s most progressive, using the aesthetic of doom metal as a vessel for classic rock and prog-influenced compositions that are constantly shifting, always extending and reaching farther along on an epic journey. Heartless features some of the band’s best and most melodic songs, which means that an airbrushed custom van and a backpack full of Pineapple Express isn’t necessary to enjoy their riff odysseys. But that option is available should the listener prefer an enhanced musical journey.

—Jeff Terich

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big comic book dork, but my relationship with movies and film based on my favorite comics has been spotty at best. Most comic book films are formulaic garbage and TV adaptations are even worse. I honestly shake my head when thinking about what Netflix did to my beloved Daredevil and Jessica Jones #DumpsterFire. In the end, I prefer an innovative vision and that’s what makes Legion so damn good. Based on a somewhat obscure character in the X-Men universe, the FX show revolves around David Haller, a diagnosed schizophrenic who could be the world’s most powerful telepathic mutant if only he could lay off drugs and escape his demons. While the show is not technically based in the same cinematic universe as the X-Men films, series creator Noah Hawley (Fargo) has managed to create a truly original vision that doesn’t rely solely on non-stop action and one-liners. It’s the type of comic book show that even non-comic fans could appreciate, complete with psychedelic dream sequences, random Bollywood dance numbers, a killer soundtrack and an excellent supporting role from Aubrey Plaza.

—Seth Combs

The last time I dated a guy who was a stoner, he had recently decided to quit smoking. This meant that all he ever talked about was his decision to quit. After the relationship ended, I realized that it’s hard to be a stoner and date someone who isn’t and vice versa. So, for weed enthusiasts who only prefer to date people with the same passion for cannabis, the mobile application High There! is like Tinder for cannabis lovers. The social network works like Tinder, but it also considers the preferred method of smoking, stoney interests and the type of relationship the user is seeking, whether it’s smoking buds or a budding relationship. The application allows the user to scroll through people in the area, and a Hey There! button sends a request to chat. Bonus: Unlike Tinder, the application also allows the user to scroll back to someone they might have accidentally scrolled past. In all its thoroughness, the dating app provides an opportunity for weed lovers to connect.

—Nicole Sazegar

18 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

—Carolyn Ramos

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CULTURE | ART COURTESY OF SPACE TIME

SEEN LOCAL SPACE IS THE PLACE

L

usty but patient exploration” is one of the phrases used to describe APPLE PIE, a wild ride of an experimental feature film from New Zealand, and the latest forthcoming exhibition by Nick Lesley and Alexis Negron (aka the married half of art collective SPACE TIME). The couple might as well use those same words to sum up their own endeavors here in San Diego. Having relocated from New York City about two years ago, Lesley, who is actually a San Diego native, is now the Production Manager for the San Diego Art Institute and Negron is a graphic designer and art administrator. But the day jobs were not enough.

“We didn’t see many places showing experimental film, video art, sound art or performance. We wanted to fill this gap,” Lesley says.

Lesley and Negron teamed up with local videographer/tastemaker Xavier Vasquez and launched the SPACE TIME collective (spacetimeart.org) last July.

The goal was to present time-based pieces (performance, sound, film) in a non-stuffy way, giving voice to local artists while also presenting edgy international work. The result has been a lively and eclectic series of events that have managed to engage a steadily growing audience hungry for something different.

The APPLE PIE screening on Friday, April 21 at 7 p.m. will mark Space Time’s sixth showcase, all of which have been shown in Bread & Salt, a lynchpin in the now thriving Barrio Logan arts district. The Friday screening will also have director Sam Hamilton in attendance.

Shot on color-rich super 16mm across New Zea-

Apple Pie land, Samoa and a remote astrophysics observatory in the middle of Oregon’s high plain desert, APPLE PIE merges psychedelics with science. It also merges astronomy with the body and uses choreography to question our place in the solar system and the universe. No big deal right?

The film’s title was inspired by a Carl Sagan quote: “If you wish to make apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” Just like the quote, APPLE PIE is as playful as it is philosophical, a combination that seems perfect for SPACE TIME’s mission.

“We jumped at the chance to screen it in San Diego,” Lesley says. “The collaboration between filmmaker and performance artist is mutually beneficial; they’ve created a non-narrative feature that is both gorgeous and silly,” he adds.

Next up for SPACE TIME is a presentation of video works by the late Mike Kelley (who designed Sonic Youth’s Dirty cover art). Kelley’s work famously combines humor and a punk aesthetic with high concept, a rare mix in the art world. Lesley and Negron believe that there are no other venues for this type of boundary-pushing art in San Diego and hope to continue to fill the void with the help of a little drive and patience.

—Rachel Michelle Fernandes

A PERMANENT CHANGE

I

don’t just say things; I make them happen, too.”

With those words, Ginger Shulick Porcella introduced herself to CityBeat readers back in May of 2014. The then-newly hired executive director of the San Diego Art Institute didn’t disappoint. In the almost three years she served in the role—curating and coordinating dozens of shows inside the space—she transformed and reinvigorated the Balboa Park institution quite literally from the ground-up (it is, after all, a basement space of the Mingei).

“I mean, we’re not changing anything too drastically,” Porcella said back in 2014.

This statement turned out to be a lie, albeit one that is entirely easy to forgive. The changes were, in fact, drastic and were met with vitriol, scorn and anonymous threats from the old guard. The first time I met her was a few days after I was contacted by an angry SDAI member who had organized a demonstration against Porcella. Dozens of people gathered outside of the building and regaled me with stories of how Porcella was going to change SDAI from what it had become, which, looking back on it now, I can only describe as a pay-to-play-type space that would occasionally hold shows for member artists working in conventional styles and mediums.

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The kick in the teeth is that the protestors were right, but to Porcella’s credit, she was open about her intentions when I met with her after the protest. The decades-long tradition of members-only shows was being chucked for a new vision: to create a contemporary art space in Balboa Park devoted to showcasing promising regional KINSEE MORLAN artists from both sides of the border.

Nearly three years later, and as Porcella heads to Arizona to take a position at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson, it’s clear that she accomplished just what she said she was going to do here. The San Diego Art Institute has become an art desGinger Shulick Porcella tination that is drawing both older and younger audiences out to see innovative and edgy programming in the heart of Balboa Park. I’m confident SDAI’s Board of Directors will hire someone to replace Porcella that will continue her unique vision.

One of more immediately noticeable things about Porcella was the large tattoo that was proudly displayed across her upper chest; “Permanence,” it read.

She has, indeed, left a permanent mark on the local scene and she will be missed.

—Seth Combs

APRIL 19, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 19

CULTURE | FILM

The Explorer

The Lost City of Z

James Gray’s epic adventure ventures into the heart of ambition

by Glenn Heath Jr.

N

o matter how dangerous their pursuits, the con- sonal beliefs reflect politics and movements of the flicted characters of James Gray’s melodramas time. Instead, Gray’s sweeping film beautifully conseem possessed by fate. Their stubborn choices, templates intimate struggles to understand what grave sacrifices and blind ambitions are byproducts of cannot be seen. For Percy, it’s imagining the possibilwhat they see as fulfilling an inevitable destiny. Think ity and glory that comes with discovering Zed. Conof Ewa’s (Marion Cotíllard) rigorous pursuit of the versely, Nina must fill in the gaps of her husband’s American dream in The Immigrant, or Bobby’s (Joaquin dangerous experiences from afar, raising the children Phoenix) perilous tango between crime and family in in a constant state of fear and uncertainty. This unWe Own the Night. Each character chooses to leave their even dichotomy comes to a head when Percy denies comfort zone and explore dangerous new worlds with her request to join him on the second exploration. His progressive beliefs only stretch so far, and the arguno room for traditional happy endings.

This motif achieves its purest form in Gray’s rivet- ment provokes Nina’s show-stopping monologue that ing The Lost City of Z, an expansive and eccentric ad- calls out the blatant hypocrisy of patriarchy run amok.

Gray doesn’t quite know venture saga about the English what to do with this stunning explorer Percy Fawcett (Charscene, as it greatly subverts lie Hunnam) who disappeared THE LOST CITY OF Z Percy’s characterization up while trying to find an ancient Directed by James Gray to this point. Conversely, The civilization named Zed in the Lost City of Z is much more heart of Amazonia. Over the Starring Charlie Hunnam, confortable dissecting tests course of multiple trips to Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller of brotherhood, fatherhood, South America, Fawcett finds and Tom Holland and loyalty, all of which rehimself pulled between a life Rated PG-13 volve around one key theof stability and restless curimatic salvo: “A man’s reach osity. Time spent with his wife should exceed his grasp.” At Nina (Sienna Miller) and their children at home is comforting, but each step into the times, it feels like the film itself is caught between rough jungles of Bolivia provides the possibility of critiquing this statement’s tragic implications and embracing them. glimpsing the divine and achieving redemption.

Working again with the great cinematographer DarGray illuminates complicated emotions that underline each reality. Percy has consistently failed to ius Khondji, Gray condenses jungle landscape to strikgain promotion as an Army officer because of his fa- ing medium shots creating a sweltering feeling of endther’s disgraceful past. The desire to erase this family less entrapment. Sweeping shots of the English counblight is elemental and inspires his first surveying trip tryside, best on display during a majestic deer hunt, into the Amazon on behalf of the Royal Geographical convey just the exact opposite feeling. Both settings Society. The organization hopes to re-map the border converge in a series of haunting surrealist tableaus, between Bolivia and Brazil and stave off war between the most stunning of which comes in the final mirrored reflection of Nina disappearing into dense rainforest. the two countries.

Percy often cavalierly quotes Kipling’s poem The ExDuring this brutal excursion, Percy learns to appreciate the life and death complexities of “the Green plorer for inspiration, and one line stands out: “SomeDesert,” humbling him in ways the British aristocracy thing lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. and class system never could. While his acerbic col- Go!” The Lost City of Z portrays a good man who decides league Mr. Costin (an ingenious Robert Pattinson) that honoring this sentiment is paramount to family muses, “We might be a little too English for this jun- and country. One could label this a selfish choice. But gle,” Percy never falters in his belief that the hidden it remains the only one imaginable for someone so mysteries of Amazonia could permanently reshuffle thoroughly enamored with transcendence. assumptions about class and privilege perpetuated by Western colonial supremacy.

Film reviews run weekly.

Yet The Lost City of Z is not interested in how per- Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com

20 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

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CULTURE | FILM OPENING Born in China: Narrated by John Krasinski, this documentary ventures into the wilder� ness of China to capture the intimate mo� ments of a baby panda bear and its mother.

Free Fire: IRA henchman and Boston gangsters are caught up in a factory shoot out when their firearms sale goes south.

Graduation: Romanian director Cristian Mungiu film explores how a single violent act reverberates throughout the lives of each member in a middle class family.

In Search of Israeli Cuisine: A docu� mentary portrait of Israeli culture told through the role of food and cooking.

Mr. Gaga: Footage of intimate rehearsals and breathtaking dance sequences high� light the life and career of Ohad Naharin, choreographer and artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company. Opens on Fri� day, April 21, at Digital Gym Cinemas in North Park.

Free Fire

Shoot ‘em up

F

ree Fire is less an action movie than an exercise in how to army crawl. For nearly 85 grueling minutes, criminal cockroaches played by the likes of Jack Reynor, Sam Riley and Brie Larson slither across broken glass and concrete trying to survive Ben Wheatley’s single-setting shoot out. The fracas stems from some petty squabbling between bit players that ruins a firearms transaction between an IRA henchman (Cilian Murphy) and Boston gangster (Sharlto Copley).

The dilapidated factory floor that doubles as battlefield provides just enough tangible cover to avoid instant death, but every character gets winged in some way. Those wounds eventually take their toll, and Free Fire evolves into a collective bloodletting for jive-talking sinners already damned to hell.

Shit talking intensifies with every bullet fired, and Wheatley purposefully blurs the lines between loyalties and motives, a half-assed stab at substance in a story that seems willfully too content to be stupid.

Armie Hammer’s suave middleman takes the chaos in stride,

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equating his best chance at survival with low-key sarcastic barbs and emotionless professionalism.

Watching him get more and more irritated by the witless actions of his peers is one of the film’s few pleasures. Otherwise, Free Fire is a rote slog that trivializes raging gunplay and murder for a few darkly comic laughs.

Wheatley has long prided himself as a filmmaker who defies conventions with a malcontent’s spirit. But his work always possesses rampant peacocking that undermines whatever tonal deviations might distinguish it from standard genre fare. Contained and stripped down, Free Fire feels like the purest incarnation of the filmmaker’s raging ego.

Even more troubling is the tacked on feminist ending, which reinforces the film’s “flexible outlook” toward violence that Hammer’s character promotes right before the first round is discharged.

By that point not even a sunny John Denver ditty can make things right.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

Norman: The Moderate Rise and the Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer: Richard Gere stars as the titular operator whose life becomes complicated after he befriends a small time politician that later becomes famous.

The Lost City of Z: James Gray’s epic film is based on the true story of Percival Fawcett, a British explorer who disap� peared in the 1920s while searching for a mysterious lost Amazonian city.

The Promise: Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac star in this historical drama set dur� ing the last days of the Ottoman Empire where members of a love triangle are torn apart by war and atrocity.

Seventh Annual Spring Showcase: San Diego Asian Film Festival presents 20 films from 10 countries over the course of eight days. Screenings begin on Thurs� day, April 20 with Poi E: A Story of Our Song and run through Thursday, April 27, at ���������������������������������������� Ultrastar Mission Valley Cinemas at Haz� ard Center.

Truman: Two childhood friends reunite in Madrid and realize they don’t really know each other at all. Stars Ricardo Darin.

Opens on Friday, April 21, at Digital Gym Cinemas in North Park.

Unforgettable: Katherine Heigl does her best Glenn Close impression in this thriller about a disgruntled woman who begins to stalk her ex-husband’s new flame.

For complete movie listings, visit F ilm on sdcitybeat.com.

APRIL 19, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 21

BEN STAS

MUSIC stronoid frontman Brett Boland is a perfectionist. He acknowledges this readily when talking about the songwriting and recording of his band’s first full-length album, Air. “Dan (Schwartz, Astronoid bassist) had to pry it out of my hands. He had to literally rip it out of my hands, like ‘Dude. This is done,’” Boland says in a phone interview from a tour van on its way toward Chicago.

“I’d say, ‘No, I’ve got to fix this one thing.’

And he’d say, ‘No. It’s done.’ And we ended up finishing it, obviously. But if it were up to me, we’d probably still be mixing and recording stuff.”

That kind of obsessive mindset has crippled bands and stalled the careers of musicians without a Dan on hand to draw a line. But it serves Astronoid well on Air, a collection of heavy, beautiful and unique songs that, taken together, comprise one of 2016’s best albums in any genre.

The Boston-based band was not widely known just a year ago, with only a couple of EPs and a couple dozen shows under their belt. For many listeners, Astronoid came out of nowhere, a gust of fresh air that combined common metal elements such as blast beats and chugging guitar riffs and intricate guitar leads with ultra-melodic “clean” vocals (i.e. no howling, growling or grunting), layered harmonies and a breezy vibe that permeates the whole album. They call it “dreamthrash,” and that’s pretty much spot on.

Astronoid’s blend is one that—based on the climate of heavy music in recent years—sounds like very little else. The French band Alcest is dreamier and less traditionally heavy.

Deafheaven’s got the same soaring instrumental DNA, but employ an entirely different vocal style. You could name 20 emo bands that zig and zag similarly, but lack the intensity.

The closest comparison might be former Strapping Young Lad frontman Devin Townsend, an ultra-prolific artist whose music is not only heavy, but progressive, symphonic and unabashedly poppy.

Townsend’s not exactly a household name, but he’s well-respected among metal nerds. Not surprisingly, Boland and his bandmates—guitarists Casey Aylward and

22 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

Astronoid Mike DeMellia and drummer Matt St. Jean round out the lineup—count themselves as such.

“We’re all over the place,” Boland says.

“Everyone’s kind of right when they say what we sound like and what we listen to.

Mew. Coheed and Cambria. We grew up listening to Fat Wreck Chords punk rock, even Bad Religion. All that non-metal stuff is in there.”

He continues: “My first favorite band is Metallica, and then Slayer, and then the black metal stuff came along. I love Emperor and Enslaved. Everyone in the band is a big Devin Townsend fan. We love old Genesis and Yes. It’s literally everything.”

Lots of bands say that, but this one seems to mean it. Air’s opening track, “Incandescent,” begins with quietly plucked guitar before launching into a dense storm of distortion and Boland’s otherworldly vocals. “Up and Atom” showcases the band’s technical ability, with all instruments set

to warp speed as Boland stretches out his melodies above the fray. “Tin Foil Hats” features the album’s best earworm chorus, while the closing track, “Trail of Sulphur,” feels like a ride through the cosmos on the bus from Speed packed with heshers who hide their Sunny Day Real Estate CDs when their metal buds come over to hang out.

When Astronoid started creating Air, they did so with one rule: no screaming. (“I didn’t want to do it live, and I thought we could be a good band without screaming,” Boland says.) But as the process went along, the band found itself taken aback by its own uncommon sound.

“I constantly had to be asking the other guys, ‘Is this OK to do? Are we allowed to do this? Am I allowed to sing this way?’” he says. “We just came to the conclusion to do whatever the hell we wanted. It’s our record.

Either people will hate it or they’ll love it. Or whatever.”

For the record, Boland and his band love it. Which is exactly why they made it. As the old adage goes: Make the music you want to hear.

“I like singing in music, and I like hooks,

and I like big choruses and stuff like that, so let’s just try to incorporate that kind of stuff into this metal stuff that we’re working on,” Boland says. “That’s all it was, just us wanting to hear it. It was something I was looking for that I couldn’t find anywhere.”

It turns out others were looking for it, too. Several music publications took notice of Air; Stereogum named Astronoid a “band to watch” and MetalSucks introduced the album with the headline “Holy Shit Alert.”

It also ended up on several year-end lists of 2016’s best metal, and the tour that brings the band to San Diego this week is Astronoid’s first on the West Coast.

Boland didn’t necessarily expect the outpouring of support after the release of his fledgling band’s first official album. But he and the rest of Astronoid knew they were on to something.

“It seemed so obvious to us while we were working on it, and we just really hoped that this was going to be something that anyone would be able to latch on to,” he says. “Like, yeah … this is something they’ve been wanting and they didn’t even know they wanted it.”

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april 19, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 23

MUSIC

NOTES FROM THE SMOKING PATIO LOCALS ONLY

R

ecord Store Day returns to local music retailers on Saturday, April 22, filling independent shops with a long list of exclusive, limited edition singles, reissues, picture discs and other vinyl curiosities. San Diego shops have lined up some special guests for the occasion, with live instore performances and DJ sets happening throughout the county.

M-Theory Music in Mission Hills (915 W. Washington St.) will be hosting live performances by Wild Wild Wets, Ditches and White Mystery.

There will also tacos from Los SlyDogz and free beverages, in addition to DJ sets between bands. Over at Folk Arts Rare Records in North Park (3072 El Cajon Blvd.), Nothingful and Joey Harris and the Mentals will be playing live sets, following DJ sets from One Peso and B+ earlier in the afternoon.

Downtown, FeeLit Records (909 E St.) will be hosting an open scratch session, with a turntable battle and a raffle. And Cow Records (5040 Newport Ave.) in Ocean Beach will feature stripped-down live sets from Redwoods Music artists The Midnight Pine and Birdy Bardot.

Up in North County at Spin Records in Carlsbad (370 Grand Ave.), there’s a long list of live bands performing, including Trouble in the Wind, Soft Lions, Strawberry Moons, Heather Nation and Shane Hall.

At Lou’s Records in Encinitas (434 N. Coast Highway) there will be an in-store performance by psychrock group Monarch.

Wild Wild Wets Normal Records in North Park (4128 30th St.) won’t be featuring any live performances, but it will have free donuts and pizza. Most events start between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m., with live performances happening after noon.

—Jeff Terich

IN EARS WE TRUST: 4/20 EDITION A recurring feature in which we ask local musicians, promoters and others about the music they’ve been digging lately. This time, we focus on the trippiest, stoniest, most psychedelic records they’ve been spinning of late.

Matt Nelson, The Oxen: Peach by Culture Abuse.

“While not what you might consider a band with a typically ‘drugged out’ sound... last year, I fell in love with, and continue to adore Peach. While you aren’t going to hear reverbdrenched guitars or lush vocal harmonies, you will hear a beautifully abrasive intersection of punk rock, rock ‘n’ roll, and life on the road over indulgence.”

David Martin, Weight of the Sun: The White Pepper by Ween.

“This was the most spacey album they ever released. All sorts of jammy parts. Almost Beatlesque at times. The song ‘Stay Forever’ I have always said would be the song I’d walk down the aisle to. Just saw them three nights in a row in Las Vegas, they played almost three hours each night, and they didn’t repeat a single song the whole weekend. I’ll never get sick of this record.”

Tim Fears, No Sympathy: Various songs by Dead Heavens. “I’m not a stoner, but I appreciate what Dead

24 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

Heavens are doing and doing well, which I’ve described as a stoned Black Sabbath, which equates to a slower groove with dueling wah guitar solos and spacey bass effects, solid drum work and Walter Schreifels’ smooth yet intense vocals. Of all the stoner rock I’ve heard over the years, next to Queens of the Stone Age, this is the tits.”

Kristoffer Reynolds, Beira: For This We Fought the Battle of Ages by SubRosa. “Subrosa is a killer heavy band from Salt Lake City that features two violinists that create a very trippy layered sound that definitely needs to be experienced. My band played with them at Soda Bar back in November and since then they have been in heavy rotation on my iPod.” Keryn Eliyse, SDHipHopEvents: Various songs by SCVTTERBRVIN: “SCVTTERBRVIN, Ween founder of Red Lotus Klan and the youngest original member of the Masters of the Universe, a pioneering hip-hop crew from San Diego, is known for his psychedelic lyrics, imagery and experiences. On April 20, his short album Blunt Raps, is being re-released as a limited-edition 7-inch.”

—Jeff Terich @SDCITYBEAT

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april 19, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 25

MUSIC

JEFF TERICH

IF I WERE U A music insider’s weekly agenda WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19

PLAN A: Spiral Stairs, Henry Clay People, Sick Balloons @ Soda Bar. Pavement broke up about 17 years ago, then reunited about eight years ago, and now they’re done for good, as far as I know. But guitarist Spiral Stairs is still doing his own thing, which I’m sure includes plenty of noisy riffs. BACKUP PLAN: SOHN @ Observatory North Park.

SOHN is the stage name of London-based artist Christopher Taylor, whose R&B bona fides have led him to write songs for none other than Rihanna. Yet the singer and producer makes some stunningly ethereal indie soul of his own.

THURSDAY, APRIL 20

PLAN A: Beach Slang, Mercy Music @ The Casbah. Beach Slang are the rare indie rock band that actually looks like they really want to be onstage, playing music for you, instead of hopelessly aloof. They make fun, short, punky songs with big hooks. And I’ll bet you see CityBeat web editor Ryan Bradford at the

26 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

show! PLAN B: Califone, Tara Jane O’Neil, Rachel Blumberg @ The Hideout. Califone is one of the most consistently great bands of the past couple decades, as well as one of the most consistently underrated.

Their blend of alt-country and spacy psych always yields something new and wonderfully weird. BACKUP PLAN: Twin Peaks, Hinds, The Gloomies @ The Irenic.

FRIDAY, APRIL 21

PLAN A: Cold Cave, Body of Light, DJ Jon Blaj @ SPACE. The Hideout is officially making the transition over to its new name and brand, SPACE, with two headlining shows from goth/synth-pop outfit Cold Cave. I can think of no better way to mark a special occasion than with some catchy darkwave. PLAN B: Morgan Delt, Amerikan Bear, Dream Joints @ Soda Bar. If psych-pop sounds a bit more appealing, then check out this roundup of heady, effects-loving groups, headlined by recent Sub Pop signee Morgan Delt. BACKUP

ANGELINA CASTILLO

PLAN: Ab-Soul, Little Simz @ Observatory North Park.

SATURDAY, APRIL 22

PLAN A: Ghost Bath, Astronoid, Ash Williams @ Soda Bar. Read Ben Salmon’s feature this week on Boston-based “dream thrash” metal outfit Astronoid, who combine a massive heaviness with ethereal effects and a spectacular melodic sensibility.

It’s metal with a sensitive, spacious side.

PLAN B: Dream Burglar, Echo Bombs, Exasperation, Soft Deadlines @ Bar Pink. Dream Burglar is the new band fronted by Justin Cota of Gloomsday and Bosswitch, and they’re pretty badass. They’re essentially a rock ‘n’ roll band with traces of post-punk and psych, and some weird, wild, dark elements. Make sure to get there early for Exasperation, while you’re at it. BACKUP PLAN: The Pixies @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre.

SUNDAY, APRIL 23

PLAN A: Free Salamander Exhibit, Hours, Penis Hickey @ Soda Bar. Free Salamander Exhibit is a weird, arty band with a ridiculous name who will most likely put on an interesting show. That being said, I’m mostly recommending this show for Hours, who make awesome post-metal that’s simultaneously ethereal and heavy as fuck.

Margo Price

MONDAY, APRIL 24

PLAN A: Vieux Farka Touré, Omar Velasco @ The Casbah. Malian desert-blues guitarist Vieux Farka Touré can play a mean guitar—he’s even been called “the Hendrix of the Sahara.” But nicknames aside, his music is incredible, with a sound that transcends the language barrier.

TUESDAY, APRIL 25

PLAN A: Jamey Johnson, Margo Price, Brent Cobb @ Observatory North Park.

I’m not the biggest fan of contemporary country on the whole, but there’s been a lot of impressive, twangy talent of late. Margo Price caught my attention last year with her accessible blend of gritty folk, country and rock that’s, to quote a Wilco song, “beautiful and stoned.” PLAN B: Wrekmeister Harmonies, ANA @ SPACE. On the more epic spectrum is Wrekmeister Harmonies, who blend a spacious post-rock approach to composition with the all-encompassing doom heaviness of Earth.

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MUSIC

CONCERTS HOT! NEW! FRESH!

Lil Uzi Vert (Observatory, 4/22), Iration (Observatory, 5/12), DJ Premier (BUT, 6/9), Horace Andy (BUT, 6/15), Mad Caddies (Brick by Brick, 6/21), Kevin Nealon (BUT, 6/25), Quintron and Miss Pussycat (Soda Bar, 6/27), AFI, Circa Survive (Open Air Theatre, 8/1), Royal Blood (Observatory, 8/15), Nails (Brick

by Brick, 8/6), X (BUT, 8/17), Frankie Cosmos (Irenic, 9/2), Dark Tranquility (Brick by Brick, 10/3).

GET YER TICKETS Kings of Leon (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 4/28), Face to Face (Casbah, 5/6), Flaming Lips (Observatory, 5/7), At the Drive-In (SOMA, 5/9), Com Truise, Clark (BUT, 5/12), Conor Oberst (Observatory, 5/14), Brother Ali (Observatory, 5/15), Pallbearer (Casbah, 5/16), Chris Stapleton (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 5/18), Thundercat (Observatory, 5/19), Melissa Etheridge (Humphreys, 5/24), Modest Mouse (Open Air Theatre, 5/30), Mount Kimbie (Music Box, 5/31), Dana Carvey (Humphreys, 6/2), In-Ko-Pah 4 w/ Mattson 2, Zig Zags, Mrs. Magician, Birdy Bardot (Desert View Tower, 6/3), Justin Townes Earle (Music Box, 6/4), Elvis Costello and the Imposters (Balboa Theatre, 6/5), Sheryl Crow (Humphreys, 6/6), Brian Setzer’s Rockabilly Riot (Humphreys, 6/7), Valerie June (BUT, 6/8), The Anniversary (Irenic, 6/10), ‘91X X-Fest’ w/ Phoenix, Empire of the Sun

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(Qualcomm Stadium, 6/11), Ziggy Marley (Humphreys, 6/12), Def Leppard (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 6/16), The Body (SPACE, 6/17), (Sandy) Alex G, Japanese Breakfast (Irenic, 6/17), King Crimson (Humphreys, 6/19), !!! (Casbah, 6/21), The Revolution (HOB, 6/22), Maxwell (Valley View Casino Center, 6/23), Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (Civic Theatre, 6/26), Cat Power (Observatory, 7/1), Deftones, Rise Against (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 7/7), Mutoid Man (Casbah, 7/12), The Temptations, Four Tops (Humphreys, 7/13), Natalie Merchant (Copley Symphony Hall, 7/18), The Sword (BUT, 7/18), Hall & Oates, Tears for Fears (Valley View Casino Center, 7/19), Beach Fossils (Casbah, 7/20), Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 (BUT, 7/21), Taking Back Sunday (Observatory, 7/28), Steve Gunn (SPACE, 7/30), Maxi Priest (BUT, 7/30), Huey Lewis and the News (Humphreys, 8/1), Metallica (Petco Park, 8/6), Diana Krall (Humphreys, 8/8), Rag’n’Bone Man (Observatory, 8/9), Incubus, Jimmy Eat World (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 8/11), Hans Zimmer (Viejas Arena, 8/12), Dungen (Casbah, 8/18), 311 (Open Air Theatre, 8/20), Bryan Ferry (Humphreys, 8/23), Sylvan Esso (Observatory, 8/26), Pink Martini (Humphreys, 8/26), The Gipsy Kings (Humphreys, 8/27),George Benson, Kenny G (Humphreys, 9/10), Goo Goo Dolls (Open Air Theatre, 9/12), Green Day (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 9/13), Indigo Girls (Humphreys, 9/13), Steve Winwood (Humphreys, 9/14), The Beach Boys (Humphreys, 9/23), Sublime With Rome, The Offspring (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 9/26), Alison Moyet (Music Box, 9/26), The Shins, Spoon (Open Air Theatre, 10/1), Father John Misty (Observatory 10/5-6), Depeche Mode (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 10/6), Jason Aldean (Mat-

tress Firm Amphitheatre, 10/7), Coldplay (Qualcomm Stadium, 10/8), The Black Angels (HOB, 10/17), Carla Morrison (Humphreys, 10/22), Luke Bryan (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 10/27), Mogwai (Observatory, 11/20).

APRIL WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19 Blossoms at The Casbah. Kaleo at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Mitski at The Irenic (sold out). Spiral Stairs at Soda Bar. Dreamcar at Music Box (sold out).

THURSDAY, APRIL 20 Lila Downs at Humphreys by the Bay. Reverend Horton Heat at Belly Up Tavern. Twin Peaks, Hinds at The Irenic.

Califone at The Hideout. Lee Fields and the Expressions at Music Box (sold out).

Beach Slang at The Casbah. Lil Wayne at Open Air Theatre. Assorted Jellybeans at Soda Bar. Horisont at Brick by Brick.

FRIDAY, APRIL 21 Trap Them at Brick by Brick. Ab-Soul at Observatory North Park. Cold Cave at SPACE. Morgan Delt at Soda Bar. Dead Feather Moon at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, APRIL 22 Bayside, Say Anything at House of Blues. The Wailers at Music Box. Ghost Bath, Astronoid at Soda Bar. Cold Cave at SPACE. Cindy Lee Berryhill at The Casbah. Pixies at Open Air Theatre. Lil Uzi Vert at Observatory North Park.

SUNDAY, APRIL 23 Free Salamander Exhibit at Soda Bar.

The Unlikely Candidates at The Casbah. Taj Express at Poway OnStage.

David Crosby at Humphreys by the Bay. State Champs at Observatory North Park. Anthony Green at The Irenic.

MONDAY, APRIL 24 Vieux Farka Toure at The Casbah.

Chance the Rapper at Valley View Casino Center (sold out). Jamtown at Belly Up Tavern. Sudi at Soda Bar.

TUESDAY, APRIL 25 Jamey Johnson, Margo Price at Observatory North Park. Asphyx at Brick

by Brick. The 1975 at Open Air Theatre.

Wrekmeister Harmonies at SPACE. Jamtown at Belly Up Tavern. Kawehi at Soda Bar. The Fresh Brunettes at The Casbah.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26 Willie Nelson at Humphreys by the Bay (sold out). Leif Vollebekk at The Casbah. Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors at Belly Up Tavern. CJ Ramone at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, APRIL 27 San Fermin at The Casbah. Pile at Soda Bar. DMX at Observatory North Park.

Asleep at the Wheel at Belly Up Tavern.

FRIDAY, APRIL 28 Ne-Hi at SPACE. Intronaut at Brick by Brick. Sallie Ford at The Casbah. Dennis Quaid and the Sharks at Belly Up Tavern. Kings of Leon at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre. Eukaryst at Soda Bar.

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 28

APRIL 19, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 27

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27 SATURDAY, APRIL 29 Verigolds at Soda Bar. Foreigner, Cheap Trick at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre. Superjoint at Brick by Brick. The Doo Wop Project at Poway Onstage.

The Midnight Pine at The Casbah.

SUNDAY, APRIL 30 Lil Peep at House of Blues. The Wedding Present at The Casbah. Six String Society at Belly Up Tavern. The Walters at Soda Bar.

MAY MONDAY, MAY 1 The Bad Plus at Music Box. Crystal Bowersox at Belly Up Tavern.

TUESDAY, MAY 2 Sorority Noise at House of Blues Voodoo Room. Kiefer Sutherland at Belly Up Tavern. Starlito and Don Trip at The Casbah.

SPOTLIGHT

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3

Dreamcar—a supergroup composed of AFI singer Davey Havok and all the members of No Doubt who aren’t Gwen Stefani—is the audio equivalent of mixing orange juice and toothpaste.

Separately, they aren’t that bad, but mixing them together is Cringeville, USA. Their music sounds as if Flock of Seagulls wanted to try their hand at emo. Never thought I’d miss the woman responsible for “Hollaback Girl” this much. Dreamcar plays Wednesday, April 19 at Music Box.

—Ryan Bradford

The Drabs at Belly Up Tavern. Current Swell at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, MAY 4 Dweezil Zappa at Belly Up Tavern. Tim Kasher at The Casbah.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave., Pacific

28 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

Beach. Fri: Chugboat, Strange Weather, Kathryn Cloward. Sat: A Perfect Tool, Sonic Moonshine. Tue: Lowtops.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St., Normal Heights. Wed: ‘Love Notes’ w/ DJs Blackbelt Jones, Dr. Birdski. Thu: ‘Libertine’ w/ DJs Jon Wesley, 1979. Sat: ‘Juicy’ w/ Mike Czech. Sun: ‘Chvrch’ w/ DJs Karma, Alice.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Billy Bonnnell, Blair Socci. Fri: Lil Duval. Sat: Lil Duval. Sun: Lil Duval.

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Road, Spring Valley. Fri: Kitty Plague, De Vid, Masteria.

Sat: Sykosis, Beneath A Dying Sun. Sun: Lillie Lemon.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St., North Park.

Wed: ‘Temple Party’. Thu: DJ Ikah Love.

Fri: ‘Class Project’ w/ DJs Grimm, Old Man Johnson. Sat: Dream Burglar, Exasperation, Echo Bombs, Soft Deadlines.

Sun: ‘Rat Sabbath’. Mon: Tori Roze and the Hot Mess. Tue: DJ Marshall Islands.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St., Downtown.

Fri: J.Phlip. Sat: Off Of B2B Klatch.

Beaumont’s, 5665 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla. Thu: Funk Shui Planet Duo. Fri: Funk Shui Planet. Sat: Stone Horse.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Wed: Kaleo, the Shelters (sold out). Thu: Reverend Horton Heat, Rosie Flores. Fri: Pettybreakers, Boys of Summer. Sat: Joseph, Bailen. Sun: Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals. Mon: Jamtown feat.

Cisco Adler, Donavon Frankenreiter, G. Love. Tue: Jamtown feat. Cisco Adler, Donavon Frankenreiter, G. Love.

Black Cat Bar, 4246 University Ave., City Heights. Thu: Birdbath, Two Men, Jeremy Rojas. Fri: Anomaly, Snakes & Crows,

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MUSIC Noel Jordan. Sat: TV Icon, Luna Skies, Hot Mustard.

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown. Fri: DJ Rell and Paris Paul. Sat: DJ Kaos.

Blonde, 1808 W. Washington St., Mission Hills. Wed: ‘Dance Klassique’ w/ Humbleguy. Thu: Billy Changer, The Lulls, The Kabbs. Fri: Mark Quark. Sun: ‘Teenage Kicks’ w/ DJ Mike Delgado. Mon: BOD, Martian Cult, Half Eaten. Tue: LIVINGMORE, Nite Lapse, Bird Bath, Los Shadows.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave., Downtown. Fri: DJ Kaos. Sat: DJ Drama.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave., Carlsbad. Thu: Shocks Kingsland, Hazmatt.

Fri: ‘Club Musae’.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., Bay Park. Thu: Horisont, Dirty Streets, Monolith, LOOM. Fri: Trap Them, Call of the Void, In Decline, Pissed Regardless. Tue: Asphyx, Gravehill, Skeletal Remains, Defixion.

Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Midtown.

Wed: Blossoms, Arkells, Wilderado.

Thu: Beach Slang, Mercy Music. Fri: Dead Feather Moon, Shane Hill and the Outfit, The Paragraphs. Sat: Cindy Lee Berryhill, Syd Straw, Nena Anderson.

Sun: The Unlikely Candidates, Cemetery Sun, The Fame Riot. Mon: Vieux Farka Toure, Omar Velasco. Tue: The Fresh Brunettes, Sights and Sages, Stray Monroe.

Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. Fri: Josie Day Band. Sat: Final Days.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. Fri: Mundell Lowe. Sat: Joshua White Trio.

The Field Irish Pub, 544 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Wed: Sam Hosking. Thu: BJ Jezbera. Fri: The Fooks. Sat: Coral Bells.

Sun: Chris Del Priore. Mon: Bernardus.

Tue: BJ Jezbera.

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Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave., Downtown.

Wed: Ride the Mule. Thu: DJ Yodah. Fri: ‘Good Times’. Sat: ‘Rock Star Saturday’.

Tue: ‘50s/60s Dance Party.

The Holding Company, 5046 Newport Ave., Ocean Beach. Wed: Nick & Ari White Trash Bash. Thu: Mike Jones, King Riv, Terry Chambers, DJ Mancat. Fri: Noise Pollution, DJ Jalil. Sat: Drunken Punkin Idiots, The Hangzeros, DJ OMZ. Sun: Clique. Tue: The Love Messengers.

Hooley’s, 5500 Grossmont Center Drive, La Mesa. Fri: Flipside Burners. Sat: King Taylor.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Wed: Aaron Lewis, Travis Martin.

Thu: Jerry ‘Hot Rod’ Demink. Fri: Gary Owen. Sat: Bayside, Say Anything. Sun: Breaking Benjamin, Red. Tue: Robin Henkel.

Humphreys Backstage, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. Wed: Tradewinds. Thu: Pop Vinyl. Fri: Rising Star, The Fabulous Ultratones. Sat: Viva Santana, Blue Largo. Sun: R:Tyme, Stellita. Mon: Michele Lundeen. Tue: Mercedes Moore.

The Irenic, 3090 Polk Ave., North Park.

Wed: Mitski, Springtime Carnivore, Steady Holiday (sold out). Thu: Twin Peaks, Hinds, The Gloomies.: Sun: Anthony Green.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd., Midtown. Wed: Echavox. Thu: ‘Acid Varsity’.

Fri: Amenopolis. Sat: Quasaria. Tue: ‘Symphonic Frequencies’.

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave., Kensington. Thu: Jason Hanna and the Bullfighters. Fri: White Mystery, Gloomsday, The Ghost Dance.

Lestat’s Coffee House, 3343 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Thu: Howie Day, Leslie DiNicola. Fri: King Daniel, Caroline Corn. Sat: Sophia Bacino, Courtney Preis.

Loft @ UCSD, Price Center East, La Jolla. Sat: Kei Akagi Tokyo Trio, Tobin Chodos Quartet.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., Hillcrest. Wed: Los Shadows, Caleb Hawley, The Strike, Grim Slippers. Thu: Killing Tyranny, ADSEG, Beekeeper. Fri: ‘Secret Agent’ w/ DJ Dizzy Doom. Sat: Strange Crew, Total Distortion, Foo U. Sun: ‘Back Alley’. Tue: The Candlelights, Martian Cult, Imagery Machine, Grim Slippers.

Mother’s Saloon, 2228 Bacon St., Ocean Beach. Thu: DJ Dub B. Fri: DJ K Reed. Sat: DJ K Reed.

Music Box, 1337 India St., Little Italy.

Wed: Dreamcar (sold out). Thu: Lee Fields and the Expressions, Chicano Batman (sold out). Fri: Sammy J, The Devastators, Sophia Alone. Sat: The Wailers, Layne Tadesse, Twisted Relatives. Sun: Santanaways.

Numbers, 3811 Park Blvd., Hillcrest. Fri: ‘Uncut’. Sat: ‘Club Sabbat’. Sun: R&B Divas.

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

Wed: ‘Nevermind the ‘90s: Third Eye Blind edition’. Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Sat: ‘Strictly Business’ w/ DJs Kanye Asada, Gabe Vega. Sun: ‘Black Sunday’. Tue: ‘Trapped’.

OMNIA Nightclub, 454 Sixth Ave.,

Downtown. Thu: Wearetreo. Fri: Julian Jordan. Sat: EDX.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St., Midtown. Fri: Third Son. Sat: Josh Butler.

Panama 66, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park.

Wed: Gilbert Castellanos jazz jam. Fri: Juice Box. Sat: Mochilero All Stars.

Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Wed: ‘Dreams’ w/ DJ Gabe Vega. Sun: Corey Leal, Hippy Goods.

Parq, 615 Broadway, Downtown. Fri: Joe Maz. Sat: Zoofunktion.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Thu: Strike Twelve, Surface Report, Second Hand, Dead Frets. Fri: ‘Rollin Wit Da Funk’. Sat: Color, OVVL, Desert Suns. Sun: Pants Karaoke.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave., Hillcrest.

Wed: DJs John Joseph, Kinky Loops.

Thu: DJ Moody Rudy. Fri: DJs Drew G, Will Z. Sat: DJs K-Swift, Taj. Sun: DJs Hektik, Nick Ayler.

Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave., La Mesa. Wed: ‘Boss Jazz’ w/ Jason Hanna. Thu: Alvino and the Dwells.

Fri: Sickstring Outlaws. Sat: TikiTronic.

Rosie O’gradys, 3402 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Wed: Thu: Fri: Sat: Sun: Mon: Tue: Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave., San Diego. Wed: Shane Hall. Thu: Jimmy Ruelas. Fri: Ed Kornhauser Organ Trio.

Sat: The Peripherals. Mon: ‘Makossa Monday’ w/ DJ Tah Rei. Tue: Moth & Sons.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Wed: Spiral Stairs Henry Clay People, Sick Balloons. Thu: Assorted Jelly Beans, The Maxies, Watashi Wa Dance Party. Fri: Morgan Delt, Amerikan Bear, Dream Joints. Sat: Ghost Bath, Astronoid, Ash Williams. Sun: Free Salamander Exhibit, Høurs, Penis Hickey. Mon: Sudie, 8IM, Heirgloom. Tue: Kawehi, Zoya.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd., Midway.

Sat: Oceano.

SPACE, 3519 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Thu: Califone, Tara Jane O’Neil.

Fri: Cold Cave, Body of Light. Sat: Cold Cave, Body of Light. Tue: Wrekmeister Harmonies, ANA.

Tin Roof, 401 G St., Downtown. Wed: Kenny and Deez. Thu: Faux Fighters. Fri: Keep Your Soul, Chad and Rosie. Sat: Keep Your Soul, Chad and Rosie. Sun: Tay Watts & Corey Grey. Mon: Harbor Drive Hook-Up. Tue: Lauren Leigh and Sam. Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St., Bay Park.

Wed: 24th St. Wailers. Thu: Mercedes Moore. Fri: Funk’s Most Wanted. Sat: The Red Elvises. Tue: Sue Palmer.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave., City Heights. Fri: Walk Proud, El Nada, Modern Enemy, American Blood.

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

Wed: DJ Trayze. Thu: ‘Thursdaze’. Fri: Kid Wonder. Sat: DJ Junior the Disco Punk. Sun: The Love Messengers, Kill Babylon Coalition, DJ Freeman.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park. Wed: Read & Roll. Thu: ‘Under the Groove’. Fri: ‘F-ing in the Bushes’. Sat: ‘Booty Bassment’ w/ DJs Dimitri, Rob. Winstons, 1921 Bacon St., Ocean Beach. Wed: King Schascha, DJ Unite.

Thu: Maka Roots, DJ Carlos Culture. Fri: Zach Deputy, Addison Scott. Sat: Monophonics. Sun: Girls Night Out. Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: ‘Meeting of the Meyends’

APRIL 19, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 29

LAST WORDS | ADVICE

AMY ALKON

ADVICE

GODDESS Clear and Present Anger I’m a man in my mid-30s, and I’m dating a woman I really love. We match each other on so many levels, and I thought we had a really great thing. But, recently, she seems to want more than I can give.

Specifically, she’s prodding me to say “I love you” repeatedly throughout the day, and she blows up at me for not doing it enough. Though I do love her, the required affirmations feel hollow. But I am trying. Yesterday she called, and I told her, “I’ve been thinking about you all day.” She got super angry and said, “Then you should have called to tell me that!”

WTH?! Where’s the line between being present for someone and being phony just to quell their unfounded insecurity?

—Besieged Understandably, if your relationship is patterned on a movie, you’d like it to be Love Actually, not Judgment at Nuremberg.

Sure, things are looking bleak at the mo-

30 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · APRIL 19, 2017

ment. In fact, the best thing about your relationship right now probably seems like the right to a speedy trial. However, you may be able to change that—get back to the “really great thing” you two had—by understanding the possible evolutionary roots to your girlfriend’s morphing into LOVEMEEEE!zilla.

It turns out that perceiving things accurately isn’t always in our best interest. In fact, evolutionary psychologist Martie Haselton explains that we seem to have evolved to make protective errors in judgment—either under-perceiving or over-perceiving depending on which error would be the “least costly” to our mating and survival interests.

For example, Haselton explains that men are prone to err on the side of overestimating women’s interest in them. Evolutionarily, it’s costlier for a man to miss an opportunity to pass on his genes than, say, to get jeered by his buddies after he hits on some model. Man: “Yerrr pritty!” Model: “Um, you’re missing most of your teeth.”

Women, however, err on the side of un-

derestimating a man’s willingness to stick around. This helps keep them from getting duped by cads posing as wannabe dads. And, as Haselton points out, a woman’s expressions of “commitment skepticism” may come with a fringe benefit—“more frequent displays of commitment” (like flowers, prezzies, mooshywooshy talk) from a man “who truly (is) committed.”

Unfortunately, your girlfriend’s expressing her “commitment skepticism” in exactly the wrong way—by trying to berate you into being more loving. Practically speaking, this is like running alongside somebody and asking them to explain the tax code while they’re being chased by a mob with flaming pitchforks.

Because our brain’s “fight or flight” circuitry is also calibrated to protectively overreact, a verbal attack kicks off the same physiological responses as a physical one. Adrenaline surges. Your heart beats faster. And blood flow gets shunted away from systems not needed to fight back or bolt—like digestion and higher reasoning. This makes sense, because you don’t need algebra to keep a tiger from getting close enough for you to notice his need for Crest Whitestrips. Only— oops—higher reasoning is exactly what you need when it’s only your girlfriend chasing after you for a little more loveydoveyspeak.

Of course, you understand that your girlfriend is a lady looking for your love, not a tiger looking to turn you into a late lunch.

However, once that fight-or-flight train leaves the station, it keeps building momentum. (You can’t just treat your surging

adrenaline like a bratty third-grader and tell it to go sit down.)

So, though the problem between you might seem to start with your girlfriend, consider what psychologist Brooke C. Feeney calls “the dependency paradox.” Feeney’s research suggests that continually responding to your romantic partner’s bids for comforting (like expressions of neediness) with actual comforting seems to alleviate their need for so much of it.

This isn’t to say you should make like a meth-jacked parrot and start squawking “Awwk! I love you!” until—thunk!—you beakplant on the newspapers lining your cage. Instead, start by asking your girlfriend why she feels a need for this daily stream of “affirmations.” (Some women get wiggy when, weekend brunch after weekend brunch, there’s never a diamond ring under their waffles.)

Next, explain the science, including Feeney’s finding. Then, pledge to be more expressive in general (holding her, telling her you love her), but explain that you feel insincere punctuating every text and conversation with robo I-love-yous. As for her part, point out that if, instead of going off on you, she’d express her fears, it would put you in a position to reassure her. Ultimately, if you’re yelling “I love you!…I love you!” it should be because she’s running to catch a plane, not because you just can’t take another weekend chained to the radiator.

Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon: AdviceAmy@aol.com (advicegoddess.com).

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april 19, 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 31