San Diego CityBeat • June 24, 2015

news

East Village has a public potty problem

MUSIC

Jacco Gardner: Music that will grow on you

2 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

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June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

Up Front | From the editor

What’s the deal with Seinfeld bashing?

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ot that there’s anything wrong with that.” joying the public outcry his letter unleashed. He This was the funniest TV catchphrase friended me on Facebook but did not respond to a of 1993. It was a line from a Seinfeld epirequest there for an interview. Give him this: he resode called “The Outing.” The joke cenposts and re-Tweets a lot of the negative reactions tered on a misperception by a college newspaper out there in the social media ether. His writing abilwriter that the series’ main characters, Jerry Seinity is exemplary for a person his age, and the kid has feld and George Costanza, were a gay couple. a future as a social commentator.

OK, do you see what’s coming?

In this first step onto the big stage, unfortuEarlier this month, here in 2015, the real-life nately, his youth was showing. It’s awesome that comedian Jerry Seinfeld went on ESPN Radio and the next generation is sensitive toward race, gender said: “I don’t play colleges, but I hear a lot of people and multiculturalism. But comedy is art, and to attell me, ‘Don’t go near colleges. They’re so [polititempt to dictate to a comedian what one can and cally correct].’ ” He also said younger people, “just can’t say is a form of censorship. want to use these words: ‘That’s That’s not to say Jerry Seinfeld’s anirudh koul / flickr racist;’ ‘That’s sexist;’ ‘That’s prejage isn’t also apparent. The times, udice.’ They don’t know what… they are a-changin’ (Jakob Dylan’s they’re talking about.” father sang that). But Seinfeld’s callThat rankled San Diego State ing card is his observational wit.

University student Anthony BerAnd two decades ago, he was using teaux. The 20-year-old is an op-ed what is arguably the greatest TV writer for SDSU’s Daily Aztec, and sitcom ever to demonstrate creepalso writes for the college version ing political correctness, even while of Huffington Post. doing comedy about being mistaken Berteaux wrote an open letter for a gay man. on HuffPo attempting to school In the mid-’90s, there’d never the legendary comedian on what been a prime time television epithe standards are today for comic sode like “The Outing.” The origipresentation. nal script by Larry Charles, accordHe wrote: “It isn’t so much that ing to interviews on the DVD box college students are too politically Jerry Seinfeld set, was almost scrapped for fear of correct (whatever your definition offending the gay community. But of that concept is), it’s that comedy in our progresby adding the line “not that there’s anything wrong sive society today can no longer afford to be crass, with that” when referring to being perceived as gay, or provocative for the sake of being offensive. SexSeinfeld and Charles decided the episode would be ist humor and racist humor can no longer exist in socially acceptable. It simultaneously satirized both comedy because these concepts are based on arhomophobia and political correctness. chaic ideals that have perpetrated injustice against In the world of real politics, it’s correct to ask for minorities in the past.” racist Confederate flags to be taken off public buildProvocative TV comic Bill Maher couldn’t let ings. But censoring art, speech and even comedy, is that go. His response last week to Berteaux’s misa side step to the left of enlightened thought. sive began: “Dear you little shit, I’m sure you’re If “The Outing” was produced today, would it busy with your new letter explaining astrophysics be eviscerated by the PC brain police? I’d like to to Stephen Hawking and giving jump shot pointers hope not. That episode, not incidentally, won the to Steph Curry, but try to get a clue.”

1994 media award for Outstanding Comedy EpiMaher then made a series of non-PC statements sode from—wait for it—GLAAD, the organization and concluded that those jokes are, “perfectly okay. formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Because everyone gets made fun of for something.

And it’s never 100 percent fair.”

—Ron Donoho On the face of things, Berteaux seems to be enWrite to rond@sdcitybeat.com This issue of CityBeat was aged in a charred oak barrel before being garnished with a frosted mint sprig.

Volume 13 • Issue 46 Editor Ron Donoho Music Editor Jeff Terich Arts Editor Kinsee Morlan Staff Writer Joshua Emerson Smith Web Editor Ryan Bradford Art director Carolyn Ramos Columnists Aaryn Belfer, Edwin Decker, John R. Lamb, Alex Zaragoza

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

4 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

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Up Front | Letters

THUMBS UP FOR BERNIE Republicans on offense. Democrats on defense. Eight years of being audacious to hope, and creeping incremental change. Democrats have been running away from Obama, and The Affordable Care Act. Republicans have been winning through intimidation. They don’t win because they’re right. They win because Democrats ignore much of what they do.

Take Bernie Sanders seriously [“What Bernie brings to the table,” June 17]. We need change with a capital C, not a small one.

One crisis after another in the 21st century.

Soon they will overlap. There is no time for hesitating. There is no time for half measures.

Now is the time for dramatic change. 2016 may be the last chance for systemic, progressive change. We’ve gone in the other direction for too long. If the dogmatic bozos on the right win, then when your grandchildren are alive the world will be far worse than anything Aldous Huxley, or George Orwell imagined.

Deuel Wooward,

Chula Vista

PROJECT 25 FIRST While most media outlets in San Diego focus on our city’s costly negotiations with the Chargers, you highlight Project 25, a program for the homeless that could actually save taxpayers money. Your “Housing first, stadium second” piece from the June 3 issue of CityBeat exemplifies capitalism’s misguided cultural value system perfectly and calls into question: What is

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government’s primary responsibility?

Some 30 years ago, under the guise of smaller government, Ronald Reagan preached personal accountability and began dismantling what was labeled the Welfare State.

However, to combat the inflated threat of Soviet communism already decadent, military spending soared and tax breaks for the wealthy were championed as job-creating necessities.

Predictably, the national debt mushroomed.

Since Reagan’s Revolution, the attacks on social programs and labor have continued.

Despite this ongoing battle, the Chargers facilities are still maintained by hard-working, organized, municipal employees blamed for San Diego’s pension fund woes and the NFL’s Players Association remains one of the few financially lucrative, cohesive and influential private sector unions. Talented and often-generous athletes make charitable contributions from, and pay taxes on, incomes I can’t even fathom; yet, only recently did the NFL announce the league’s home office would start paying corporate taxes.

The $10-billion a year industry will pay a relatively paltry $109 million over the next decade.

According to the Supreme Court a corporation is a person. If we the people are being told to accept financial responsibility for ourselves then shouldn’t the Chargers stop hiding behind corporate welfare and fund the construction of their stadium? The unidentifiable human bundle sleeping in the doorway that I step over to unlock my front door may not pay any taxes, but then again, he has no income.

Gerald Vanderpot,

North Park

On the

Cover

The Drinks Issue cover art was inspired

by CityBeat art director Carolyn Ramos’ interpretation of the neo-noir crime thriller The Usual Suspects. She recalled the shadowy police lineup scene and subbed in off-the-menu drinks created by local bartenders as “The Unusual Suspects.” When Ramos isn’t showcasing her talents in these pages she might be found enjoying her favorite Unusual Suspect: An Osaka OldFashioned, which is the classic cocktail made with Yamazaki whisky. Check out more of Ramos’ artistic concoctions at somaramos.com.

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

Up Front | News

Flush with contradictions

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itting next to a gray, metal public toilet on 14th and L streets, hiding from the sun under an ivy-laden trellis, roughly a dozen homeless folks share cigarettes, marijuana and banter. The restroom door swings open and closed as endless streams of street people use the gritty facility.

Across the road, at Mission Brewery, patrons in polo shirts throw back hoppy suds while sitting around wood tables. The renovated brick warehouse echoes with laughter as TV screens flash and bartenders pour beers.

It’s around 2 p.m. on Friday, and the class disparities of the fast-evolving East Village are on full display throughout the neighborhood. However, this particular intersection, the site of San Diego’s first Portland Loo public restroom, has become ground zero for social tension.

At a recent City Council committee meeting, Todd Gloria, whose district includes East Village, addressed complaints about the Loo: “Drug abuse, prostitution, this kind of stuff that’s going on in there, that doesn’t happen in my council district; I don’t want it in my council district.”

Envisioning use by tourists and transients alike, the city shelled out $560,000 for two Portland Loos—the second one is located at the trolley station at Park Boulevard and Market Street. However, unlike its more heavily trafficked counterpart, the 14th Street Loo has, since its installation in December, become a hub for the down and out.

While complaints of lewd behavior and other crime at the facility have poured into

6 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

East Village public toilet frustrates, frightens business community

BY JOSHUA EMERSON SMITH City Hall, law enforcement statistics tell a slightly different story. Since January, the San Diego Police Department has responded to 18 calls for service in the area near the Loo, compared with 214 calls around the less controversial public facility at the trolley station.

“There has been an increase in crime in the area, but looking at the individual incidents, it’s hard to make the correlation between crime itself and the Portland Loo,” said Lt. Debra Farrar, who heads the San Diego Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team, at the committee meeting.

To appease frustrated business owners and residents, Gloria has indicated he’d support moving the restroom to a site hosted by a homeless-services agency, potentially Father Joe’s Villages. The move would cost $200,000.

“My constituents have made clear to me that they believe the Portland Loo has resulted in a concentration of illegal activity,” Gloria told CityBeat in an email. “They are demanding action be taken to stop it.

The city has a responsibility to address all criminal acts in our neighborhoods and that responsibility is even more acute when deviant behavior is being facilitated by a city-funded project.”

Over the last six months, nearby businesses have complained to city and elected officials about homeless people stalking women after dark, brandishing knives, prostitution and rampant drug abuse in the area around the Loo. “I can say that the crime and the drug use and everything was going on before, but it was probably further away than it is

now,” said Marcelle Stuyck, who works at Hawkins and Hawkins Architects, near the Loo. “We didn’t have issues on this street until the Portland Loo was installed.”

The police department and Clean and Safe, the Downtown San Diego Partnership’s neighborhood-improvement program, had been “cleaning this area up,” said Melissa Hill, marketing manager at Mission Brewery.

“It was getting better, and now the Portland Loo moved in and feels like we’re stepping back,” she said. “We can move people along. But this is just a magnet for people.”

Homeless advocates see things differently. home“Everyone, less individuals included, should be afforded the basic right to have a private place to use a restroom,” said Heather Pollock, executive director for Girls Think Tank, which championed bringing the Loos to San Diego. “It’s a safety concern, especially if you’re a female.”

The Loo is located in what’s considered San Diego’s skid row; it’s around the corner from Father Joe’s Villages, which houses the city’s year-round homeless shelter, and near Petco Park’s parking lot, which becomes a tent city at night.

“I use it to pee and poop,” said Brian Glasco, 43, who has been homeless Downtown for about 18 months. “Sometimes, I’ll

“

We didn’t have issues on this

street until the Portland Loo

“

Homeless lounge by Portland Loo at 198 14th St. behind Petco Park.

be running four blocks to get here. It’s hard.

Sometimes, you might have to stop and go in a bag real quick.”

“I heard they were going to take it out,” he added. “That’s not a good idea. There’s going to be feces and urine all over the street down here. It’s necessary.”

Before the Portland Loo was installed, the area smelled “really bad,” said Kelly Spinks, 29, who is homeless and pregnant.

“This is useful because what if the restaurants are, like, ‘She’s homeless; we don’t want to let her in to use the bathroom’?”

Most of the homeless folks CityBeat talked to said the 14th Street Loo is often missing toilet paper and in need of maintenance. Most blamed the situation on those using the facility.

“It’s rough, man,” Glasco said. “It’s rough. It needs help. It needs to be cleaned more often. A lot of people don’t have respect for the public restroom. They trash it.”

The city originally said cleaning the facilities would cost $50,000 a year. However, at the recent committee meeting, officials put the actual cost at about $185,000.

The contract to clean the Loo expires at the end of July, and so far, the city hasn’t received any bids, said Katherine Johnson, director of infrastructure and budget policy for Mayor Kevin Faulconer, at the committee meeting.

Johnson said that without a cleaning contract, the city would have to close the Loos.

However, that annual cost estimate for cleaning and maintenance could be inflated.

The city added power washing to the new maintenance contract, which was “super odd,” said Eric De Jong, owner of Diamond Environmental Services, which currently has the contract to clean the facilities.

Power washing is covered under prevailing-wage law, and De Jong believes the requirement would mean he’d have to pay other employees working on the Loos prevailing wage, significantly driving up costs. The highest required wage sets the pay rate, he said.

“The power washing is mandatory, and it’s part of the quote.”

Making power washing a separate contract could significantly reduce the cost of cleaning the restrooms, he said.

“My suggestion was to strip it out and add it to power-washing contracts that they already have.”

Also adding to the cost, the city has suggested hiring a security guard, estimated at $438,000 a year, depending on hours of employment and whether the guard would be armed.

The mayor’s staff is scheduled to give an update on the Portland Loos at the City Council’s Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee meeting on July 29, where staff is expected to give a detailed cost estimate for maintaining the Loos or moving the 14th Street facility.

was installed.

Write to joshuas@sdcitybeat.com.

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June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 7

UP FRONT | OPINION

SPIN

JOHN R. LAMB

CYCLE Activist lawyer offers Plan B for stadium Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged.

—Thomas Alva Edison

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t’s become clear that local political leaders have hit a wall in their dealings with the San Diego Chargers on a new stadium.

Last week, Mayor Kevin Faulconer figuratively threw a flag in the NFL’s direction, calling the team unwilling partners distracted by baubles to the north. Chargers point man Mark Fabiani—in a blistering email interview with 10News—disputed the call, referring to Faulconer as “remarkably unsophisticated.”

The mayor’s loyal bulldog, City Councilmember Scott Sherman, hit the airwaves to suggest Fabiani should be ejected from the negotiating game. To say the guy

8 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

is hated in some quarters is an understatement of transcendent proportions.

OK, for the time being the Chargers are transfixed on Carson. Not much San Diego can do about that. Oh, the mayor can run to NFL honchos, as he did Monday, in a reported 45-minute phone call with Commish Roger Goodell. But let’s face it: When the best idea you’ve come up with is a legally suspect quickie environmental-impact report for a major construction project in the heart of congested Mission Valley, what reaction was expected?

There appears one option for San Diego: that the NFL, in its infinite wisdom, decides that the Los Angeles sweepstakes are far too important to rush.

Even Fabiani has not flatly rejected the idea, calling it not likely but possible. (Fabiani categorically denied to Spin Cycle that

he “has pushed the mayor to join with counterparts in St. Louis and Oakland to ask the NFL to delay its decision for a year or so,” as reported in the San Diego UnionTribune Sunday.)

Now, Spin had the delightful opportunity to visit renowned local artist James Hubbell’s rebuilt compound in Julian on Sunday, and frankly the hand-wringing tribulations over San Diego’s stadium woes seemed galaxies away.

This icon of a designer, battling Parkinson’s with his trademark smile, endured the devastation of the 2003 Cedar Fire and, with the help of devotees, reassembled his dreamscape with atavistic aplomb.

Such greatness took time and patience to restore. No staring at blackened beams and trees and yelling “Why me?” toward the heavens. Just a resolve that nature, too, is an artist that sometimes wields a wicked stroke.

San Diego could use a little of that patience. But it also needs an attainable goal. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the man even more hated than Fabiani at City Hall has come up with a viable Plan B? Cory Briggs, the activist attorney intent on keeping city leaders from steering the town into murky legal waters, thinks he may have devised a course for the city that potentially could solve not only

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JOHN R. LAMB

the stadium issue but the lingering Convention Center expansion and infrastructure-backlog problems, too.

It’s an idea still in flux, Briggs says, and it relies on the NFL indeed delaying its L.A. decision until 2017. But there are initiatives he believes will withstand legal scrutiny and even—imagine!—gain the support of the Chargers if 2016 is in play.

Briggs envisions two distinct ballot measures for the June primary election. The first would ask voters to raise the city’s transitoccupancy tax to 15.5 percent (from its present 10.5 percent) and eliminate the legally questionable, additional 2-percent hotel-room surcharge used to bankroll the Tourism Marketing District.

This is not a new idea, but Briggs thinks the time is ripe for an increase. It is, as they say, a tax on visitors, not residents. And it would put San Diego on par with both Los Angeles and San Francisco and still below Anaheim’s 17-percent lodging tax.

In its most recent lodging-tax report of 2014 of the top 150 urban centers, HVS Consulting ranked San Diego tied for 101st, alongside Orlando and Tallahassee. St. Louis topped the list at a whopping 21.97 percent.

Briggs said a clean TOT hike would not only lift the legal cloud of the TMD surcharge off the city’s shoulders, but as a general tax would require only a simple majority from voters to pass.

The second ballot measure, Briggs said, would ask voters— again, with a simple majority— to authorize both a Convention Center expansion and a joint-use facility that would be shared with the Chargers at Tailgate Park just east of Petco Park, the team’s preferred location.

Voters would be asked to exempt both proposals from California Environmental Quality Act requirements (save for “potentially significant impacts to be mitigated,” the environmental attorney stressed). To get hoteliers on board, they would be given authority to self-assess at any rate for purposes of marketing and raising money for the Convention Center expansion.

For a period of years, Briggs added, hoteliers would receive a tax credit not to exceed 40 percent of the difference between the old TOT rate (10.5 percent) and the new 15.5 percent for all assessments that go toward the Convention Center expansion.

For the joint-use proposal, the Chargers would be given a certain period of months to agree to pay 100 percent of the cost differential between building a joint-use facil-

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ity and a mere Convention Center expansion.

“This would give the Chargers time to make firm financial commitments about costs, overruns, operations, maintenance, etc.,” Briggs said. If the Chargers miss the deadline, the expansion moves ahead without the team.

The beauty of the idea is that no one will be thoroughly pleased, but not so put off to scotch the plan. Politicians running in June, meanwhile, will truly be asked to put their reputations on the line, considering that the additional TOT, by Briggs’ estimation, could

be bonded to upwards of $1.4 billion, an amount that would put a serious dent in the city’s deferred maintenance woes.

Briggs acknowledges risk in the proposal (the initiatives alone would have to launch within a month), but not to taxpayers. Fabiani declined to comment publicly on the proposal, but at least he didn’t blow it up. And that, these days, is progress.

Spin Cycle appears every other week. Write to johnl@sdcitybeat.com.

What if Cory Briggs (center)—not Jan Goldsmith (left)— has come up with a plan Mark Fabiani could live with?

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 9

Up Front | Opinion

Sordid

Edwin Decker

Tales

The premium liquor experiment and taste test

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ost publications’ drinks issue contains lots of hipster-crafty cocktail recipes with a variety of fancy liquor brands. I would like to pipe in at this time to say, “Don’t. Don’t. Don’t believe the hype.”

It is frankly a waste of money to order (most) cocktails with a premium liquor upgrade. Oh the thousands of customers I’ve served, in my 30 years of bartending, who paid two or three more dollars for, say, a Sapphire and tonic when the well gin tastes the same. Seriously, who can tell the difference when you got all that quinine carpet bombing your mouth with its radioactive bitterness? Who can taste the Crown Royal beneath the fizz and fructose of a cola mixer? Does anyone really believe they can taste the Grey Goose in a screwdriver, the Patron in a Margarita, the premiums in a premium Long Island which, by the way, is made with four top-shelf white liquors, sweet-and-sour mix and a splash of cola all shaken into a muddy mishmash that more closely resembles the water in a wading pool after a prepubescent’s birthday party than a select cocktail that cost 10 bucks.

I remember when Ketel One vodka first burst onto the bar scene. Before Ketel there wasn’t a whole lot of top-shelf potato milk to choose from; only calls such as Stoli, Absolut and Smirnoff. Then came Ketel and it was the musthave vodka of the yuppie set. Customers beamed with pride when they got to say out loud, “Bartender, I’ll take a Ketel screwdriver,” or Ketel and Seven, or Ketel sex on the beach, which—aside from vodka—has peach schnapps, cranberry, OJ and, well, it just seemed that the more unlikely the person would be able to taste the Ketel, the prouder they were to order it—like a rich man peeling off hundred-dollar bills and tossing them into the fire.

One day, I decided I’d had enough. It was early on a weeknight when this fellow walked in with three of his friends. He ordered four Ketel kamikazes and, just as I was about to grab the bottle, turned to him and said, “You should get Stoli. It’s a lot cheaper and you’ll never know the difference.”

“Yes I will,” he said with a slight hint of smug in his voice.

“Really? Even when it’s mixed with sugar and lime juice?”

“Yup.” “How about a bet then?” I said. “I will pour five kamikazes, one with Ketel and the others with Stoli. If you correctly identify the Ketel, the round is on the house. If you can’t, then you pay for the five drinks, one of which is for me, and you must promise never to order a Ketel kazi again.”

He lost. He paid. We drank. And such was the

beginning of a decade’s long study I called The Premium Liquor Upgrade Experiment and Taste Test.

Naturally, I didn’t do it every time somebody ordered an expensive drink. But, when the situation was right, I proposed the bet. I did it to see if I was right about my theory and to educate my customers.

Because everyone who got it wrong was shocked to learn they couldn’t tell the difference. And the percentage of people who got it wrong over the years— despite the fact that a mouth-less baboon has a onein-five chance of guessing correctly—was easily around 95 percent.

Not that this is breaking news. There are myriad studies that suggest people enjoy food and beverages more if they are priced higher. So why do we equate price with quality? Because we’re all morons of course—slaves to the gullible whims of our prehistoric lizard brains.

Now, there is evidence that consuming inexpensive spirits can contribute to hangovers. This is because expensive liquors tend to be distilled more often, which removes unwanted fermentation particles known as congeners. However, congeners are on the bottom of the list of reasons you get hangovers. The Mayo Clinic puts them last of seven, the first being dehydration, followed by low blood sugar, swollen blood vessels and genetics—to name a few—and it is my belief that the dark overlords who control the beverage industry—The Liquorati—have exaggerated the congener effect in order to justify the cost of premium brands.

I know what you’re thinking.

You’re thinking, But Ed, how is it going to look if I order bottomdollar booze? I have a reputation to uphold!

Of course you do. But is it not better to be regarded as a no-frills manly man (or she-beast boozer babe) than a prissy little Foofy von Poofy-puss? You gotta own that shit, man! Just walk up to the bartender and say, loud enough for all to hear, “I’ll take a shot of tequila please.”

When the bartender asks what kind of tequila, say, “Just give me the rotgut.”

Yes, it’s true, most people think that well tequila tastes like the water inside a hotel hot tub after a conference of eczema suffers. But you will impress nonetheless. Because nobody doesn’t love the word, “rotgut.” And when she asks if you want training wheels (salt and lime), do not say something smartass like “Training wheels are for mama’s boys.” Doing so will make you look a douche. Instead say, “No thanks. I prefer the burn,” and count the seconds before a cutie slips you her number.

“

When the bartender asks what kind of tequila, say, “Just give me the rotgut.”

“

10 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

Sordid Tales appears every other week.

Write to edwin@sdcitybeat.com.

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June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 11

Up Front | Food

by michael a. gardiner

the world

fare

Heavenly poutine at Mess Royale

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much of a good thing and lobster poutine is too much richness with no acid to cut it.

Mess Royale also offers another Montreal culinary trademark: bagels. Mess Royale imports its bagels twice a week from Montreal’s famous St. Viateur Bagel Shop. Classic Montreal bagels are a bit flatter than the New York version and are covered in sesame seeds, with a kiss of honey where New York’s would have a salty hint. The flatness makes them particularly good for sandwiches.

The one with Norwegian smoked salmon, capers, red onions and cream cheese convinced me if God created bagels with cream cheese and lox in mind, these Montreal bagels are heaven sent.

There are other good options, too. The pulledpork sandwich is good choice but the MTL toasty dog was the surprise of the place. The acidity of the mustard and slaw nicely balance the richness of the hot dog and buttery toasting of the bun.

But poutine is why you’re at Mess Royale.

Lachance’s description of the addition of cheese curds to french fries as une maudite poutine may

ontreal is not frequently mentioned in discussions of great food cities. That’s odd, considering its French heritage, and the fact one of its restaurants (Joe Beef ) was recently named among the world’s 100 best. Perhaps one reason for the lack of respect is Montreal’s most famed culinary contribution to the world, poutine, loosely translates from Acadian French as “mess.”

Poutine’s possibly apocryphal tale of origin has a customer asking Québécois restaurateur, Fernand Lachance, to put cheese curds on his French fries. Lachance, in true Gallic fashion, responded “ça va faire une mauMichael A. Gardiner dite poutine” (it will make a damn mess). He may have been right, but it tasted good enough that the dish became a legend and his descriptor stuck.

It is Lachance’s fine mess that gives Mess Royale (142 University Ave.) in Hillcrest its name. Mess Royale’s poutine features hand-cut and twicecooked French fries topped with imported-from-Wisconsin cheese curds all slathered in a brown gravy based on beef, veal and chicken stocks. Mess Royale offers 13 versions of the dish, ranging from the original to a lobster version. One of the best is the Super Mario with chicken, mushrooms and caramelized onions. Like all good Mess Royale’s Super Mario poutine poutines, the brown gravy seeps have been completely devoid of irony when utdown through the fries and curds, coating them tered. The irony may be that, more than half all. The chicken, onions and mushrooms provide a century later, it’s a dish that’s become a lens savory, sweet and umami kicks, respectively, that through which Montreal’s food is seen. A fine serve to round out the dish’s flavor profile. mess indeed.

Restaurants don’t seem to be able to resist taking poutine up-market by adding a luxury ingreThe World Fare appears weekly. dient. Mess Royale tries to do so with lobster and Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com. it doesn’t quite work. There is such a thing as too

12 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

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Up Front | Food

by jenny montgomery jenny montgomery

and although there are plenty of options for the omnivores among us, the restaurant is an excellent place for vegetarians and vegans. Much of the menu offers vegan options, or dishes that can be made vegan upon request.

They love a vegetable at Lotus Café and the Harvest Salad is an enormous bowl of righteous garden delights. Grilled yellow and green squash share space with charred hunks of bell Lotus Café’s Harvest Salad pepper and scallions.

Fresh carrots, tomatoes and jicama round out this meal that Mr. McGregor would love—a composed salad that is bountiful, simple, and delicious.

I like falafel, so I dug into the Pipes Pita.

Whole-wheat pita is stuffed with flavorful rounds of spiced falafel. Cilantro chipotle humBountiful and simple at Lotus Café mus spread gives it a bit of a kick. I would have liked the tahini ginger dressing to be distributed on the sandwich a bit more—it mostly stuck was all excited to check out this tiny little Ento the metric ton of lettuce stuffed around the cinitas place I’d heard about. After a stressful falafel. Falafel is one of those dishes that I almorning of errands and whining (mostly my ways think I’m going to like more than I actually kids, a bit from me) I was relieved to roll into the do. I loved the flavors in this dish, but texture joint for a late lunch. Now, I appreciate that small wise, the falafel remained (as always), a little on shops where everything is made from scratch the pasty side. Add a side of their chunky, fresh have limited quantities, but we arrived an hour guacamole, however and things get creamier and a half before closing and they were out of aland yummier. most everything on their menu, save a few pasI’ve made no secret of my skepticism of vegan tries left in the case. Such is life, but it certainly or gluten-free baked goods. Texturally, they are didn’t improve my mood. I hopped back in my car always just “good enough” if you either can’t or and dragged my grumbling self back up the 101 won’t eat the real thing. And I’m not switching until I saw local favorite Lotus Café (765 S. Coast over yet, but the gluten-free vegan chocolate Hwy.). How has it been so long since I’ve been in cupcake with vanilla “Tofutti” frosting at Lotus its om-filled walls? I instantly felt more cheerful Café shocked me. If you had sold it to me as a and enlightened. regular cupcake I would have accepted it.

Lotus Café made a go of expanding to Hillcrest Who knew a baked good without any buta few years back but couldn’t make it work. The ter could cheer me up? Not bad, my crunchy original beach location remains, however, and it friends. embodies the spiritual side of much of Encinitas,

located a few blocks from the golden domes of North Fork appears every other week. the Self Realization Fellowship. It’s open all day Write to jennym@sdcitybeat.com. with an expansive breakfast-to-burgers menu,

north

fork I

#SDCityBeat

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

Up Front | books

The floating

library

by jim ruland

Junkie loves—two books with similar subjects and identical titles

E

veryone has heard the saying, “You can’t judge seemed that this whole idea I’d concocted of a book by its cover,” but what if two covers weaning Cissy away from her habit was merely have similar subjects and the exact same title? a pretext that my unconscious mind had formuI’ve heard stories of writers coming up with lated for getting me back into close contact with the “perfect” title for his or her book, only to disheroin again. I was aware of a hidden part of me cover that it had already been taken; but I’d never that had its own agenda of secret appetites and met two authors who had books with the same desires, that moved of its own volition and took title until this year. no account of ‘me’ at all. I could feel it inside, I met Joe Clifford through a mutual friend working away, moving silently along its own at a writers’ conference in Minneapolis in the invisible tracks; and not only that, it was much spring. Clifford writes crime fiction but launched stronger than me—of this, I was totally sure.” his writing career with the pubShoenfelt’s psychological lication of a memoir, Junkie observations are precise and Love (Battered Suitcase Press). astute—so much so that it’s a Junkie Love is about two things: book I’d recommend to anyone being a junkie and being in love who has difficulty understandwith a junkie. We swapped coping why addicts behave the way ies of our books and I added they do, doing the same thing Junkie Love to my massive toover and over when they know read pile. it will result in heartbreak and A few weeks later, I found ruin. myself at a poetry festival in There’s plenty of ruination Prague. One of the readers on in Joe Clifford’s Junkie Love. the bill was Phil Shoenfelt, a Clifford’s story is largely set in musician from London who San Francisco during the ’90s. played with the post-punk band Clifford is a musician, too, but Khmer Rouge in New York and his artistic aspirations are annihas written an autobiographihilated by his addiction. cal novel that was published by “You are not William BurTwisted Spoon Press in 2001. roughs and it doesn’t make a The book was about a junkie Joe Clifford’s Junkie Love damn bit of difference if Kurt in love with a junkie. You can Cobain was slumped over in an probably guess the title. alleyway in Seattle the day that Intrigued by this odd coinciBleach came out. There is no dence, I started reading Shoejunkie chic. This is not SoHo, nfelt’s book immediately and and you are not Sid Vicious. You was impressed by his prose. At are not a drugstore cowboy and the festival, Shoenfelt had peryou are not spotting trains. You formed poetry and then sang are not part of anything—no some songs he’d written while underground sect, no counterhe played guitar. To be perculture movement, no music fectly honest, I wasn’t expectscene, nothing. You have just ing much from the book. I’ve been released from jail and are read quite a few rock-and-roll walking down Mission Street memoirs and most of them are and are alternating between interesting to read but not partaking a hit off a cigarette and puking, looking for coins on ticularly well written. Shoenthe ground so you can catch a felt’s book was different. It was bus as you shit yourself.” a novel, for one thing, and in Both books are equally uncareful, measured prose prescompromising.

Both are harrowents a first-person account of a Phil Shoenfelt’s Junkie Love ing reminders of the grisly algebra young junkie’s infatuation with of addiction. Being a memoir, Clifford’s story is told a Londoner named Cissy. in a style that is artful yet direct, but the story is preAt the outset of the novel, the narrator is a recsented in a non-linear fashion that keeps the reader reational drug user with a good-paying job who guessing even though the outcome is assured. has sworn off heroin for good when he falls in “Not to give away the ending,” Clifford quips love with a hopeless junkie. His love is so intense in his signed inscription on the front page of my that he concocts a plan to help her by quitting his copy, “but I live.” job and selling all of his possessions and using the funds to decrease Cissy’s heroin intake without horrible withdrawal symptoms.

Write to jimr@sdcitybeat.com.

Not surprisingly, this plan fails: “it suddenly

14 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

#SDCityBeat

#SDCityBeat

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

EVENTS

SHORTlist

the

Three you have to see

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

COURTESY OF THE OLD GLOBE THEATRE

p.m. in the Lowell Davies Festival Theatre. The whole affair is a bit meta—you’re watching a movie based on a play inside a playhouse and, what’s more, the movie itself begins with Olivier recreating the stage production of Henry V at the O.G. Globe Theatre in London.

“Henry V is a very classical adaptation of Shakespeare and it’s really interesting because it was made and released during World War II so it was a very overtly patriotic work,” says Beth Accomando, who is the author of the KPBS blog Cinema Junkie and will be hosting the Henry V premiere.

“Of all the Laurence Olivier films, it’s the Henry V most cinematic. It’s the best for the screen and has some real spectacle to it.”

Accomando will be alternating hostWith all the hoopla surrounding the ing duties with Globe Artistic Director Barry centennial anniversary of the 1915 Edelstein throughout the summer film series, Panama-California Exposition, and the seemingly which continues with Orson Welles’ Chimes at endless amount of events in Balboa Park, it could Midnight (1965) on July 13, Joss Whedon’s modbe easy to forget that summer also means Shake- ern-day Much Ado About Nothing (2012) on Aug. speare season at the Old Globe. The legendary 3, and concludes with Robert Wise and Jerome theater is also celebrating a milestone birthday Robbins’ lavish film adaptation of West Side Story (80-years-young) and its annual celebration of The on Aug. 24.

“If this does well, they’re thinking about doBard is in full swing with Twelfth Night already ing this again or making this a continuing series,” playing, and Kiss Me, Kate opening July 1.

To celebrate the centennial and the Globe’s says Accomando. “There are so many great Shakebirthday, this year’s Summer of Shakespeare speare movies out there. There’s a great diversity will include four free movie screenings on select of films and not just classic adaptations. They Monday nights. It kicks off with Laurence Olivier’s could show 30 films and not have to repeat one.” masterful Henry V on Monday, June 29, at 8:15 theoldglobe.org

1

FREE WILLY

LOIS BACH

Taste Of Adams Avenue

2

EAT IT

If you were to eat your way across San Diego, you could go all year without going to the same restaurant twice, or resorting to subpar eateries. But if you’re going to do it, it’s best to go neighborhood by neighborhood.

Lucky for you, then, that this weekend is Taste of Adams Avenue, which gives hungry locals the chance to sample 30 restaurants, including Blind Lady Ale House, Ponce’s, Soda & Swine, Viva Pops and many others. A Taste of Adams takes place on Sunday, June 28, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., along Adams Avenue in Normal Heights, and the will call office is at Smitty’s Service (3441 Adams Ave.). Tickets are $35 in advance, and $40 the day of the event. tasteofadams.com

16 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

3

DAY OF PLAY

It’s finally summer, and that means it’s time to unleash the inner child and play in the sunshine. On Saturday, June 27, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Figment San Diego will host a day devoted entirely to playing, creating and all-around summering in Chicano Park. How you spend the day is up to you: Bring art supplies, a ball to toss with friends, a picnic and plenty of sunscreen, but don’t bring any money. Figment is a commercialism-free zone, so pack wisely and don’t expect to purchase supplies there (this includes food and water). If you’re not sure what to bring, remember that Figment’s theme is interactive art: Find something you and others will enjoy, and as long as it doesn’t break the few rules listed on the nonprofit’s website, chances are good it’ll add to the fun. sandiego.figmentproject.org PAUL BASTA

ART

BOOKS

HSit Set at Brokers Building, 402 Market St., Downtown. Last chance to see this art exhibition featuring the work of Madeline Sherry, Dan Camp, Billie Hamilton and many more. Closing reception from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, June 26.

Lesley Tellez at Casa Artelexia, 2419 Kettner Blvd., Little Italy. The author will sign her new book Eat Mexico Cookbook, provide practical cooking advice and lead tastings of some of her favorite recipes. At 6 p.m. Thursday, June 25. $5. 619-5441011, artelexia.com

HShapeshifter at Low Gallery, 1878 Main St., Barrio Logan. New drawings, paintings and sculptures by internationally known outsider artist Don Porcella, who’s inspired by nature, consumer culture and science fiction. Opening from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, June 26. 619-3485517, lowgallerysd.com HBarrio Art Crawl Take a self-guided tour of the open studios, galleries and local businesses of the Barrio Logan Arts District. From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 27. 619-366-9006, facebook.com/ barrioartcrawl Alive Five Artists at Dolphin and Hawk Fine Art Gallery, 7742 Herschel Ave., La Jolla. Artists Joylene Reddy, Eliseo Gomez, Khalid Alkaaby, Anna Feil and Ron Brillantes will kick off summer with a group exhibit that aims to make observers feel inspired. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 27. 760-814-7832, dolphinandhawk.com HPancakes and Booze at 57 Degrees Wine Bar, 1735 Hancock St., Midtown.

An exhibition of works by more than 55 emerging artists, plus live body painting, performances and an all-you-can-eat pancake bar. Opening from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Saturday, June 27. $5. 619-234-5757, pancakesandbooze.com Every Summer Has a Story at Adelman Fine Art, 1980 Kettner Blvd., Ste. 40, Little Italy. This inaugural group art show will feature a collection of works celebrating summer by artists like Iris Scott, Jennifer Hannaford, Jim Salvati and more. Opening from 6 to 8 p.m.

Saturday, June 27. 619-354-5969, adelmanfineart.com HFIGMENT San Diego at Chicano Park, Barrio Logan. An interactive art party and fair that’s free and familyfriendly. Features participatory crafts, games and tours led by some of the artists responsible for Chicano Park’s signature murals. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Saturday, June 27. sandiego.figmentproject.org HDrawn: West Coast Drawing at William D. Cannon Art Gallery, 1775 Dove Lane, Carlsbad. A group show featuring artists on the California coast exploring the drawing medium in a number of ways.

Opening from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, June 27. carlsbadca.gov HA Ship In The Woods Silent Auction Event at Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights. An art and auction event to help raise funds for the North County arts organization. Includes musical performances, food trucks, Tarot readings, a kissing booth and more. From 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 27. $5 suggested donation. shipinthewoods.com H64 Oz. of Creativity at Culture Brewing Co, 111 S Cedros Ave, Ste 200, Solana Beach. Dozens of local artists showcase painted beer growlers. From 5 to 11 p.m. Tuesday, June 30, and Wednesday, July 1. 858-345-1144, sdbeerartfest.com HBatteries Not Included at TPG2, 1475 University Ave., Hillcrest. Guest curator Victor Villa presents a group exhibition featuring designer toys made from custom vinyl, resin, and designer plush. Opening from 5 to 10 p.m.

Wednesday, July 1. 619-203-6030, TPG2.net

Figment San Diego

H = CityBeat picks

HMichelle Brafman at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. As part of Warwick’s ongoing Weekend with Locals Program, Brafman will sign and discuss Washing the Dead, her novel about three generations of Jewish women confronting family secrets. At noon Saturday, June 27. 858-454-0347, warwicks. indiebound.com HBlack Candies: Surveillance Release Party at Low Gallery, 1878 Main St., Barrio Logan. The release party for the latest edition of the “Journal of Literary Horror” will feature readings by Julia Dixon Evans, Matt Lewis, Valerie E. Polichar, Chris Curtis, Ron Gutierrez and Wade Pavlick. At 7 p.m. Saturday, June 27. 619-348-5517, sosayweallonline.com Vince Aiello at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The local novelist will sign and discuss Legion’s Lawyers, a thriller about a local lawyer who finds himself in the middle of a turf war between a Mexican drug cartel and a local gangster. At noon Sunday, June 28.

858-454-0347, warwicks.indiebound.com HAlison Singh Gee at Taste of the Himalayas, 3185 Midway Dr., Point Loma. The award-winning author and journalist discusses her memoir, Where the Peacocks Sing, while guests enjoy an authentic Indian dinner. At 6 p.m. Sunday, June 28, and noon Monday, June 29. $40. 619866-6922, adventuresbythebook.com Michelle Gable at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The author will sign and discuss her bestseller, A Paris Apartment, about a Sotheby’s furniture specialist who finds some interesting treasures in a rich hoarder’s repository.

At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 30. 858-4540347, warwicks.indiebound.com Joe R. Lansdale at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The novelist will sign and discuss Paradise Sky, a fictional memoir about a man who was born a slave before the Civil War but grew up to become the legendary Deadwood Dick. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 30. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com

COMEDY HTyler Oakley at Balboa Theatre, 868 Fourth Ave., Downtown. The sassy and hilarious YouTube personality and LGBT advocate stops by on his “Tyler’s Slumber Party” tour. At 8 p.m. Saturday, June 27. $29.75-$39.75. 619-570-1100, sandiegotheatres.org

FOOD AND DRINK HChefs & Shakers Mash-Up at SummerSalt Rooftop Pool & Lounge, 1047 Fifth Ave., Fourth Floor, Downtown. In celebration of CityBeat’s Drink Issue, a dozen bartender and chef teams will come together to put forth one cohesive pairing utilizing “salt” as their inspiration.

From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, June 25. $30. 619-515-3003, chefsandshakers. bpt.me D Bar Restaurant Beer Pairing Dinner at D Bar San Diego, 3930 Fifth Ave., Hillcrest. D Bar teams up with New English Brewing Co. for a five-course beer-pairing. Thursday, June 25. $50. 619-2993227, nebeerdinner.bpt.me

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 #SDCityBeat

#SDCityBeat

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 17

EVENTS

“Gaslamp By Night” by Scott Murphy is showing in Arts and Amps, a photography exhibition and music event happening from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 27, at Karl Strauss Brewing Company (5985 Sante Fe St., Pacific Beach).

Ramadan Feastival at City Heights Farmers Market, Fairmount Ave. and Wightman St., City Heights. Enjoy traditional foods, games and crafts at this festival that celebrates the Muslim holiday.

From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, June 25. theholidayspot.com Casa Guadalajara 20th Anniversary at Casa Guadalajara, 4105 Taylor St., Old Town. The anniversary celebration will feature a special throwback menu with five favorite dishes that date back to the original menu, each with a 20-percent discount. From 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Thursday, June 25, and Friday, June 26. 619-295-5111, casaguadalajara.com HWine, Cheese and Chocolate Festival at Women’s Museum of California, 2730 Historic Decatur Road, Barracks 16, Point Loma. The eighth annual Women’s Museum fundraiser will feature samplings of wine, cheese and chocolate. San Diego singer Sue Palmer and her Motel Swing Band will provide live entertainment. From 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 26. $30-$100. 619233-7963, womensmuseumca.org Twisted Manzanita Ale’s 5th Anniversary at SILO in Makers Quarter, 753 15th St., East Village. The brewery celebrates with live music, food, beer tastings and the official release of Twisted Manzanita’s first sour. All ticket sales will benefit the EOD Warrior Foundation. From 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, June 27. $50. 619-334-1757, twistedmanzanitaales.com Bourbon BBQ at Vintana Wine and Dine, 1205 Auto Park Way, Escondido. This barbecue buffet will feature bourbon-inspired dishes, a full cash bar serving bourbon cocktails and live music by Valerie and the Smokestacks. From 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 27. $39.95. 760-745-7777, cohnrestaurants.com/vintana HTijuana Street Eats at Turista Libre Meeting Spot, 727 E. San Ysidro Blvd, Tijuana. Turista Libre shows patrons where to score the best of the three T’s of Mexican street eats (tacos, tostadas and tortas). Tickets include roundtrip border transportation, food and dessert at an artisan ice-cream parlor. At 1 p.m. Saturday, June 27. $45. 858-754-9406, turistalibre. com HDistilled: San Diego Spirits & Cocktail Festival at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd. The festival features award-winning spirit and cocktail sampling, bartender competitions and more. Also includes music performances. Saturday, June 27. $39-$125.

858-755-1161, distilledsandiego.com HBeerX Beer & Music Festival at Waterfront Park, 1600 Pacific Highway, Little Italy. 91X’s fest features over 150 craft beers and performances from

18 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

Story of the Year, Alien Ant Farm, Jason Freese and more. From 6 to 10 p.m.

Saturday, June 27. $35-$50. 858-6943030, beerxsandiego.com HBig BBQ at the Ballpark at Petco Park, Park & Imperial, Downtown. Patrons can fill up on dishes from Phil’s BBQ Restaurant and watch the Padres go to bat as part of this fundraiser for Operation Bigs, Big Brothers Big Sisters’ military mentoring program. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday, June 28. $20-$50. 619-546-5390, sdbigs.org/PhilsBigBBQ HTaste of Adams Avenue The 15th annual Taste of Adams Avenue will showcase 30 restaurants, coffee houses and unique eateries. Participating businesses include Kensington Cafe, Blind Lady Ale House, and Sabuku Sushi, among others. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 28. $35$40. 619-282-7329, tasteofadams.com

MUSIC HString Theory at Canvas Gallery, 1150 7th Ave., Downtown. Kristopher Apple will perform his own repertoire of musical works composed in collaboration with artists ranging from choreographers to writers, visual artists and software developers. At 7 p.m. Thursday, June 25. $8.

HFirst Meetings at Space 4 Art, 325 15th St., East Village. The second in a series of concerts that focuses on experimental sound, visual, and performance artists. Opening from 7 to 10 p.m.

Thursday, June 25. facebook.com/ events/468690496618229/ Hollywood Hits at Lafayette Hotel, 2223 El Cajon Blvd., North Park. The Hillcrest Wind Ensemble will perform hit songs from movies spanning seven decades from the 1930s through the 1990s. At 8 p.m. Friday, June 26. $15-$20. 619296-2101, hillcrestwindensemble.com HSummer Fun on the 101 at Leucadia Roadside Park, 860 N Coast Highway 101, Leucadia. A community concert with performances from over 20 bands at various Leucadia Main Street businesses. See website for full details.

From 4 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 26, and noon to 7 p.m. Saturday, June 27. 760-436-2320, leucadia101.com/ events/summer-fun-101/ HA Tribute to the Beach Boys at Embarcadero Marina Park South, 206 Marina Park Way, Downtown. Papa Doo Run Run! has been performing continuously since 1965 and all of the members of the tribute band recorded with The Beach Boys. At 8 p.m. Saturday, June 27. Tickets start at $25. 619-235-0804, purchasing.sandiegosymphony.org HBeating the Border at Border Field State Park, 1500 Monument Rd., San

#SDCityBeat

EVENTS Ysidro. Bring your drum for this crossborder drum circle happening on both sides of the border fence. From 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, June 27.

619-575-3613, facebook.com/ events/1601670340090432/ HSan Diego Mixtape Society at Salt & Cleaver, 3805 Fifth Ave., Hillcrest.

Join fellow music lovers as they swap music at this semi-regular event. Bring a CD or flash drive of the songs that “changed your life” and exchange it with someone else. From 3 to 6 p.m.

Sunday, June 28. 619-756-6677, facebook.com/sdmixtapesociety HJulia Hulsmann Trio at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. The California debut of the Berlinbased trio led by acclaimed pianist Julia Hulsmann, who has been compared to everyone from Bill Evans to The Bad Plus. At 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 28. $26. 858-454-5872, ljathenaeum.org

p.m. Saturday, June 27, and Sunday, June 28. $3. juliangoldrushdays.com HOcean Beach Street Fair and Chili Cook-Off Festival along Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach. The 36th annual festival will feature an oceanfront chili cook-off, nonstop music and entertainment, food and vendor booths, carnival rides and games, an artists’ alley, a beachside beer garden and more. From 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 27. oceanbeachsandiego.com HKidsFest at NTC at Liberty Station, 2640 Historic Decatur Road, Point Loma. San Diego’s largest hands-on creative festival for kids returns with dozens of activities from dancing and playing music to creating artwork and planting produce. From 10 a.m. to 5

p.m. Saturday, June 27, and Sunday, June 28. $12-$20. 619-573-9300, kidsfestsandiego.com HDay of Play at Olivewood Gardens & Learning Center, 2505 N. Ave., National City. Attendees can participate in handson activities like cooking, gardening, crafting, playing games and more. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 27.

619-434-4281, olivewoodgardens.org/ DayofPlay/registration HSan Diego Vintage Flea Market at Observatory North Park, 2891 University Avenue, North Park. Hundreds of vendors show off interesting vintage or vintageinspired treasures including home furnishings, bric-a-brac, clothing and accessories, tiki-infused items and much more.

From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 28.

619-361-5173, sdvintagefleamarket.com Steampunk Tea at Geisel Library, UCSD campus, La Jolla. Patrons can sip light refreshments, listen to chamber music from steampunk-inspired instruments and explore various works of steampunk literature. From 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, June 28. 858-775-4269, library.ucsd.edu HCraft & Draft Halfway to X-mas at Blind Lady Ale House, 3416 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Take advantage of the 180-some-odd shopping days left ‘til the holiday season by checking out some local artists and crafters. Participants include Boy Girl Party, Ceramic Heights, Loa Designs and many more. From 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 28. 619255-2491

TALKS AND DISCUSSIONS Silk, Spices and Shipwrecks at San Diego Museum of Art, Balboa Park. Hilda van Neck-Yoder will lead a lecture on how Dutch artists in the 17th century were fascinated by the riches and wonders found in Asia at the time. At 1 p.m. Thursday, June 25. Free-$12. 619-232-7931, sdmart.org HInternational Black Dolls at Mingei International Museum, Balboa Park. A talk on black dolls from around the world with Professor Chuck Ambers, curator and founder of the African American Casa del Rey Moro. From 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 26. $7-$10. 619-239-0003, mingei.org

HIDEAS Performance: Generative Audio Visual Media at Atkinson Hall Auditorium, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla.

The second performance of the Qualcomm Institute’s IDEAS season will feature this audio-visual work by composer and UCSD student Paul Hembree. From 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, June 29. 858-8225307, ideas.ucsd.edu

PERFORMANCE HCirquetacular Cirquetacular at Don Powell Theatre, 5500 Campanile Drive, College Area. The Circus Collective of San Diego tells the story of a group of bohemian artists seeking one last chance to put on a successful theatrical production. This performance will integrate traditional circus arts with singing, dancing and theater. At 7 p.m. Saturday, June 27. $15-$20. 619-594-6884, circuscollectivesd.com

POETRY AND SPOKEN WORD HVAMP: Wedding Season at Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St, South Park. So Say We All’s monthly live storytelling show will feature some of the finest and cringeworthiest stories of state-sanctioned romance. At 8:30 p.m. Thursday, June 25. $5 suggested donation. 619-2846784, sosayweallonline.com HPoetic Libations III at Border X Brewing Tasting Room, 2196 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. The open mic poetry series organized by Semillas Cenyeliztli will feature North County poet Sonia Gutierrez. From 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, June 25. 619-787-6176, facebook.com/ PoeticLibations/

SPECIAL EVENTS HSan Diego County Fair at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. It’s time again to ride some rides, play some games and, best of all, stuff your face with a bizarre variety of deep-fried food. Through July 5. Various times. Free$15. 858-755-1161, sdfair.com HSummer Shopping Soiree at Bash!

Event Boutique, 3821 32nd St., North Park. A multi-vendor pop-up shop with talented vendors and artisans specializing in jewelry, clothes, accessories and more. From 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, June 25. 619-363-1336, thebashboutique.com HJulian Gold Rush Days at Julian Town Hall, 2129 Main St., Julian. This annual fest offers a weekend of entertainment including gold panning, historic skits, candle dipping, an arts and crafts market, food and drink, a petting zoo, children’s pioneer games and much more. From 10 a.m. to 5

#SDCityBeat

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 19

EVENTS

THEATER

PHOTO COURTESY OF ION THEATRE

Cashae Monya stars in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill

Lady sings and speaks the blues

I

The good-natured confusion about who the somebodies are, coupled with a likable cast, distinguishes this Moonlight show. Too many of the Elvis songs, on the other hand, come off as watered down, with only ballads like “Follow That Dream” a good fit for the story. Interestingly enough as well for a show channeling Elvis, the most electric performances are delivered by actresses Vonetta Mixson, Tracy Lore and Christine Hewitt.

All Shook Up runs through June 27 at the Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista. $24-$52. moonlightstage.com

on Theatre’s transformation of its adjacent URBN CENTR 4THE ARTS into a faded South Philly bar in the late ’50s provides an intimate candlelit setting for the gifted Cashae Monya’s performance as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. The 80-minute production isn’t technically a one-person show— musical director Brandon Sherman, as keyboardist Jimmy Powers, accompanies Monya from the shadows. But you’ll never take your eyes off Monya, who may not have the singing voice of Lady Day (come on, who does?), yet does justice —David L. Coddon to signature Holiday songs including “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” “God Bless the Child” Theater reviews run weekly. and “Don’t Explain.” More impressive, Monya’s Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com. portrayal of a sick—and sick at heart—Holiday performing during the last year of her life is periOPENING: odically sweet and sad.

Stories of the Sun Café: An original play about growing The focus of Lanie Robertson’s 2014 play, up Chinese or Japanese in 1940s San Diego. Presented by which starred Audra McDonald on Broadway, is Asian Story Theater, it opens June 25 for four performances at the Lyceum Space in Horton Plaza. asianstorytheater.org not on Holiday’s distinctive vocalizing but rather on her aching, sometimes rambling reminiscenc- Always…Patsy Cline: The musical story of the leges about a life marred by racism, substance abuse endary country singer and her unlikely friendship with and even brief imprisonment. Monya’s dramati- a fan named Louise Segar. It opens June 26 at OnStage Playhouse in Chula Vista. onstageplayhouse.org zation is chilling.

Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill runs through Charlotte’s Web: The timeless story of a really smart spiJuly 4 at ion theatre’s URBN CNTR 4THE ARTS der and a pig that’s just trying his best not to get eaten.

Presented by San Diego Junior Theatre, it opens June 26 in Hillcrest. $15-$35. iontheatre.com

at Casa del Prado Theatre in Balboa Park. juniortheatre.org

I

* * *

n spite of its inclusion of 25 songs made famous

by Elvis Presley, the jukebox musical All Shook Up is about as King-like as those innocuous movies Elvis made in the ’60s, like Tickle Me and Girl Happy. This Joe DiPetro-written show draws much more on its other inspiration, Shakespeare’s comedy of romancing and masquerading, Twelfth Night. Everybody loves (or lusts) for somebody sometime in All Shook Up, which kicks off Moonlight Stage Production’s 2015 summer season.

20 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

Alas, Poor Yorick: A staged reading of Del Mar playwright Gary Seger’s “prequel” to Hamlet. Presented by the San Diego Shakespeare Society and the La Jolla Theatre Ensemble, it happens June 30 and July 3 at the La Jolla Community Center. ljcommunitycenter.org Kiss Me, Kate: A musical rom-com about a Shakespearean touring company with so much drama backstage, the Bard himself would be jealous. It opens July 1 at The Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. theoldglobe.org

For full listings, please visit “Theater” at sdcitybeat.com

#SDCityBeat

Culture | Art

Seen Local ghostly collaborations

H

arry Mathews and Don Porcella are in sync.

The former, an oil painter who died more than 15 years ago, occupied the same detached garage in Lemon Grove that Porcella currently uses as his studio.

“Harry engineered all this,” Porcella says, walking through the garage and pointing out objects like a handmade fan, wooden doorstops and a papertowel holder. “And if they weren’t here already, I might’ve built the same exact stuff.”

Porcella appreciates his predecessor’s penchant for making things by hand. His own work celebrates handicraft and folk art. Luckily, his landlord recognized the similarities in the two artists’ tastes and asked Porcella if he wanted to dig through the packed garage before it was cleared out. He absolutely did.

“At first I found this cup that had his name, Harry, on it and in the cup were these glasses,” Porcella says, gesturing toward the vintage frames sitting atop his nose. “They’re my perfect prescription. I was blown away.”

Inspired by the connection he feels to Mathews, Porcella is making new work that he considers a collaboration with the ghost of the dead oil painter.

He’ll be doing a series of mixed-media pieces using things he’s discovered in the garage—an altered gas can, for example, and Mathews’ rusty old nails ham-

mered into the shape of a portrait on an old wooden board. The work will be in his solo show, Shapeshifter, opening at Low Gallery (1878 Main St., Barrio Logan), from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, June 26.

The exhibition is a bit of a coming-home show for Porcella. The artist went to UC San Diego before heading off to San Francisco and eventually New York where he finished his higher education and quickly found success in the art world. He moved back to the region with his wife, Ginger Shulick Porcella, when she was hired as the executive director of the San Diego Art Institute last year.

Best known for his comical, pop-culture-inspired sculptures meticulously crafted from lowbrow materials, the exhibition is titled Shapeshifter because Porcella’s work takes on so many forms. The Ma t h e w s - i n s p i re d kinsee morlan pieces, for instance, will be shown next to an oversized New Balance shoe and other soft sculptures made of pipe cleaners, his improvised encaustic paintings and lefthanded drawings (the artist is right-handed but likes the contorted effect). There’ll also be an installation element that he’s still conceptualizing.

As a whole, PorDon Porcella cella’s work fits comfortably inside the categorization of “outsider art,” yet by allowing himself to chase various whims and inspirations—like Mathews’ ghost in the garage—it often means that no one, not even the artist himself, knows exactly what sort of work he’ll make next.

“I like the idea of mixing it up,” he says. “I never want to become a slave to any one style.”

stacy keck

HEAVY METAL

O

ne could assume that every San Diegan has seen the work of Christopher Puzio at some point, even if they don’t know his name. The metal sculptor’s work is seemingly everywhere these days, from the shores of Harbor Island to, most recently, a commissioned piece at the North Park Post Office building. When the downtown Central Library approached him to showcase some works at the rooftop Valeiras Sculpture Garden, he says they likely thought it would be more of a survey show featuring works he’d already completed. After all, he’s a busy guy.

“They told me to do whatever I want and I never hear that,” Puzio says, laughing. “I only had about three months to get some stuff together. I had some work already that I could show there, but I felt it was all stuff that people had seen before so I wanted to do a new series. We were able to get three done.”

The three aluminum pieces—“Bishop,” “Morocco” and “Jacob’s Staff”—were unveiled at the Sculpture Garden on June 20 and will be on display for a year. All three are large and done in Puzio’s signature style—the artist uses repeated geometric shapes to create intertwined and intermingled patterns that are both uniform and individually distinct when viewed up close.

“It’s consistent, but there’s a clear evolution,” says Puzio, when asked how the new pieces differ from his previous sculptures.

#SDCityBeat

—Kinsee Morlan

Christopher Puzio with “Bishop” Inspired by recent visits to Joshua Tree and Sierra Nevada mountain regions, the new work attempts to explore themes of “biological growth and organization,” which seems well-suited for the outdoor space.

“It wasn’t a direct response to the space, but with three months and a limited budget, I think they totally work in there,” he says.

Puzio will work through the summer to complete two more pieces to add to the Sculpture Garden in September. His proposal for a site-specific sculpture at the public library in Alpine was also recently approved.

—Seth Combs June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 21

Culture | Film

After hours New sex comedy is profound about modern insecurity

by Glenn Heath Jr.

S

ome might argue that bad sex is better than no sex at all. The Overnight begs to differ, opening with a revealing scene that shows just how The Overnight compromised the joys of intimacy can become after years of recycled habits. Thirty-something couple less (and funny) romp that seeks to free its characAlex (Adam Scott) and Emily (Taylor Schilling) whis- ters from emotional and physical repetition. All of per strained sweet nothings to each other as they the shenanigans taking place work toward this goal, awkwardly tussle between the sheets, all the while whether it’s the couples’ skinny-dipping escapade trying not to wake up their young son in the other punctuated by full frontal male nudity or the scanroom. It’s all so rushed and stressful, like watching dalous side trip to a shady massage parlor. Such extwo runners battle for position during a race. Let’s periences might not always be comfortable, but they awaken a much-needed vitality. just say nobody finishes first.

Many of the film’s charms stem from the perforAlex and Emily haven’t fallen out of love, per se, but have fallen into a psychological rut. Having just mances themselves. All four actors trade fleet verbal moved to Los Angeles from Seattle, the couple wor- barbs in batty dialogue sequences that showcase ries that they won’t be able to make friends or stake the joys of comedic timing and slapstick. Schilling, known for her lead role on the out an identity as a family. While Netflix show Orange is the New visiting the local neighborhood Black, might be the most surprispark they meet a strange but althe ing revelation. Her Emily could luring hipster father of another overnight have easily been a heightened young boy. Kurt (Jason SchwartzDirected by Patrick Brice and irrational stereotype, but man) instantly extends a magnetic Jason Schwartzman, the actress manages to oscillate welcome, inviting Alex and Embetween multiple different emoTaylor Schilling, Adam Scott, ily over for dinner that very same tions depending on the moment. and Judith Godrèche night. Impulsively, they accept.

Schwartzman and Godrèche are Rated R Upon arriving at the posh villa also especially good, embodying Kurt owns with his French wife a uniquely strange and conflicted Charlotte (Judith Godrèche), couple that is far more complex Alex and Emily feel instantly at home thanks to their host’s generosity and charisma. It’s almost too good than their sunny façade suggests.

The Overnight, which opens Friday, June 26, ends to be true. Alcohol and conversations flow easily.

Then come the drugs, nudity and eventual tempta- with a surprisingly tender and honest sex scene that tion. What seems like an initially tame night of adult nicely contrasts with the manic prologue. For the interaction turns into a much wilder and possibly first time, it’s not about the orgasmic end result, but getting lost in the process of feeling sexy again. Sure, life-changing descent into lunacy for both couples.

The Overnight subverts our expectations within the realities of parenthood and middle age are still this very familiar construct. At first, we think this is loudly present, but Brice makes it a point to show Alex and Emily’s movie, a portrait of a boring mar- these people figuring out how to exist within both riage in subtle disrepair that experiences a momen- worlds on their own terms.

For Alex, Emily, Kurt and Charlotte, emotional tary resurgence after spending time with Kurt and Charlotte. But director Patrick Brice quickly turns collaboration means taking on the stresses and presthe story into a mosaic, detailing individual desires sures of your partner’s hang-ups head on without and insecurities for each couple that threaten to un- judgment. The Overnight sees this as a universal refdermine the “stability” usually associated with long- erence point. They are who they are, and that’s okay.

term relationships.

That the film doesn’t see this thematic notion Film reviews run weekly. as full-blown tragedy is a testament to its hopeful Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com. and progressive nature. Never painted as satire or critique, The Overnight instead functions as a seam-

Rambling man

D

avid Gordon Green’s Manglehorn drifts aimlessly wherever it pleases, like a ship with no need for a sail. It’s the kind of movie that challenges our understanding of narrative by disavowing all of the rules we’ve been programmed to expect. This makes for a messy, bonkers experience, one that parallels the rambling inner conflict of its lead.

Gruff and grumpy, Al Pacino

22 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

stars as A.J. Manglehorn, a droopy locksmith living alone in a rural Texas town.

He owns a quaint brick-andmortar operation but spends much of his time making house calls to stranded motorists who’ve locked themselves out of their car. Much of Manglehorn’s conflict stems from his pining for a long lost love named Clara, a woman who’s never seen but always felt.

Regret dominates the char-

Manglehorn acters’ perspective, but Green doesn’t let him descend into morose apathy. Many of the aesthetic choices (slow motion,

#SDCityBeat

Culture | Film super imposition, drowsy music cues) lovingly complement the way Manglehorn has normalized a false version of unrequited love.

This is more complicated a view than your normal male pity party.

Some may resist Manglehorn’s odd sensibilities and tonal shifts; at one point a quiet walk through the park bleeds into a tracking shot covering a massive car accident littered with smashed watermelons. Green evokes the absurdity and chaos of a similarly memorable scene in Jean-Luc Godard’s Week-end.

This feels lovingly free from your run-of-the-mill indie fare, singular in tone and scope. Pacino’s oddly affecting performance is one of his best in a decade, with Green giving the legendary actor room to create a character mired in numbing discomfort.

Manglehorn, which opens Friday, June 26, at the Digital Gym Cinema, is the rare film that treats the dilemmas of older people with respect, never shying away from the fact that they can be equally as conflicted and tormented as pubescent teenagers.

—Glenn Heath, Jr.

Opening A Little Chaos: During the reign of King Louis XIV, two landscape artists fall in love while designing portions of Versailles.

Starring Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman, Stanley Tucci, and Matthias Schoenaerts.

Escobar: Paradise Lost: Benicio del Toro stars as drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, whose young niece becomes romantically entangled with an American surfer played

by Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games).

Fresh Dressed: Hip-hop and fashion collide in this pop culture documentary that celebrates the merging of art forms and culture. Screens through Thursday, July 2, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park Infinitely Polar Bear: Mark Ruffalo plays a manic-depressive father who finally decides to get his act together and begin raising his two spirited daughters.

Manglehorn: Al Pacino plays an elderly locksmith who roams around his rural Texas town reminiscing about the love of his life who left him decades before. Screens through Thursday, July 2, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Max: After helping U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, a dog returns to his handler’s family after suffering a traumatic experience.

Ted 2: The thunder buddies return for another dose of vulgarity, boozing, and hilarity.

The Connection: Jean Dujardin stars as a French police officer who spends years trying to track and arrest one of the country’s most notorious drug traffickers.

The Overnight: A family new to Los Angeles gets a wild introduction during a “play date” with another family.

One Time Only Saboteur: Alfred Hitchcock’s 1942 thriller finds an aircraft factory worker on the run after being wrongly accused of murder

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and arson. Screens at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, June 25 and 26, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

children learn about the world from their massive movie collection in Crystal Moselle’s documentary.

Two Bits: Directed by James Foley, this drama takes place in South Philadelphia circa 1933, where a young boy lives with his widowed mother and grouchy grandpa (played by Al Pacino). Screens at 7 p.m. Friday, June 26, at The Lafayette Hotel in North Park.

Jurassic World: Velociraptors in mirror are closer than they appear.

The Breakfast Club: John Hughes deconstructs the high school hierarchy by throwing five diverse students into a room and forcing them to see each other for the first time. Screens at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 27 and 28 at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

The Fountain: Darren Aronofsky directs this wildly imaginative Sci-fi film about a scientist (Hugh Jackman) attempting to find a cure for his cancer-stricken wife.

Screens at 7 p.m. Monday, June 29, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Henry V: Laurence Olivier’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s play about the English king who wanted to conquer France.

Screens at 8:15 p.m. Monday, June 29, at The Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park.

Handsome Harry: A longtime Navy man breaks the code of silence about a crime after carrying out the last wish of a dying shipmate. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 29 at the San Diego Central Library in East Village.

Fading Gigolo: Hilarity ensues when Woody Allen convinces John Turturro to become a gigolo for older, unsatisfied women. Screens at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 30, at the Point Loma / Hervey Branch Library.

Top Gun: Take me to bed or lose me forever. Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 1, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

now playing Dope: Malcolm escapes his tough neighborhood by attending an underground party that leads him and his friends on a Los Angeles adventure.

Every Last Child: Tom Roberts’ documentary addresses the current health crisis in Pakistan where children are contracting polio at an alarming rate. Opens Friday, June 19, at the Reading Gaslamp Cinemas.

Hunting Elephants: After a bullied young teen reconnects with his grandfather and uncle, the trio decides to solve their financial problems by robbing a bank. Opens Friday, June 19, at AMC Mission Valley Cinemas.

Inside Out: Pixar goes inside the mind of a twelve-year-old girl and finds something ethereal, resonant and powerful.

La Sapienza: The marvels of European architecture provide the backdrop for this drama about an older couple trying to salvage their marriage. Screens through Thursday, June 25, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Llévate Mis Amores: This documentary offers an intense look at the plight of those crossing the U.S. / Mexico border by train, and the people who try to make their journey slightly less difficult.

Screens through Thursday, June 25, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Live from New York: This documentary goes behind the scenes of an American television institution: Saturday Night Live.

Results: Andrew Bujalski’s sweetly offbeat romantic comedy features Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders as personal trainers whose relationship gets complicated after a new client (Kevin Corrigan) comes into the picture.

Entourage: The popular HBO show about a movie star and his childhood friends making it big in Hollywood gets the big-screen treatment.

Testament of Youth: Vera Brittain’s WWI memoir is told from the perspective of a woman seeing the futility of war for the first time.

Aloft: A conflicted single mother turned mystic must come to grips with the decisions she makes that will affect her children well into the future.

Insidious: Chapter 3: Round three in the ongoing battle between white suburbia and the supernatural hereafter. Go! Love & Mercy: Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys gets the biopic treatment in a story that covers pivotal moments in the 1960s and 1980s. Starring Paul Dano and John Cusack.

Spy: Melissa McCarthy steps out from behind the desk and into the field in this spy comedy from director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids).

When Marnie Was There: The latest animation from the legendary Studio Ghibli tells the story of a shy young girl who meets the young occupant of a mysterious mansion.

Aloha: Cameron Crowe tries to resuscitate his career with this long-delayed (not a good sign) drama about a military man based in Hawaii trying to rediscover love.

San Andreas: “What a disaster.”

—Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

In the Name of My Daughter: André Téchiné’s melodrama is set in the South of France and follows the sordid relationships of a casino owner (Catherine Deneuve) and her daughter.

Poltergeist: In this remake, the youngest daughter of a suburban family is captured by ghosts, leaving her family scrambling for ways to rescue her.

Tomorrowland: George Clooney and Britt Robertson star in Brad Bird’s space adventure about a young girl who finds a ring that opens up an alternate universe.

Saint Laurent: A strange and beguiling biopic about the famous French fashion designer, Yves Saint Laurent, portrayed with unflinching vulnerability by Gaspard Ulliel. Bertrand Bonello directs.

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Jumped Out the Window and Disappeared: An elderly man escapes his nursing home immediately before his 100th birthday hoping to rekindle his sense of adventure.

Felix and Meira: Two lost souls attempt to find a romantic connection despite the obstacles presented by the neighborhood they inhabit.

Love at First Fight: Two French twentysomethings meet, fight and fall in love in this Cannes Film Festival award-winner.

Screens through Thursday, June 25, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

For a complete listing

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: The title really says it all. Get ready for some precious cinephile self-reflection.

sdcitybeat.com under

The Wolfpack: Sequestered in an expansive and dank apartment, the Angulo

of movies, please see

“Film Screenings” at the “E vents” tab.

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 23

24 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

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t wasn’t hard to find volunteers willing to go out to their favorite watering hole and ask the bartender for something unusual or off-the-menu (pages 32-34). Who knew you could get a great Margarita at The Casbah?

Or, that the new Park & Rec can fashion a Presbyterian cocktail that’ll help you find Jesus?

In looking around town for other Unusual Suspects for the annual Drink Issue, we took a big sip of the up-andcoming craft spirits community (page 30). Of course we covered craft beer, and in this section you’ll meet CityBeat’s new male/female tandem of suds columnists (pages 36-38). And wait, didja know you could attend a Padres game at Petco Park and sip wines that don’t come in a box (page 40)?

Enjoy the special section. And if you get tipsy turning the pages, get a designated driver for the ride home. Somebody like columnist Alex Zaragoza, who mourns/celebrates her life passage from cocktails to mocktails (page 42).

THE DRINK ISSUE / SPIRITS

T

ony Grillo knew he was taking a chance. The co-founder of Malahat Spirits (malahatspirits.com) and his partners (Tom Bleakley and Ken Lee) had decided to build a tasting room in their Miramar distillery to show off their line of artisanal, small-batch rums. They even hired a highly respected designer (Michael Soriano) to create the space. The problem was that Grillo didn’t even know if they’d legally be allowed to serve their product.

“When we started this, there was no law that would allow us to have a presentation room like this, but we knew that the law was being voted on in Sacramento,” says Grillo, speaking about Assembly Bill 933, which was passed and signed into law in September 2013, and allowed liquor artisans in California to serve tastings of their products much like wineries and breweries have been allowed to do for decades.

“We took a gamble that the presentation room laws would change and they did just before we opened our tasting room at the beginning of 2014.”

Malahat is just one of the local distilleries that has taken advantage of the passage of AB 933. Almost half a dozen spirit companies, serving a wide variety of booze, have added tasting rooms to their existing facilities.

They’re still not legally allowed to sell patrons a bottle of what they’ve just tasted (you could blame the liquor store lobby for that) and the samples

30 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

The Malahat Spirits Company tasting room are decidedly small (a quarter-ounce serving and limited to six samples; the equivalent of about a shot and a half per tasting).

But it has brought some attention to a local artisan spirits scene that, for the most part, has remained under the radar.

“It’s definitely a lot more difficult than the beer game,” says Michael Skubic, founder and head distiller at the East Village-based Old Harbor Distilling Company (oldharbordistilling.com), which specializes in limited batch gin, rum and coffee liquor. “Even the fire codes are more difficult than having a brewery.”

Skubic knows a little something about the craft drink movement. The now 28year-old helped found Mike Hess Brewing back when he was still a student at Point Loma Nazarene University. While he still has a soft spot for the beer trade, he admits that the local beer market seems a little “tighter” these days. He likens the spirits push to the early days of the craft beer movement, when there was a much more communal vibe and not as much competitiveness.

“I think I sent the first email to help start the San Diego Distillers Guild and said something like, ‘Hey, there’s a decent amount of us now, let’s band together to raise the tide instead of hav-

ing a lobsters-in-a-bucket-type situation,” says Skubic, who started Old Harbor in 2013. “If everybody is producing a good product, then we can all smile together.”

Even so, breweries are also getting in on the action. Twisted Manzanita (twistedmanzanitaspirits.com) and Ballast Point (ballastpoint.com) are both brewing up more than beer in their respective Santee and Miramar locations. Both companies offer whiskies and “moonshine” (Writer’s note: I put “moonshine” in quotes because I’m a southerner and, well, where I’m from we don’t call something that’s 98 proof “moonshine.” We call it “diluted”).

Ballast Point in particular is diving head first into the spirits game by also offering two brands of gin, three brands of rum, and an herbal liqueur that’s similar to Fernet. Ballast even offers Bloody Mary and Mai Tai cocktail mixers, which are already starting to get premium shelf space in local liquor stores.

Still, when it comes to marketing and branding, all these companies know that its getting people to taste their products that’s key to getting customers to buy a bottle at retail. Most people aren’t gong to spend $30 or more on a premium liquor, artisanal or not, if there’s another premium brand that’s cheaper and familiar. And while the new tasting rooms and festival appearances will certainly help, Skubic knows that bartenders and mixologists are the real key to people trying his product.

“What I’ve started to see recently is bartenders actually caring a little more about using the local product,” says Skubic. “I still think we’re very early on in that game, but hopefully that will be something that’ll shake out similar to the beer industry.”

Ballast Point Fugu Habanero: Most flavored or infused vodkas suck, but this smooth and spicy concoction is dangerous in more ways than one. It’ll make you cough (in a good way) and it’s filtered through diamonds, so there’s that.

Malahat Spiced Rum: It has the body and texture of a white rum, but it’s made from imported molasses so it’s dark and sweet enough to give you cavities.

Kill Devil Ugly California Moonshine: The name is definitely tongue-in-cheek. It’s not exactly the moonshine bootleggers used to make, but rather something more like vodka with a slight kick in the teeth.

Old Harbor San Miguel Southwestern Gin: With hints of lime, cucumber and cilantro, it lacks the astringent, medicinal quality that many consider to be typical of the juniper-based spirit. It just might win over non-believers.

Twisted Manzanita Rebellious Rye Whiskey: The small batch hooch aged in port barrels has hints of caramel and vanilla, but with a peppery kick. Smooth, but still hair-on-your-chest strong.

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#SDCityBeat

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 31

THE DRINK ISSUE / cocktails

Michelle Willard and The Presbyterian

The Presbyterian

When you’re someone of somewhat finnicky taste, finding the perfect cocktail can be tough. Luckily craft cocktail bartenders are booze magicians that can create a drink for picky taste buds.

Michelle Willard tends bar at University Heights’ Park & Rec (4612 Park Blvd.).

While their menu caters to most boozehounds, finding an off-the-menu gem just takes a teeny bit of Sherlocking.

“Usually a customer gets excited about the prospect of having a cocktail specifically catered to their flavor profile. I ask some questions to try and provide them something delicious they may be craving,” says

Willard. “Any good craft cocktail bartender just wants to make you happy.”

Like a much cooler, more attractive troll under the bridge, Willard asked these three questions: What spirit do you like?

Are you looking for something more direct (i.e. boozy like an old fashioned) or citrusy?

If you want citrus, do you want something light and refreshing or fruity?

My answers: Gin, vodka or rye, citrus and no fruitiness. I was rewarded with a Presbyterian, a bright, slightly spicy concoction made with rye, fresh lime juice, fresh ginger and soda. You can ask for it at the bar or have Willard play matchmaker with your taste buds.

—Alex Zaragoza

First Truth

In my head, the loyal regulars at George’s at the Cove (1250 Prospect St.) in La Jolla unabashedly wear white pants after Labor Day and boat shoes without socks year-round.

That doesn’t really sound like someone I’d want to have a drink with, but it’s those dedicated devotees’ zest for a good refreshing cocktail that’s made First Truth available to folks like me, who hit up the swanky restaurant and bar on special occasions. A mix of bourbon, angostura bitters, ginger, mint, soda and handmade strawberry shrub syrup, the off-the-menu drink is deliciously light and likeable—a crowd-pleaser that almost anyone with properly functioning taste buds will dig. “First Truth” is the brainchild of head mixologist Stephen Kurpinsky, who always makes sure the cocktails on and off the menu at George’s are as creative and exciting as the innovative food coming out of the kitchen.

—Kinsee Morlan Stephen Kurpinsky and First Truth

32 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

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June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 33

THE DRINK ISSUE / cocktails The Archangel

It’s dangerous to ask a bartender about off-the-menu drinks. You’re basically giving them permission to divert from the menu and indulge unhindered. They get excited, and when bartenders get excited, you get drunk.

Take Ryan Koontz, a bartender at El Dorado (1030 Broadway), for example. The East Village bar’s rotating menu is already unique and thorough to the point of intimidation, but that doesn’t stop the skilled cocktail slinger from adding personal twists and variations to classic recipes. When asked about off-the-menu drinks, Koontz offered up his own variation on the whiskey sour, which included hand-made falernum, and fresh mint.

My favorite, however, was the variation on the archangel—a drink that’s beautiful in its simplicity. Normally consisting of gin, Aperol and cucumber, Koontz’s variation replaced the gin with mezcal. It’s the prettiest, most dignified way to burn a hole in your throat and put hair on your chest.

—Ryan Bradford

The Gunslinger

This perfectly crafted take on the classic Bloody Mary isn’t exactly off-the-menu. North Park’s Bluefoot Bar & Lounge (3404 30th St.) doesn’t have a menu aside from a chalkboard above the bar, listing the day’s specials.

Still, I’d like to think The Gunslinger was one of the reasons that Bluefoot was recently recognized in an FA Cup Championships soccer program as one of the best U.S. bars to watch international soccer games (most of those games start before 9 a.m., the perfect time for a good Bloody Mary). It’s also the reason I’m there every Sunday to watch NFL games. Bartender Dana Chavarria makes his own “salsa” mixer using jalapeños, serranos, onions and a smorgasbord of other ingredients. He doesn’t top it with bacon or salad bar fixings to mask the weak taste (a couple olives will do), nor does he have to. The Gunslinger is a meal unto itself and one that’ll wake you up faster than your mama getting you ready for school.

—Seth Combs

The Bee’s Knees

Left to my own unimaginative devices at a bar, I’ll order a gin on the rocks, garnished with an olive. During a recent visit to Bankers Hill Bar & Restaurant (2202 Fourth Ave.), however, I was being regaled by bartender Keaton Matz about a gin drink that was both sweet and fiery. So I went for the offmenu Bee’s Knees. It has an Ancho Reyes Chili liqueur back to it, and a little bit of honey and lemon. The gin they use is from Barr Hill, and it also has a hint of honey in it. It’s served over thinly-crushed ice. Just a couple weeks ago, a cast member from Motown The Musical was in the bar after finishing that night’s gig at The Civic Theatre (which is roughly six blocks away). She had a couple glasses of wine, and was looking for a cocktail for dessert. She raved, I’m told, over the Bee’s Knees. I took a sip of one, channeled Berry Gordy, and pronounced it a hit.

—Ron Donoho

Go to The Casbah (2501 Kettner Blvd.) in Midtown on a Saturday night, at a sold out show, and you’ll witness a sophisticated ballet of beer flowing from taps, cash slapping down on the bartop and people on either side of the transaction shouting “Whaaaaat?!!” There’s a system to it—you pay cash, you order something simple, and you get back to the music as fast as you can. You wouldn’t think to order a Margarita— that would throw a hefty wrench into this well-oiled machine, right? Well, the person behind you might have to wait a little bit longer, but bartender and part-owner Ben Johnson actually makes a damn good one if you’ve got a few extra seconds to spare. Made with Cazadores tequila, Triple Sec, lime juice, dashes of sweet and sour and orange juice, salt and lime on the rocks, it’s a no-nonsense ‘rita.

The orange juice is the secret—it adds that extra splash of flavor and je ne sais quoi in this tasty, lime-forward cocktail.

—Jeff Terich

34 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

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candice eley

The Casbah Margarita

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June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 35

THE DRINK ISSUE / BEER

CityBeat’s two new beer columnists are Andrew Dyer and Beth Demmon. It won’t be “He Said; She Said,” but they will keep us hopping each week with alternating updates from the local suds scene.

NOVO BRAZIL: SOUTH BAY RISING

by Andrew Dyer

S

outh Bay beer geeks are notoriously short on brewery options. The region has been a brewery desert since the underwhelm� ����������� ing Eastlake Brew House closed in 2012. Despite being San Diego County’s second-largest city, Chula Vista has been completely ignored by local craft beer heavyweights. Watching tasting rooms and brewpubs crowd into trendy neighborhoods and northern suburbs, South Bay residents could only scratch their heads.

They are ignored no longer. Open now one month, Novo Brazil (901 Lane Ave.) offers an expanding array of beers with bigger and better things on the horizon.

The first challenge in visiting Novo Brazil is finding the door. The entrance to the brew� ery is a garage next to Trek bicycle shop. The neighbors, apparently accustomed to lost beer pilgrims, directed me there.

The brewery is immaculate—14 polished, stainlesssteel fermenters soar to the rafters while the fa� miliar smells of yeast and bleach greet the nostrils.

The tasting room has room for moderate crowds but does not serve food. The night I went there was a food truck; a bartender said it’s part of a rotation of trucks that arrive with varying degrees of reliability.

36 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

There were 12 beers on-tap, including four Belgians, the standout of these being a barrelfermented Quad. The tasty Cookie Muncher imperial brown delivered 11.5 ABVs and 90.3 IBUs. La Playa Lager, brewed with Citra hops, was bright, crisp and delicious. My favorite was their Russian Imperial Stout, dubbed “Grand Crude,” which stands shoulder-to-shoulder with any local big-bodied brew. glaring omission andrew dyer The from their line-up was an IPA. Although there was a session IPA on-tap, I���������������������� was looking for ����� some� thing bigger. Their first IPA, named Otay, was not up to snuff and was pulled. Another hoppier IPA is due out soon, and a red IPA is to follow.

Special releases and barrel-aged offerings are also in the works. Novo Brazil begins distributing to bars and restaurants Novo Brazil in early July, and the bottling line begins production in late summer.

With more than 100 breweries, it’s hard to say where Novo Brazil fits into the craft scene in San Diego. They’re not exactly home-grown and aren’t following the local trend of over-hopped, hyperaggressive beers. But with their quality brews, stateof-the-art facility, deep pockets and no competition for miles, they are poised to establish something very different, and maybe very good, in Chula Vista.

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June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 37

THE DRINK ISSUE / BEER

modern times goes coconuts

by Beth Demmon

I

f you’ve ever poured or been poured a hefty stout, you’ve probably heard the phrase “thick as motor oil,” a fairly standard description for a viscous, powerful, commanding brew.

However, in the two years since they opened their doors, Modern Times (3000 Upas St.) hasn’t generally subscribed to the typical adjectives for any of their beers, and their latest coconut-infused Monsters’ Park is no exception.

Aged in Caribbean rum barrels and vamped up with a hearty helping of coconut, this brand new imperial stout is equally large (12 percent ABV), yet sensually sweeter to the original “hulking, cantankerous” counterpart. Its color more closely resembles a high grade of dark maple syrup with the same cloying tongue tang that’ll keep you coming back for more.

It’s only one of the upcoming five Caribbean rum barrel aged releases, but it’s sure to be a crowd pleaser for anyone who enjoys a tropical twist to their beer. Plus at 12 percent, it’s the perfect beer to share with a friend, or even make it a threesome!

Like anything worth enjoying, this version of Monsters’ Park is worth getting warmed up to reach maximum climax. The first sip is pure coconut, and if it were to stay at this air-freshener level sweetness for the entire bottle, then Houston, we’d have a problem.

Luckily, each successive slosh tapers down from syrupy aromatics toward notes of dark cherry rum, ultimately resulting in a remarkably well-balanced experience for an imperial stout.

It’s huge in a comforting way, more of a gentle giant than overpowering colossus that’ll knock you flat on your ass. At worst it’ll give you a bit of a spanking, but with a body like this, you’ll probably just bite your lip and let it happen.

Well-balanced or not, expect your final exhalations to give off just a twinge of fire, reminding you that after six months inside a rum-soaked oak barrel,

38 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

beth dennon

Modern Times’ Monsters’ Park imperial stout this beer is all grown up and ready to party. Feel free to bring your own drink umbrella; I sincerely doubt they’ll be provided at either über-hip location.

Don’t bother looking for this special release in stores, or even at Modern Times itself as of yet. The series sold out faster than Comic-Con tickets and pickup for the lucky ticket holders runs through August 4th at the Point Loma Fermentorium (3725 Greenwood Street). Anything not claimed by then will be released back to the brewery—but if you didn’t manage to snag a bottle, maybe you can sweet talk your way into a taster from one of your luckier coconut loving friends.

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June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 39

THE DRINK ISSUE / WINE

bottle

By Jen Van Tieghem

Rocket Take me out to the ballgame— for wine

C

onfession: I’m not a baseball fan. But if anything could get me to a game it would be a good glass of wine. In beer-centric San Diego I’m used to my options often coming down to a vague offering of “red or white” in venues where wine is scarce. When I found out Petco Park would be expanding its wine offerings, I didn’t have high hopes; but I was pleased to find its partnership with Southern California’s San Antonio Winery has resulted in a much longer (and tasty) list.

While I wasn’t able to try all of the San Antonio wines the stadium now offers, I was more than happy with what I sampled. Though I’m not the biggest fan of Chardonnays, the San Simeon was light and refreshing enough for me to go back for seconds. The balance of slight oak toast with bright citrus was a great complement for the simple salad I enjoyed it with.

Those that like sweet wine will probably recognize San Antonio’s Stella Rosa line. The Stella Rosa Rosso is a slightly sparkling, slightly sweet wine with strawberry aroma and flavors that are pleasantly delicate. I’d pick up the Rosso during a day game as a low-alcohol alternative to some of the bolder wines.

Another sweet option is the Bodega de San Antonio Sangria—however, this offbeat blend of wine and fruit flavors was a little too funky for my taste, loaded with citrus but without any flavors to balance it out.

For me, the reds are where this brand really shines. Their San Simeon Pinot Noir offers both light berry flavors and a hint of smoke with a

40 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

medium body. If there’s a wine to go with a Friar Frank, I’m thinking this is it.

But my favorites of the bunch came in two varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Maddalena held intoxicating scents of leather and tobacco. Its flavors are equally powerful with jammy berries and rich white and black pepper. Apparently there’s a blue cheese steak sandwich available at Petco’s Food Network Cart—I’d grab one of those to match this big wine and be in heaven no matter who wins the game (sorry).

The San Simeon Cabernet was equally, if not more so, pungent and loaded with flavors and aroma. Right away, ripe red berries along with smoke hit the nose followed by touches of eucalyptus and green bell peppers. Flavors of currants smoothed out into hints of vanilla and cocoa as the wine evolved in the glass. And it seems I’m not the only one with high praise; Wine Enthusiast Magazine rated the 2010 vintage at 93 points and put it on their list of top 100 wines in 2014 along with a list of 10 top-rated Cabs under $40. Be warned: This wine is not only potent on the palate, it also comes in at 14.5 percent alcohol by volume—more of a night game wine.

In addition to what I sampled, Petco also serves: Maddalena Chardonnay, Villa Alena Pinot Grigio. Stella Rosa Prosecco, San Simeon Cabernet Sauvignon, Santo Stefano Cabernet Sauvignon and the Riboli Family Cabernet Sauvignon.

Plus, in late summer it’ll add to the lineup with Stella Rosa Black and Stella Rosa Platinum served in aluminum bottles.

The wines are served at various spots around the park by glass and bottle—the latter poured in a plastic carafe. And if that’s not enough wine for you, the Padres pre-game WineFest will be held Aug. 21 featuring samples by San Antonio and many other wineries.

Bottle Rocket appears every third week.

Write to jenv@sdcitybeat.com.

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June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 41

THE DRINK ISSUE / VOICES

There she

alex zaragoza

Goz

Suddenly sober? Go from cock to mock.

I

’ve been a drinker most of my life. There are childhood photos of my dad holding me as a wee little lamb, giving me a sip of his Coors.

“You’re not going to like it,” he’d say, and he was right. As mischievous kids my cousin and I would run around family parties stealing Palomas from right underneath our tias’ noses, taking advantage of their inebriated scream-singing along to Juan Gabriel (Mexico’s version of Elton John), like little booze bandits. I still get a latent buzz anytime I hear “Querida.”

I love drinking. I love taking a chilled glass to my lips and waiting for a slow wave of wine to squash onto my tongue. I love sitting on a picnic blanket with my best friends, talking about work and life stuff all while sneaking pre-made cocktails hidden in our bags into indiscriminate plastic cups. I love having a drink on a first date, quelling nerves and using it as charm fuel. I love enjoying a post-office drink on my couch while binge-watching Game of Thrones. As Icona Pop once said, “I don’t care; I love it.”

The party’s over now, though.

The liver doth protest, according to my doctor. So for a few months now I’ve been nearly alcohol free. I’ll enjoy one or two if it’s a special day or if I’m doing very important journalistic research, but gone forever is my daily cocktail hour. I’d rather be sober than scouring the black markets for a new liver. I want to offer all of my sober, pregnant and straight-edge buds a public apology now for having to deal with drunks with no booze in your own system. I now realize it’s the worst.

While I stick to bitters, lime and soda for the most part, I’ve also been getting into mocktails when I’m feeling crazy. Yup, it’s gotten to that level of basic where drinking what is, in effect, an adult Capri Sun constitutes going wild.

On my quest for great mocktails I ended up in lots of places around town. They were good, but often too tart, or too sweet or not refreshing enough to make me forget the delicious alcoholic nectar of the dark lords.

Last on my list was Catania, a new restaurant and bar in La Jolla brought to us by the gang behind Whisknladle and Prepkitchen. Ali Perreira and Adam Lockridge built a bar menu that serves both sober folks and their annoying, drunk friends alike.

And bless them for it.

They’ve concocted reductions in three flavors: lemon thyme, orange tarragon and strawberry basil.

Those reductions are slow cooked in-house using fresh ingredients and are the bases for their short menu of Italian sodas. These refreshing drinks

go from mocktail to cocktail when gin, vodka and bourbon are added.

Because I’m nothing if not thorough, I brought along a drinking buddy that could do most of the heavy lifting with the boozy versions. Here’s what you can expect from each of Catania’s mocktails as they go from mock to cock.

The lemon and thyme soda is as light on the tongue and refreshing as it sounds. I’ve had Italian sodas that leave a sour film on your palate, or just feel like you’re guzzling Juicy Juice. Its herby tones were delicate. The lemon was faint enough, with just a hint of tartness. I could see myself kicking off my shoes after a long day and sipping this under a tree. When gin was added to the mix, the drink took on a smooth coolness, thanks to the juniper.

Still perfect for under a tree, though more boozeforward, so don’t be surprised if you wake up under that tree hours later.

The orange tarragon mocktail’s silky, sweet notes had an air of spice. It tasted delicately of spiced cake, or Christmas. And because vodka is the champion of all alcohols, absorbing whatever it’s added to without changing the flavor too much, you can keep sipping this tasty drink until you forget you’re supposed to pick up your kids from school. Don’t do that though. That’s not cool.

The strawberry basil mocktail was last up. Far sweeter and fruitier, there was also a slight tinge of something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. “It’s a bit of balsamic vinegar,” said Ali. Yum! Not to sound like Gwyneth Paltrow but, damn, I love balsamic vinegar. What was interesting about this mocktail was how it transformed once bourbon was added to it. I knew I recognized the flavor but, again, wasn’t quite sure what it was.

It had gone from light-and-fresh to warm, smoky and dark. It went from crisp poolside refresher to something to sip by a crackling fire. It turned into a sweeter old fashioned. While I’m aware that this is sacrilege to serious drinkers I will admit that I’m not a fan of old fashioneds. They’re way too heavy for me. Don Draper ended up at some hippie retreat to dry up for a reason, is all I’m saying. I prefer drinks that pleasantly surprise me with insobriety. This, however, I could get down with.

Being suddenly sober for whatever reason doesn’t have to mean no more fun for your tastebuds. Whatever your poison, whether it’s spiked or not, Catania is here to help you cool off this summer.

There She Goz appears every third week.

Write to alexz@sdcitybeat.com.

“

The party’s over now, though.

The liver doth protest, according to my doctor.

“

42 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

#SDCityBeat

Music

Constant Gardner

Nick Helderman

playing, producing, dream-catching, dutch polymath jacco gardner does it all

by SCOTT McDONALD

J

acco Gardner is a self-proclaimed Gardner also continues to refine dreamer. And not the inspirational-quote-onthe way he makes music. Hypnophoa-bumper-sticker type, either. The 27-year-old bia was born by sampling the sounds Dutch singer/songwriter is much more of the litof the many instruments he owns onto a “little MIDI keyboard,” and eral kind.

Not afraid to indulge the strange mélange of imagery then using the downtime during his and ideas in his subconscious mind, Gardner is steadily rigorous touring schedule to experiparlaying it into a music career. ment with them.

And that, in turn, helped to change His debut, 2013’s Cabinet of Curiosities, was the Gardner’s live show. culmination of a dedicated collection of ideas, melo“When the first album was redies and fragments over an eight-year span. With nods to Syd Barrett, Donovan and Arthur Lee as spiritual leased,” he says, “I hadn’t thought guides, the album’s baroque-leaning psych-pop created about the live situation at all. It was a process that really changed along an impressively cohesive dream state, despite the varthe way. The people on stage have ied source material.

It’s followed by Hypnophobia, released in May via Polychanged. The instruments I play on stage have changed. And thankfully vinyl, an album that both continues and expands Cabinet’s with this new album, it seems I’ve specific world, but one that only took a year to make.

“I’d never really written so much new work in such a found the right set-up. It was even small amount of time,” Gardner told CityBeat, while drivwritten a little differently with the ing between tour dates in Boston and Montreal. “I really live situation in mind. Everything is had to find the sweet spots of being inspired, or force myjust a bit more compatible.” self to experiment. The first album was really an accumuWhat hasn’t changed is Gardner’s lation of old work. The new album is a little more in the dualistic love of both vintage equipmoment, and perhaps a little more personal, because it’s ment and modern technology. He reflective of things that are happening now. And it was may record snippets on his smartactually more of a challenge.” phone and manipuHe was up for it. Gardner not only late samples to get ideas, but he still lugs plays every one of the instruments (except around an impressive array of acquired indrums) on both albums, he also handled all strumentation.

Among the things he’s picked up while of the production duties at his own studio north of Amsterdam. on tour that found their way onto the new “The Shadow Shoppe” resides in Zwaag, album: An upright piano acquired from a a village that’s part of the city Hoorn, and church, a Wurlitzer purchased in GlasTHE CASBAH boasts fewer than 5,000 residents. The studio gow, a vintage Harmony acoustic guitar, july 1 and the Optigan—a keyboard made by not only houses the instrument collector’s Mattel in the ’70s that uses pre-recorded impressive arsenal, it allows the self-suffidiscs to make sound. cient artist to easily escape into nature and jaccogardner.com “Every song demands that I work out recalibrate his inspirations when needed.

“It’s been interesting,” says Gardner. a little puzzle,” says Gardner. “It’s easy to “With Hypnophobia, I really started looking into where change and improve the ideas that you demo to yourself. my ideas come from. I wanted to try and find the essence And then I bring those ideas to the studio and build on of it. And it became a bit like a personal research project. them with real instruments. It’s a very visual and modern It was a time where I rediscovered a lot about myself. I way to work. I like the idea of blending all of those elethink it’s a lot harder to discover those things if you inments, and I like changing my approach. It’s a very handin-hand process.” volve a lot of people.”

jacco gardner

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Jacco Gardner Currently at the front end of a Hypnophobia tour that runs through the end of the year, the singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist surprisingly has no real plans for what’s coming next.

And while he’ll undoubtedly use his recent samplerefine-repeat process during the long stretch of performances ahead, Gardner’s not earmarking it for anything in particular.

“I don’t have anything planned,” he says. “But I do like the number three. I think that’s a good number of albums to have. And if I did have fun making a third, I might even feel like making a fourth. But who knows? I’m just going to continue to put myself in new zones with the hope that new music will come out of it.”

To hear a track, go to sdcitybeat.com and search for “Jacco Gardner”

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 43

Music

notes from the smoking patio Locals Only

A

merikan Bear is getting ready to release their debut album.

The Vista-based psychedelic rock band has previously released a handful of singles and EPs, but their selftitled release marks their first proper full-length. The tracks have already been released digitally, via Bandcamp, but in a couple weeks, the album will have a proper physical release on vinyl in North America and Europe.

“We’re going to be putting it out on vinyl first.

That’s the way it’s intended to be heard,” says singer and guitarist Nathan Wettstead, in a phone interview. “We’re going to see how that works, and if it does well, if you want it on CD, well, you’ll just have to wait a little bit.”

Wettstead says the album was recorded mostly in analog, to reflect what Amerikan Bear sounds like when they perform live. And as soon as the album is released, they’ll be ready to do some more recording. But the band will seek out label support for the next release.

“We’re sitting on 30 more songs that we’re trying to get out,” he says. “We’ve been doing things

ALBUM REVIEW Author & Punisher Melk en Honing (Housecore)

S

ince his debut album Drone Machines in 2010, Tristan Shone—better known as industrialmetal artist Author & Punisher—has been a bit of an anomaly. He’s absolutely the only one-man metal machine architect in San Diego; see him live and you’ll see just how elaborate his system of masks, keyboards, triggers, slides and other mechanisms truly is. I’m not aware of another artist on the planet who, simply from a logistical standpoint, is doing something similar to what Shone does.

Yet for as fascinating as Shone’s technical aspect is, what’s been more impressive to watch is his progression as a songwriter. His last album, 2013’s Women and Children, saw him pushing his sound into more accessible territory, with a greater embrace of hooks and melodies. Yet that was just one stage in an ongoing evolution that has led to what sounds like his most complex album yet, Melk en Honing. Recorded with Phil Anselmo (Pantera, Down) in New Orleans, Melk en Honing finds Shone broadening his sound in every direction. It’s more discordant, it’s catchier, it’s louder, it’s more nuanced—it’s a lot of different

44 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

Amerikan Bear DIY for a few years. It’s something you can only do for so long.”

The road to getting this album out was fraught with difficulties. This is actually the second album they recorded, after the first session went awry.

“We had plans to release an album before,” Wettstead says. “We were recording up in Santa Barbara, but the reels ended up being stolen by the producer.

So, this is technically our second album. The first one will never be released. There was a year-and-ahalf delay because of that mishap.”

Amerikan Bear plays July 18 at Til-Two Club.

—Jeff Terich things at once, all of them fascinating and satisfying developments.

Prior to the release of the album, Author & Punisher released standout track “Callous and Hoof” as a stream, and it’s representative of the album in that it pushes in almost every direction possible in a seven-minute span. It’s slow and doomy in one part, it’s melodic and atmospheric in another, and in between, it’s intense and chaotic. There are some surprisingly meaty guitar riffs on “Future Man” (or what sound like guitar riffs—Shone doesn’t usually use conventional instruments) as well as some soaring, if abrasive vocals. “Disparate” is a slow, pulsing highlight that recalls Nine Inch Nails at their best, and “Shame” has one of the most impressive codas of any track here, rising up into a dense and melodic gothic dirge.

There’s a greater array of sounds throughout Melk en Honing, but by and large, Shone is still relying on the same setup he always has. Sure, he’s developed updates to some of his machines, but it’s not like there are string sections or gospel choirs on this album. There is, however, a lot of creativity on display, and it’s because of this breaking down of boundaries that it’s his best album yet.

—Jeff Terich

Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com

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Music

Jeff Terich

If I were u A music insider’s weekly agenda

Wednesday, June 24

Yeahs. In their first incarnation, they only played one show, so yeah, this is kind of a big deal. PLAN B: Vetiver, The Donkeys @ The Irenic. Over the past decade, Vetiver has become one of the most reliable indie rock bands in North America, and lightly psychedelic locals The Donkeys aren’t far behind. If you’re into solid songwriting and guitars, pencil this into your calendar.

BACKUP PLAN: CJ Boyd, Kenseth Thibideau, Nathan Hubbard/Passengers @ The Hideout.

PLAN A: Au.Ra, Sextile, DJs Jon Blaj, Alex Chernow @ The Hideout. Sydney’s Au.Ra make gorgeous shoegaze and dream-pop songs, laden with effects but big on melody and accessibility. Make sure to come a little early for the up-and-coming Sextile, whose name is pun-tastic! PLAN B: Hippie Sabotage, A-1, Mikos @ Soda Bar. Sacramento duo Hippie Sabotage make beat-driven pop blended with druggy synths and disorienting vocal samples. Yeah, a lot of bands do that, but theirs is pretty cool all the same, and the show is free (RSVP on the Soda Bar Friday, June 26 PLAN A: Slayer, King Diamond, Hellywebsite). Evening planned. eah, The Devil Wears Prada, Whitechapel @ Sleep Train Amphitheatre. I’m not Thursday, June 25 the biggest fan of arenas. But I’ll look past PLAN A: Head Wound City, Innerds, my aversion for the greater good: Slayer.

Crime Desire @ The Casbah. Read Seth They’re one of the greatest metal bands of Combs’ story on sdcitybeat.com about hard- all time, and they’re joined by another legcore supergroup Head Wound City, featur- end: King Diamond. ‘Nuff said. PLAN B: ing members of The Locust and Yeah Yeah Best Coast, Bully @ Observatory North

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Park. I wasn’t always a fan of Best Coast, but their new album California Nights won me over, thanks to some big alt-rock hooks.

Good pop is good pop, and Best Coast have made their share. BACKUP PLAN: Wild Wild Wets, New Mexico, Max Pain and the Groovies, Soft Lions @ Soda Bar.

Saturday, June 27 PLAN A: Vic Mensa @ Observatory North Park. Chicago emcee Vic Mensa hasn’t yet released an album, but if you’ve heard his house-tinged 2014 single “Down On My Luck,” then you know that the dude’s going to drop something amazing any day now. He’s a rapper worth watching in 2015. PLAN B: Dust Moth, Kayo Dot @ Tower Bar. Kayo Dot is one of the weirdest bands in heavy music, blending doom with darkwave, and a penchant for ornate, prog-like arrangements. You won’t hear another band that sounds like them all week, so get ready for something unique and cool. BACKUP PLAN: Bootsy’s Rubber Band, The Earful @ Belly Up Tavern.

Sunday, June 28 PLAN A: Mono, Holly Hunt @ The Casbah. Japan’s Mono don’t do anything on a small scale. Their

epic post-rock compositions rise and swell into massive crescendos, and you might feel some real emotions listening to them. You’ve been warned. BACKUP PLAN: JP Harris and the Tough Choices, Jake Loban and the Benders @ Soda Bar.

Monday, June 29 PLAN A: Big Business, Death Eyes, Lord Howler @ The Casbah. Big Business have played in San Diego many times before, and it’s always a good time. They make loud and burly stoner rock with just bass, drums and vocals, and they pretty much prove that’s all you need to rock an audience senseless.

BACKUP PLAN: Pupppy, O-Face, Holling, Degen @ Soda Bar.

Tuesday, June 30 PLAN A: The Peripherals, Panga, Patrick Lanzetta @ The Merrow.

The laid-back indie pop and strummy Americana of The Peripherals isn’t typically the kind of thing I’d slap a “Plan A” on, but dammit, they’ve earned it.

They write a damn fine song, and do a vocal harmony better than most. Supporting your local music scene is never a bad idea, and if you’re going to do it, make sure to see one of Vic Mensa the better bands.

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 45

Music

Concerts HOT! NEW! FRESH!

Emily Drew (BUT, 7/7), Prayers (Hideout, 7/10), Inspired and the Sleep (BUT, 7/15), Mike Pinto (BUT, 8/6), Weekend (Hideout, 8/8), Trapt (Soda Bar, 8/15), Miguel (Observatory, 9/1), Millencolin (Observatory, 9/2), Johnette Napolitano (Casbah, 9/10), Wavves (Observatory, 9/15), The Ann Wilson Thing (BUT, 9/21), Glass Animals (SOMA, 9/21), Tove Lo (Observatory, 9/28), Peaches (BUT, 10/1), The Word (BUT, 10/5), Xavier Rudd (BUT, 10/8), Twin Shadow (BUT, 10/14), Shakey Graves (Observatory, 10/28), Dave and Phil Alvin (BUT, 11/12), Zappa Plays Zappa (BUT, 12/10).

GET YER TICKETS The Aquabats (HOB, 7/9), Built to Spill (BUT, 7/17), Blackalicious (BUT, 7/22), The Adolescents (BUT, 7/23), Heems (Casbah, 7/26), High on Fire, Pallbearer (Casbah, 7/30), Stiff Little Fingers (BUT, 7/30), Spank Rock (Soda Bar, 7/31), Lucy’s Fur Coat (Casbah, 7/31-8/1), Coliseum (Soda Bar, 8/2), Milky Chance (Soma, 8/3), Echo and the Bunnymen (Humphreys, 8/6), !!!

(Casbah, 8/10), The Alabama Shakes (Open Air Theatre, 8/12), Nicki Minaj (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 8/13), Raekwon and Ghostface Killah (HOB, 8/16), Screaming Females (Soda Bar, 8/17), Metz (Casbah, 8/19), Savages (Casbah, 8/23), Melvins (Casbah, 8/27), Lee “Scratch” Perry (BUT, 9/1), Man Man (Casbah, 9/6), The Psychedelic Furs, The Church (Observatory, 9/9), Ariana Grande (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 9/9), The Get Up Kids (Observatory, 9/10), ZZ Top (Humphreys, 9/13), Hum, Mineral (BUT, 9/16), Mew (Observatory, 9/17), KEN Mode (Soda Bar, 9/20), A Place to Bury Strangers (Soda Bar, 9/22), Future Islands (Observatory, 9/22-23), Titus Andronicus (The Irenic, 9/24), Foo Fighters (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 9/24), Royal Blood (HOB, 9/25), Death Cab for Cutie (Open Air Theatre, 9/25), Duran Duran (Open Air Theatre, 9/27), Swervedriver (Casbah, 9/28), Beirut (Open Air Theater, 10/6), Garbage (Humphreys, 10/6), Hot Chip (Soma, 8/12), alt-j (Open Air Theatre, 10/13), Florence and the Machine (Viejas Arena, 10/14), Of Monsters and Men (Open Air Theater, 10/17), Janet Jackson (Viejas Arena, 10/17), FIDLAR (Observatory, 10/17), ZZ Ward (HOB, 10/18), My Morning Jacket (Open Air Theatre, 10/19), Eagles of Death Metal (BUT, 10/21), Mudhoney (Casbah, 10/24), Natalie Prass (Soda Bar, 10/24), Gerard Way (HOB, 10/24), Tobias Jesso Jr. (BUT, 10/28), Madonna (Valley View Casino Center, 10/29), Ghost (Observatory, 10/30), Of Montreal (The Irenic, 11/5), Leon Bridges (Observatory, 11/6), Desaparecidos (BUT, 11/11), Yo La Tengo (Observatory, 11/12), Squeeze (HOB, 11/15), John Waters (Observatory, 11/30), The 1975 (Observatory, 12/15).

June Wednesday, June 24 Joseph Arthur at The Casbah. Leo Kottke at Belly Up Tavern.

Friday, June 26 Best Coast at Observatory North Park.

46 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

Wild Wild Wets at Soda Bar. Slayer, King Diamond at Sleep Train Amphitheatre.

Saturday, June 27 Bootsy’s Rubber Band at Belly Up Tavern. Nickelback at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. John Doe at The Casbah. Vic Mensa at Observatory North Park.

Sunday, June 28 Mono at The Casbah.

Monday, June 29 Big Business at The Casbah.

July Wednesday, July 1 Jacco Gardner at The Casbah. Don Most at Belly Up Tavern.

Thursday, July 2 John Mayall at Belly Up Tavern. Sannhet at Soda Bar.

Friday, July 3 Mac Sabbath at Brick by Brick. The Appleseed Cast at Soda Bar.

Tuesday, July 7 Bleak at Soda Bar. Emily Drew at Belly Up Tavern.

Wednesday, July 8 Veruca Salt at Soda Bar. Jurassic Five at Humphreys by the Bay. Brian Posehn at House of Blues.

Thursday, July 9 One Direction at Qualcomm Stadium.

The Aquabats at House of Blues.

Friday, July 10 Lady Antebellum at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Open Mike Eagle at TilTwo Club. Wovenwar at Brick by Brick.

Prayers at The Hideout.

Saturday, July 11 Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman at House of Blues. Cattle Decapitation at Brick by Brick. Porcelain Raft at Soda Bar. Cherry Glazerr at The Irenic. Needtobreathe at Humphreys by the Bay.

Sunday, July 12 Anjelah Johnson at House of Blues. Go Betty Go at Soda Bar. Keb’Mo’ at Belly Up Tavern.

Monday, July 13 Keb’Mo’ at Belly Up Tavern. Memory Tapes at Soda Bar. Chrome at The Casbah.

Tuesday, July 14 Kevin Fowler at Belly Up Tavern. Barrington Levy at Observatory North Park.

Wednesday, July 15 Abigail Williams at Brick by Brick. Inspired and the Sleep at Belly Up Tavern.

Thursday, July 16 Sublime with Rome at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Dick Diver at Soda Bar. The Drowning Men at Belly Up Tavern.

Friday, July 17 The Helio Sequence at The Casbah.

Chappo at Soda Bar. George Lopez at Harrah’s Resort. J. Cole at Sleep Train Amphitheatre. Built to Spill at Belly Up Tavern.

Saturday, July 18 Third Eye Blind, Dashboard Confessional at Harrah’s Resort. The Casualties at Observatory North Park.

Tuesday, July 21 Imagine Dragons at Viejas Arena.

Charli XCX, Bleachers at Observatory North Park.

Wednesday, July 22 Between the Buried and Me at Observatory North Park. Blackalicious at Belly Up Tavern.

Thursday, July 23 The Adolescents at Belly Up Tavern.

Soul Asylum, Meat Puppets at House of Blues.

Friday, July 24 Katchafire at Belly Up Tavern. Eukaryst at Soda Bar. Bongripper at Brick by Brick.

Saturday, July 25 The Lonely Biscuits at Soda Bar. Iration at Open Air Theatre. Pokey Lafarge at The Casbah.

Sunday, July 26 The Ataris at House of Blues. Bruce Cockburn at Belly Up Tavern. Jim Gaffigan at Humphreys by the Bay. Heems at The Casbah.

Tuesday, July 28 Melt Banana, Torche at The Casbah.

Wednesday, July 29 Melt Banana, Torche at The Casbah.

Andrea Gibson at Belly Up Tavern. Say Anything at House of Blues. Rasputina at Soda Bar.

Thursday, July 30 Tokio Hotel at House of Blues. The Aggrolites at Belly Up Tavern. Spank Rock at Soda Bar. High on Fire, Pallbearer at The Casbah. Stiff Little Fingers at Belly Up Tavern.

rCLUBSr

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

Thu: Karaoke. Fri: V1be. Sat: Hi Roots, Coastal Frequency. Sun: Karaoke. Mon: DJ Royale.

98 Bottles, 2400 Kettner Blvd. Ste. 110, Little Italy. 98bottlessd.com. Fri: Jamie Shadowlight and Lorena Guzman. Sat: Tjaderized.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St, Normal Heights. airconditionedbar. com. Wed: ‘Future House’ w/ DJ Pro-K. Thu: ‘DIVE’ w/ DJ Paul Najera. Fri: DJ Junior the DiscoPunk. Sat: ‘Juicy’ w/ Mike Czech. Sun: ‘Church’ w/ DJs Bass Exotic, Karma, Vinnassi.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave, Downtown. americancomedyco. com. Wed: Open mic. Thu: Felipe Esparza. Fri: Felipe Esparza. Sat: Felipe Esparza. Sun: Felipe Esparza.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St, Downtown. facebook.com/BangBangSanDiego.

Thu: Alvaro. Fri: Du Tonc. Fri: Doctor P. Sat: Lee K. Sat: Delora.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St, North Park. barpink.com. Wed: ‘Funked Out Wednesday’ w/ DJ L. Thu: Jimmy Ruelas, Roxy Jones. Fri: ‘80s v. 90s. Sat: Flaggs. Sun: ‘Rat Sabbath’.

#SDCityBeat

Music Beaumont’s, 5662 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla. brocktonvilla.com/beaumonts. html. Thu: Crackers. Fri: Scratch. Sat: Jones Revival. Sun: Daryl Johnson.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave, Solana Beach. bellyup.com. Wed: Leo Kottke (sold out). Thu: Tolan Shaw and Sick Balloons, The Palace Ballroom.

Fri: Third World, House of Shem, Animo. Sat: Bootsy’s Rubber Band, The Earful. Sun: ‘Point Break Live’.

Desi_Bar and Grill, 2734 Lytton St, Point Loma. facebook.com/pages/DESIS-BARGRILL/104354756267358. Thu: Black Kat’s Bill of Rights: A Living Newspaper.

Fri: Black Kat’s Bill of Rights: A Living Newspaper. Sat: Black Kat’s Bill of Rights: A Living Newspaper.

Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. dirksniteclub.com. Fri: FX5.

Sat: DJ Kool T.

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

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. dizzyssandiego.com. Fri: Perla Negra Ensemble. Sat: Tim Weisberg.

Border X Brewing Tasting Room, 2196 Logan Ave, Barrio Logan. borderxbrewing.com. Thu: Poetic Libations III.

Epicentre, 8450 Mira Mesa Blvd, Mira Mesa. epicentreconcerts.org. Sat: Hollywood Ending.

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

Sat: ‘Sabado en Fuego’ w/ DJs XP, KA. Sun: ‘Soiree’. Mon: ‘Manic Monday’ w/ DJs XP, Junior the Disco Punk.

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown, Downtown. f6ixsd.com. Fri: DJ Scooter. Sat: DJ Dre Sinatra. Sun: Craig Smoove.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave, Bay Park. brickbybrick.com. Wed: Polyan and the Johnson Sisters, Bad and the Ugly, Muskk, Mister Mudd. Fri: The Aura. Sat: Rattz, Blackout. Sun: Victory Victory, Di Vad, Milo. Mon: Kaustik.

Cafe Sevilla, 353 Fifth Ave, Downtown. cafesevilla.com. Wed: Aro Di Santi.

Thu: Malamana. Fri: Joef and Co. Sat: Malamana. Sun: Aire. Mon: Bruno and Friends. Tue: Aire.

Carruth Cellars, 320 S. Cedros Ave. #400, Solana Beach. carruthcellars.com.

Fri: Jazz on Cedros.

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

Thu: Paulette McWilliams. Fri: Curtis Taylor Quartet. Sat: Eve Selis. Sun: Danny Green Trio. Mon: Liz Grace. Tue: Steph Johnson and Rob Thorsen.

#SDCityBeat

Florent Restaurant and Lounge, 672 5th Avenue, 4S Ranch. florentsd.com.

Thu: Find the Hare.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave, Downtown. fluxxsd.com. Thu: Bad Royale. Fri: ‘Marrakesh’ w/ Reflex. Sat: ‘Marrakesh’ w/ Whiiite. Mon: Fluxx Industry Boxing Night.

Gallagher’s, 5040 Newport Ave, Ocean Beach. 619-222-5303. Wed: Ciarrai. Thu: Raggabond, TRC Soundsystem, DJ Reefah. Sat: Destructo Bunny, DJ Chelu.

Mon: Azul Quetzal.

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave, Downtown. henryspub.com. Wed: AOK Musik. Thu: DJ Junior the Disco Punk. Fri: ‘Good Times’. Sat: DJs E, Yodah. Mon: DJ Antonio Aguilera. Tue: Big City Dawgs.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave, Downtown. houseofblues.com/sandiego. Thu: ‘Battle for Van’s Warped Tour’. Sat: 6One9, Dirty Birdz, Horn Starz, Faux

Fighters. Sun: Head North, Light Years, No Good News, Casey Bolles.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. kavalounge.com. Wed: ‘Massive’.

Thu: Mast. Fri: Illuminati Congo. Sat: Porkchop, Rybo. Sun: Electric Division.

Tue: ‘High Tech Tuesday’.

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave, Kensington. 619-284-2848. Mon: Lights Out Comedy.

Kwan Yin Holistic Center, 3011 Grape Street, 4S Ranch. Wed: Guide Speak Workshop.

Last Call, 4977 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. lastcallsd.com. Fri: Barefoot Hockey Goalie.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave, Coronado. mcpspub.com. Wed: Redwave Sam. Thu: Ron’s Trio. Fri: In Midlife Crisis.

Sat: The Flipside Burners. Sun: Ron’s Garage. Tue: The Sophisticats.

Numbers, 3811 Park Blvd, Hillcrest. numberssd.com/.

Thu: ‘Throwback Thursday’. Fri: ‘Uncut’. Sat: ‘Club Sabbat’. Tue: Karaoke Latino.

Onyx Room / Thin, 852 Fifth Ave, Downtown. onyxroom.com. Thu: ‘Tea Party Thursday’. Fri: ‘Rumba Lounge’. Sat: ‘Onyx Saturday’.

Patricks Gaslamp, 428 F St, Downtown. patricksii.com. Wed: The Upshots. Thu: Bill Magee Blues Band. Fri: Myron and the Kyniptionz. Sat: The Groove Squad. Sun: The Fuzzy Rankins Band. Mon: The Groove Squad. Tue: Paddy’s Chicken Jam. Rich’s, 1051 University Ave, Hillcrest. richssandiego.com. Wed: DJ Kiki. Thu: DJ Kiki. Fri: DJ Will Z. Sat: DJs Taj, John Joseph, K-Swift. Sun: DJ Cros.

clubs CONTINUED ON PAGE 48

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 47

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

Wed: Westside Inflection. Thu: Second Cousins. Fri: Big Jon. Sat: Chickenbone Slim. Tue: Karaoke.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave, North Park. sevengrandbars.com/sd. Wed: Gilbert Castellanos jazz jam. Mon: ‘Makossa Monday’ w/ DJ Tah Rei. Side Bar, 536 Market St, Downtown. sidebarsd.com. Wed: Kyle Flesch. Thu: Vince Delano. Fri: Epic Twelve. Sat: DJ Slowhand. Sun: ‘Five/Ten’ w/ DJ Scooter.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. sodabarmusic.com. Wed: Hippie Sabotage, A-1, Mikos. Thu: Foy Vance, Ryan McMullan. Fri: Wild Wild Wets, New Mexico, Max Pain and the Groovies, Soft Lions. Sat: Mewithoutyou, Foxing, Lithuania, DJ Santino Romeri (sold out). Sun: JP Harris and the Tough Choices, Jake Loban and the Benders. Mon: Pupppy, O-Face, Holling, Degen. Tue: Heart Pharmacy, Misc. Ailments, We Are Friends.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Midway. somasandiego.com. Fri: Cut Your Losses, The Snykes, Johns Last Ghost, Lobster Party, Leave The Universe, It All Starts Here. Sat: Amaya Lights, I Survive, Hannibal, The Ghosts Among Us, DFA, Mandala.

Somewhere Loud, 3489 Noell St, Midtown. somewhereloud.com. Fri: Apashe, Legit, Gorilla Disko.

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

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

Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave, Normal Heights. sycamoreden.com. Thu: Daniel Schraer Trio, Nate Hess. Sun: Evan Bethany and Saba.

48 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

The Balboa, 1863 Fifth Ave, Bankers Hill.

619-955-8525. Fri: Raf Deza, Saba. Sat: Headphone, Choirs.

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Rd, Spring Valley. 619-469-2337. Wed: Human Traffic, Snakeoids, Aaimon. Thu: ‘Club 80s’.

Fri: Josh Madsen. Sat: The Mice, Jovi and the Issues, Guys on the Hill, BatLords.

Sun: Vanja James, Foreign Bodies. Tue: Vacationeer, Winnebago, Le Chateau.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. casbahmusic.com. Thu: Head Wound City, Innerds, Crime Desire. Fri: The Pandoras, The Loons, The Mighty Manfred and The Magnificent, The Gargoyles. Sat: John Doe, Jesse Dayton, Patrick Dennis. Sun: MONO, Holly Hunt.

Mon: Big Business, Death Eyes, Lord Howler. Tue: Eagle Rock Gospel Singers, Mrs. Henry.

The Hideout, 3519 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. thehideoutsd.com. Wed: Au.ra, Sextile, DJs Jon Blaj, Alex Chernow. Thu: CJ Boyd, Kenseth Thibideau, Nathan Hubbard/Passengers. Fri: Quali, Winter, Witness 9. Sat: Victus, Griever, Deep Sea Thunderbeast.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave, Hillcrest. theMerrow.com. Wed: The Shallow End, Uncle Leo, Dave Carnell. Thu: DonCat, Oh Spirit, Taken By Canadians. Fri: Glasmus, Sleeping Ghost, The Slashes, Muscle Beech, The Cardielles. Sat: Lessons From Zeke, Zombie Surf Camp, Morphine Sue. Sun: ‘A Concert for Nepal’. Mon: Open mic.

The Office, 3936 30th St, North Park. officebarinc.com. Wed: ‘Friends Chill’.

Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Fri: ‘After Hours’ w/ DJs Adam Salter, Kid Wonder. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’.

Mon: ‘The Ramones: Under cover’. Tue: ‘Trapped’.

The Tin Roof, 401 G Street, Gaslamp. tinroofbars.com/Home/SanDiego. Wed: Pat Hilton and the Mann. Thu: Cassie B Project. Fri: The Village Squares. Sat: Jonathan Lee Band. Sun: Sammy J, Tenelle, Pieter T, Finn Gruva, Yung LB. Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St, Bay Park. tioleos.com. Wed: Gino and the Lone Gunman. Thu: Patrick Rynne, Chris James.

Fri: The Distractions. Sat: Red Elvises.

Tue: Flipside Burners.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave, City Heights. thetowerbar.com. Wed: ‘The Ratt’s Revenge’ w/ DJ Mikey Ratt, Tiki Thomas. Thu: Apache, Big Tits, The Soaks. Fri: Spent Idols, Dead on the Wire, The Scandals, The Semi-Automatics. Sat: Dust Moth, Kayo Dot. Sun: Two Cow Garage, Paperplanes, Western Settings, Braceface, Imaginary Hockey League, I Dare You. Ux31, 3112 University Ave, North Park. u31bar.com. Thu: ‘Throwback Thursday’.

Fri: DJ R-You. Sat: DJ Junior the DiscoPunk. Sun: Haleamano, Crown Rootz, Pali Roots. Mon: DJ Fisfonics.

Werewolf American Pub, 627 4th Avenue, 4S Ranch. thewerewolf.net. Sun: Find the Hare.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St, South Park. whistlestopbar.com. Thu: VAMP: Wedding Season. Fri: Stalins of Sound, Gloomsday. Sat: ‘Booty Bassment’ w/ DJs Dimitri, Rob. Mon: Botanica Chango, Le Chateau.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St, Ocean Beach. winstonsob.com. Wed: Skank Roots Project, DJ Carlos Culture. Thu: Authentic Sellout, The Roman Watchdogs, Artis.

Fri: Revival, Layne Tadesse, 7 Seal Dub Band, Maitland Roots, TRC Soundsystem. Sun: Karaoke. Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: Rootz Underground.

#SDCityBeat

Last Words

Brendan Emmett Quigley

Come together Across 1. Punjabi sect 6. Seasonal employee 10. “Rent” heroine 14. Affected goodbye 15. Bar on the table 16. Collected works 17. Despicable golfer Tom? 19. Entire, as a film 20. Needle point?

21. Dr. Seuss story about stubbornness, with “The” 22. Clothing fold 23. 24 hours spent around Stalingrad?

27. Event with nuclear bombs, briefly 30. Architect Ludwig Mies van der ___ 31. Some 4-point tiles in Scrabble 32. Lean-___ (sheds) 33. Coll. sr’s. exam 36. Kyle ___ (“Terminator Genesis” hero) 38. “We stop serving at ten past”?

44. List in the back 45. Actor Hiddleston 46. ___ com (chick flick) 47. iPhone covering 50. Flipboard reading 52. Variety of salts 54. “My coal pit ain’t for sale!”?

58. Showing a screen saver 59. 10001 city, briefly 60. Mythical monster 64. Macbeth’s title 65. Band whose song titles were mashed together in this theme 68. “Surprise Symphony” composer 69. Volcanic outflow Last week’s answers

#SDCityBeat

70. “Interstellar” director 71. Canadian gas brand 72. Dressed up 73. More than lethargic

Down 1. Identical 2. Head piece?

3. Soul and Sorento 4. Adult anime 5. Total number 6. Sweet Hungarian wine 7. Magical brew 8. Bartolo Colon, e.g.

9. “The Haunted Palace” poet 10. Tactic 11. As a precaution 12. Rich dessert 13. Puts six feet deep 16. Snake oil salesman’s promise 18. “The Wu-Tang Manual” author 22. Frito Lay cheese puff 24. Really enjoy 25. Comedienne Dunn 26. Taking things the wrong way?

27. “___ with Marc Maron” (podcast) 28. Go courting 29. Wailing Wall’s home: Abbr.

34. Rose, as a skirt 35. Bad guy 37. Baby batter 39. Zelda maker 40. Usual semester ender 41. SF footballers, for short 42. Hugs indication 43. Caliber of many a handgun ammo 47. Intensely criticize 48. Buckwheat grains in some cereals 49. Some mosaics 51. Red Cross’s home city 53. QB Manning 55. “I’ve ___ watching you” 56. “I blew it” 57. Manhattan blocks?

61. Glamour rival 62. Pants problem 63. Fails to be 65. “Cake Boss” channel 66. Steinbrenner who co-owns the Yankees 67. “The Phantom Menace” kid

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 49

50 · San Diego CityBeat · June 24, 2015

#SDCityBeat

#SDCityBeat

June 24, 2015 · San Diego CityBeat · 51