San Diego CityBeat • June 28, 2017

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june 28 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

UP FRONT | FROM THE EDITOR

Be proud to be a (dissenting) American

W

When it comes to Fourth of July activities, I like to imagine most San Diegans are like me. We go through the usual motions of celebrating the holiday: hanging out with friends and family. Eating barbecued food that will do our hearts no good. And more often than not, the day will usually culminate in watching some kind of grandiose fireworks display where—unless it was the 2012 Big Bay Boom fiasco where all the fireworks blew up all at once—chances are any reader over the age of 12 won’t be impressed. Fireworks displays are just like that. Once we’ve seen one, we’ve kind of seen them all.

Becoming and remaining a political activist is a lot like fireworks displays. It’s easy to get cynical over time, especially in our “now, I’ve really seen it all” political climate. Every week is filled with so much disturbing political news (the Russia scandal, travel bans, the Paris Climate Agreement, the GOP healthcare bills) that it can truly become overwhelming. Sometimes it feels like we can only take so much. Not to mention the local issues that never seem to be fully addressed by local leadership (homelessness, clean beaches, infrastructure). We become so bogged down that it becomes easy to just throw up our hands in frustration and disgust.

“What can I do?”

“I give up.”

“What difference will it make?”

“This is fucked.” (see accompanying pic) As progressives, we’ve all uttered these types of sentiments to ourselves once, twice, maybe multiple times, especially over the last six months. And why not? Things are, truly, fucked.

But remember the days after the election? The days after the inauguration? The day after we marched together in the Women’s March or the March for Science or the March for Truth or the, well, get the idea?

It felt pretty empowering to see so many people who shared our concerns. Remember how we were all going to get out, get organized and get moving?

Well, did it happen?

Maybe it did, but for most of us, it probably became just too exhausting. That’s OK. But on this very special Independence Day week, I

4 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JUNE 28, 2017

invite readers to remember what it was like when they first saw a fireworks display. Remember that child who stared in wonderment as the night sky exploded with lights.

Now remember the feeling of dread that came with the results of November 8, 2016.

Remember the feeling of activist rage that came shortly after. Stop and dwell in it again.

Now, don’t just give. Do. Here are some suggestions.

start paying attention to candidates such as Mike Levin, Doug Applegate and Ammar Campa-Najjar. Better yet, volunteer on their campaigns. Start paying attention the decidedly unprogressive San Diego County Board of Supervisors. They have a lot of power and two are termed out in 2018, so start educating yourself on the candidates that will be running to turn the board purple instead of the deep red it is now.

STACY KECK

Sure, but that doesn’t mean we should give up.

Join organizations like Indivisible.

Yes, marching in this week’s Impeachment March (ahem, July 2 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in front of the County Administration building) would be a great gesture, but we need to follow-up after that. In order to make groups like Indivisible a true progressive force to be reckoned with, we all need to educate ourselves on how we, as citizens, can make a political difference. The Indivisible Guide (download it and live it at indivisibleguide.com) is a great place to start.

Pay attention to local politics.

Every week, I attend or watch the City Council meetings, and every week I see the same crew of citizens get up during the public comments portion of the meeting.

I love this sordid cast of characters, but I’d love to see some new faces up there making their voices heard. Pick a local issue. Learn all that you can about it. And then show up to a meeting (it doesn’t have to be the City Council, it can be the school board, for example) and talk to these representatives in person.

If readers live in the districts where Duncan Hunter and Darrell Issa are from, please

Don’t lose sight of the big picture.

These are scary times. It’s OK to be scared and get frustrated, but don’t be complacent.

Be flexible but don’t bend. But above all, remember that you are just as American as that #MAGA troll calling you names on Twitter.

Remember that nothing is more American than speaking your mind and fighting back.

It’s never unpatriotic to be a dissenter.

A time is coming soon where we’ll all have to look back and ask ourselves, “Did I do enough?”

Well?

—Seth Combs

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

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Write to seth.combs@sdcitybeat.com This issue of CityBeat is dedicated to the person who lost a microwave at the fair and was like

Volume 15 • Issue 46 EDITOR Seth Combs

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UP FRONT | LETTERS

CHEAP SAN DIEGANS

You have nailed it [“San Diego is not a sports town,” June 21]. There have been at least 12 teams that have come, failed and left San Diego. The reasons vary but lack of fan support is the leading one. Starting with: 1. The Whalers; 2. Gulls I; 3. Gulls II; 4. Sockers I; 5. Sockers II; 6. Sockers III [Sockers IV is a class B semi-Pro team]; 7.

Sails; 8. Conquistadors; 9. Rockets [They won an NBA title a few years later in Houston]; 10. Wildcards [They played three games before they folded]; 11. Clippers; 12. Chargers; 13. Poinsettia Bowl.

There is enough evidence that another pro sports franchise will meet the same fate. And I can’t imagine that Nick Stone and FS Developers will shell out $150,000,000 and have the prospect of losing $7-8,000,000 a year for a league that is on the edge of disappearing.

Add to this a large number of locals have left town for success in both college and pro sports: Reggie Bush, Bill Walton, Alix Smith, Rasham Salaam, Markus Allen and many more have left for better opportunities. Bruce Boche was never a success with the Padres, but won three World Series in San Francisco. Ex Padres GM Sandy Alderson helped lead Boston after he bolted.

The real issue here is that San Diegans are too cheap and too tax averse for professional sports and there is ample history to support that. I wasn’t born here but have been here for 72 years and I know of what I speak.

@SDCITYBEAT

The problem with San Diego... is that it is too full of cheap San Diegans.

Will Dawson Clairemont

OF THE WEEK

LAME DIEGO

Right on Seth! So glad you pointed out this city is made up of transplants [“San Diego is not a sports town,” June 21]. It’s tragic.

They come to apathetic S.D. for the “grass is greener” myth only to make everything beyond crowded and out of reach expensive. Did I mention the gridlock traffic with numerous license plates from Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Colorado, etc.?

Most of these people simply want to be by the ocean yet never go in.

That’s right. I’m a So Cal native hardcore surfer. So go ahead transplants; sit in your favorite sports bar drinking all day and cheering for your beloved east coast teams, telling everyone how much better things are back home while I’m surfing. Because here in San Diego we don’t have crowds, crime, drug problems, divorce, destruction, homeless, mental illness, rain, etc. In fact the sun never sets here and nobody dies!

Welcome to Lame Diego; apathetic paradise. It’s 72 degrees everyday. Thanks for taking all the good jobs and costing the state billions of dollars to widen all freeways and roads just to accommodate you.

Have fun. Please go back home. Beat it.

Thank you.

Keith Moon Encinitas

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

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

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

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

At The Intersection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4 5 6 7 8

FOOD & DRINK The World Fare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Dishing It Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 The Beerdist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 This week’s pothole comes from Jamie Wolfcale, who has to drive his beloved Mini Cooper over this behemoth of a pothole every day on his way to work. Located off the Friars Road exit ramp of the 8 freeway near Qualcomm Way, Wolfcale is only half joking when he says “that thing tries to kill me everyday.” “It’s a big stupid pothole,” Wolfcale says. “It formed following some road construction under the overpass. Its width makes it all but unavoidable when turning left.”

A pothole created by road repairs? Isn’t it ironic… doncha think?

Have a pothole in your neighborhood or on your commute that has you fuming and your suspension screaming uncle? Tell us about it. Send location and pics (but really, only if it’s safe to do so) to seth. combs@sdcitybeat.com.

THINGS TO DO The Short List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Calendar of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-15

ARTS & CULTURE Books: The Floating Library. . . . . . . . . . . 14 Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 FEATURE: Food Appropriation. . . . . . . . 17 Seen Local. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-20

MUSIC FEATURE: Psychedelic Rock. . . . . . . . . 21 Notes from the Smoking Patio. . . . . . . 22 If I Were U. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Concerts & Clubs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-28

LAST WORDS Astrologically Unsound. . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

JUNE 28, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 5

UP FRONT | OPINION

SPIN

CYCLE

JOHN R. LAMB

Mission creep Every peddler praises his own needles.

N

—Portuguese proverb

ot since the Ross Perot presidential-run days of the ‘90s has the word “interesting” peppered our local political lexicon.

“But isn’t it interesting—everybody rushes to Hollywood for makeup, for acting, for haircuts on the runway—because you’ve got to just be looking good,” the folksy gazillionaire Reform Party candidate from Texas said in 1996. “The fact that you don’t say nothing doesn’t matter.”

Oh Ross, how we could use your English-mangling talents now!

Here in San Diego, we’ve got us a good ol’ interesting mayor, or so the poli-gods at Politico are telling us. Never mind the mayor’s recent losing streak that’s longer than a

dragon’s tail and a fairly humdrum white-bread backstory. Compared to the other city leaders, as detailed in the website’s recent story, Faulconer is one of “America’s 11 Most Interesting Mayors.”

Nosiree, in this here ‘Merica— as fouled up as it is—local is as local does while President Blast Furnace fiddles. “At a time when one yellow-haired, Twitter-happy personality dominates American discourse, it’s easy to forget how much political energy—and important new thinking—emanates not from the nation’s capital but from city hall,” the Politico story opens.

Based on conversations with “dozens of national and local political junkies” (disclosure: present company excluded), the story paints a biographical savannah of compelling leaders stretched across these fertile plains, peppered with real hard-scrabble tales

6 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JUNE 28, 2017

of personal struggles and political bravery.

And then there’s Kevin.

Headlined as “the modern GOP executive,” Faulconer “is straddling ideological and partisan lines to surprisingly popular effect” according to the piece.

“He speaks often of the city’s integration with its neighbor to the south, saying he views San DiegoTijuana as ‘one megaregion,’ and pledging that local police officers will not be used to enforce federal immigration laws,” the saga continues. “He also backed a 2015 plan to curtail San Diego’s emissions, and he has flown a gay pride flag at City Hall.”

The story skips over such inconveniently interesting subjects like Faulconer’s bromides about solving homelessness while simultaneously standing by while rocks are cemented to freeway underpasses and police officers sweep encampments off streets in an endless game of chase and misery.

“Faulconer has struggled at times with the Democratic city council,” the story notes, like when he railed unsuccessfully against a minimum-wage hike and paid sick leave—but leaving out recent setbacks like the departing San Diego Chargers and efforts to call a special election in November to settle the thorny debates about

JOHN R. LAMB

Mayor Kevin Faulconer makes a “most interesting” list. a convention center expansion downtown and what to do with the Qualcomm Stadium site in Mission Valley.

And on Monday, four city councilmembers issued a memo pushing a move to declare the Qualcomm site as surplus property, opening up the discussion to a whole host of potential future plans—and likely curling the mayor’s blond locks in frustration.

But Faulconer missed all that fun, because he was deep into a “trade mission” to Vancouver with local business leaders. For two whole days, the mayor’s press office announced, “local companies and organizations will promote key San Diego industries, establish and develop business relationships and explore opportunities for San Diego companies to tap into Vancouver’s clean tech and sustainability economy.”

“There has never been a more critical time for San Diego to be a champion for international trade because local jobs depend on it,” Faulconer said in the statement.

Some business types who traveled with the mayor noted that Faulconer is good at these types of photo-op junkets, as any former public-relations executive should be. “Universities are our secret sauce,” the mayor said, according to social media, when he announced on Monday some sort of planned collaboration between UC San Diego and the University of British Columbia.

What you won’t see from this brief excursion to the north are any photographs of Faulconer meeting with his mayoral counterpart from Vancouver, who was in Brussels with numerous other worldwide city leaders for a meeting of the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy.

Faulconer also skipped last week’s U.S. Conference of Mayors in Miami Beach, where many truly interesting topics this “interesting” mayor struggles with were up for discussion.

Apparently, Vancouver’s mayor

plans to visit San Diego later this year to discuss North American trade and competitiveness in the Trump Age, so yippee for that.

But some local business leaders privately wish Faulconer would branch out more.

“In all honesty, I would love to see him travel more to engage with other mayors,” one sharp biz type told Spin. “He does a good job in these settings. It’s a start.”

Speculation that the mayor has aspirations for higher office might lead some skeptics to suggest that Faulconer is merely trying to beef up his regional/state/federal cred, and posing for businesslike photos in Canada certainly could fuel further suspicions.

Don’t get Spin wrong. It’s spiffy that biotech companies from British Columbia plan some efforts for expansion in San Diego, a burgeoning hotbed for genomic exploits.

And as San Diego contemplates the future of the Qualcomm Stadium site, collaboration among universities should prove valuable testing grounds for what could happen in Mission Valley.

Most importantly, perhaps, is the side impact reiterated by one trade missioner: “Seeing a U.S. mayor from a large city visiting Canada to talk about trade and climate action goals and opportunities at a time when our federal government is a trainwreck on both issues.”

So, travel the world, Mr. Mayor.

Rail against the Orange Plague of incoherence. Wrap yourself in the “most interesting” mantle and run with it.

For as Ross Perot once said about an opponent, “This man will let this country rot, he will let the economy go into an international decline, he will devastate millions of people, and, if necessary, he’ll start a little war just to get a bump in the polls.”

Now there’s a legacy worth avoiding.

Spin Cycle appears every week.

Write to johnl@sdcitybeat.com.

@SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | OPINION

EDWIN DECKER

SORDID

TALES

America, love it or leave it

It ain’t easy typing when your hand is in a cast. Please enjoy this classic Sordid column from October 2009 while I heal.

I

was at the bar arguing with an ultra-right wing, flag-lapel-pin wearing, idiot automaton about the lack of separation between church and state, when he blurted, “If you don’t like this country as it was created, then leave!”

Ah yes, the classic, “America, love it or leave it,” retort. I actually hadn’t heard this one in a while, thinking it was finally discarded in favor of, you know, intelligent discourse. However, a quick Google search when I got home revealed that the Love-it-orLeaviters are alive and well and still espousing Love it or Leave it theory (LILI) as if it were a golden gem of genius and not what it really is— an angry response for when you have no response to the brilliant point I just made.

I don’t know why I was surprised. “Love it or Leave it!” definitely belongs on the Greatest Hits album of the ultra-right, along with other chart-toppers as, “Hit the Road Black (ode to Obama),” “Global Warming’s a Joke,” “Fuck the Environmental Police,” and the wildly popular anti-marijuana ballad, “Stairway to Heroin.”

“There’s a dealer who knows / pot smoking leads to harder drugs / and he’s plying a stairway to Heroin” The phrase “America, Love it or leave it” is what’s known as a false dilemma because it supposes only two options when actually they are bottomless. For instance, it is entirely reasonable to “Love it and leave it.” You can also be mildly fond of it and stay. You can hate it, die, and be buried here—the toxicity of your Americahating corpse seeping into the soil and contaminating it for eternity. And let’s not forget, “America: I don’t love it; I don’t hate it; I honestly don’t care one way or the other, but I ain’t leaving because ignorant, unsophisticated flag-sycophants don’t tell me where I get to live.”

There are just so many problems with LILI theory it’s difficult to know where to begin. For one, anybody that wasn’t born with a ratty wad of used McCain/ Palin campaign stickers for a brain knows that just because someone disagrees with their country doesn’t mean they don’t love it.

Secondly, why do you care what I think about America? Are you so insecure about the character of this nation that you must oversee how other people feel about it? Isn’t America best when it earns our love and respect, without having to demand it?

Isn’t that the true test of a great country—when it has the confidence in itself to let its citizens feel however

they want to feel about it?

Part of this nation’s greatness is its embrace of dissent. We will always have people that openly hate this country because America was designed to let them openly hate it, which means—you LILI-livered liberty-lickers—if you don’t like that some Americans don’t like America, then you don’t like America as it was “created” and it is you who should leave! So either stop complaining or go the fuck back to Waah-frica.

Don’t worry, you will love it there. Because in Waahfrica, everyone must wear flag lapel pins, everyone must recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and everyone must become a member of at least one of the country’s countless Waactivist groups, such as, Families For People Having to Leave Waahfrica If They Don’t Love Waahfrica, or Veterans Against Deceased Waahfrica-Haters Being Buried on Waahfrican Soil.

But of all the things that drive me crazy about you LILIputians, it is your brazen hypocrisy that tips the hippo: When there is something I don’t like about America, I’m anti-American and have to go, but when it’s something you don’t like, that’s perfectly acceptable. And oh yes, and there is plenty that you don’t like about America: You don’t like our abortion laws, our immigration laws, our meddlesome gun laws, our tax laws, our medical marijuana laws, our labor laws and our environmental laws. Add to that the, the President, our processheavy legal system, ACLU, NEA, PBS, IRS, Medicare, welfare and the greatest of all American staples—hot steamy sex just for the sport of it.

The list of things love-it-orleaviters can’t stand about America is as deep and wide as Michelle Duggar’s wasted baby-hole, yet nobody ever says “love it or leave it” to them. And that’s because those of us who don’t have a bag of rusty flag pins where our brains used to be know that the world is more complex than a single, infantile cliché.

We know that if everyone had to leave America because there was something they didn’t love about it, the only people left would be infants, the comatose and Persian nightclub owners.

We know there is a huge difference between loving America and understanding that it’s not perfect— even if we disagree on how to improve it.

We know the whole point of a democracy is that we get to (try) to change what we don’t like. How could anyone other than a hypocritical LILI-douchian flagophant not know that?

Why do you care what I think about America?

Are you so insecure about the character of this nation that you must oversee how other people feel about it?

@SDCITYBEAT

Sordid Tales appears every other week.

Write to edwin@sdcitybeat.com.

JUNE 28, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 7

CULTURE | VOICES

MINDA HONEY

AT THE

INTERSECTION

Existing while black

I

t had been three years since the last time I was pulled over by a police officer.

That last time was in Fontana. I was going like two miles over the speed limit in a school zone. The officer was a young dude who looked like he’d probably pledged SigEp in college and acted like writing me a ticket was a total hassle: “Sorry, the parents in this neighborhood have been complaining.” I could almost hear the “bro” on the tip of his tongue. He told me to fight it because the odds were good he wouldn’t be making it to court that day—wink, wink—so it was likely my ticket would be dropped (it eventually was).

I went on about the rest of my errands, barely even thinking to share with my friends how I’d been inconvenienced that morning.

But this time was different. I was rolling along on the freeway in the thickening rush-hour traffic, mumbling along to whatever mumble rapper was on the radio, enjoying the summer sun and looking forward to rest of my day. Really, the rest of my life. Then, a racket of red and blue lit up on the cop car behind me. I pulled over. I sat on the side of the road at 4 p.m. on a Monday afternoon and wondered: Is this it?

The names of Black folks lost to police violence have been coming so quickly, I barely learn one name before another enters the news cycle. I read each name, each story and send my friends heart-likes for their heartbroken social media posts. I do not watch the videos or listen to the audio—I have to hold it together somehow. So, I doubt there are many people who look like me and don’t worry about what will happen next when their sitting in their car and watching the officer approach.

The officer smiled at me in my side-view mirror and gave a little wave. He didn’t touch his holster, but still that is where my eyes went. The handle sticking out was green, so it probably wasn’t a gun, just a Taser. But I know Tasers can kill too. I’m ashamed to admit that I began tallying up my privileges, “At least I’m a woman… At least I’m light-skin… At least I read as middle class…

At least I have a clean record… At least I’m in a nice part of town…”

When the officer asked me to roll my window down a little bit more, I pawed at the buttons in panic because they weren’t working.

“Maybe you have to start the car back up?” he gently suggested. I was worried because I was sweaty and I hadn’t quite caught my breath yet from being at

the gym. Did that make me look suspicious? According to juries and judges and plaintiffs across America, looking suspicious is an offense worthy of death when you’re Black in America.

Even though the police have just killed a mother in Seattle in front of her children after she called them for help following a burglary, it is the officer who asked me to help him feel more comfortable.

“Can you take your sunglasses off? They’re messing with me.” The lense were mirrored, and he didn’t like looking at himself. I apologized and removed them.

He explained that he’d pulled me over for “following too closely.” He told me not to worry, he was only going to give me a warning, but it would be a documented warning. So, even without a ticket, it’s now more likely I’ll be pulled over again. It’s now more likely I’ll be one more dead Black person whose family won’t see justice. Philando Castile was pulled over 49 times before a police officer shot him seven times.

The last time was because of a busted brake light.

The officer made small talk with me and asked about what I do for a living.

“I meet such interesting people on the road,” he said. I could tell he was doing everything he could to let me know he’s “one of the good ones.” That he’d seen the same news I’ve seen, and that he knew how he and his uniform and whatever was in his holster made me fearful.

He was trying to let me know he was witnessing my humanity.

And he wasn’t any more threatening than the officer who’d pulled me over in Fontana. But still, when I pulled away I began crying uncontrollably. It took 30 minutes to calm down. I wasn’t aware of the mental feats my mind had been managing under the weight of all the news to keep me together. Even though the police have killed 142 Black people six months into 2017, my tears felt overly dramatic.

A friend I made while in grad school told me that one day the UC Riverside campus police pulled their guns on him for having expired tags. He said that in that moment he was more concerned about their fear of him than his own fear of them. And after, he went to his history class like nothing happened. That’s existing while Black in America. Brushing off trauma is the norm and a routine traffic stop can trigger grief.

Philando Castile was pulled over 49 times before a police officer shot him seven times.

The last time was because of a busted brake light.

8 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JUNE 28, 2017

At The Intersection appears every four weeks. @SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | FOOD

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER

THE WORLD

featuring beef, it’s tempting to think of the dish as a variant of pho. Tempting, yes, but wrong. Bun bo hue broth is rich, yes, but also somewhat spicy.

Where bun bo hue puts lemongrass front and center, pho’s broth is characterized by sweet spices and charred onion and ginger. In addition to the beef, Mien Trang’s bun bo hue also features pig feet and The center’s a bit spicy blood cake.

One of the best dishes at Mien Trung is one of arely more than a generation ago even some who called themselves “gourmets” (once- the simplest: egg rolls (cha gio). It’s a simple, perupon-a-time a politically correct synonym fectly done, deep-fried ground pork egg roll. Mien for “foodies”) were less than certain of how Tuscan Trung offers them with big leaves of lettuce as a cuisine differed from Sicilian. Or, to use another hand wrap and a nuoc cham (fish sauce with vinexample, that kung pao chicken has no place on a egar, sugar, garlic and chilies) dipping sauce. The freshness of the lettuce makes the dish. Hen xuc real Cantonese menu.

MICHAEL GARDINER banh trang, an exotic appetizer, was a rice pancake (more of a cracker) with a plate of slightly spicy baby clams to be used almost as a dip.

Those egg rolls make another appearance in a central Vietnamese take on the classic Hanoi dish, bun cha.

Mien Trung’s version, bun cha thit nuong, features two of those egg rolls with grilled fatty pork over rice vermicelli and a salad of shredded lettuce and cabbage with peanuts and pickled vegetables. The entire affair is served with a nuoc cham, the diner dipping some or all of the ingredients in the sauce on the way from plate to mouth. It’s both fun and tasty.

Mien Trung offers other characteristically central Vietnamese rice vermicelli soup options. Mi quang (shrimp Mi Quang and pork) was particularly good with Today, even some devout foodies couldn’t name both the pork and shrimp evident in the broth. The more than two Vietnamese dishes. And that’s broth is flavorful in its own right, especially with where Mien Trung (7530 Mesa College Drive, Suite rice crackers slowly absorbing and dissolving into A) comes in: It’s a glimpse into a world of Vietnam- it. Bun mang vit (duck and bamboo shoot) wasn’t ese cuisine with which many on these shores are quite as good. While the duck flavored the broth, the meat itself seemed to have given up its best generally unfamiliar.

The name “mien trung” means central Vietnam qualities to the surrounding liquid.

Mien Trung may not look like much; it’s a hole (aka “Middle Vietnam”). Central Vietnamese cuisine is characterized by Hue’s status as Vietnam’s in the wall next to a dodgy sushi spot hidden beimperial capital for a century and a half, the moun- hind a more trafficked strip mall across from Ketains to the west and eastern coast. It tends to be arny High. But inside are new flavor profiles, new spicier than Northern Vietnamese food, bears less dishes and peeks across an ocean to places barely influence from China but still retains the stamp of glimpsed before.

French colonialism.

One signature Central Vietnamese dish is bun The World Fare appears weekly. bo hue. Since it’s a rice noodle soup prominently Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

FARE B

@SDCITYBEAT

JUNE 28, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 9

UP FRONT | FOOD

BY JAMES VERNETTE

DISHING IT

OUT About to pop

S

an Diego is justifiably famous for its craft beer scene, but Brett Burner admits he’s never been much of a drinker.

“I’ve always been a big soda guy,” says Burner, the man behind Swell Soda, an artisan soda company based out of a Spring Valley industrial park. “I’ve had this idea for years, but started putting the pieces and parts together two years ago.”

A native San Diegan with deep roots, Burner finally saw the final product to market in April.

He wants his soda to reflect the flavor of the region and each of the first three flavors is designed to evoke a sense memory. For example, the tangerine flavored soda was inspired by the tangerines in the backyard of his aunt’s home in El Cajon.

“I didn’t want just another orange soda,” he explains. “I wanted new flavors that weren’t duplicated elsewhere.”

Pomegranate is a tribute to a woman who used to hand out the tangy fruits to kids on Halloween instead of candy.

The most unusual flavor for now is the coffee-vanilla cream, which has a chocolaty flavor that makes for a perfect ice cream float. The caffeine jolt makes it a decent pick-me-up on summer mornings that are too hot for regular coffee.

Burner has other flavors in the works, including a “Limon-Lemon” that emphasizes the lime, a very spicy ginger ale and a blueberry soda with hints of grape flavor.

“We’re thinking of doing an extra spicy cola with lots more nutmeg,” Burner says.

Craft soda is a new twist on an old idea, Burner admits.

“It used to be that all soda companies were local,” he says. “Because they needed to get the bottles back to refill them.”

That changed when major soda companies such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola started buying up the bottling plants for their products.

10 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JUNE 28, 2017

Although Burner is spending a lot of time getting his syrups just right, he admits the key to a good soda comes down to one main ingredient: cane sugar.

“That’s where the genuine flavor comes from,” he says, echoing the words of anyone who has had a Coke made in Mexico. “I remember when they began switching to corn syrup. They had to increase the carbonation to get rid of the aftertaste that corn syrup has.”

Burner said he’s been getting tips and advice from people in the beer and distilling community, mostly with distribution and carbonation. In other aspects, however, he’s on his own.

“Soda is a food and beer is alcohol so the licensing is different,” he says.

LYLE DETWILER

Swell Soda Currently, Swell Soda is only available in about 20 shops countywide, but Burner dreams of saturating the San Diego soda market before working his way to the rest of southern California.

That may take some time, and he is only able to make about 100 cases a month, which, for now, makes Swell Soda truly a “small batch” operation.

Still, Burner is happy with the reaction he’s had from customers, even if he has to temper their enthusiasm.

“People have asked me, ‘Are you going to have a tasting room?’ Maybe, but when’s the last time anyone asked, ‘Hey, you want to go out for a soda?’”

Dishing It Out appears every other week.

@SDCITYBEAT

UP FRONT | DRINK

THE

BY ANDREW DYER

BEERDIST

Like a Burgeon

O

ne unintended side effect of the size and scope of San Diego County’s brewing industry is that, with so many brew houses, it’s almost impossible to keep up with them all. No matter how hard one tries, sometimes great beer flows unnoticed. This embarrassment of riches is compounded by the county’s geography. There are 61 miles between its northernmost brewery, Fallbrook Brewing, to Bay Bridge, its southernmost.

I recently overcame this geographic challenge and ventured up the coast to Carlsbad to visit one of the county’s newest and most promising breweries, Burgeon Beer Company (6350 Yarrow Drive Suite C, burgeonbeer.com). Burgeon has been quietly making a name for itself along North County’s “Hops Highway,”—State Route 78—since opening late last year.

Its tap list leans heavily on IPAs of both the West Coast and northeast persuasions, but also includes plenty of other styles to satisfy the hop-averse.

Burgeon’s tasting room is spacious, with plants and wood throughout, and includes an entire tree fastened to the bar. The bar itself, as a video on its website explains, was cut from a single tree and makes for an impressive centerpiece to the space. The playlist was a bit distracting, however, as songs by Sublime, 311 and some other white-boy suburban reggae outfit—probably Dirty Heads or Pepper or whoever—contributed an unfortunate soundtrack to an otherwise great beer tasting experience.

I have a love/hate relationship with northeaststyle IPAs—I hate how trendy they’ve become, but I also love to drink them. Burgeon had four ontap when I visited, and I tried two: CitraSmella, a pale ale, and Hitched on Haze, an IPA. Both were velvety-smooth and bursting with hops, but I have to give the edge to CitraSmella over Hitched. Both were expertly crafted and clean, with none of the “floaties” that sometimes appear in hazy beer.

@SDCITYBEAT

The most interesting and surprising beer at Burgeon is Noble Miner grisette. Grisette is a Belgian-style that I had heard of but, until now, had never tried. It’s described as a farmhouse ale but lacks the musty barnyard, horse blanket flavor associated with the style. Noble Miner drank like a blend between a saison and a blonde, and at 4.4 percent ABV it is an ideal beer to power through what is already a hot summer. I hope more San Diego breweries pick up this style.

ANDREW DYER

Burgeon Beer Company No first-time visit to a brewery is complete until I’ve had its biggest beer, and at Burgeon, that’s Dutchman’s Pipe, a 12.9 percent ABV imperial stout. It’s a full-bodied brew that clobbers the palate with layers of coffee and chocolate, and does so without the boozy finish one might expect from a beer this big.

Burgeon does offer its beers in cans, but only at the brewery and in limited runs. Its next release is July 1, and includes Mixed Greens double IPA and Universal Secret, another northeast-style IPA. It might take a little extra planning and budgeting (an Uber to North County isn’t cheap) but Burgeon is a brewery that really needs to be experienced to be appreciated, no matter the distance.

The Beerdist appears every other week.

Write to andrewd@sdcitybeat.com

JUNE 28, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 11

SHORTlist

EVENTS

ART

the

THREE YOU HAVE TO SEE

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

ENCINITAS

1 MAN OF MYSTERY

Anyone who’s ever been to the Belly Up pieces will be on display at A Retrospective Exhibiknows that one of the more iconic aspects of the tion of Local Rock Poster Legend Scrojo, a 30-year interior is the huge wall of rock posters from shows survey of his work.

“It’s a trip,” says Scrojo, adding that the survey that have happened in the Solana Beach venue over the years. Legendary names COURTESY OF THE ARTIST can be seen as almost a tribute to the environment in which and dates are rendered into a they were produced. “I jokingly vibrant, surreal and sometimes subtitled the exhibition ‘I’m a bizarre piece of poster art that product of my environment,’ patrons can’t help but gawk at. but it’s true. As I was putting But not much is known the art together, I could see the about Scrojo, the North County influences and remember the artist behind those posters. His exact location in town where website (scrojo.com) says it all: I first came in contact with “Working in seclusion from that influence; Lou’s records, an unknown location, few have Nectar Surfboards, SRF, Ducky seen his face. Fewer still have Waddles…The art is a direct been privileged to hear him reflection of all the things witspeak. Using his voice only nessed growing up in the area. when absolutely necessary, It’s So-Cal pop culture regurgihe has chosen to express himtation.” self through his visionary artRegurgitation or not, readwork.” ers should pay tribute to the And expressed himself he “The Big Lebowski” by Scrojo man and the myth by stopping has. For decades he’s crafted iconic poster art and prints (as well as a few amaz- by EVE Encinitas (575 S. Coast Hwy 101) on Friday, ing CityBeat covers). To hear him tell it—in a rare June 30 from 7 to 10 p.m.

“This is the first attempt at a retrospect,” Scrojo interview—he got his start from the Belly Up’s original promotion director and has since done over says. “I hope I don’t fuck it up.”

We doubt he will.

2,500 posters since. A curated selection of these

DOWNTOWN AND BALBOA PARK

2

ART OFF

Art enthusiasts will be spoiled for choice on Thursday, June 29, as two of San Diego’s biggest museums host two preholiday weekend events. Over in Balboa Park, the San Diego Museum of Art (1450 El Prado) celebrates Richard Deacon’s sculpture exhibition, What You See is What You Get, as part of the Sculpture and Cocktails series. In addition to sculpture-themed cocktails, the party will feature custom screen-printed shirts, LED games and treats from Donut Dispatch. It goes from 6 to 10 p.m. and tickets are $35 at sdmart.org. A little to the south, downtown’s Museum of Contemporary Art (1100 Kettner Blvd) will be hosting eXit pARTy : Changing Tides, an event inspired by Angela Chung’s exhibit, You Broke The Ocean in Half to Be Here. The night will include cocktails and interactive activities. It happens from 7 to 10 p.m. and tickets are $25 at mcasd.org.

BALBOA PARK

3

GAME ON

Most San Diegans remember twiddling their thumbs too much while seeing Mario and his iconic mustache on the screen. Some even shed tears when Nintendo 64 was retired for good. The Fleet Science Center (1875 El Prado) feels their pain. Game Masters will feature more than 100 playable video games with a focus on the 30 great video game designers behind iconic titles such as Minecraft and companies like Blizzard Entertainment. Patrons will be exposed to arcade heroes, game changers and indies to understand how video games are made. In addition, seeing how they have transformed from kicking it old school with Pac-Man to modern games like Angry Birds. So start thumb wrestling and making those hands strong. General admission is $19.95 beginning Saturday, July 1 all the way to January 15. Hours are 10 to 6 p.m. rhfleet.org COURTESY OF FLEET SCIENCE CENTER

HDark Energy at 1805 Gallery, 1805 Columbia St., Little Italy. A new installation exhibition from Melissa Walter, who explores the mysterious force behind the expansion of the universe. Opening from 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, June 28. Free.

1805gallery.com HConclusion : Andrew Alcasid at Bread & Salt, 1955 Julian Ave., Logan Heights. The local artist shows off the results of his month-long residency as Bread & Salt’s artist in residence. From 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, June 28 and Thursday, June 29. Free. facebook. com/events/1800045553658465 Murals of La Jolla Walking Tour at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. The Athenaeum will host this walking tour led by project curator Lynda Forsha. View murals by Kim MacConnel, Ryan McGinness, Kelsey Brookes and more. At 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 28.

Free. 858-454-5872, muralsoflajolla.com HSculpture & Cocktails at the San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. Celebrating Richard Deacon’s sculpture exhibition, What You See is What You Get, partygoers can enjoy sculpture-themed cocktails, custom screen-printed shirts, an LED game area and eats from Donut Dispatch. From 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday, June 29. $5-$35.

619-232-7931. sdmart.org HeXit pARTy : Changing Tides at Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 1100 Kettner Blvd, Downtown. Inspired by Angela Chung’s exhibition, You Broke the Ocean in Half to Be Here, this event brings together music and visual elements focusing on the ephemeral, vibrant nature of the sea. 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday, June 29. $25. 858-454-3541. mcasd.org HDNSE.af at San Diego Writers Ink, 2730 Historic Decatur Rd, Suite 202, Point Loma. A new show featuring performance, audio and visual pieces. Features works by Chris Bennett, Brian & Ryan, Daniel Barron Corrales, Yasmine Kasem and more. Opening from 6 p.m. to midnight. Friday, June 30. Free. 619-6960363, sandiegowriters.org HA Retrospective Exhibition of Local Rock Poster Legend Scrojo at EVE Encinitas, 575 S. Coast Hwy 101, Encinitas. The works and processes of mysterious artistic visionary Scrojo, who is known for his iconic poster art promoting rock shows. Opening from 7 to 10 p.m.

Friday, June 30. Free. 760-230-2560. eveencinitas.com Chris Smith: New Works at Art at Art Produce Gallery, 3139 University Ave., North Park. A collaborative show between North Park spaces Art Produce and The Studio Door. Smith will be showcasing new abstract paintings. From 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, June 30. Free. 619-5844448, artproduce.org Illumination at Thumbprint Gallery, 920 Kline St., La Jolla. An exploration of works by Richard Salcido and Armando Gonzalez, two local figurative artists who explore light and abstraction through their pieces. Closing from 7 to 9 p.m.

Saturday, July 1. Free. 858-354-6294. thumbprintgallerysd.com HDoing Things Last Minute at VISUAL, 3776 30th St., North Park. A collection of ephemera and new works from local artist Acamonchi. The exhibition will include small works of new drawings and mixed media paintings, as well as limited editions buttons, zines and more. Opening from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 1. Free.

619-501-5585, visualshopsd.com HCorey Dunlap, Vabianna Santos and Chantal Wnuk at Helmuth Projects,

Sculpture and Cocktails 12 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JUNE 28, 2017

Game Masters

H = CityBeat picks

1827 Fifth Ave., Bankers Hills. Artists Vabianna Santos and Chantal Wnuk will present “First to Blush”, a collection that explores interiority and intimacy; Corey Dunlap will present “Edge Loop” a series of digital prints with custom textured frames. Opening from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, July 1. Free. helmuth-projects.com Comic Art III at Mike Hess Brewing Company North Park 3812 Grim Ave, North Park. A comic-inspired group exhibition featuring a sketch competition, photo booth, local handmade goods for sale and food by Mariscos food truck. 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 5. Free. 619-2557136. mikehessbrewing.com

BOOKS Paula Poundstone at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The veteran comedian will sign and discuss her new book, The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 28. Free.

858-454-0347, warwicks.com Spencer Quinn at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The author of the Chet and Bernie adult mysteries will sign his latest novel, The Right Side. At 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, June 29. Free. 858-2684747, mystgalaxy.com Nina George at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The bestselling author will discuss and sign her book The Little French Bistro, the followup to The Little Paris Bookshop. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 29. Free. 858-4540347, warwicks.com HDon Winslow at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The bestselling novelist will sign and discuss his latest cop thriller, The Force. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 30.

Free. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Judy Stephens at Barnes and Noble Bookstore, 5500 Grossmont Center Drive Suite 331, La Mesa. The local writer and real estate agent will be promoting her book, Bounce Back: 12 Transforming Tales from The Resilient Realtor. At 2 p.m.

Saturday, July 1. Free. bouncebacktales.com HPatricia Benke at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. As part of Warwick’s ongoing Weekend with Locals program, Benke will be promoting Qudeen the Magnificent, a collection of stories about young girls in conflict with their Arabic culture. At noon. Sunday, July 2.

Free. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com HNalo Hopkinson at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The bestselling fantasy novelist will discuss recent works including her new collection Falling in Love with Hominids and contemporary fantasy Sister Mine. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 5.

Free. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com

COMEDY Anjelah Johnson at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. A YouTube star and cast member of MadTV, Johnson is known for her nice mix of improv and edgy, straight-ahead stand up. Local comic Mal Hall opens. At 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 4. Free-$26. 858-755-1161, sdfair.com

FOOD & DRINK HCupcake Extravaganza at Eclipse Chocolate, 2145 Fern Ave., South Park.

The tenth annual event devoted to all things cake and frosting. New flavors and boxes will be offered each day through-

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 15 @SDCITYBEAT

@SDCityBeat

june 28 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

EVENTS COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

BOOKS: THE FLOATING LIBRARY Portrait of a Beatle as a middle-aged Irishman

N

“End of Transmission / EOT 01” by Acamonchi will be on view at Doing Things Last Minute, a solo show opening from 6 to 10 p.m.

Saturday, July 1, at VISUAL (3776 30th St., North Park).

14 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JUNE 28, 2017

ext week marks the 6oth anniversary of the day John Lennon met Paul McCartney at the Woolton Parish Church in Liverpool.

It’s an occasion that has been researched to death and has been the subject of many re-enactments.

I’m not going to say anything else about it because I don’t want to read a bunch of “Well, actually…” emails from pompous Beatles fans pointing out my errors and misinterpretations. The truth of the matter is I despise the Beatles, a loathing that is outpaced only by my dim regard for their obnoxious fans.

The Irish writer Kevin Barry, however, would probably get a kick out of these rustic recreations of events lost to time. In his most recent novel, Beatlebone (Doubleday, 2015) Barry inhabits Lennon’s spirit and takes the reader on a strange and wonderful vision quest through the west of Ireland.

Apparently, Lennon bought Dorinish, a tiny island in Mayo’s Clew Bay off the coast of Ireland, with the intention of building some kind of settlement. But the west of Ireland is a harsh and unforgiving place, and nothing ever came of the scheme. In Beatlebone, Barry imagines what Lennon’s trip there would have been like, and the result is a wildly comic romp.

“The first of the morning comes across the trees.

The lake hardens with new light. He wakes to a

head throb—it hurts even to think. He cannot place himself, quite. It hurts especially to fucking think.

He lies on his belly on the smooth stones by the edge of the lake. He feels great age down the reptile length of himself.”

John’s hangover is provided by his driver and guide, Cornelius O’Grady. Cornelius is unshakably confident, possesses a prodigious appetite, and may possibly be mad. He dresses John in his dead father’s suit and glasses and passes him off as a distant cousin to avoid the pressmen. Each time Lennon demands, “I want to get to my fucking island,” Cornelius comes up with another detour.

“Because what the fuckers don’t know yet is that Cornelius O’Grady is running this game.”

After pit stops in mystical pubs, ruined hotels and desolate communes, they eventually make it to Dorinish where John must contend with the island’s hostile terns, the relentless shrieking wind and his own doomed self.

Beatlebone is as profound and as it is original and left this Beatle-hating reader moved by Barry’s portrait of an artist who, despite his legendary fame and fortune, struggles with the same shit that we all deal with.

Write to jimr@sdcitybeat.com.

—Jim Ruland

@SDCITYBEAT

EVENTS EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 out the week. Various times. Friday, June 30 through Tuesday, July 4. http:// eclipsechocolate.com/

FOURTH OF JULY HStar Spangled Pops at Embarcadero Marina Park South, 111 W. Harbor Drive, Downtown. Celebrate Independence Day with conductor Lawrence Loh, who’ll lead a patriotic extravaganza featuring all-American hits complete with marches, a tribute to the military and a fireworks display. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 30, through Sunday, July 2. $27-$100.

619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org Freedom Fest at Viejas Casino and Resort, 5000 Willows Rd, Alpine. Viejas is kicking off Independence Day celebrations with an event featuring live music by the Mighty Untouchables, life-size patio games, food and a fireworks show.

From 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, July 2. Free. viejas.com

ternational Organ Festival continues with this award-winning theatre organist who’s toured the world. At 7:30 p.m.

Monday, July 3. spreckelsorgan.org

PERFORMANCE HSan Diego International Fringe Festival at various locations, San Diego and Tijuana. Experience multiple performances, ranging from theater to music to art and more at this annual event that gives artists the opportunity to perform in a festival setting. See website for showtimes, locations and prices.

Various times. Through Sunday, July 2.

Free-$72. sdfringe.org

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD HVAMP: Living With Sin at Whistle Stop Bar, 2236 Fern St., South Park. So Say We All’s monthly storytelling event brings together Frank DiPalermo, Joe Fejeran, Hunter Gatewood and others to read personal stories about sins and sinners. From 8:30 to 10 p.m. Thursday, June 29. $5 suggested donation. sosayweallonline.com

POLITICS & COMMUNITY HImpeachment March at San Diego County Administration Center, 1600 Pa-

cific Hwy, Downtown. A march to call for Congress to impeach President Trump for numerous breaches of the Constitution, including treason, bribery and/or high crimes and misdemeanors. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, July 2. Free.

SPECIAL EVENTS Conrad Prebys Africa Rocks Exhibit Opening at the San Diego Zoo, 2920 Zoo Drive, Balboa Park. The San Diego Zoo is unveiling Cape Fynbos, the first of six habitats in the long-awaited Africa Rocks exhibit and a home for endangered African penguins. From 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday, July 1. Free with zoo ticket.

619-231-1515, zoo.sandiegozoo.org

HGame Masters: The Exhibition at the Fleet Science Center, 1875 El Prado, Balboa Park. This exhibition highlights some of the world’s best video game designers and explores the development of video games from the arcade era to today’s console and online games. From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday July 1.

Free-$19.95. 619-238-1233. rhfleet.org Faeries in the Garden at Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College, 12122 Cuyamaca College Dr W., El Cajon. Fundraising and faeries come together in this family-friendly annual event featuring a costume parade, hands-on art projects, and goods for sale from local artists. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, July 1. $5. 619.282.7599. artsforlearningsd.org

Independence Day Celebration & Fireworks Spectacular at California Center for the Arts, 340 North Escondido Blvd., Escondido. Salute Lady Liberty with local and regional bands, the First Marine Division Band, a light show, children’s activities, food vendors, a community art sale and a fireworks display.

From 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, July 4. 760839-4186, artcenter.org HBig Bay Boom The largest display in the city. Fireworks will be discharged simultaneously from barges placed strategically around the San Diego Bay, off Shelter Island, Harbor Island, Embarcadero North, Seaport Village and more.

At 9 p.m. Tuesday, July 4. 760-8394190, bigbayboom.com H4th of July at Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma Peninsula. Patrons can watch firework shows while enjoying the sunset and nighttime views at the Cabrillo monument. From 6 to 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 4. $50. friendsofcabrillo.com America’s Birthday with Wynonna at Embarcadero Marina Park South, 111 W. Harbor Drive, Downtown. Wynonna Judd returns to the Bayside Summer Nights concert series with a set of patriotic music. Concert is followed by the Big Bay Boom fireworks show. At 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, July 4. $33-$113.. 619-2350804, sandiegosymphony.org San Diego County Fair 4th of July Celebration at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. An all-day celebration featuring a patriotic performance from the Third Marine Aircraft Wing Band, concerts and a fireworks display at 9 p.m. From 9:30 a.m. to midnight. Friday, July 4. Free-$18.

858-755-1161, sdfair.com

MUSIC HB-Side Players and Sol Y Mar at Liberty Station North Promenade, 2875 Dewey Road, Point Loma. The first of three free summer concerts at Liberty Station, the B-Side Players and Sol Y Mar bring the sounds and dances of Latin America. At 5 p.m. Saturday, July 1.

Free. 619-573-9260. libertystation.com Athenaeum Summer Festival at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. The Athenaeum’s Summer Festival returns with celebrated pianist Gustavo Romero’s four-part concert series celebrating the music of Enrique Granados. At 4 p.m. Sunday, July 2. $40$165. 858-454-5872, ljathenaeum.org Jelani Eddington at Spreckels Organ Pavilion, Balboa Park. The Summer In-

@SDCITYBEAT

JUNE 28, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 15

THEATER DAREN SCOTT

Paul Swensen Eddy stars in Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story

Buddy system

Y

ou’d have to be a puritan or a rock ‘n’ roll hater or both not to enjoy Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, Alan Janes’ 1989 jukebox musical about the bespectacled music legend from Lubbock, Texas. Before the proceedings turn overly talky with developments in the second act (e.g. Buddy’s whirlwind marriage and his split from the Crickets), this show, co-produced by Intrepid Theatre Company and New Village Arts Theatre, is in essence a concert performance of Buddy Holly classics such as “That’ll Be The Day,” “Peggy Sue” and “Oh Boy.” Paul Swensen Eddy makes an appealing Buddy, and he’s raucously supported by Manny Fernandes as the Big Bopper and Shaun Tuazon as Ritchie Valens.

Rock ‘n’ rollers mostly over 50 will dig this show, but those younger should hear in Buddy Holly’s songwriting and guitar craft the inspiration for rock artists of all stripes (even punkers) who followed. Kudos to the musicians in this production who rock the house, some of them on stage acting as well. Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story is a trip back in time worth taking.

Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story runs through July 2 at the Horton Grand Theatre, downtown, and from July 13-Aug. 27 at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad. $29-$58. intrepidtheatre. org and newvillagearts.org ••• et Emily Bronte spin in her grave. Phil Johnson and Omri Schein’s two-man spoof Withering Heights is a helluva lot more entertaining than Bronte’s one and only 1������������������������ 9th-century novel. Johnson is a co-founder of the fledgling Roustabouts company that is presenting Withering Heights on Diversionary Theatre’s stage. In this exercise in inspired silliness, he and Schein do quick-change duty as Bronte’s Gothic characters, including, of course, star-crossed lovers Catherine (Schein) and Heathcliff (Johnson). The North Coast Rep’s David Ellenstein directs the swiftly paced antics, which sometimes descend into flatulence humor but in large part demonstrate Johnson and Schein’s cleverness at parodying Bronte’s melodramatic story.

What might be tedious in lesser hands is giddily sustainable for an hour and 20 minutes. Try getting through the novel in that time. Try getting through the first chapter in that time.

L

16 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JUNE 28, 2017

Withering Heights runs through July 9 at Diversionary Theatre in University Heights. $38; theroustabouts.org

—David L. Coddon

Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING: Guys and Dolls: The classic Broadway musical about a degenerate gambler who falls in love with a missionary he’s been tasked to take to Havana. Directed by Josh Rhodes, it opens July 2 at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. theoldglobe.org The Price: A staged reading of Arthur Miller’s classic about two brothers and the grudges they keep against each other.

Presented by the Roustabouts Theatre Co., it happens July 3 at the Diversionary Theatre in University Heights.

At the Old Place: Rachel Bonds’ world premiere play about a middle-aged woman who returns to her childhood home only to find some unexpected guests waiting for her. Directed by Jaime Castañeda, it opens July 5 at the La Jolla Playhouse. lajollaplayhouse.org

NOW PLAYING: Aida: The Tony-winning rock opera from Elton John and Tim Rice about an Egyptian prince who falls in love with a slave.

Presented by Moonlight Stage Productions, it runs through July 1 at the AVO Playhouse in Vista. moonlightstage.com The Imaginary Invalid: Molière’s funny masterpiece about a hypochondriac who wants his daughter to marry a doctor, but, naturally, she’s in love with another man. Presented by Fiasco Theatre, it runs through July 2 at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. theoldglobe.org James and the Giant Peach: The family-friendly musical about a young orphan hanging out with a bunch of bugs inside a big piece of fruit. Based on the Roald Dahl book and presented by the Pickwick Players, it runs through July 2 at the Coronado Playhouse. pickwickplayers.net Escape to Margaritaville: A resort worker falls head over heels for a tourist in this world premier musical featuring the tunes of Jimmy Buffett. Directed by Christopher Ashley, it runs through July 9 at the La Jolla Playhouse. lajollaplayhouse.org

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

@SDCITYBEAT

CULTURE | FOOD

May 16, 2017 the Willamette Week, an alternative weekly from Portland, published a profile of Kooks, a breakfast burrito pop-up operating out of one of Portland’s innumerable food carts. In the article, Kooks co-owner Liz Connelly describes how she and fellow owner Kali Wilgus went crazy over flour tortillas while on a trip to Puerto Nuevo: “I picked the brains of every tortilla lady…and they showed me a little of what they did,” Connelly said in the interview. “They told us the basic ingredients, and we saw them moving and stretching the dough …before rolling it out with rolling pins. They wouldn’t tell us too much about technique, but we were peeking into the windows of every kitchen, totally fascinated by how easy they made it look.

We learned quickly it isn’t quite that easy.”

Three days later, the millennial-focused Mic network wrote “These white cooks bragged about bringing back recipes from Mexico to start a business.” Then on May 22, another local weekly, the Portland Mercury, published a scathing piece that may have delivered the deathblow. Wilgus and Connelly shuttered the Kooks Burrito cart citing unconfirmed reports of 10 death threats. Eight days later, the Mercury took the story down as “not factually supported.” But the six day war had already ended. Kooks was gone.

The backlash, though, was even more predictable than Portlandians taking offense at the notion of two white women “stealing” the cultural heritage of some Mexican abuelitas. If Portland progressiveness and political correctness is cliché enough to spawn a hit television series that satirizes it, would the right wing not bite back? The Daily Caller, The Blaze and Fox predictably ridiculed the charges of cultural appropriation.

But along with those usual suspects were some surprises. In an article titled “Let White People Appropriate Mexican Food—Mexicans Do It to Ourselves All the Time,” ¡Ask a Mexican! syndicated columnist Gustavo Arellano (hardly a Trumpster) undercut one of the cultural appropriation cops’ lynchpin arguments: “To suggest—as [Social Justice Warriors’ always do]—that Mexicans and other minority entrepreneurs can’t possibly engage in cultural appropriation because they’re people of color, and that we’re always the victims, is ignorant and patronizing and robs us of agency. We’re no one’s victims, and who says we can’t beat the wasichu at their game?”

Part of the problem is there’s no consensus on the param-

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eters of what constitutes “cultural appropriation.” Despite the quasi-legal sounding terms used by the critics of Kooks, it’s clear there’s very little intellectual property protection for recipes. In fact, copyright only “extend[s] to substantial literary expression—a description, explanation, or illustration, for example—that accompanies a recipe, ” according to Letter 122 of the U.S. Copyright office.

So if a law doesn’t provide the parameters, historian Rachel Laudan proposes a framework identifying three “core elements” of cultural appropriation as it applies to food: 1.) A transfer of food knowledge from one group to another; 2.) Disproportionate power allowing the obtaining group to exploit the knowledge; and 3.) Recognition and wealth for obtaining group without acknowledgement or reward to those generating the knowledge.

MICHAEL GARDINER

Making flour tortillas at Puerto Nuevo #1 I would add a fourth factor: distortion of the original cuisine. Where, for example, Andy Ricker (Pok Pok) and Rick Bayless (Topolobampo) honor and credit the original cuisines and those who created them, places like Taco Bell terribly distort Mexican food and massively profit from it.

At the core of the argument against the Kooks women is the idea that they “stole” the recipe (or techniques) for flour tortillas from “tortilla ladies” in Puerto Nuevo in Baja. But as Antonio Ley, TV personality and owner of San Diego’s Corazon de Torta truck asked incredulously, “so it was tortillas? They ‘stole’ the recipe for making flour tortillas? This is insane.”

The recipe for flour tortillas is hardly some big secret: it’s on innumerable websites, not the least of which is that of Bayless.

As Ley puts it: “Let the gueras make tortillas. If Eminem can try to rap, I see no reason for gueras to not give tortillas a go.”

The techniques were not a closely guarded secret requiring surveillance to suss out as a recent trip to Puerto Nuevo showed. Those “tortilla ladies” weren’t hidden, they were out in the open and smiled as they were photographed demonstrating the very technique Connelly described. As San Diego chef Flor Franco points out, Mexican culture is not about keeping culinary secrets.

“We don’t believe in that,” says Franco. “We believe in giving the recipes, teaching people how to do it, we want to give you, give you, give you….”

So, why the furor over the Kooks? It’s not as if Wilgus and Connelly claimed to have invented breakfast burritos (which really aren’t Mexican anyway) or flour tortillas. It’s not as if they built some empire on the backs of those “tortilla ladies.”

So what was it?

As said by one member of San Diego’s Mexican food community (who, like many others who derided the Kooks’ conduct as cultural appropriation, declined to be named for publication): “it would have been one thing if [Wilgus and Connelly] had given credit to those Puerto Nuevo women or had invited them up to Portland and honored them.” Instead, she said, “they spied on them” and “stole” what those women hadn’t offered.

And that may be the gist of it, the fateful quote from that one paragraph from that original Willamette Week article: “they wouldn’t tell us too much about technique, but we were peeking into the windows of every kitchen….” This anecdote—likely the puffery of a first-time interviewee just starting her first business, likely fictitious—certainly does sound a lot like something nefarious was going on. It was at the core of the Mic and Merc articles and at the heart of most of the charges of cultural appropriation because it sure does sound suspicious.

Still, looking through Laudan’s “core elements of cultural appropriation” it’s hard to see the Kooks as an example of cultural appropriators. What they did—and even what they said—just doesn’t fit the rubric. On the other hand, what they said certainly does sound bad, sneaky and somehow unfair.

Cultural appropriation is very real. Connelly and Wilgus, however, were not that. However, the fact that Kooks was not an example of cultural appropriation ought not cast doubt on its reality.

JUNE 28, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 17

CULTURE | ART

SEEN LOCAL

spired by the life of Michael Jackson are just some of the antics that have gone down.

But a recent hiatus and Pavlick’s frequent travels through his involvement with the project Whoop Dee Doo generated speculation that Helmuth’s days of unbridled creative freedom may be coming to an end.

Luckily, San Diego is getting the chance to hold on to this cultural hot house via the group’s decision to elmuth Projects might seem like a typical start selling work. for-profit gallery operation. With its white “We were always like, let’s do what we want and walls, tall ceilings and its desirable location not have to worry about selling because there’s freein Bankers Hill (1827 Fifth Ave.), the space is ideal for dom in that,” says Pavlick. “But there’s also freedom showcasing contemporary art. But appearances can be in not having to work a day job.”

RACHEL MICHELLE FERNANDES deceiving. Helmuth is like a mullet: Helmuth’s latest incarnation business up front, party in the back. launches this Saturday, July 1 from “It evolved out of a group called 7 to 11 p.m. with an exhibition of URADNZA—a name inspired by brand new work, and the excitea Tupac Shakur story about how ment is palpable.

Tony Danza was one of the few “I’m excited for this show to do people that had his back during some experimental things, which hard times,” recounts Josh Pavlick, is sort of what we are known for,” the “facilities resident” who has says artist Vabianna Santos. “We’re been around since the beginning, also just trying to save this space chaperoning its efforts through livand make it sustainable. It’s been ing rooms, garages and into its cura labor of love for Josh for years.” rent space. Along the way the name First to Blush, features paintchanged to Helmuth, an accidental ings by Chantal Wnuk and mixed misspelling of Helmund, as in the media work by Santos downstairs, actress Katherine who played Mona and Edge Loop, features digital on the ‘80s sitcom Who’s the Boss. work with custom frames by Corey The irony of the name is that no Dunlap upstairs.

Josh Pavlick one is the boss. Over the last seven The press release for the show years, Helmuth Projects (sayingthincludes this statement: “Please eleastandsayingitloud.com) has staged a plethora of consider supporting local artists through collecting.” out-there shows, all funded by the artist’s day jobs Just like Danza had Tupac’s back, let’s hope the arts and donations. Golden Girls marathons, live rattle- community will have Helmuth’s. snakes, drag queen make-up lessons, and a re-created Dominican Family Tree using people in costumes in —Rachel Michelle Fernandes

FREEDOM ISN’T FREE

H

INTENTIONAL ACCIDENTS

I

t’s tempting to call Andrew Alcasid a jack-of-alltrades. Well, maybe not trades, but at this point in his journey, the Mira Mesa-raised artist has certainly dabbled in nearly every conceivable medium.

As with many young artists, he grew up envying the graffiti artists he saw around town and eventually joined a crew.

Still, when it came time to go to college, Alcasid (andrewalcasid.carbonmade.com) fell back on his love of botany, but later switched back to art after receiving encouragement from instructors and curators like Mesa College’s Alessandra Moctezuma. It was his tutelage under Moctezuma, and later with Michael James Armstrong (Ice Gallery) and Thomas DeMello, that helped cement the curatorial and installationbased direction he’s now headed.

“I was learning that language of simplicity,” says Alcasid. “I was studying Mikey’s work and Robert Irwin, James Turrell, all the light and space guys. I felt it brewing but I still didn’t quite understand what was happening, but I remember at the time I kind of switched to this non-representational look where I picked up this motif.”

That motif will be on display at the closing reception on Wednesday, June 28 and Thursday, June 29 (from 6 to 9 p.m. on both nights) for his artist residency at the Bread & Salt building in Logan Heights.

Hints of Alcasid’s past in graffiti, illustration, figurative works and even botany still pop up in his work, but he has managed to seamlessly blend these influences into something that’s altogether original. He originally pitched Bread & Salt owner Jim Brown on a series of cement, object-based works, but switched

18 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JUNE 28, 2017

Andrew Alcasid gears after viewing the idea as too derivative of another artists he loves, local sculptor Tom Dricoll, whose work Alcasid admits to being “obsessed” with for a while.

What Alcasid came up with was a series of installations that rotated in and out of the space. Some of them saw the artist working with spray paint and plastic sheeting, a few of which were then used at the façade for large, squared installations made from wood. The lighting works to play tricks with the blurry haze of the sheeting. The results often look unintentional, but still meticulously focused, something that Alcasid says is, well, intentional.

“When I first started doing my abstracts, that’s all it depended on, those happy accidents,” Alcasid says.

“That looks cool, but I want to be more intentional in these marks. It’s completely intentional, but it has that look of that happy accident, but there’s nothing accidental about it.”

—Seth Combs

@SDCITYBEAT

CULTURE | FILM

Speed demon

Baby Driver

Edgar Wright’s propulsive chase film desperately wants to be a musical

by Glenn Heath Jr.

I

n the early moments of Baby Driver, Edgar Wright’s Baby grooves through the streets of Atlanta during propulsive love letter to movement and sound, a the opening credits, the fleet young man gleefully young wheelman named Baby (Ansel Elgort) or- making music out of thin air. Less rewarding are the chestrates a daring escape from police while listening scenes in which Baby plays his favorite instrument— to “Bellbottoms” by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. the sports car—using every inch of the mechanical The music floods directly to his brain via earbuds like frame to evade being captured.

While Baby enjoys listening to everything from an intravenous drip. Feeling equally confused and awestruck, his thuggish passengers can only passively The Commodores to The Damned during brazen bank wait for this daredevil act to conclude. Later, many robberies, he mixes voice recordings with symphonof them question and demean Baby’s wheel-tapping ic beats to produce singular experimental tapes at style; they don’t understand his genius, and that home. Such tracks represent an even broader escape from the reality of being parentless makes them incredibly nervous. and forced into a life of crime. But Listening to music helps drown for long stretches of Baby Driver, out the Tinnitus in Baby’s ears, Wright embraces conventional which was caused by a car acciBABY DRIVER tropes found in countless shoot dent that killed both of his parents.

Directed by Edgar Wright ‘em up thrillers. It becomes more Criminal boss and blackmail artist Starring Ansel Elgort, about trapping Baby inside a derivDoc (Kevin Spacey) tries to explain ative criminal universe rather than Kevin Spacey, Lily James the backstory multiple times in orgiving him the tools to escape it on der to assuage the fears of career and Jamie Foxx his own terms. thieves like Bats (Jamie Foxx) and Rated R These reservations aside, Buddy (Jon Hamm), but has little Wright constructs another comluck quelling their suspicion. If pelling genre hybrid. His previous Baby seems out of place keeping work spliced horror and comedy company with tattooed killers, he looks right at home dancing around the house of his (Shaun of the Dead), action and satire (Hot Fuzz), teen deaf foster father (CJ Jones), or sweet talking a cute angst and super powers (Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), and musically inclined diner waitress named Debora and sci-fi and drunken buffoonery (The World’s End).

But unlike those films, which are all ensemble pieces, (Lily James).

The tension between these two different worlds Baby Driver speeds up or slows down based on the defines Baby’s ongoing predicament, and inevitably instinctive desires of a single character. For better or subverts the film’s otherwise conventional crime plot. worse, this is his story to tell, and depending on his While the “one last job” narrative has been done to mood that could entail lip-smacking reverie or motordeath, Wright jumpstarts it with an aesthetic volatil- revving seriousness.

While it doesn’t reach the insane highs of Wright’s ity that makes any single moment capable of descending into violence or joy. It’s an impressive high-wire best work, Baby Driver, which opens Wednesday, June act put on by a director who understands the power of 28, beautifully highlights the magic of narrative free styling and cherishes that amazing high of picking human sincerity in the face of oppressive irony.

Baby Driver itself is torn between competing im- the exact right song for the right situation. Few sumpulses: control and liberation, sarcasm and serious- mer blockbusters can claim its seamless craft, racing ness, objectivity and subjectivity, hitting the break or pulse, sardonic wit, and aching desire to momentarily pounding the gas. It’s essentially a tug of war between glimpse artistic freedom. the musical and action genres with explosive moments of personal expression followed by muscular Film reviews run weekly. acts of survival. Wright seems most enamored when Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com

@SDCITYBEAT

JUNE 28, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 19

CULTURE | FILM

The Beguiled

Southern hospitality

N

ot far from the Virginia battlefield where Union and Confederate soldiers wage war daily, The Beguiled lies quietly in wait. If the booming cannons and rifle fire represent a man’s world gone to shit, the film’s central setting—an all-girls seminary tucked away deep in the woods—depicts a woman’s gaze indefinitely stuck in the mud. Director Sofia Coppola has made a career of analyzing the connection between societal oppression and female boredom, but this is the first time the motif has turned poisonous.

An angelic camera descends into this hazy pink purgatory while a young girl scours for mushrooms, humming what sounds like a lullaby. Colorful lens flashes make this a subjective, peaceful space.

20 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JUNE 28, 2017

Caught up in her own world, Amy (Oona Lawrence) almost misses the “blue belly” soldier lying wounded by a tree. Instead of running away, she decides to bring John (Colin Farrell) back to her school for triage.

Only five women remain.

Headmaster Martha Farnsworth (Nicole Kidman) acts swiftly, sequestering John in the music room. Edwina Dabney (Kirsten Dunst), the school’s last teacher, curiously monitors him while oldest student Alicia (Elle Fanning) makes doe eyes in passing. Coppola makes John’s arrival an event that stirs something inside of every woman.

But The Beguiled, a reimagining of Don Siegel’s 1971 original starring Clint Eastwood, is no masculine fantasy. John attempts to capitalize on this increased attention for his own gain. Flirtations eventually become acts of war, and broken promises carry deep consequences. Avoiding the slow motion pop rock sensibility of her past work, Coppola keeps the proceedings tight, like Martha’s perfect stitch work.

Calling this sweaty hothouse melodrama, which opens Friday, June 30, an allegory for the Civil War itself would be misleading. It’s

more concerned with the overlap between gender and ideology, and how one can be used to hobble the other. “There’s nothing more dangerous than a Southern woman with a gun,” says a passing Confederate grunt. Coppola masterfully complicates the many valid reasons why.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

OPENING

sues the couple who she thinks killed her son in a hit-and-run. Opens Friday, June 30, at the Ken Cinema.

The Bad Batch: In a near-future dystopia, all prisoners and outcasts are exiled in the Texas desert, where two very different communities emerge. One young woman tries to survive in the middle. Opens Friday, June 30, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

The Beguiled: In Sofia Coppola’s hazy and sweaty remake of Don Siegel’s 1971 classic, the last remaining occupants of an all-girls Virginia seminary have their lives upended when a wounded Union soldier comes knocking during the closing days of the Civil War.

Baby Driver: Ansel Eigort plays a talented young getaway driver who is coerced into working for a crime boss in Edgar Wright’s musically inclined action film.

The Big Sick: This modern romantic comedy follows the complicated relationship between a Pakistani comedian (Kumail Nanjiani) and his girlfriend (Zoe Kazan) who falls deathly ill from a mysterious infection.

Despicable Me 3: Steve Carell is back as the animated tyrant/parent Gru, who must navigate the tricky experience of meeting his long-lost twin brother.

The House: Bad parents (Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler) start an illegal gambling den in their basement in order to make up for their daughter’s lost college fund.

I Am the Blues: From the juke joints to the church, up the mountain and down the bayou, this documentary transports you to the Mississippi crossroads together with the last legends of the blues. Opens Friday, June 30, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Letters From Baghdad: This documentary looks at how Gertrude Bell, a powerful woman in the British Empire, shaped the historical direction of modern Iraq after WWI. Opens Friday, June 30, at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

For a complete movie listings, visit F ilm at sdcitybeat.com.

Moka: This French thriller follows a grieving mother (Emmanuel Devos) who pur-

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COURTESY OF TEE PEE RECORDS

MUSIC

SAN DIEGO’S PSYCHEDELIC SCENE THRIVES ON CAMARADERIE AND IMPROVISATION

JT RHOADES

ERIC HENDRIKX

COURTESY OF TEE PEE RECORDS

BY JEFF TERICH

From top to bottom: JOY, Sacri Monti, Petyr and Harsh Toke

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itnessing a live performance by local psych-rock outfit JOY is a bit like stepping through a portal in time. The band’s style is heavy yet loose, often employing freely flowing psychedelic freakouts that nod to icons of the ‘60s and ‘70s such as Jimi Hendrix, Blue Cheer and Led Zeppelin, all while injecting their own unique, modern spin on the acid-rock canon.

Catch JOY—or any like-minded bands such as Loom or Tar Halos—while performing with psychedelic visual artists Operation Mindblow and the effect can feel a bit more like an ongoing hallucination, with colorful lava-lamp like images flickering during the show. The idea, says JOY bassist Justin “Nasty” Hulson, is to make every performance unpredictable.

“Every show’s different,” says Hulson. “We’re pretty much just jamming the whole time.”

Fifty years after the Summer of Love, the spirit of psychedelic music thrives in San Diego, and has been for more than a decade. JOY, Sacri Monti, Petyr and Harsh Toke, among a handful of other bands, have helped to cultivate a local scene of effects-addled, improvisationheavy music that updates the previously-mentioned influences as well as those of more obscure acts like Japan’s Flower Travellin’ Band and space-rock heroes like Hawkwind. These bands frequently share the same stages, sometimes tour together and—in the case of JOY, Sacri Monti and Harsh Toke—even share the same label: Tee Pee Records.

In fact, those three bands just released a triple-seven-inch EP together, each of them contributing two vinyl sides of music, including covers of some of their influences (Roky Erickson, Road, Atomic Rooster). While the juxtaposition of these bands’ music against each other helps to illustrate the subtle differences between them, it more importantly serves to highlight how they’re all musically connected.

“We all just went into the recording studio and hung out together,” says Sacri Monti guitarist Brenden Dellar. “It’s just a bunch of friends...doing our own separate music, but making it together.”

The growth of psych-rock in San Diego can arguably be traced as far back as the ‘60s with Iron Butterfly. Yet more directly, it began to incubate in the early ‘00s with a handful of bands. There was Red Octopus and Astra, but even before those bands, there was Earthless.

The San Diego psych-scene as it is today arguably wouldn’t exist without Earthless. The epic space-rock trio formed in 2001 and since then have seemingly helped to inspire the formation of one band after another. Just about every band playing similarly cosmic rock music in San Diego right now has a story about seeing Earthless for the first time—or even listening to them from outside a venue before turning 21—and wanting to play the kind of music that they do. But more than that, they helped to foster the scene and develop friendships with young musicians. Dellar, who says Earthless are “kind of like our rock ‘n’ roll dads,” took lessons from guitarist Isaiah Mitchell.

“When I heard them it was the exact kind of music I was looking for,” says guitarist Riley Hawk of Petyr. “Their stuff was exactly what I was hoping to find.”

“I got this list from [Earthless drummer] Mario [Rubalcaba] of all these bands to check out,” says Harsh Toke keyboardist Gabe Messer, referring to Earthless’ prolific drummer. “Listening to what they suggested is kind of what got us into this.”

Yet there’s another major factor that’s helped to spread interest in a sound with 50-year-old roots: Skateboarding. Hawk, who is in fact the son of skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, is a professional skater in addition to performing with Petyr.

More importantly, skateboarding videos have provided a level of exposure for bands such as Radio Moscow, Earthless

and Red Octopus (Messer’s band before Harsh Toke) that found a new audience with fresh, receptive ears.

“Skateboarding is how I got into a lot of the music,” Hawk adds. “Coincidentally, that’s how a lot of other people got into our music too.”

Hulson points out that as much growth as there has been locally, the psych-rock scene is still relatively small, and not every show these bands play is going to automatically have a large audience. That’s just the nature of playing music that skews well outside the mainstream. Yet part of what keeps these bands going, and what keeps the chain of new bands starting up, is the spirit of collaboration. Not only do these musicians share common interests in music, they genuinely like each other as human beings.

“We all have a strong respect for each other,” Dellar says. “We do a lot for each other.”

“There’s community and camaraderie,” Messer adds. “Everyone hangs out and drinks beer and jams. We’re all encouraging of each other. We all look out for each other. It’s just so crazy to watch it grow.”

There’s another aspect that keeps things interesting: the thrill of creativity. When a band such as Sacri Monti or Harsh Toke fires up the amps and let the riffs fly, it’s a hell of a ride. It’s that unpredictability that Hulson referred to that makes it fun. If this music was too concise, too orderly or too straightforward, it’s safe to say that none of them would be doing it at all.

“You can write 4/4 verse-chorus songs all day long,” Messer says. “But to work just on feeling and on eye contact is something else. That’s what drives us all to do it.”

“It’s just a party,” Hulson adds. “Everyone’s having a good time.”

Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com and follow him on Twitter @1000TimesJeff.

JUNE 28, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 21

MUSIC

NOTES FROM THE SMOKING PATIO LOCALS ONLY

B

rian Karscig of Louis XIV, Convoy and The Nervous Wreckords has announced a special show titled “The Life of Brian” on July 8 at The Casbah, in which he’ll be performing songs from throughout his career and from each of those bands.

Recently, Karscig had been touring as a member of Brandon Flowers’ (The Killers) band, and has kept The Nervous Wreckords active with different lineups. But after being asked to reunite his old bands a few times, he decided to do something a little bit different but with the same spirit of a reunion show.

“It’s the first and maybe only time I’ll do something like this,” he says. “I haven’t played a lot of these songs in 20 years.”

That meant Karscig had to relearn some old songs, though he called up one of his former bandmates to help flesh out some of those songs.

“The Louis XIV ones are pretty fresh,” he says. “I remember playing some of the Convoy songs, but...a couple of songs, I couldn’t remember the bridge or something. That’s how I got Robbie [Dodds, guitarist] back into the mix. I had to call him up to work out some of the songs, but then it came back to me. It’s like riding a bike.”

Karscig’s band for the performance will feature Daniel Crawford and Daniel Schraer of The Nervous Wreckords as well as drummer Rich Berardi. And for specific songs, Karscig will be joined by former band-

Brian Karscig mates Robbie Dodds, Shaun Cornell and Jason Hill.

While he plans to keep making new songs with The Nervous Wreckords, Karscig says he does like the idea of revisiting songs from different times throughout his career.

“I don’t know if I want to just commit to playing songs in the moment,” he says. “I like listening to the old albums and hearing them with fresh ears. I think it’s gonna be a great time.”

—Jeff Terich

ALBUM REVIEW Birdy Bardot II (Redwoods)

S

an Diego’s The Redwoods Music collective are a uniquely talented bunch, not simply because they’re good at writing songs and playing instruments—which is absolutely true. More than that, they create a particular vibe that bears an unusual signature. All of their recordings feel warm and lived-in, the kinds of records that emit a particular richness and vintage sensibility, even when heard through shitty earbuds over a Spotify stream. Some of that can be attributed to the engineering, mixing and mastering, of course, but a lot of it is the music itself: Their songs are just dripping with muscle, sweat and soul.

Birdy Bardot’s self-titled debut album from 2015 was one of the best examples of this aesthetic, her dynamic vocal presence guiding two sides of rock, pop and folk with traces of R&B and psychedelia that put a fresh spin on classic styles. With follow-up, II, Birdy and her band of Redwoods backing players deliver another 40 minutes of similarly compelling pop music, some of which more overtly nods to ‘60s Stax singles and some of which goes to much weirder places altogether.

Leadoff track “Either Way” is a simple song, almost radically so; Bardot’s vocals essentially carry the mel-

22 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JUNE 28, 2017

ody against sustained organ drones, a one-note piano hook and a deep bass groove. It’s a song built around open spaces, which allow the title star to shine, however subtle her delivery. And that’s part of what makes Birdy Bardot an interesting vocalist. Her range is undeniable, but she works well within a nuanced approach, often saving her most dramatic moments for a wellearned climax.

By and large, II is louder and more muscular than its predecessor, which leads to a pretty fun listen overall. “Fortune” has a distorted, bluesy strut, while “Slowly Know Me” is a darkly seductive psychrock dirge that finds Birdy and The Redwoods taking a trip through a particularly cool rabbit hole. “Tell Me When It’s Done” builds up over five minutes into a powerful rock anthem, and “Through the Dark,” much like the album’s opener, finds its groove in minimal, almost krautrock-like grooves. Like I said, things definitely get weirder on this album, which is always a development worth celebrating. Birdy Bardot is a versatile vocalist, and it’s cool to hear how well her presence is complemented by a more experimental approach.

—Jeff Terich @SDCITYBEAT

@SDCityBeat

june 28 2017 · San Diego CityBeat · 23

24 · San Diego CityBeat · June 28, 2017

@SDCityBeat

MUSIC

JEFF TERICH SATURDAY, JULY 1

IF I WERE U A music insider’s weekly agenda WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28

PLAN A: Walrus, Slum Summer @ Soda Bar. Canadian group Walrus has a hazy, psychedelic sound that’s in the same ballpark as Tame Impala. It’s catchy, fuzzy stuff with cool grooves and all kinds of effects.

Far out.

THURSDAY, JUNE 29

PLAN A: Silent, Hexa, Pall Jenkins, Body Song, Planet B DJs @ The Casbah.

I’ve written a lot about Silent before since they’re amazing. The Mexicali band has an abrasive, noisy take on post-punk that’s even more exciting live. Their bass player will probably crash into you. Just go with it. PLAN B: Living Body, Kenseth Thibideau, The Strawberry Moons, Rooney Anne James @ Til-Two Club. Living Body is a Leeds-based duo that makes dreamy, atmospheric indie rock that’s both subtle and dramatic. Those probably sound like contradictory ideas, but it works. BACKUP PLAN:

@SDCITYBEAT

Jacuzzi Boys, Creepseed, Subtropics @ Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, JUNE 30

PLAN A: Tijuana Panthers, Amerikan Bear, The Paragraphs @ Belly Up Tavern. Tijuana Panthers reinvent no wheels, but they do what they do well. Their jangly, upbeat indie pop songs are fun and carefree, and should kick off a fourday weekend nicely. PLAN B: Dream Joints, Ese, Zain @ Bar Pink. Dream Joints, aka Mike Turi of Wild Wild Wets, recently released his debut album and it’s an interesting complement to his other band’s music. It’s still weird, still trippy, but more based in electronic grooves. And more importantly, still a lot of fun.

PLAN A: Cat Power, Jade @ Observatory North Park. Cat Power is kind of hit-ormiss when it comes to live performances.

I’ve heard of both legendarily great and legendarily bad shows, so this isn’t a guarantee. But her songs are so good that it’s worth the gamble. PLAN B: Bromigo POP Fest w/ Matt Lamkin, Vaginals, Svelte, Trip Advisor, Kan Kan @ Teros Gallery.

This mini-festival brings together a lot of great, mostly local bands in the spirit of love and weirdness, including former Soft Pack vocalist Matt Lamkin and recent Extraspecialgood honorees in our Local Music Issue, Svelte. BACKUP PLAN: Sterile Mind, Polish, Crime Desire, Tar Pit @ Tower Bar.

SUNDAY, JULY 2

PLAN A: Undergang, Necrot, Infernal Conjuration, Cave Bastard @ Tower Bar. It’s that time again where I tell you to go check out an awesome death metal band.

Necrot is a pretty amazing young bunch of bruisers who just released their debut album. They rip. BACKUP PLAN: DIANA, Nicholas Krgovich @ Soda Bar.

MONDAY, JULY 3

PLAN A: Santoros, Fake Tides, Los Shadows @ Soda Bar. I often hesitate before recommending a garage/psych show in San Diego, considering there are a lot of them and not all of them are worth the hype. But Santoros are pretty fun, keeping it simple with some groove-heavy pop songs that feature lots of vintage organ sounds.

I’m into it. BACKUP PLAN: Numenorean, Wormwitch @ Brick

by Brick.

TUESDAY, JULY 4

Cat Power

PLAN A: BBQ, Beer, Fireworks @ Your House. It’s the Fourth of July. There’s really no reason for you to have to leave your own backyard for entertainment. So celebrate the birth of our stillgetting-shit-figured-out nation with alcohol, meat and stuff blowing up.

JUNE 28, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 25

MUSIC

CONCERTS HOT! NEW! FRESH!

Neon Indian (BUT, 8/14), John Mayall (BUT, 8/24), Amos Lee (Copley Symphony Hall, 8/25), Quicksand (BUT, 9/11), Moon Taxi (BUT, 9/28), Algiers (Soda Bar, 10/1), Griz (Observatory, 10/12), Turnover (Irenic, 10/27), Roky Erickson (Casbah, 10/27), Joan Osborne sings Bob Dylan (BUT, 10/29), Gary Numan (Observatory, 11/15), Ariel Pink (BUT, 11/16), Boris, Torche (Casbah, 11/17), AJJ (Irenic, 12/7).

GET YER TICKETS The Roots (Observatory, 7/11), Pharmakon (SPACE, 7/11), Mutoid Man (Casbah, 7/12), Wanda Jackson (Casbah, 7/15), Cymbals Eat Guitars (Casbah, 7/16), Hall & Oates, Tears for Fears (Valley View Casino Center, 7/19), Beach Fossils (Casbah, 7/20), BadBadNotGood (Observatory, 7/20), Rodrigo y Gabriela (Humphreys, 7/31), Metallica (Petco Park, 8/6), Steve Earle and the Dukes (BUT, 8/10), Incubus, Jimmy Eat World (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 8/11), Hans Zimmer (Viejas Arena, 8/12), 2 Chainz (HOB, 8/12), Royal Blood (Observatory, 8/15), YOB, SubRosa (Brick

by Brick, 8/16), Matthew Sweet (Casbah, 8/16), X (BUT, 8/17), Dead Cross (Observatory, 8/19), 311 (Open Air Theatre, 8/20), Atmosphere (Observatory, 8/20), Bryan Ferry (Humphreys, 8/23), Mew (Observatory, 8/24), B-Side Players (Music Box, 8/26), Pelican, Inter

Arma (Brick by Brick, 8/26), Ira Glass (Balboa Theatre, 8/27), Stiff Little Fingers (BUT, 9/6), Goo Goo Dolls (Open Air Theatre, 9/12), Green Day (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 9/13), Kaaboo Festival w/ Tom Petty, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers (Del Mar Fairgrounds, 9/15-17), Against Me! (Observatory, 9/16), Future Islands (Open Air Theatre, 9/17), Glass Animals (Humphreys, 9/19), Zola Jesus (Casbah, 9/21), U2 (Qualcomm Stadium, 9/22), Swervedriver (Casbah, 9/22), The Beach Boys (Humphreys, 9/23), Ben Folds (HOB, 9/23), Sublime With Rome, The Offspring (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 9/26), Bleachers (Observatory, 9/27), Imagine Dragons (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 9/28), Benjamin Booker (BUT, 9/29), Jay Som (Soda Bar, 9/30), The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (Loft, 9/30), The Shins, Spoon (Open Air Theatre, 10/1), Chelsea Wolfe (BUT, 10/2), Sheer Mag, Tony Molina (Soda Bar, 10/2), Ms. Lauryn Hill, Nas (OAT, 10/3), Father John Misty (Observatory 10/5-6), Depeche Mode (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 10/6), Coldplay (Qualcomm Stadium, 10/8), Obituary, Exodus (Observatory, 10/8), Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile (HOB, 10/11), The Afghan Whigs (BUT, 10/12), The National (Open Air Theatre, 10/12), The Black Angels (HOB, 10/17), Torres (Casbah, 10/17), Café Tacuba (Observatory, 10/17-18), Arcade Fire (Viejas Arena, 10/18), Mastodon (HOB, 10/19), City of Caterpillar, Thou (Soda Bar, 10/19), Linkin Park (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 10/20), The Kooks (Observatory, 10/20), KMFDM (HOB, 10/20), Tegan and Sara (Balboa Theatre, 10/20), Jimmy Buffett (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 10/21), Carla Morrison (Humphreys, 10/22), Iron and Wine (Balboa Theatre, 10/28), Black Heart Proces-

26 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JUNE 28, 2017

sion (Casbah, 11/4), Halsey (Viejas Arena, 11/5), Hamilton Leithauser (BUT, 11/9), D.R.I. (Brick by Brick, 11/10), Fall Out Boy (Viejas Arena, 11/15), Blues Traveler (HOB, 11/19), Mogwai (Observatory, 11/20), New Found Glory (HOB, 11/25).

JUNE WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28 M.O.D. at Belly Up Tavern.

THURSDAY, JUNE 29 LeAnn Rimes at Del Mar Fairgrounds.

She Keeps Bees at SPACE. Iliza Shlesinger at Observatory North Park.

Jessie James Decker at House of Blues. Jacuzzi Boys at Soda Bar. Silent at The Casbah.

FRIDAY, JUNE 30 Tijuana Panthers at Belly Up Tavern.

The Vandals at Observatory North Park.

‘Blink Fest’ at The Casbah.

JULY SATURDAY, JULY 1 The Aggrolites at Music Box. Cat Power at Observatory North Park. The Pynnacles at The Casbah.

SUNDAY, JULY 2 DIANA at Soda Bar. The Commodore’s Ball at Belly Up Tavern. The New Addiction at The Casbah.

MONDAY, JULY 3 Santoros at Soda Bar.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 5 Rosie Flores at Soda Bar. Melvins at The Casbah.

THURSDAY, JULY 6 Rozes at SPACE. Soft Lions at The Casbah. Dita Von Teese at House of Blues.

Easy Wind at Belly Up Tavern.

FRIDAY, JULY 7 Thee Commons at The Casbah. Deftones, Rise Against at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre. Anarbor at Soda Bar.

SATURDAY, JULY 8 Stitched Up Heart at House of Blues Voodoo Room. Three Bad Jacks at Soda Bar. Band of Gringos at Belly Up Tavern. Brian Karscig at The Casbah.

SUNDAY, JULY 9 Band of Heathens at Belly Up Tavern.

Prince Royce at Open Air Theatre. Flying Hair at Soda Bar. Stokka at The Casbah.

MONDAY, JUY 10 Flood Coats at The Casbah. Junior Brown at Belly Up Tavern.

TUESDAY, JULY 11 The Roots at Observatory North Park.

Pharmakon at SPACE. Sports at Soda Bar. Ottopilot at Belly Up Tavern. Noble War at The Casbah.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 12 Mutoid Man at The Casbah. Phora at Observatory North Park. Joan Shelley at SPACE.

THURSDAY, JULY 13 The Temptations, Four Tops at Humphreys by the Bay. Cheetah Chrome’s Dead Boys at The Casbah. AmirSaysNothing at Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, JULY 14 Dead Heavens at Soda Bar. Lynyrd Skynyrd at Harrah’s SoCal. Schizophonics at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, JULY 15 Super Diamond at Belly Up Tavern.

Derv Gordon of the Equals at SPACE. Joshua Radin and Rachel Yamagata at Observatory North Park. Wanda Jackson at The Casbah. Grizzly Business at Soda Bar.

SUNDAY, JULY 16 Cymbals Eat Guitars at The Casbah.

Palm at Soda Bar.

MONDAY, JULY 17 Moon Honey at The Casbah. The Fresh Brunettes at Soda Bar. Jim Breuer at Observatory North Park.

TUESDAY, JULY 18 2Cellos at Open Air Theatre. The Sword at Belly Up Tavern. Playboi Carti at Observatory North Park. Natalie Merchant at Copley Symphony Hall. Belladon at The Casbah. Uncle Lucius at Soda Bar.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 19 Khalid at Observatory North Park. Hall & Oates, Tears for Fears at Valley View Casino Center. Colin Hay at Belly Up Tavern. Birdtalker at Soda Bar.

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MUSIC THURSDAY, JULY 20 Colin Hay at Belly Up Tavern (sold out).

Beach Fossils at The Casbah. BadBadNotGood at Observatory North Park. The Delta Riggs at Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, JULY 21 Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 at Belly Up Tavern. Third Eye Blind at Open Air Theatre.

Ministry at House of Blues. Dead Kennedys at Brick by Brick. Tribal Seeds at Del Mar Racetrack. Rozwell Kid at Soda Bar. Fleetmac Wood at The Casbah.

SATURDAY, JULY 22 La Luz at Soda Bar. Creature and the Woods at The Casbah. Reggie Watts at The Irenic.

SUNDAY, JULY 23 Maggie Koerner at Soda Bar. Buddy Guy at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Phenomenauts at SPACE. Digital Lizards of Doom at The Casbah.

MONDAY, JULY 24 Yowie at SPACE. Post Animal at Soda Bar. Blackberry Smoke at Belly Up Tavern.

TUESDAY, JULY 25 Delta Rae at Belly Up Tavern. Josh Harmony at Soda Bar.

rCLUBSr .

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach. Fri: Sandollar, Twisted Relatives.

Sat: Groove Kitty, Freeze Frame. Mon: Paging the 90s. Tue: LIVN.

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Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St., Normal Heights. Wed: ‘Interconnected’ w/ DJs Impera,Yaser Aly (Bala), Brian Scanell. Thu: ‘Centerpiece’ w/ DJ Eliasar Gordillo. Sat: ‘Juicy’ w/ Mike Czech. Sun: ‘Chvrch’ w/ DJs Karma, Alice.

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

Fri: Chris Distefano. Sat: Chris Distefano.

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Road, Spring Valley. Thu: Those Darn Gnomes, Dischordia, Fadrait. Sat: Crazytown, Hyperactive Slackers, Van Brando. Mon: Noelle Tannen and the Filthy No-Nos. Bar Pink, 3829 30th St., North Park.

Wed: ‘Midweek Boogie’ w/ DJ L. Thu: My Revenge. Fri: Dream Joints, Ese, Zain.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St., Downtown.

Fri: Prok & Fitch. Sat: Sian.

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

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Wed: Band Cat, Digital Lizards of Doom, Kiyoshi, DJ Hey. Thu: Dead Feather Moon, Nancarrow, Sights and Sages. Fri: Tijuana Panthers, Amerikan Bear, The Paragraphs. Sat: Tainted Love, DJ Scotto. Sun: The Commodore’s Ball, Gusto, Los Beautiful Beast, Rand Anderson Band, DJ Forklift.

Mon: ‘80s Heat presents Miami 1984’.

Blonde, 1808 W. Washington St., Mission Hills. Wed: ‘Dance Klassique’. Thu: Gabbi Green, Wyatt Blair, Color TV. Fri: ‘80s Tron Dance Party’. Mon: Ducktails, Minor Gems, Spooky Cigarette.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave., Carlsbad.

Fri: ‘Club Musae’.

SPOTLIGHT A genre founded on oppression and class struggle doesn’t necessarily make fertile ground for goofs.

But punk-rockers The Vandals have been doing it since the ‘80s and time has not dulled their edge.

Their live show is equally potent—guitarist Warren Fitzgerald and drummer Josh Freese are both madmen on their instruments. Additionally, tickets for this show are only $10 and that’s nothing to joke about. The Vandals play Friday, June 30 at The Observatory.

—Ryan Bradford

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

JUNE 28, 2017 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 27

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Downtown. Sat: Ian Buss Quintet.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., Bay Park. Sat: Allison Chains, Angelshade, Big Tooth Comb, Electromagnetic. Tue: Numorean, Sierra, Wormwitch, Witches of God.

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown. Fri: DJ Bozak.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Midtown. Wed: DJ Artistic’s Hip Hop Battle Bot. Thu: Silent, Hexa, Pall Jenkins, Body Song. Fri: Blink Fest, Bleed American, Dressed To Kill. Sat: The Pynnacles, The Loons, The Gargoyles.

Sun: The New Addictions, The Montell Jordans, Misc Ailments, Plane Without a Pilot. Mon: ‘Booty Bassment’.

Dirk’s Nightclub, 7662 Broadway, Lemon Grove. Sat: Ghost Town.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave., Downtown. Fri: Chevy Woods. Sat: DJ Dynamiq.

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Wed: Ride the Mule. Thu: DJ Yodah. Fri: ‘Good Times’. Sat: ‘Rock Star Saturday’.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Jerry ‘Hot Rod’ Demink. Sat: CHON, The Fall of Troy, Covet, Little Tybee.

Humphreys Backstage, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. Wed: Blue Largo. Thu: Groove Squad. Fri:

Beta Maxx. Sat: Liquid Blue. Sun: RTyme. Mon: Blue Largo. Tue: Michele Lundeen.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd., Midtown. Wed: ‘Midnight in a Perfect World’. Fri: ‘Purps and Turqs’.

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave., Kensington. Fri: Electric Healing Sound, Strange Phases, Hawk Auburn.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave., Coronado. Wed: 3 Guys Will Move U. Thu: Sophisticats. Fri: Never 2L8.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., Hillcrest. Wed: Alvino & The Dwells, The Downs Family, Endo Sol, The Tiki Touch.

Thu: Inanimate Existence, Reaping Asmodeia, Cyborg Octopus, Suntorn.

Fri: Family Thief, Wanderer, MainMan, Modern Me. Sun: ‘Back Alley’.

Ave., Downtown. Thu: Tantrum. Fri: NGHTMRE. Sat: Vice.

Music Box, 1337 India St., Little Italy.

Thu: The Mud Howlers, Ethics, Fake Tides. Fri: ‘Baby Girl – The Ladies of Hip-Hop and R&B’. Sat: The Aggrolites, Buck-O-Nine, Unsteady, San Diego City Soul Club. Mon: The Steely Damned 2.

Panama 66, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. Wed: Gilbert Castellanos. Fri: Lorraine Castellanos. Sat: Cardinal Moon. Sun: The Steady.

Numbers, 3811 Park Blvd., Hillcrest.

Fri: ‘Uncut’. Sun: ‘R&B Divas’.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave., Hillcrest.

Wed: DJs John Joseph, Kinky Loops.

Thu: DJ Moniq. Fri: DJs Drew G, Will Z. Sat: DJs Casey Alva, K-Swift.

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

Wed: Chris Cornell Under Cover. Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Sat: ‘Strictly Business’ w/ DJs Edroc, Kanye Asada. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’.

Mon: ‘Reflex’.

OMNIA

Nightclub,

454

Sixth

Parq, 615 Broadway, Downtown. Fri: LA Leakers. Sat: Obscene. Mon: Chuckie.

Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave., La Mesa. Wed: ‘Boss Jazz’ w/ Jason Hanna. Thu: Coastal Eddies. Fri: Black Market III. Sat: Baja Bugs.

Rosie O’gradys, 3402 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Fri: Clint Westwood.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave., San Diego. Wed: Clinton Davis Duo. Thu: Jimmy Ruelas. Fri: Shane Hall.

Mon: ‘Makossa Monday’ w/ DJ Tah Rei. Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Wed: Walrus, Slum Summer, Electric Enzymes. Thu: Jacuzzi Boys, Creepseed, Subtropics. Fri: Jenny Don’t and the Spurs, Ypsitucky, Trailduster.

Sat: Radkey, Cruz Radical, Midnight Track. Sun: DIANA, Nicholas Krgovich.

Mon: Santoros, Fake Tides, Los Shadows.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd., Midway. Fri: Killing The Messenger, Avoid, Redeem/Revive, ASCENSIONS., Upon The Water, Petrichor.

SPACE, 3519 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Thu: She Keeps Bees, Los Shadows.

Sat: Caskitt, Jr Juggernaut, Coyote Bred. Sun: Owain, Monochromacy, Mortar. Mon: ‘PreIndependence Day Dance Party’.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St., Midtown. Fri: Gardens of God. Sat: Shiba San. Sun: Cut Snake.

Sycamore Den, 3391 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Wed: ‘Dreams’ w/ DJ Gabe Vega. Thu: Burlesque Boogie Nights. Sun: ‘Too Sad to be Mad’.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Thu: Living Body, Kenseth Thibideau, The Strawberry Moons, Rooney and James. Fri: Some Kind of Nightmare, Broken Record, Midnight Track, Batlords, Dr. Bobs Nightmare.

Sat: Toothless George.

Tin Roof, 401 G St., Downtown. Wed: Shane Hall Trio. Fri: Keep Your Soul.

Sat: Chad and Rosie. Sun: Jason Gordon. Tue: Scott Porter.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St., Bay Park.

Thu: Rockin’ Aces. Fri: The Emergency Exit. Sat: 3rd Project.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave., City Heights. Fri: Riva Rebels, The Kegels, 22 Missiles, Neck Down. Sat: Sterile Mind, Polish, Crime Desire, Tar Pit. Sun: Undergang, Necrot, Infernal Conjuration, Cave Bastard.

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

Wed: Zzajj, Camelot, DJ Freeman. Thu: ‘Boom Boxx Thursday’. Fri: Cameron Zibaie. Sat: DJ Freeman.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park. Wed: Riff City Comedy. Thu: ‘Vamp’. Mon: ‘Fantasy’ w/ DJ Mario Orduno.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St., Ocean Beach. Wed: Synergy, Dubbest, DJ Carlos Culture. Thu: Modern Day Moonshine. Fri: Ease Up, Hazmat.

Sat: Diego’s Umbrella, Addison Scott.

Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: Big Something.

28 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JUNE 28, 2017

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LAST WORDS

CHRISTIN BAILEY

ASTROLOGICALLY

UNSOUND

Semi-weekly forecasts from the so-called universe ARIES (March 21 - April 19): Sometimes you gotta leave to come back. Even scissor blades, joined at the hip as they are, have to pivot away from each other every now and again to be useful.

TAURUS (April 20 - May 20): Don’t fret if things take a long time. The Colorado River is a Taurus and look what it went and did to Arizona.

GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): You can light up the stale atmosphere that’s sitting there inert like neon gas waiting for a few volts to get glowing. Or… you can just leave for somewhere that’s already not boring.

CANCER (June 21 - July 22): It’s time to relax, unwind and get away from it all, so long as you can think of being trapped at the bottom of a well as a sort of vacation.

LEO (July 23 - August 22): Be the trailblazing ant that leaves the instructive pheromone path of the rest of the colony. After all, nobody really notices the lone ant that sneaks through to steal the first crumb, but the 90 follower ants are in for a world of pain.

VIRGO (August 23 - September 22): The easiest way to combat your Bad Hair Days this week—or Bad Anything Days—is to make it worse in a way that looks intentional.

I didn’t say it was the best way.

LIBRA (September 23 - October 22): Look for companions who may be outside your normal crowd this week.

Be like Cinderella, who even enlisted rodents in her singular Libra quest to become the most beautiful.

SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21): Your lucky color is green like money and you better believe you can expect dozens of those oxidized and virtually unusable malachite pennies to clang your way this week.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 - December 21): Take a lesson from the polar ice caps: be cool.

No, stop, I didn’t mean isolated, melting down and destroying everything.

CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 19): The dramas of those ornate horned beetles thrashing each other are mortally important to them.

But adopt a third position, like a nature show producer, and these same conflicts can be lucrative and sort of cute.

AQUARIUS (January 20 - February 18): Before you’re ready for the “Sold!” coda you have to learn the secret language of the auctioneer, because before anyone buys what you’re selling, you’re going to have to put on a little show.

PISCES (February 19 - March 20): The sound of your competition splashing very far behind you is either a sure sign that you have them beat or a sign that you alone have been caught in a rip tide and yanked wildly out to sea.

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

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30 · San Diego CityBeat · June 28, 2017

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