San Diego CityBeat • July 4, 2018

2 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

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UP FRONT | FROM THE EDITOR

We can’t always get what we want (or even depend on Dems to do the right thing)

I

n California, we progressives are often just as cast and AT&T. “Between the money, the disingenuguilty of living in the same kinds of political bub- ous arguments of the telecoms, and the manipulated bles as conservatives. I’d also argue that it’s be- process that forced the hostile amendments into the cause of this bubble, and the contentment that comes bill, what happened this week shows just what giant with Democratic control of all three branches of state corporations can accomplish with willing legislators.”

“The level of corruption we just witnessed litergovernment, that we sometimes miss when California Democrats fail to protect citizens from the increas- ally makes me sick to my stomach,” said Evan Greer, ingly backwards policies instituted on the federal lev- deputy director of Fight for the Future, a digital rights group. “These California Democrats el. We expect our governor, as well as will go down in history as among the state assemblymembers and senators worst corporate shills that have ever in the State Legislature, to be consisheld elected office.” tently pushing back against the overAnd the second reason? The bubble! reaches of the Trump administration.

These assemblymembers—who worked But just because we expect it, it not for the interests of their constitudoesn’t mean they actually deliver. ents, but for corporate communication Take the case of Senate Bill 822, a donors—are depending on voters to net neutrality bill introduced by State Assemblymember Miguel be ignorant of their actions and simSen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco. It should have been a political no-brainer Santiago doesn’t like memes ply check their names come reelection for the Dems on the Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee when they met on June 20. The bill would have provided the largest rebuff to the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to rescind Obama-era protections from internet service companies controlling what we see when we surf the web.

Instead, Dems on the committee, led by committee chair Miguel Santiago, proceeded to gut the bill and force a vote on it despite Sen. Wiener’s objections and not allowing time for public comment. In the end, the amendments were added to the bill and the forced vote passed 8-2, with four Democrats joining four Republicans to help push it through.

The response was quick and understandably merciless.

“What the committee just did was outrageous,” Wiener said at the time while also asking the committee to withdraw his bill entirely. “These amendments eviscerated the bill. It is no longer a net neutrality bill.

I think it was fundamentally unfair.”

So why would an otherwise progressive Los Angeles Assemblymember like Miguel Santiago steamroll a bill that is fundamentally agreeable to anyone who believes in open access to the internet? Two reasons, really. The first one seems simple enough: it’s about the money.

“Giant ISPs like AT&T and Comcast have worked overtime to defeat this bill, including donating a lot of money,” said Ernesto Falcon, Legislative Counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who cited an article from Gizmodo that all but predicted Santiago would gut the bill thanks to over $29,000 in contributions to his campaign from corporate ISPs like Com-

time. Plus, they’ll have a nice little chunk of change from telecommunications companies to help bolster their progressiveness to unsuspecting and forgetful voters.

In a statement on Twitter, Santiago tried to play to his followers’ emotions, claiming that he had received threats and his wife had been harassed.

“My personal family pictures have been stolen from my social media platforms and used to create memes,” Santiago said. “Really? Using pictures of my kids? This is a new low.”

But if Santiago’s amendments remain in SB 822, it’s likely that some internet customers won’t be able to access Santiago’s social media at all thanks to the amendment that allows ISPs to charge additional fees in exchange for completely free access. This directly benefits corporations and hurts low-income communities. These “zero rating” programs will kill net neutrality and turn the internet into something resembling cable television, where lower-income households will likely have to choose “limited plans” that restrict what websites they can access.

“I stand by my actions and the fact that today, we still have a net neutrality bill to keep working on,” said Santiago, who represents a district in Los Angeles that includes the exact types of low-income households that would be affected by this bill.

Time to get out of the bubble. All voters should let the legislature know they support restoring the original provisions of SB 822 and ensure open internet access to all.

—Seth Combs

This issue of CityBeat can get by just fine without Ry-Dawg and Hollywood.

Volume 16 • Issue 46 EDITOR Seth Combs MUSIC EDITOR Jeff Terich WEB EDITOR Ryan Bradford ART DIRECTOR Carolyn Ramos ASSOCIATE EDITOR Torrey Bailey COLUMNISTS Aaryn Belfer Edwin Decker John R. Lamb Rhonda “Ro” Moore Alex Zaragoza

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JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 3

UP FRONT | LETTERS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A FEW SUGGESTIONS

Matt Strabone North Park

PROTEST NOW AND OFTEN Dear Seth, Thank you for your editorial regarding the recent primary [“A post-primary airing of grievances,” June 13].

I, too, am aghast at the low voter turnout, especially considering the people who are currently in charge

4 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

SUPERB SEUSS RESEARCH Your editorial was superb and so was your historical research on Dr. Seuss [“When Do They Matter?,” June 20].

I really enjoy CityBeat. Kudos and future success.

ARTS & CULTURE

From the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Letters to the Editor. . . . . . . . 4

FEATURE: Jean Guerrero . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Spin Cycle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Backwards & In High Heels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-18

MUSIC

Well, That Was Awkward. . . 7

FEATURE: Petal. . . . . . . . . . 20

FOOD & DRINK World Fare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Notes From The Smoking Patio . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Anatomy of a Cocktail Scene. . . . . . . . . . . . 10

About Last Night. . . . . . . . . . 22

Revenge of a Beer Nerd. . . . 10

Concerts & Clubs. . . . . . 24-26

If I Were U. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

THINGS TO DO

IN THE BACK

The Short List. . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Astrologically Unsound. . . . 26

Calendar of Events. . . . . . 11-12

CannaBeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

ON THE

COVER

Tom Gitchoff Prof. Emeritus, San Diego State University College Area

FAUX CHRISTIANS Good job exposing Sergio De La Mora (“Pastor Sergio”) for the ham he is, albeit a very rich ham [“Ham of the Week,” June 27]. I call him and his ilk the “faux Christians.”

You know, the ones who say they are Christian yet defend Trump and his administration and act in a way that would make Jesus cringe. Unbelievable that a so-called “man of God” would blame parents who have fled dangerous conditions in order to protect their kids. I seem to recall seeing him and his wife on the cover of a magazine called Fine. Their interpretation of the “Prosperity Gospel” has afforded them a comfortable life, indeed.

UP FRONT

EVAN MCGINNIS

Hey Seth, great piece in CityBeat [“A post-primary airing of grievances,” June 13]. I don’t say that just because of the shout-out you gave me. You said the things that needed to be said.

I’m going to take you up on your invitation at the end of the column to send along a couple of thoughts about what you might do in the future. First, though, let me say that I thought CityBeat’s primary coverage was very good and I was delighted with the coverage you gave my race.

One thing I’d suggest is running your endorsements column earlier, and twice. By the time you ran your primary endorsements, a little more than half of the people who ended up voting in the primary had voted already via absentee ballots. It might be useful to do your endorsements the week that absentee ballots are mailed out, and then run it again the week before Election Day. I know that papers are particularly hesitant to do endorsements so early because new stuff always comes out before the election, but by running the column twice, you give yourself the opportunity to make any necessary changes before it runs the second time.

The other suggestion I’d make is to do some sort of non-written media. I know that’s much easier said than done and I’m not naive enough to think that nobody at CityBeat has ever had the idea, but there’s a need for it in our community. Right now, San Diegans (especially progressive ones since we’re not about to tune into [Carl] DeMaio’s show) have three options to watch or listen to local political coverage: watch Politically Speaking on NBC7 once a week, which is good but limited in what it’s able to cover; listen to Voice of San Diego’s weekly podcast, which is thorough but can come off as very inside-baseball sometimes and I have plenty of friends who find inaccessible for that reason; or commit to a life of listening to or watching KPBS on a regular basis, and that isn’t something everyone can do.

There isn’t really a visual or audio medium offered right now in San Diego that breaks down civic issues and elections in a digestible way for normal people who maybe don’t have the time or the desire to learn all about a city councilmember’s evolving position on short-term vacation rentals.

Anyway, that’s all I got. Keep up the great work.

of running our country. My husband and I grew up in McLean, Virginia, seven miles from Washington, D.C., and a few miles from the Kennedy families, where it was considered your duty as an American citizen to vote in elections. My husband and I have not missed voting in one in the past 45 years.

On Wednesday, I checked with eight friends to see if they voted and I couldn’t believe that only two of them bothered to cast a vote. They all had various excuses: too busy, it would not make any difference, etc. I am devastated to think that the people in charge of our country may still be in control after our next election.

The families at the border who have been incarcerated, particularly the children, are the latest and most perfect example of why we need new people leading this country. This situation is so unbelievable, so cruel and so un-American. Which brings me to a question: what can I do to help the children? It’s so heartbreaking.

I appreciate all you do to educate San Diego and I enjoy reading the paper very much. I think Americans need to protest in the streets��������������������������� now����������������������� and often. It was effective during the Vietnam/Nixon years and I believe it can help again. I never missed a protest in Washington, D.C. during those years.

Thank you for all you do!

Very truly yours,

Jan A. O’Connor

Pacific Beach

Suzy Perkins La Mesa

Stacy Keck We’ve really missed having local freelance photographer Stacy Keck (stacykeckphoto.com) in these pages. Keck has shot border-related photos for us in the past so she was a no-brainer when we wanted to shoot KPBS Fronteras reporter Jean Guerrero (page 14) at Border Field State Park. Guerrero has certainly been busy lately and Keck considers herself lucky she was able to schedule the shoot at all. “It was a busy news day for Jean, but she managed to carve out the time to meet me,” says Keck. “We walked along the path through the salt marsh, to the beach and along the shoreline, sharing stories about her father and how her book came to be. We even stumbled upon a couple coyotes and a rabbit that they, moments prior, had presumably killed.”

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UP FRONT | OPINION

SPIN

CYCLE

JOHN R. LAMB

No moonlighters need apply Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.

—Will Rogers

P

ity the plight of the woebegone San Diego City Council member.

Every couple of years, a citizens committee known as the Salary Setting Commission calls forth from the mountaintop its recommendations to hike the salaries of San Diego’s mayor and councilmembers. And just as predictably, the council becomes as clumsy as puppies as it eschews any notion that setting one’s own pay passes the smell test.

The mainstream media, almost to a fault, then records for posterity the council’s denouncement of such self-interested self-dealing. The line of thought always goes something like, Man, hurray for these noble folks dumping on a pay raise!

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The City Council finds itself yet again in this awkward position, which just so happens to fall in yet another cantankerous election season. Not that Spin is a skeptic, but let’s not fool ourselves: Turning down a pay raise is as much a political gesture as it is an economic one, and incumbents no doubt love the afterglow of refusing such a raise.

But a San Diego County Grand Jury report blasting the practice has hovered over the city’s head since 2015. And as former salary commission Chairman Bob Ottilie likes to point out, the grand jury itself noted that the conflict of interest not only applies to the council setting its own pay but also, as Ottilie puts it, in not approving a pay boost “because arguably that is enhancing your own political position.”

Ottilie is an attorney by trade, but he’s a long-time civic cattle prod on ethics reforms. He told

Spin that he was recently cleaning out a storage unit and came upon a letter he’d written in 1992 to thenmayor Susan Golding when she was kicking around the idea of establishing a citywide ethics policy.

Los Angeles was moving along on a similar path on a reform package that voters would eventually embrace in convincing fashion.

Twenty-six years later, Ottilie is still banging the drum here. “It’s always been a focus of mine,” he said, “to create a perception that we have elected officials work for us that earn a decent income so that we can attract quality people into the pool.”

Ottilie is painfully careful to explain that in his latest version of a pay-raise/ethics-reform package, he’d like to see the City Council place raises on the November ballot. Still, he says this is not to be taken as a commentary on the city’s latest batch of electeds. What it would do, he believes, is make the idea of a pay raise—something that hasn’t occurred since 2003— easier for voters to swallow by simultaneously eliminating some of the perks of elected office. (Current mayoral salary is $100,464.

For councilmembers, it’s $75,386.)

Among the targets for removal from the goodie bag: a controversial $9,600-a-year car allowance that a majority of councilmembers already decline but, by Spin’s

JOHN R. LAMB

No side jobs for skipper Kevin Faulconer or fuller brush man Scott Sherman if a proposed pay-hike initiative makes the November ballot and passes. calculations, several members still take. It also targets the ability to hand out free tickets to city-controlled sports and entertainment venues, which Ottilie views as a $100,000-a-year re-election boost for incumbents. There’s also a $25 cap on gifts, forcing electeds to pay their own way for a host of community banquets and celebrations.

The latest addition to the list ends political contributions by lobbyists.

Ottilie’s reform package—which the city’s Rules Committee is set to review next week—would also preclude the use of public funds for campaign purposes, including a ban on office-distributed constituent mailings 75 days before an election.

It would also double, from one to two years, the time former elected officials must wait before becoming city lobbyists, half-jokingly referred to as the “Jerry Sanders rule” in honor of the former mayor-turnedChamber-of-Commerce-honcho.

Last week, the City Council Rules Committee seemed to shock its chairwoman, Council President Myrtle Cole, by voting 3-2 to put the legal language back in the ballot measure for next Wednesday’s meeting. Cole, the Democratic first-termer facing the election battle of her career in November, was on the losing side of that vote, joining Republican Chris Cate in dissent. Neither explained their opposition during the meeting.

That his proposal didn’t die like so many other attempts in years past gives Ottilie some hope that all his efforts and those of the Salary Setting Commission will not have been made in vain. That the Rules Committee asked that it return could also mean members will try to water it down. Unfortunately, such attempts will only make the pay-raise idea less palatable to voters, who may end up really hating the idea anyway.

Councilmember Chris Ward last week did raise reservations

about two aspects of the reform package: the gift restriction, which he argued is already well handled by state law, and a ban on outside employment.

Ward asked that the City Attorney’s office to weigh in on both and seemed to toss a bit of shade in particular toward the moonlighting ban, wondering out loud if this were a question about elected officials’ abilities to “walk and chew gum” at the same time.

Ottilie argued that electeds could still reap their share of profits from a business they own. Current examples include Councilmember Mark Kersey’s telecom business or Scott Sherman’s commissions from past insurance policy sales (both councilmembers netted them more than $100,000 last year, according to filings). However, Ottilie says “the key is to make any additional income beyond their salary passive, so they can’t be working for somebody else.”

The point is that, given San Diego’s many challenges, being a mayor or councilmember isn’t a 9-to-5 job. Scratch that.

It shouldn’t be a 9-to-5 job. If an elected is worth their weight, it’s really a seven-day-a-week job. No one forces them into the position.

Ottilie would like to see his salary proposal (based on a percentage of Superior Court judge pay, similar to County Supervisors) phased in from 2019 until 2023, when he figures local councilmembers will make as much as their counterparts in Los Angeles. The mayor, he said, would be paid 25 percent more than the judges, who currently make $171,399 a year.

A big jump, no doubt, but certainly worth debating coupled with the perk cuts.

Put it on the ballot, City Council.

Spin Cycle appears every other week.

Write to johnl@sdcitybeat.com.

JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 5

UP FRONT | OPINION

AARYN BELFER

BACKWARDS & IN

HIGH HEELS

Dirty money times 10

W

hen Juan Vargas, Representative of the 51st Congressional District, took to the mic at the Families Belong Together march on June 23, I thought I might have a coronary. I had tweeted at him for two months leading up to our primary election, with no response. My beef? That the so-called Democrat had endorsed Trumpist Republican, Summer Stephan, for District Attorney.

We all know how that election turned out: Only 24 percent of eligible voters showed up. Even fewer of those people cast a vote for D.A. In the end, some Democrats crossed over to vote for Stephan, and the power and big money—like that from private prisons—were with her as well. She won and our chance to have meaningful change and real justice in San Diego was lost. At least for the time being.

It isn’t Vargas’ fault the Democrat didn’t win, but he shouldn’t be forgiven.

Now more than ever, we need leaders with vision, not elected officials obsessed with maintaining their positions. We need leaders who fight with and for us, not elected officials who stick a finger in the wind to see which direction it’s blowing.

Vargas stepped to the podium just moments after Dave Myers, the man who should be our sheriff, confronted him about his history of accepting prison dough.

“I don’t accept money from private prisons, period!” Vargas growled into the mic with all the conviction of someone who believes his own bullshit. “If some lawyer—if a lawyer from some private prison gave me money, I’ll give it all back! ‘Cuz I don’t accept money from prisons. I don’t accept money from prisons at all, ‘cuz I don’t believe in it. I do not believe in it. So I’ll look it up, Dave [Myers]. You said that when I was a senator, that if some—who was it?—some lawyer gave me $3,000. I’ll look it up and if he did, I’ll give every penny back. I’ll give ten times to one of the organizations. Not once.

Ten times. Ten times.”

Ten times.

It’s fair to say I already had what my friend Jess calls my “protest smolder” going by the time Vargas’ booming tirade of lies made its way from his lips to my ears. While the vein in my forehead was poppin’ at the audacity of Vargas’ pretense, activist and immigrant advocate Mark Lane calmly, and with the kind of chutzpah I’m just now tapping into, walked right up to the podium—in the middle of the Vargas sermon— and showed Vargas the receipts.

Lane held his phone for Vargas to see proof right then and there, in front of Maude and everybody, that he has, in fact, accepted at least $3000 from the Corrections Corporation of America.

So should we all do some maths here? $3,000 x 10 = $30,000.

I reached out to Vargas’ office for comment. I didn’t hear back.

Though I hadn’t planned it, my inner Hulk took

over that morning and I approached Vargas after he was done speaking. I raced to meet the congressman across the pavilion, pushing through the crowd with determined long strides. And I’ll admit: I was hot. I’m done being polite. Honey badger just don’t care.

Now, I didn’t introduce myself as a CityBeat writer because I was just wearing my civilian hat. And I hadn’t planned to write about the interaction. But then he lied to my face (“I didn’t take any prison money,” he said when I confronted him). Worse even was when I asked about his endorsement of Summer Stephan, pointing out her lovefest with private prisons—and the fact that she’s a human wood chipper to families in his over-policed district—he changed the subject to Bill Clinton. FFS! You heard that right. He brought up Bill Clinton.

You know, like Republicans do when they want to deflect attention away from their own hypocrisies.

Oprah said it best: “When people show you who they are, believe them.”

So I emailed Vargas to give him a chance to say something else, but nada. To be fair, he’s not alone on the prison money train. State Senators Ben Hueso and Toni Atkins, as well as Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher and Board of Supervisors candidate Nathan Fletcher, have all accepted money from corrections companies like CoreCivic and the GEO Group. I’ve heard that Gonzalez Fletcher has given her prison industry money to charity and reached out to her and Atkins for comment, but also got radio silence.

Nevertheless, dear readers, activists, co-conspirators: It is time we reject this kind of duplicity in our electeds. It is unacceptable for anyone in the Democratic Party to take money from the private prison industry, and worse, to do so while also claiming to stand against detainment of immigrant children and their parents; the detainment of the homeless; the detainment of the poor. This is all tied together and those who accept dirty money are complicit in the atrocities unfolding before our eyes. No more.

I’m calling on Juan Vargas to make his promised donation of $30,000 to an organization that helps immigrants and their children. I’m calling on Vargas to publicly release the name of the organization(s) he chooses to support.

And then I’m calling on the good, smart, capable, talented citizens of the 51st district to find that young progressive leader in your community to run against Vargas. We do not need representatives like Juan Vargas. Dems like him are why Democrats can’t have nice things. We must get rid of the old guard and start fresh.

Take. His. Seat. People.

He doesn’t deserve it.

I raced to meet the congressman across the pavilion, pushing through the crowd with determined long strides. And I’ll admit: I was hot. I’m done being polite.

6 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

Backwards & In High Heels appears every other week.

Write to aarynb@sdcitybeat.com.

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JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 7

UP FRONT | VOICES

RYAN BRADFORD

WELL THAT WAS

AWKWARD

Goodbye, Warped Tour, and good riddance!

I

n the year 2000, I declared my first Vans Warped Tour experience as the best day of my life.

I was new to punk, and I remember loving Green Day’s performance, but wouldn’t admit it in front of my new punk friends (Green Day, I had recently learned, were not punk). I fell in love with One Man Army. I saw a bigger circle pit during Suicide Machines than I’d ever seen. Anti-Flag scared me with their self-righteousness. And I was bored by NOFX. I even remember what I was I wearing all those years ago: cargo shorts and a heather-blue Mossimo shirt.

Later that night, while my chums and I were eating Taco Bell (back when they were still selling their only palatable item: the chili-cheese burrito), I earnestly told them that it had been the best day of my life.

The fact that I can remember all this—yet somehow manage to lose my gym card every three weeks—is a testament to the power that the festival had over me.

18 years later, and the Warped Tour has decided to call it quits. I thought I’d be more heartbroken about it, but I’ve moved on. My music tastes have evolved. I no longer wear cargo shorts.

However, when I get an email from Twiztid’s PR people to see if I’m interested in covering ”the craziest band on [Warped Tour’s] bill,” I can’t help but feel a little curious, so I reply yes. I wonder if it’s possible for me to rekindle some youthful enthusiasm toward a festival that shaped the emotions of so many—[record skip]—wait...

Fucking Twiztid? The Insane Clown Posse protégés? Not even ICP, but an ICP spin-off?! I know I’ve been out of the game for awhile, but juggalos and punks? Together!?

I have so many questions, all of which boil down to one statement: Fuck it. I mean, I’d be crazy not to go, right?

I pull into SDCCU Stadium’s parking lot a little after 1 p.m. and the thermostat in my car says 80-something. One thing I do remember about Warped Tour: it’s always hot, like it brings its own climate. I pull out the bag of old Halloween makeup that I’ve brought for the occasion, and begin to apply a thick layer of white all over my face. I figure this is the best way to win Twiztid’s approval—and fuck if I know why I want their approval aside from the fact that they’re one of the few bands on the bill that I recognize. I paint black circles around my eyes, complete with dripping tears. I’m going for “juggalo,” but end up looking more like “sad Norwegian black metal fan.”

I’ve heard that scents are the most powerful memory triggers, which would explain the rush of

nostalgia I feel upon my first whiff of the Warped Tour—a rich bouquet of nervous-teen sweat and stale cigarette smoke. Ah, my people, I think. I remember the Warped Tours from my youth were like meat markets for outcasts, one of the few opportunities for young punks to vie for the attention of other punks, and this is no different. Clusters of awkward kids roam the grounds in ill-fitting shorts and band shirts, sizing up strangers, trying to catch the eyes of other awkwards.

A girl in a sports bra stands next to me while I peruse the schedule and fist bumps me.

“I should’ve worn makeup, too,” she says.

I catch Reel Big Fish (heh, get it?), but they’re so old now. The singer rocks a mustache and rockabilly chops, a look that might as well be dubbed, “The Over the Hill.” I can’t even summon the enthusiasm to skank.

I wander around for a couple hours, casting old-man judgment at a string of bands that confuse and vaguely frighten me: 3OH!3 (get a real name!), Every Time I Die (too screamy!), The Used (go back to Utah!).

Eventually, I make my way to the beer area because everyone keeps telling me to stay hydrated.

It’s a stark, shadeless patch of asphalt that sizzles in the sun.

Back in 2000, I drank water directly from the sink in the Utah State Fairgrounds’ bathroom. Now, I pay $15 for a tall PBR. I can’t say I’ve gotten smarter in the years since my first Warped Tour.

Finally, it’s time for Twiztid.

Their fanbase is the most frightening of any of the bands, and I take note to stay clear of the three dudes in facepaint and matching “Super Killa” jerseys. Random whoop whoops (the international mating call of the juggalos) punctuate the anticipatory quiet.

Twiztid’s two rappers (and an insanely good live drummer [???]) emerge in their signature makeup and spooky contact lenses. They sing songs about killing people and not much else. I shoot pictures from the photo pit, vying hard for them to notice my own makeup. But they don’t, and I leave after their set, trying to come to terms with the fact that I feel dejected from not only the punk scene, but also the juggalo scene.

That night, I come down with a serious cold. I blame the youth. I blame the unrelenting sun. I blame dehydration. I blame juggalo germs. I blame $15 beers. I blame Warped.

Goodbye, Warped Tour, and good riddance.

I paint black circles around my eyes, complete with dripping tears.

I’m going for ‘juggalo,’ but end up looking more like “sad Norwegian black metal fan.

8 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

Well, That Was Awkward appears every other week.

Write to ryanb@sdcitybeat.com

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UP FRONT | FOOD

BY MICHAEL A. GARDINER

THE WORLD

FARE

Rolling along, taco-style

C

all them “taquitos,” “rolled tacos,” “tacos dorado” or even “flautas,” they’re pretty much all variations on the same thing. They’re also pretty much all that’s on the menu at El Tianguis (2810 El Cajon Blvd., eattaquitos.com) in North Park. And that’s not a bad thing.

Regardless of name, the formula is well known: bits of savory filling— most often (but not always) beef or chicken—rolled in a corn tortilla into the shape of a flute. Taquitos, tacos dorado and flautas are fried (deep or shallow) to produce a crispy exterior.

Rolled tacos are sometimes baked. The resulting dish may be less fatty and caloric but it’s invariably less tasty.

So, why?

One shop in San Diego claims a special connection to the taquito.

Ralph Pesquira, Jr. founded El Indio— on India Street in Middletown—as a tortilla shop in 1940 making the tortillas by hand. When workers from a nearby factory started asking for prepared food items, Pesquira took his tortillas, filled them with beef and deep-fried them. Thus, the claim goes, the taquito was born. It is, of course, a disputed claim (Cielito Lindo on Olvera Street in Los Angeles is also said to have been the source of the first taquito, but there’s more than enough credit to go around).

El Tianguis’ menu is short: four kinds of taquitos and drinks. Each plate of taquitos—offered in sets of three, five, eight or 12 taquitos each—comes with Mexican crema (basically a cross between heavy cream and sour cream, and about the flavor of crème fraîche), cheese, shredded lettuce and guacamole. As the menu states, the toppings are all optional which is the only way a vegan could enjoy the “vegan” options.

The most traditional of the four types of taquitos on El Tianguis’ menu are the beef and chicken.

Each provides a savory little bomb inside those fried tortillas. Less traditional are the two vegan

@SDCITYBEAT

options: a mashed potato taquito and one with lentil and quinoa filling.

It is not, though, the fillings that stand out.

Rather, the tortillas themselves are the stars of the taquitos: made fresh and in-house. It’s the flavor of those tortillas that hits first and hits last with the filling, basically, providing the bridge.

My primary criticism of the food at El Tianguis is the ratio of the taquitos themselves to the mound of shredded lettuce, scoop (or two) of guacamole, and paltry little cups of salsas. Of those salsas, none are particularly spicy but what MICHAEL A. GARDINER

Five rolled tacos the green salsa lacks in heat, it makes up for with brightness and complexity. The guacamole, on the other hand, could have benefited from a heavier hand with the salt.

Taquitos are often a disrespected class of tacos in foodie circles. They’re often labeled as an “inauthentic,” Californicated Mexican food or even TexMex in nature. While they may not reach the culinary heights of some tacos, my basic question is: who really cares? If they taste good, eat them. And whatever the provenance, or whatever the name, the rolled taquitos at El Tianguis taste good.

The World Fare appears weekly.

Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com.

JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 9

UP FRONT | FOOD & DRINK

ANATOMY OF A COCKTAIL SCENE

BY IAN WARD

#35: Bee happy at Madison on Park

S

Once all ingredients have come to a sense of full incorporation, pour over ice and garnish with an orange twist.

10 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

Anatomy of a Cocktail Scene appears every other week. Write to ianw@sdcitybeat.com.

REVENGE OF THE BEER NERD Working the system

breweries actually integrate their glycol system into their wort-chilling process by ost brewer’s that I know have a using a two-stage heat exchanger. The glyvery intimate relationship with col chills water to bone-cold temperatures their “system.” The system is all of and the cold water chills the wort.

Once the beer is done fermenting, it the pieces of equipment and processes involved in making beer. Though the funda- needs to be conditioned, carbonated and mentals of brewing remain the same, things packaged; all are essential parts of the such as physical space, budget, equipment, productions process and can include a vaand utility infrastructure all impact the riety of equipment and techniques. Someunique flow of each brewery. How a brewer times beer is fined with biological-chemworks their system and equipment is a ma- ical agents, other times it’s run through a filter and some beers are jor factor in qualifying their designed to be hazy (*sigh*). ingenuity and capabilities.

Personally, I find it strange Peeking into another that no one ever seems to ask brewery is a rare treat for me about cleaning and sanitizand I tend to examine both ing procedures. Both of which the hot and the cold side of are the foundation of every the process equally. On the successful brewery. Some hot side, water temperature breweries will use chemical is crucial, especially when sanitation while others will using such a large volume. use steam or heat. In either Rawley Macias of Rouleur case, improper cleaning and Brewing in Carlsbad (5840 sanitizing procedures can abEl Camino Real, rouleurRawley Macias solutely crumble a brewery. brewing.com) works with a Breweries are like people; they come run-of-the-mill Premier Stainless 10 BBL Combi System and uses dual on-demand in all sorts of shapes and sizes and have water heaters to get the water to tempera- different components that make them ture. However, Rawley takes his water one unique. Part of learning about a system, is figuring out ways to work within the step further than many brewers.

“The one major piece of equipment that brewing space, which is honestly one of we added was a Water Works 3 gallons-per- the most common limiting factors for any minute Reverse Osmosis and Carbon Filter brewery. I guarantee, each brewer will system. Although San Diego has pretty have something interesting to share about good water chemistry for IPAs, I do prefer their system and their space.

It’s always important to remember that to have the ability to build my water for beer doesn’t make itself. The act of brewlighter beers like blondes and lagers.”

On the cold side, brewers make sure that ing is hot, gross and wet, but a smooth fermentation goes smoothly and the beer functioning brewery is just as artistic and can be packaged and served properly. In beautiful as the actual beer that is made. most cases, the metal fermenters are jack- Hopefully, a kind brewer will be happy to eted and tied to a loop that cycles glycol. Of show off their system and explain each course, the more tanks a brewery has, the part. larger and more complex the glycol system becomes. Though often overlooked, the Write to Davey at daveyl@sdcitybeat.com glycol system is easily the most essential or check him out on Instagram at sub-system in a brewery. Rouleur and other @daveythebeernerd.

M

COURTESY OF RAWLEY MACIAS

that provide us with 90 percent of our food, bees pollinate 70 percent of it. Or some shit like that. I’m not Bill Nye. All of that was a way of me saying that I o here we are, lined up at the starting gate of summer. It feels like just greatly appreciate it when I see local honey yesterday that I was going on about make its way onto a menu. To me, it shows the beauty of drinking Irish Coffee in win- a certain foresight; a more cerebral apter, but I guess that’s every year. Cyclical proach to providing guests with something delicious, while also following a moral inner reflection.

As for summer though, as much as I compass. Thoughtfulness and depth.

Anyway, I was recently at Madison on wait all year long for vegetables in spring, the same can be said for fruit in the sum- Park (4622 Park Blvd., madisononpark. com) and found that they had several mer. Don’t get me wrong, sumcocktails showcasing local mer provides us with some honey. I ordered The Woodamazing vegetables as well, man, a cocktail that’s barrelbut the juice from a cold aged in charred American oak watermelon running down and containing 1776 Rye whismy chin in the heat of sumkey, Fernet-Branca, allspice mer simply cannot be beat. dram and local honey. It’s ryeGrowing up on the East forward but still delightful with Coast, I loved summer for all of hints of clove, cinnamon and the above things, but I also hated mildly bitter. I’ve always believed it for the other things it brought Fernet and honey are great comwith it. That is, bugs. You can see them rearing their exoskeletal The Woodsman panions, and although Fernet has an inherent sweetness to it, it heads in Southern California at this time adheres to a more bold profile when mixed of year as well, but unlike the bloodthirsty hunger of, say, the mosquitos on the East with another sweet ingredient. They bond Coast, the bugs here have some beautiful in a truly beautiful way.

The Woodsman is reminiscent of all attributes. Honey bees, for example, to great whiskey-forward cocktails. It has the which we owe all our lives.

That might sound like a crazy state- complexity that the Fernet and allspice ment, but if bees didn’t exist, people dram bring, along with the subduing nature wouldn’t either. Out of the 100 crop species of honey, while still being angsty and aggressive. Balanced, would be another word to use. Honestly, thoughtfulness and balTHE WOODSMAN ance are the two pillars of any great cocktail. as prepared at Madison on Park Madison sources it’s honey from the San Diego Honey Company, a great source for 1/4 oz. Honey local and infused honeys, as well as Manu1/4 oz. Fernet-Branca ka honeys. I recently wrote an article about 1/4 oz. Allspice Dram depression and Manuka honey is one of the 2 1/4 oz. James E. Pepper 1776 Straight Rye natural things that is highly recommended to combat it. I don’t know Maybe Google it.

Place all ingredients in a tiny charred oak American Cask and allow time to mature.

But it put a smile on my face.

BY DAVEY LANDEROS

@SDCITYBEAT

EVENTS

SHORTlist

ART

the

THREE YOU HAVE TO SEE

MAKING HERSTORY

COORDINATED BY

SETH COMBS

SAN DIEGO

As we celebrate America and also gear opens Friday, July 6 during Liberty Station’s Friday up for Pride, it’s so very important to Night Liberty event (5 to 9 p.m.).

We have long admired local artist Sarah Stieber remember the role women have played in both the formation of the country, as well as their continuing for her evocative, hyper-colored paintings, many of struggle for full equality. This week has several events which include women in powerful and empowered COURTESY OF THE ARTIST poses. The fact that Steiber that we’d encourage all readis now opening her own ers to attend and celebrate Little Italy gallery (1943 with like-minded feminists.

India St., sarahstieber.com) Start things off at the preis just as inspiring, and Pride She Fest, an annual the opening bash of Sarah fest dedicated to fostering Steiber Contemporary Art connections between women on Saturday, July 7 from 7 no matter their sexual orito 10 p.m. will include comentation (sdpride.org/event/ plimentary cocktails, beer, shefest). In addition to mufood, photo booths and a sic and spoken-word perforglitter artist available to bemances, there will be health jewel patrons. workshops and activism Finally, avid readers will seminars. It happens Satur- “Goddess on a Good Day” by Sarah Stieber want to head to South Park day, July 7 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at North Park Community Park (4044 Idaho St.). at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 11 for The Book CataWomen are also at the forefront of two art pult’s (thebookcatapult.com) She Writes Press Auevents this weekend. There’s the opening of the thor Panel. She Writes Press is an award-winning Women of Pride exhibition at the Women’s Muse- indie publisher for women authors specializing in a um of California (2730 Historic Decatur Road, Suite variety of genres. Speaking and signing at the event 103, womensmuseumca.org) inside Liberty Station. will be local poet/novelist Jill G. Hall (The Silver The exhibition includes historic memorabilia and Shoes), health and diet writer Bella Mahaya Carter artifacts from local organizations that were at the (Raw) and life/health coach Laurie Buchanan (The forefront of the early days of Pride. The exhibition Business of Being).

OLD TOWN

GET IN, WE’RE GOING SHOPPING Shopping at malls is so passé and not just because of the convenience of Amazon. Still, there’s something to be said for getting out and supporting local artisans, which is why we always look forward to the annual Mercado del Sol. Dozens of artists and vendors will gather at Old Town’s beloved Bazaar del Mundo (4133 Taylor St.) for the two-day shopping event, and the lineup includes summer-inspired collections of handcrafted jewelry, clothing, fashion accessories, gifts and more. This year’s festivities will also have representatives from Johnny Was, a bohemian-style clothing and accessories brand, and the chance to win a limited edition Johnny Was item. Other artists and vendors include Kim Yubeta, Dan Dee Silk, Duet, Joey Miller, Leaders in Leather and more. It happens from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, July 6 and Saturday, July 7. bazaardelmundo.com.

NORTH PARK

INK PIECE We’re all about our neighbors in North Park, so our hearts sank when we heard our neighbors at Remington Tattoo had lost one of their own. Artist Bobby Flores recently passed away from ventricular tachycardia while waiting for a heart transplant, leaving behind a wife and two children. To help support them, Remington organized the Bobby Flores Memorial Tattoo Fundraiser. From noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 8, over a dozen local tattoo shops, including Remington (3009 Myrtle Ave.), will offer customers a tattoo of a number of Flores’ original designs and donate proceeds to his family. Locations include Bearcat Tattoo Gallery, True Fit Tattoo, Propaganda Tattoo and more. A full list of participants can be found at remingtontattoo.com.

COURTESY OF REMINGTON TATTOO

5. Free. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com

HCorey Dunlap at 1805 Gallery, 1805 Columbia St., Little Italy. For his solo show, local artist and current UCSD MFA candidate will present prints examining the boundaries between object and body. Dunlap uses digital modeling software to create organic forms in rich colors. Opening from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, July 5. Free. 619-888-8288, 1805gallery. com HWomen of Pride at the Women’s Museum of California, 2730 Historic Decatur Road #104, Point Loma. The new exhibition traces the contributions of women involved in LGBTQ movements between the 1960s and the 1990s, from famous activists and politicians to lesser known community members. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, July 6. Free-$20. 619233-7963, womensmuseumca.org Mankind Edited at La Playa Gallery, 2226 Avenida De La Playa, La Jolla.

This exhibition explores the emotional range of Americana, from joy to desperation, and features work by painters Dan Adams and Matt Snyder, as well as sculptor Ry Beloin. Opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 6. Free. 858-454-6903, laplayagallery.com What She Said at Sophie’s Gallery, 4186 Adams Ave., Kensington. The event will showcase paintings of women by artists with developmental disabilities. The exhibition also features work by guest artist Mona Ray. Opening from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, July 7. Free. 619-442-5126, facebook.com/events/219278555371473 Frida Kahlo Art Show and Friducha Market at 2196 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. Celebrate the life and death of one of Mexico’s greatest artists with art, live music, a market, a Frida look-alike contest and more. The event will also feature Frida-inspired artwork by more than 40 artists. From 3 to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 7. Free. 619-255-7036, labodegagallery. com HStieber Summer Gallery Grand Opening at Sarah Stieber Contemporary Art, 1943 India St., Little Italy. The gallery opening kicks off the summer with free arts-related activities and an exhibition

by San Diego-based artist Sarah Stieber.

There will be a photo-booth installation and an on-site glitter body artist, plus food, brews and cocktails. Opening from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, July 7. RSVP suggested. sarahstieber.com HOcean Beach Art 07 Party at Mike Hess Brewing, 4893 Voltaire St., Ocean Beach. Hanelei Artworks presents a group art exhibition and celebration of Ocean Beach, that includes food, beer and OB inspired art. From 6 to 10 p.m.

Saturday, July 7. Free. 619-795-1095, mikehessbrewing.com HLGBTQ+ San Diego: Stories of Struggles and Triumphs at San Diego History Center, 1649 El Prado, Balboa Park. This exhibition will highlight the history and experiences of San Diego’s LGBTQ community via photos, art, prints and historical documents. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, July 8. Free. 619-2326203, sandiegohistory.org

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

BOOKS HPaul Tremblay at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The Bram Stoker Awardwinning author will sign and discuss his latest scary novel, The Cabin at the End of the World. At 7 p.m. Thursday, July

Bags from Leaders in Leather @SDCITYBEAT

Bobby Flores tattoo designs

H = CityBeat picks

Jim Pascoe and Heidi Arnhold at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The writer and illustrator will sign and discuss their latest illustrated fantasy, Cotton: The Secret of the Wind. At 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 6. Free. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy. com Rob Boffard at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The writer will sign and discuss his latest deep space thriller, Adrift.

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 7. Free. 858268-4747, mystgalaxy.com HShe Writes Press Author Panel at The Book Catapult, 3010-B Juniper St., South Park. A discussion and book-signing with novelist Jill G. Hall (The Silver Shoes), health and diet writer Bella Mahaya Carter (Raw) and life/health coach Laurie Buchanan (The Business of Being). From 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 11. Free. 619-795-3780, thebookcatapult.com HMat Johnson at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 5943 Balboa Ave., Ste. 100, Clairemont. The graphic novel writer will sign and discuss his latest offerings, Incognegro and Incognegro: Renaissance. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 11.

Free. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com HRaymond A. Villareal at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The lawyer and novelist will sign and discuss his novel, A People’s History of the Vampire Uprising. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 11. 858-454-0347, warwicks.com

COMEDY Jeff Ross at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. This comedian is known as the king of roasts, with Justin Bieber, Donald Trump, Pamela Anderson and more among the celebrities who have appeared in his Comedy Central specials. At 9:30 p.m.

Wednesday, July 4. Free-$42. 858-7551161, sdfair.com HKevin Hart at Viejas Arena, 5500 Canyon Crest Dr., SDSU. The award-winning actor and comedian brings his new act to San Diego for “The Irresponsible Tour.” At 7 p.m. Saturday, July 7. $39$195. 619-594-7315, viejasarena.org.

FILM HDigital Gym Cinema’s Anniversary Week at Digital Gym Cinema, 2921 El Cajon Blvd., North Park. North Park’s micro-cinema rings in its fifth birthday with screenings of influential films. Program includes Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Child’s Play, Funny Girl, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and more. Various times. From Friday, July 6 through Thursday, July 12. $7.50-$11.

619-230-1938, digitalgym.org

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

At this annual event, patrons can enjoy nine assorted cupcakes for a discounted price of $25. Includes vegan and glutenfree choices, and there will apparently be some kind of goat petting zoo as well.

From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Through Sunday, July 8. eclipsechocolate.com

EVENTS CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 11

EVENTS EVENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 HTijuana Veggie Fest at Central Cultural Tijuana, Paseo de los Héroes No. 9350, Zona Urbana Río, Tijuana, Mexico.

This event includes live music, vegan cooking workshops, more than 80 food vendors and more than 40 craft spaces in the heart of Tijuana. From 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, July 6, Saturday. July 7 and Sunday, July 8. Free. facebook. com/tjveggiefest HModern Times 5th Anniversary Party at the Modern Times Fortress of Raditude, 3612 Kurtz St., Point Loma. To launch its birthday celebration, Modern Times will feature over 30 beers on draft, with 10 four-ounce tasters included in each ticket, plus food trucks and an art

installation on site. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, July 7. $45. moderntimesbeer.com

FOURTH OF JULY 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 Third Marine Aircraft Band, a light show, children’s activities, food vendors, pro-wrestling a community art sale and a fireworks display. From 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 4. 760-839-4186, artcenter.org HBig Bay Boom The largest display in the city. Fireworks will be discharged simultaneously from barges placed stra-

tegically around the San Diego Bay, off Shelter Island, Harbor Island, Embarcadero North, Seaport Village and more.

At 9 p.m. Wednesday, 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. Wednesday, July 4. $50. friendsofcabrillo.com America’s Birthday with Clint Black at Embarcadero Marina Park South, 200 Marina Park Way, Downtown. The Bayside Summer Nights concert series continues with a performance by country music star Clint Black, immediately followed by the Big Bay Boom fireworks.

From 7:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 4. $31-$104. 619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org HSan Diego County Fair 4th of July Celebration at Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. An all-day celebration featuring patriotic performances, concerts and a fireworks display at 9 p.m. From 9:30 a.m. to midnight. Wednesday, July 4. Free-$18.

858-755-1161, sdfair.com La Jolla Cove Fourth Of July Fireworks at Scripps Park, 1180 Coast Blvd., La Jolla. Brink a blanket, check out the fireworks and celebrate the holiday at the scenic cove. At 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 4. Free. lajollabythesea.com Red, White And Boom! at LEGOLAND, One Legoland Dr., Carlsbad. Patriotic activities throughout the day including all-American family picnic games, waterballoon tosses, burlap sack races, and more. At night, there will be a fireworks display set to a patriotic musical tribute.

From 1 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 4. $89-$139. legoland.com 4th of July Fireworks Cruises at Flagship Cruises & Events, 990 N. Harbor Drive, Experience San Diego’s Big Bay Boom aboard a cruise ship. Admission includes complimentary boarding champagne, a gourmet meal, live DJ entertainment and dancing. From 7 to 10 p.m.

Wednesday, July 4. $45-$149.50. 800442-7847, flagshipsd.com

MUSIC Puttin’ Down Roots: Moonlight Trio at California Center for the Arts, 340 N Escondido Blvd., Escondido. As part of a new Americana music series, Moonlight Trio performss a mix of old school rock, cumbia, Tex-Mex and traditional Mexican music. At 7 p.m. Friday, July 6. Free$40. 760-839-4138, artcenter.org Sounds of Summer at Horton Plaza Park, 900 Fourth Ave., Downtown. The first day of the free pop-up outdoor concert series will feature the acoustic and alternative rock sounds of Brent Curtis.

At noon. Friday, July 6. Free. 619-5448180, hortonplazapark.com Megan Hilty at Embarcadero Marina Park South, 200 Marina Park Way., Downtown. Bayside Summer Nights Concerts presents award-winning vocalist and Broadway star acclaimed for her performances in Wicked, Noises Off, 9 to 5: The Musical and more. At 7:30 p.m.

Friday, July 6 and Saturday, July 7. $25-$92. 619-686-6200, sandiegosymphony.org HBird Park Summer Concert #1 at Bird Park, Pershing Drive, North Park. Kick off the family-friendly summer concert series with headliner and San Diego local Jake Najor & The Moment of Truth.

From 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday, July 7. Free. northparksd.org Festival Orchestra: Yuval Yaron at California Center for the Arts, 340 N Escondido Blvd., Escondido. Acclaimed violinist Yaval Yaron, along with artistic director and conductor Alyze Dreiling and the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, will perform the Bach Violin Concierti and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. At 4 p.m. Sunday, July 8. $7. 760-839-4138, artcenter.org HAthenaeum Summer Festival at Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla. The 20th annual fest returns with celebrated pianist Gustavo Rome-

12 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

ro’s four-part concert series celebrating the music of legendary composers such as Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, and more. At 4 p.m. Sunday, July 8. $40$172. 858-454-5872, ljathenaeum.org

PERFORMANCE 1776 In Concert at Moonlight Amphitheater, 1200 Vale Terrace Drive, Vista.

A rendition of tunes from the awardwinning musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, featuring local musical theater talents and a live orchestra. Attendees invited to bring picnics immediately before. From 8 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, July 7. $15-$45. 760724-2110, moonlightstage.com HBending Broadway at Mission Hills United Methodist Church, 4044 Lark St., Mission Hills. The Prosecco Players present a family-friendly cabaret in which popular show tunes will be performed without regard for the gender roles usually associated with them. Featuring the San Diego Women’s Chorus, with donations benefiting the Hillcrest Youth Center, which supports LGBTQ youth. From 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday, July 8. Free. facebook.com/theproseccoplayers

SPECIAL EVENTS HMercado del Sol at Bazaar del Mundo, 4133 Taylor St., Old Town. Artists from around town and across the globe come together to sell handcrafted fashion, jewelry and accessories from a variety of cultures. From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, July 6 and Saturday, July 7. Free. 619296-3161, bazaardelmundo.com HShe Fest at the North Park Community Park, 4044 Idaho St., North Park.

A day of women-centric workshops, music, games and activities, as part of San Diego Pride. The day is centered on uniting communities, creating connections and celebrating diversity. Open to all genders. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 7. Free. sdpride.org/event/ shefest HMindful Protest & Art Show at EVE Encinitas, 575 South Coast Highway 101, Encinitas. A troupe of visual artists, spoken word performers, musicians, musicians, singers, stand-up comics and more will perform to raise funds for RAICES’s refugee and immigration efforts. At 6:30 p.m. Sunday, July 8. $15$20. tinyurl.com/ydequrfm HBobby Flores Memorial Tattoo Fundraiser at various locations. A one-day fundraiser to support the family of tattoo artist Bobby Flores, who recently passed away after waiting for a heart transplant.

Over a dozen tattoo shops will offer Flores designs. From noon to 8 p.m.

Sunday, July 8. Prices vary. remingtontattoo.com

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS HAxline Lecture: Nancy Lorenz at San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. Join the contemporary artist as she talks about her creative process, her place in contemporary art and her current abstract Japanese inspired exhibition Nancy Lorenz: Moon Gold.

From 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, July 10. $5$10. 619-232-7931, sdmart.org.

@SDCITYBEAT

THEATER JIM COX

Shakespeare’s swan song

Monty Python’s Spamalot runs through Aug. 5 at Cygnet Theatre in Old Town. $55; cygnettheatre.com

A

wonderfully imaginative realization of The Tempest, the last play in Shakespeare’s canon, launches the Old Globe Theatre’s Summer Shakespeare Festival with a flourish. From Kate Burton’s commanding performance as Prospera, purveyor of magic and exiled ruler of an island, to some exquisitely fanciful costume designs by David Israel Reynoso, this Tempest is enchanting in every sense of the word.

Though a story of forgiveness, Prospera (from Prospero in the original malecentered conception) chooses magnanimity over violence in reconciling with those who have banished her. The Tempest is as fanciful and waggish as anything Shakespeare wrote, and this production, directed

by Joe Dowling, features delightful turns from Philippe Bowgen as Ariel, Manoel Felciano as Caliban and Robert Dorfman and Andrew Weems as pranksters Stephano and Trinculo. The magic-heavy second act rightfully overwhelms the more plodding first, including even an R&B/calypso mash-up celebrating the love between Prospera’s daughter Miranda (Nora Carroll) and young Ferdinand (Sam Avishay).

Best is Burton’s closing monologue, which in its poignancy could be Shakespeare himself bidding farewell to his work and the world.

The Tempest runs through July 22 on

@SDCITYBEAT

—David L. Coddon

Theater reviews run weekly.

Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING: Queens: A world premiere play from Pulitzerwinning writer Martyna Majok about a young woman who moves to New York in hopes of starting a new life. Directed by Carey Perloff, it opens July 3 at the La Jolla Playhouse. lajollaplayhouse.org Love/Sick: John Cariani’s romantic comedy is a collection of interconnected short plays set in suburbia. Directed by Kristen Fogle, it opens July 6 at Lamplighter’s Community Theatre in La Mesa. lamplighterslamesa.com

The Tempest the Old Globe Theatre’s Lowell Davies Festival Stage in Balboa Park. $30 and up; theoldglobe.org ••• ygnet Theatre has certainly opened its 16th season with a bang. Its joyfully irreverent production of Spamalot is in the finest spirit of the Monty Python antics that inspired it, right down to the animated images (projected on a screen behind the stage) that accompany the hapless King Arthur and his quest for the Holy Grail. Cygnet’s artistic director Sean Mur-

C

ray, who played Arthur in Moonlight Stage Productions’ memorable Spamalot in 2014, is back as the besieged Arthur. So is Christine Hewitt, the Lady of the Lake of that same Moonlight staging. The Cygnet cast, which is roundly riotous, also includes James Saba, David S. Humphrey and Bryan Banville, all of whom play multiple roles.

The Python sense of humor isn’t for everyone, and it’s true that some bits feel stretched out, but in this dependable romp, there’s always another pun or musical parody coming.

Romeo and Juliet: Arguably Shakespeare’s most famous play, it tells the tale of two teenagers who fall in love despite their families being at war. Presented by the Pickwick Players and the Poway Performing Arts Company, it opens July 6 at the PowPAC Community Theatre in Poway. pickwickplayers.net A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Stephen Sondheim’s classic musical comedy about a Roman slave who hatches a matchmaking plan in order to gain his freedom.

Directed by David Ellenstein, it opens July 11 at the North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach. northcoastrep.org

For complete theater listings, visit sdcitybeat.com

JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 13

STACY KECK

CULTURE | BOOKS

Jean Guerrero

14 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

just in regard to the border, but also to untangle complicated notions of the truth. She brings up the truth often when she speaks, almost to the point of obsession.

“The truth and nothing but the truth,” she says about her philosophy as a journalist. In memoir, she staunchly avoids exaggerating or modifying the unfolding of events. Crux, though, also depends on oral history from her family, stories from her grandmother and father: long-ago investigations she had no control over.

“I had to frame those things in the context of our conversation,” Guerrero says.

Often, her father’s stories and his intensity are depicted entirely in his interior, in brief, second-person addresses to him and recounting what he believes to be true.

“My natural inclination is to remain rooted in the reality that I’m recreating,” she explains.

But Guerrero’s relationship with the truth is as complex as truth itself. As a child, her father blurred the borders between fantasy and reality to the point that her earliest memory is of her father rolling down an airplane window to run his fingertips through the clouds at 30,000 feet.

“What I do know is this: in my first memory, Papi is making me hallucinate,” she recounts in an early passage of the book.

Her quest to understand her father became, not surprisingly, a quest to understand herself. She followed his story to Mexico City, where she lived and worked

as a foreign correspondent. In the pages of Crux, Guerrero tackles the questions of why she is in Mexico City, why she is replicating her father’s dangerous and self-destructive inclinations, and why she is obsessed with this pursuit of him: “There were many reasons: to understand my father, to unshelter myself, to expose corruption, to find adventure, to feel alive. How petty all those reasons seemed now. All of them had led me here: to the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Los Tuxtlas, where I would drown.”

Yes, while in Mexico, she suffered a near-death experience of such a magnitude that it led her to convince herself she had literally perished.

“I do have my father in me in that sense. If I hear a really compelling story, I can’t help it, I’ll be immersed in it, I’ll believe it. But having the tools that I have as a journalist,” Guerrero adds, with profound conviction, “has kept me sane.”

Guerrero knows a thing or two about sanity. She was just a child when her father was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and watched him cycle through serious bouts of depression, paranoia and hallucination. She later found no proof of such a diagnosis, but it had already shaped much of her relationship with her father, driving her to worry she would be doomed by genetics.

In one example, she unfolds an argument with her mother when she was a teenager where they each throw the word “insane” at each other like a serrated blade. It’s a heady scene, with each woman aware of the heCOURTESY OF ONEWORLD/RANDOM HOUSE

ean Guerrero is surrounded by demons.

In the busy dining room of Kindred, a massive mural of a fanged beast protrudes from the wall behind her, framing her as she recites the final utterance of a spell in Spanish: “Hecho esta en el aqui y en el ahora.” The line is also the final sentence in her new book, Crux: A Cross-Border Memoir, which is set for release on July 17 from One World/Random House. Guerrero translates the line.

“That’s how it’s done in the here and in the now.”

Crux is the story of Guerrero’s father, magic, inheritance, borders, and the complexity of the truth. Guerrero devoted much of her life to a quest to understand her father’s purported diagnosis of schizophrenia, as well as his depression, hallucinations and periodic absences. Her father, who Guerrero describes as “the ultimate migrant,” crosses borders frequently; country to country, of course, but also the boundaries between the known and the unknown.

The book is firmly rooted around San Diego and Mexico’s border, an unapologetic yet stunning portrayal of life in this region.

For San Diegans, Crux often feels like local folklore, just in the same way familiar stretches of highway and notoriously popular taco shops are connective tissue in Guerrero’s family history. She laughs when asked if she still goes to Saguaro’s, the North Park burrito mecca opened by her father in the early ’90s.

“I remember how excited my sister and I would get, going to Saguaro’s, and he would just kind of ignore us. So going in there provokes these really weird feelings.”

Guerrero, an investigative reporter with KPBS’s Fronteras Desk, works tirelessly not

reditary nature of schizophrenia. Ultimately, Guerrero realized that ascribing to her father the word “crazy” is problematic.

“The fact that I wasn’t seeing his full humanity made me lose my own humanity, and become subject to these conceptions of minds that were really reductionistic,” she says.

Still, Guerrero also prizes uncertainty.

Truth and uncertainty are not at odds with each other in Crux, and there is greatness in admitting unfinishedness, particularly in memoir written by writers who are still young. Her interest in truth and borders is powerful, almost contagious, and she returns to these ideas again and again.

“The border is this perfect metaphor for exploring all of the deep questions… for which we have no answers and may never have answers,” she says, speaking quickly, excitedly, but with a particular wisdom.

“Crossing all of these borders encourages people to push the boundaries of what they know and to venture into the unknown. The only way you will do that is if you admit that you don’t know some things.”

It evokes her closing line: “Hecho esta en el aqui y en el ahora.” Hecho can also mean “fact,” though nobody would ever think of the expression as “the fact is in the here and in the now,” but Guerrero doesn’t mind this misguided thinking.

“I love that,” she exclaims. “Here be the truth.”

Jean Guerrero will host a launch event for Crux on Thursday, July 19 at La Bodega Gallery (2196 Logan Ave., labodegagallery.com) at 7:30 p.m. Guerrero also appears at The Book Catapult (3010-B Juniper St., thebookcatapult.com) on Wednesday, July 25 at 7:30 p.m.

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JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 15

CULTURE | FILM

Size Matters

Ant-Man and The Wasp

Marvel’s smallest superhero gets an inconsequential encore

by Glenn Heath Jr.

M

arvel’s ever-expanding Cinematic Universe The egregiously low stakes are initially refreshing in isn’t typically known for grand romantic in- that the audience doesn’t have to suffer under an onterludes. The closest this self-serious fran- slaught of winking Easter eggs, origin stories, or world chise has ever gotten to a classic love story is 2015’s building. Instead, Reed favors toothless screwball Ant-Man. Cat burglar Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) saves the gags that play with dimension and scale, which is the world by shrinking down to the size of an insect but trademark of Ant-Man’s appeal. Still, Scott seems to still finds time to flirt endlessly with mad crush Hope be having far less fun defying gravity while his manic van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly). The romantic comedy sidekick Luis (Michael Peña) more than makes up for and superhero saga doesn’t always nicely cohere, but the lack of energy.

Eventually, repetition in action and tone neuter at least the resulting standalone had heart.

Three years and (count ‘em!) seven feature films the film’s creative energy. Hyper-chaotic chase scenes later, Marvel’s roving narrative microscope returns to operate under the standard guidelines for Marvel purits smallest warrior with Ant-Man and the Wasp. Di- suits. Alliances inevitably shift depending on necesrector Peyton Reed struggles mightily to rekindle the sity, and characters refuse to stop verbalizing their passion and charm of his original entry. The chemis- most boring thoughts. One hilarious scene involving try between Scott and Hope, who now fights along- interrogation by way of truth serum (“it’s not truth serum!”) seems to directly reside Ant-Man on equal ground buke this motif, but there’s as the Wasp, all but takes a far too few of these self-aware backseat to the overly redunANT-MAN AND moments to make up for the dant plot temporally situated THE WASP narrative drudgery. immediately before the earth Most disappointingly, the shattering events of Avengers: Directed by Peyton Reed film shows an inexplicable disInfinity War. Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, interest in Scott and Hope’s Under house arrest by order Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer odd couple pairing. Reed’s best of the F.B.I. for his role in havRated PG-13 films (Down With Love, Bring it oc strewn during the events On) are woozy confections that of Captain America: Civil War, thrive on the chemistry felt Scott has plenty of time to question his failed relationships with Hope and her between witty sassy pants. So why doesn’t Ant-Man father Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), who’ve since and the Wasp at least take a few choice moments from gone underground to evade capture. But Marvel mov- its two hour running time to get romantically saucy? ies are constructed for the purpose of reunions, how- Maybe the powers that be thought fanboys would be ever implausible, and all three characters inevitably more interested in seeing giant Ant-Man drunkenly team up to explore the subatomic quantum realm stumble through the San Francisco Bay than believwhere Hank’s wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) has been able sexual tension between Rudd and Lilly, actors who bring very different virtues to the table. trapped for decades.

Ironically, Ant-Man and the Wasp’s brutal postTheir quest draws the attention of weapons dealers (led by a bored Walton Goggins), the Feds (led by credits sequence stings the most, a reflection of what an even more bored Randall Park) and Marvel’s latest Marvel films could be if the shackles of franchising shape-shifting villain named Ghost (a not-so-bored were permanently released. In a single striking moHannah John-Kamen). Reed orchestrates an endless ment of quiet, Scott’s life suddenly gets very small revolving door of frantic action scenes where Scott and lonely. And then all of the highfalutin raucousand Hope manipulate the size of their bodies and oth- ness that came before seems even less significant in er objects to, well, kick ass. Long stretches of tedious hindsight. exposition are used to connect the dots.

Ant-Man and the Wasp isn’t the worst Marvel Film reviews run weekly. movie ever, but it might be the most inconsequential. Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com

16 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

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JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 17

CULTURE | FILM in its fifth birthday with screenings of influential films also celebrating anniversaries in 2018. The program includes Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Child’s Play, Funny Girl, Lost in Translation, The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and The Red Shoes. Screenings from Friday, July 6 through Thursday, July 12.

En el Séptimo Día: A group of undocumented workers work hard all week and play soccer on Sunday afternoons, but then have to think fast when their star player is scheduled to work on the Sunday. Opens Friday, July 6, at the Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Three Identical Strangers

Nature vs. nurture

T

wo wildly different documentaries opening on Friday, July 6, grapple with the troubling correlation between childhood trauma and adult culpability. Tim Wardle’s Three Identical Strangers (Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas) tells the incredible true story of New York triplets Eddy Garland, David Kellman and Robert Shafran, who were separated at birth only to be reunited by chance in 1980, two decades later.

At first, the young men find themselves swept up in a media blitz, momentarily famous out of pure circumstance. But this would be just the beginning of a complicated emotional situation that grows increasingly dark as family secrets and institutional malpractices bubbled to the surface.

The film’s grand revelations, while somewhat opportunistic, not only underscore important themes of parental and social responsibility, but also the role that environment plays in shaping the fragile psyches of vulnerable children.

Questions about how to better protect the youth from predatory forces abound with very few answers ultimately given.

••• evin MacDonald’s Whitney (Angelika Film Center— Carmel Mountain) surveys similar territory, albeit through the glitzy lens of a pop culture icon

K

18 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

whose astronomic rise and tragic downfall played out for decades on the largest stage possible. Using interviews with close family members and creative partners, the film examines Whitney Houston’s life and death from a deeply personal and expectedly incomplete perspective.

Her frayed relationships with expedient father Gary and domineering mother Cissy form the foundation of McDonald’s interest in how family can ultimately propel and destroy genius. Many of his questions are only half answered because the subtext is too raw for many of those closest to Houston.

Once again, it’s proven that environment shapes personality, not the other way around.

While stylistically different, the two docs form an unlikely and intriguing diptych on the many ways adults can fail children when their own self-serving interests take precedence over basic care.

—Glenn Heath Jr.

OPENING Ant-Man and the Wasp: Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) dons the Ant-Man suit for a quest into the dangerous subatomic quantum realm, while The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) fights off F.B.I. agents and gunrunners who are competing to take them down. Opens wide, Friday, July 6.

Digital Gym Cinema’s Anniversary Week: North Park’s micro-cinema rings

The First Purge: In this prequel to the popular horror franchise, citizens of an impoverished community fight back against the murderous participants of the first annual Purge. Opens wide Friday, July 6.

The House of Tomorrow: A sheltered teen obsessed with futurist R. Buckminster Fuller befriends a classmate obsessed with punk rock. Opens Friday, July 6, at the Landmark Ken Cinema.

Three Identical Strangers: Identical triplets separated at birth are reunited by chance two decades later. This documentary uncovers the multiple human layers of their incredible true story. Opens Friday, July 6, at Landmark Hillcrest Cinemas.

Whitney: Kevin MacDonald’s documentary examines the meteoric rise and tragic downfall of pop icon Whitney Houston through the words and memories of those closest to her. Opens Friday, July 6, at Angelika Film Center—Carmel Mountain.

ONE TIME ONLY Sunset Boulevard: Screen legend Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) tries to make a comeback with the help of her new live-in beau, screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden). Screens at 8 p.m. Thursday, July 5 and Friday, July 6, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

Sixteen Candles: John Hughes directed this classic ’80s comedy about a young girl whose sixteenth birthday turns out to be a mess. Screens at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 7 and Sunday, July 8, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

Yellow Submarine: The Beatles get animated in this loopy 1968 underwater adventure comedy. Screens at 7 p.m. Monday, July 9, at Arclight Cinemas La Jolla.

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

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JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 19

KATIE KRULOCK

MUSIC

he first verse of the final song on Petal’s excellent new album Magic Gone finds Kiley Lotz singing nearly in a whisper against a simple, arpeggiated piano chord.

“The stardust in you is so evident/I wish I could kiss every speck of it/Remnants of the beginning, now that we are at the end/You’re skeptical of sentiment.”

Lotz is only 27 years old, but she started writing that verse more than a decade ago.

“In church, I was just sitting around. I was like 16,” she says in a telephone interview from a tour van hurtling across the flatness of Iowa. “I wrote that first line down on a piece of paper and I just kept it. I liked the line. I didn’t really know what I was going to do with it, but I liked it.”

A few years later, the Scranton, Pennsylvania native added a few more lines and finished the verse. And when it came time to develop songs for Magic Gone, she turned that verse into “Stardust,” a dynamic album closer that explores the complicated tangle of loving someone, no longer loving someone, trying to make it work and ultimately moving on with your head held high.

“I don’t think the song is supposed to feel like an answer, necessarily,” Lotz says.

“I think it’s more about just trying to make peace with the past and being open to a future that maybe looks different, but at least you’ve learned something that can carry you forward [through] the what-ifs and maybes.”

In that way, “Stardust” is a microcosm of Magic Gone as a whole. The album is a massive step forward from Petal’s 2015 debut Shame, not so much sonically—though Lotz’s Broadway-quality voice and sweet ‘n’ sour guitar crunch both sound stronger than ever— but lyrically and thematically. The songs on Magic Gone reflect her journey toward selfdiscovery and self-acceptance over the past few years, tackling weighty subjects such as responsibility, mental health, sexual identity

20 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

and forgiveness in between pop-punk riffs and soaring vocal melodies.

Those subjects are not just weighty, but also universal, and Lotz—who is in the middle of a month-long U.S. tour—is seeing the effects of that universality in the crowds at her shows.

“I had a couple in their 60s. I’ve had young queer kids. I’ve had 9-to-5ers. It's just all a mixed bag of people, which I think is really awesome,” she says. She has also noticed a surge in the number of people approaching her after shows to share

plantive track “Comfort” gets its power in the contrast between Lotz’s agile vocals and the simmering sense of anxiety that courses through the song. “Tightrope” rumbles like classic indie rock and boasts a nifty little key change that will go down as one of 2018’s best musical micro-moments. And the beautiful, relaxed “Shine” references Lotz’s recent coming out as bisexual. (“Like fog that’s grazing mountaintops, you barely even touched my arms,” she sings. “I knew I wasn’t your girl, and I knew you weren’t my girl.”)

Over and over and over again, Lotz faces down her life’s unavoidable truths on Magic Gone, and she delivers them in a way that feels not only raw and honest, but totally approachable as well. Welcoming,

even. There is comfort in hearing about someone’s journey: the steep uphills, the terrifying cliffs, the pain, the recovery and everything in between.

“Stuff happens the way that it does, and unfortunately you can’t go back and suture old wounds that have already healed over,” Lotz says. “That’s the difference between me on [Shame] and now. I think I’ve started to at least try to come to terms with my life and hopefully I can keep doing it. Some Petal days it feels really shitty, but I’m fucking stories and talk about how Magic Gone has trying, man.”

With Magic Gone now officially out in helped them.

“That’s all I can really hope for and I feel the world and reaching new (and old) ears, grateful that they feel like they can come Lotz has shifted from trying on her own to to a show and have some sort of catharsis,” trying in front of an ever-expanding group of people.

Lotz says.

Those are her people. And she likes what Catharsis starts with the open acknowledgement of deeply held feelings, she sees.

“They’re starting to kind of look like a and Magic Gone certainly delivers on that front. Album opener “Better Than You” cross-section from all walks of life, and I think examines the battle between being on stage that’s really special,” she says. “That’s what I for a living and struggling with self-worth as hope the shows look like: a big group of open buzzy guitars churn in the background. The and loving and accepting people.”

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JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 21

MUSIC

AFTER HOURS: ABOUT LAST NIGHT

NOTES FROM THE SMOKING PATIO LOCALS ONLY

I

t’s not hard to find a goth night in San Diego, but it’s been more difficult to find a club night specifically devoted to death rock, its campier, more horror-influenced subculture. So in 2017, DJ Javi Nunez took it upon himself to launch Club Hemlock, a monthly night that featured both DJs playing death rock and live bands, some local and some from Los Angeles. After a short hiatus, Club Hemlock is making its return to Bar Pink on Friday, July 20, with guest DJ Camilla Robina and cohosts Jamie Ryckman and Robin Roth.

There will also be a live performance from New Skeletal Faces. Nunez says the idea for the night started as a birthday present to himself.

“I used my birthday a year ago as a reason to do it,” says Nunez. “I always liked the music.

And I wanted to place an emphasis on a style of music and bands that tend to get overlooked in San Diego. There are a lot of goth nights, a lot of darkwave, but we really place an emphasis on some more obscure stuff.”

Club Hemlock initially started at Blonde, but eventually had to move to a different venue because of schedul-

ALBUM REVIEW SOLV Santuario Lunático/wet.portal (Illicit Academy)

F

or someone like myself, every summer is a goth summer: dark music, black clothing and as little time spent in the sun as possible. Which is to say, summer is just like any other season of the year, and that includes listening material. I’m as much of a fan of a good pop summer jam as anyone else, but then again, I wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to crank up some harrowing industrial music on a drive to the beach.

S O L V, the industrial-noise project of Ariel Iribe, is nobody’s definition of a summer jam, though there aren’t many strict boundaries of what his music can be, other than it’s not pop. Sometimes Iribe’s compositions are chaotic and frenzied, at other points they’re ambient and less structural. They’re pretty much always dark, however, and on two newly released EPs, S O L V displays the breadth of his work on two very different releases.

22 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

ing conflicts. Bar Pink ended up being able to accommodate the event, though Nunez says he’s appreciative of the year he spent at Blonde.

“They’re all old-school punks [at Bar Pink] so I think they appreciate having us,” he says. “But without Blonde, we wouldn’t exist. So big respect to them—they’re family.”

JEFF MORRIS Though death rock is a style of music that rose to prominence in the ’80s with bands such as Christian Death and 45 Grave, Nunez says Hemlock attracts a diverse audience. Ryckman and Roth have been connected to the local goth scene for a long time, which helps attract some scene veterans, while Nunez has a younger network of people that he brings in. Additionally, Nunez co-owns print shop Gallery AKA in North Park, and hand screens Club Hemlock flyers and shirts for the event to maintain its DIY aesthetic.

“I screenprint every flyer by hand,” he says. “I give out merch and shirts at every event. That DIY aspect is a part of death rock and punk, and I just want to keep that part of it. It’s an art that not many people do these days.”

—Jeff Terich

Santuario Lunático is the longer of the two and the more ominous for that matter. Its opening track, “Pulse Initiation/Mystic Rose” is all sparse, crushing percussion, the sound of titanic columns crashing down onto a hard surface. But soon enough there’s a rush of static and noise, which grows all the more overwhelming and destructive in “Begotten Silver Coil,” which is something like an electronic, rhythmic approximation of a thunderstorm. Which is fitting, given that 14-minute closer “Language of the Earth Spheres” prominently features the sound of rain.

By comparison, wet.portal is more musical, but still creepy and weird (in a good way). “Serpents of a Feather” features a polyrythmic groove that sounds like Congotronics gone power electronics. It’s almost funky in a way, but still with a disorienting sensibility. And “Howling Deadra” essentially sounds like the most fucked-up techno song ever. Indeed, this isn’t typical summer fare, but when the outside world looks more apocalyptic every day, the soundtrack may as well match.

—Jeff Terich

Night pride

S

ince the start of June, cities across the U.S. have been waving rainbow flags, hosting parades and dancing into the early morning hours to commemorate the freedom to love. And it’s finally San Diego’s turn. From Friday through Sunday, there will be plenty of late-night Pride parties for revelers of all stripes.

On Friday, July 13, local party throwers QueerGirl are hosting QueerGirl Pride Party at Park and Rec (4612 Park Blvd.) from 9 p.m. until 2 a.m. The event says it’s geared toward queer women, but welcomes all of the LGBTQ community and its allies. There will be headlining beats by Alex D and Morgan Goodboy Hildebrand, plus go-go dancers, beer pong tournaments and more.

Naturally, Rich’s (1051 University Ave.) will be going off all weekend, starting on Friday, July 13 with Electro-Pop Pride taking over the main room, front room and outdoor stage.

Saturday, July 14 carries on strong with Pride Massive, which includes a live performance by Estelle, multiple DJs and a silent disco running until COURTESY OF UNITE! MUSIC FESTIVAL 4 a.m. The celebration continues into Sunday with Souleil Pride in the afternoon, featuring Techniche DJs, Mr. V and more, followed by Stripper Circus, which will have a performance UNITE! Music Festival

by Kalorie KarbdashianWilliams from RuPaul’s Drag Race.

In the spirit of Pride, Spin Nightclub (2028 Hancock St.) is hosting the three-day UNITE! Music Festival. The festival is split up into three main events: TRADE Noir on Friday, July 13, Overdrive on Saturday, July 14 and Masterbeat on Sunday, July 15. The three-story club will be overflowing with go-go dancers and illuminated by lasers, live visuals and an LED installation. Each event starts at 10 p.m. but goes until as late as 9 a.m. the next morning. UNITE! Is also donating a portion of the proceeds to the Sunburst Youth Housing Project for LGBTQ youth in San Diego.

Another option is DILF happening at The Rail (3796 5th Ave.) on Friday, July 13 with discounted drinks for shirts checked at the door. Those with an affinity for bears can also enjoy SubWOOFer at The Merrow (1271 University Ave.) on Friday, July 13 or Furrageous on Saturday, July 14 at the WorldBeat Cultural Center (2100 Park Blvd.).

Fourth of July weekend is up first, but go easy on the liver for these Pride parties. After all, this country needs to celebrate its diversity much more than its patriotism.

—Torrey Bailey

About Last Night appears every other week. Got a cool nightlife tip? Email Torrey Bailey at torreyb@sdcitybeat.com.

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MUSIC nia producers early on with his whimsical sensibility and tailored garb. He still makes some excellent, dreamy electronic music that’s playfully psychedelic. PLAN B: The Donkeys, Blank Tapes, Ditches @ The Casbah. Those who missed the first of The Donkeys’ two nights have a second chance to hear their warm, catchy folk-rock, which is always a great a more psychedelic, atmospheric approach, Saturday night option. but it’s still heavy, massive stuff. BACKUP PLAN: S O L V, Morher, Kole Galbraith, Yours Truly Jane Palmer, Misty Sunglow PLAN A: Petal, Camp Cope, Sid@ SPACE. ney Gish @ Ché Café. Petal is Pennsylvania singer/songwriter Kelley Lotz, who writes tuneful, PLAN A: Primus, Mastodon, Jjuujjuu @ subtle indie rock songs that are hopeful, but Open Air Theatre. I’m a big enough fan of also emotionally wounded (check out Ben Mastodon’s melodic, yet progressive sludge Salmon’s excellent feature on her on page metal to suggest anyone go see them regard- 20). It’s good, affecting stuff, as is Camp less of circumstances. I’m less of a fan of Pri- Cope, an Australian band who write catchy mus, but everyone has to see Les Claypool rock songs and aren’t having any of your play bass at least once. Plan B: The Don- bullshit. PLAN B: The Jacks, The Frets, keys, Sugar Candy Mountain, Lens Mozer Steal Away @ The Casbah. There’s noth@ The Casbah. Speaking of another band ing groundbreaking about The Jacks, but that everyone should at least see once, local there doesn’t have to be. They make pretty rockers The Donkeys always put on an excel- straightforward, radio-friendly rock ‘n’ roll lent show. BACKUP PLAN: Still Woozy @ with big hooks and sing-along choruses. I Soda Bar. can easily see this band becoming much bigger in the near future.

JEFF WENZEL

JEFF TERICH

IF I WERE U A music insider’s weekly agenda WEDNESDAY, JULY 4

Plan A: Fireworks, Beer, BBQ @ Your House. Nobody’s going out to see a show on the 4th of July. Maybe if your neighbors have a garage band that plays the Freedom Rock canon or something, but otherwise eat some burgers and watch stuff blow up. It’s the American way.

THURSDAY, JULY 5

PLAN A: Uada, The Black Moriah, Wolvhammer, Sicarius @ Brick by Brick.

Portland black metal outfit Uada have a strong balance of intricate songwriting and uncompromising, raw force. It’s the kind of thing that’ll kick ass regardless of how close anyone’s listening, but there are some stunning details to be found by anyone who cares to lean in. PLAN B: Dead Meadow, Yawning Man, The Great Electric Quest @ The Casbah. Dead Meadow are essential listening for anyone with an interest in stoner rock. They’ve since drifted away from Sabbath-influenced sounds and into

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SUNDAY, JULY 8

FRIDAY, JULY 6

SATURDAY, JULY 7

PLAN A: Daedelus, Holly, Wylie Cable @ Soda Bar. Los Angeles beatmaker Daedelus set himself apart from other Califor- PLAN A: TWRP, Planet Booty, JP Incorpo-

MONDAY, JULY 9

The Donkeys rated @ Soda Bar. TWRP’s music is pretty silly. But then again, it’s also pretty fun. It’s highly animated disco in the vein of Daft Punk, but with more camp value and unapologetic cheese. It’s over the top, but it’ll be impossible not to dance.

TUESDAY, JULY 10

PLAN A: Joan of Arc, Rob Crow @ Soda Bar. Joan of Arc is a name that’s probably familiar to anyone who’s been clued into indie rock since the late ’90s. Their frontman and main songwriter, Tim Kinsella, was in the legendary emo band Cap’n Jazz, but has since taken this project into countless different stylistic directions. Their catalog is overwhelming, but most of it is great.

JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 23

MUSIC

CONCERTS HOT! NEW! FRESH!

Givers (Soda Bar, 8/1), Bad Gyal (Music Box, 9/11), Ghostland Observatory (Music Box, 10/2), St. Lucia (Observatory, 10/17), Steven Page Trio (BUT, 11/25), Mariachi Sol De Mexico (Balboa Theatre, 12/13).

GET YER TICKETS Neurosis, Converge (Observatory, 7/14), Toad the Wet Sprocket (BUT, 7/17-18), Paramore (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 7/19), Wye Oak (Soda Bar, 7/20), Car Seat Headrest (SOMA, 7/21), Logic (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 7/24), The Decemberists (Humphreys, 7/30), American Football, Phoebe Bridgers (Observatory, 8/3), Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam (Open Air Theatre, 8/3), Hop Along (Irenic, 8/5), SOB x RBE (SOMA, 8/9), ‘X-Fest’ w/ Beck, Death Cab for Cutie (SDCCU Stadium, 8/11), Boris (Casbah, 8/15), Chris Stapleton (Mattress Firm, 8/16), Snow Patrol (Harrahs SoCal, 8/17), Deafheaven (Brick by Brick, 8/17), Red Fang, Elder (Brick by Brick, 8/20), J. Cole (Viejas Arena, 8/22), The Alarm (BUT, 8/23), Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson (Mattress Firm Amphitheatre, 8/24), Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever (Soda Bar, 8/25), Napalm Death (Brick by Brick, 8/27), Peter Frampton (Harrahs SoCal, 8/29), Smashing Pumpkins (Viejas Arena, 9/1), B-Side Players (Music

Box, 9/1), Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (Copley Symphony Hall, 9/1), Jeremih (Observatory, 9/4), Leon Bridges (Open Air Theatre, 9/5), The Original Wailers (BUT, 9/6), Lee Fields and the Expressions (BUT, 9/8), Ms. Lauryn Hill (Open Air Theatre, 9/9), Murder by Death (BUT, 9/11), YOB (Brick by Brick, 9/14), Jason Aldean (Mattress Firm, 9/20), The Eagles (Petco Park, 9/22), Nothing (Soda Bar, 9/22), Grizzly Bear (Observatory, 9/24), First Aid Kit (Observatory, 9/25), Deep Purple, Judas Priest (Mattress Firm, 9/26), Loudon Wainwright III (BUT, 9/27), Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band (Humphreys, 9/27), Natalie Prass (Casbah, 9/30), Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band (Observatory, 10/1), Courtney Barnett, Waxahatchee (Observatory, 10/3), Chelsea Wolfe, Russian Circles (Music Box, 10/3), Roky Erickson (Casbah, 10/5), The B-52’s (Humphreys, 10/6), Ozzy Osbourne (Mattress Firm, 10/9), Mew (Observatory, 10/9), Shannon and the Clams (BUT, 10/10), Graham Nash (Humphreys, 10/13), Alkaline Trio (HOB, 10/15), The Joy Formidable (Casbah, 10/17), D.R.I. (Brick by Brick, 10/20), Simple Minds (Humphreys, 10/22), Dawes (Observatory, 10/29), The Selecter, The English Beat (Casbah, 11/2), Khruangbin (Observatory, 11/10), Ghost (Spreckels Theatre, 11/12), Blitzen Trapper (BUT, 11/12), Neko Case, Destroyer (Observatory, 12/8), Fleetwood Mac (Viejas Arena, 12/8), Kurt Vile (Observatory, 12/9), Ministry (HOB, 12/18).

JULY WEDNESDAY, JULY 4 Moe. at Belly Up Tavern.

24 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

THURSDAY, JULY 5 Celso Pina at Observatory North Park.

Uada at Brick by Brick. Moe. at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). Dead Meadow at The Casbah. Launder at Soda Bar. Kaminanda at Music Box. S O L V at SPACE.

FRIDAY, JULY 6 Dead & Company at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre. Forth Wanderers at House of Blues Voodoo Room. The Donkeys at The Casbah. Kottonmouth Kings at Brick by Brick. Metalachi at Belly Up Tavern. Still Woozy at Soda Bar. Primus, Mastodon at Open Air Theatre.

SATURDAY, JULY 7 Vance Joy at Harrah’s SoCal. The Donkeys at The Casbah. Daedelus at Soda Bar.

SUNDAY, JULY 8 Petal, Camp Cope at Che Café. Sully and the Blue-Eyed Soul Band at Belly Up Tavern. Toots and the Maytals at Harrah’s SoCal. The Jacks at The Casbah.

MONDAY, JULY 9 TWRP at Soda Bar. Angelo de Augustine at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, JULY 10 Counting Crows at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre. Kina Grannis at Music Box. Joan of Arc at Soda Bar. Straight No Chaser at Humphreys by the Bay. Castlecomer at The Casbah.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 11 Bob Schneider at Belly Up Tavern. Big Ups at Soda Bar. Jackson Browne at

Civic Theatre. Goodnight, Texas at The Casbah.

THURSDAY, JULY 12 Citizen at The Irenic. Opia at The Casbah. Monarch at Belly Up Tavern. Negative Approach at Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, JULY 13 Weedeater at Soda Bar. We Are Scientists at The Casbah. Jefferson Airplane at Belly Up Tavern (sold out). CO-OP at Brick by Brick. Random Rab at Music Box. Barrington Levy at Observatory North Park. Palisades at House of Blues.

SATURDAY, JULY 14 Dope at Brick by Brick. Brothers Gow at Belly Up Tavern. Neurosis, Converge at Observatory North Park. Yung Bae at Soda Bar. Ministry of Truth at The Casbah.

SUNDAY, JULY 15 Inanimate Existence at Brick by Brick.

Paul Thorn at Belly Up Tavern. Etana at Harrah’s SoCal.

MONDAY, JULY 16 Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters at Belly Up Tavern. FACS at Soda Bar. In the Whale at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, JULY 17 Chris Isaak at Humphreys by the Bay. Sarah Shook and the Disarmers at The Casbah.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 18 Toad the Wet Sprocket at Belly Up Tavern. Hobo Johnson at Music Box.

THURSDAY, JULY 19 Paramore at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre.

Rhye at Observatory North Park. Toad the Wet Sprocket at Belly Up Tavern.

Brian Posehn at The Casbah. Sacred Hearts Club at Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, JULY 20 Brad Paisley at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at Humphreys by the Bay. Wye Oak at Soda Bar. Dennis Quaid and the Sharks at Belly Up Tavern. Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at The Casbah (sold out). Psychedelic Furs at Del Mar Racetrack.

SATURDAY, JULY 21 The Adicts at Observatory North Park.

Juliette and the Licks at Music Box. Car Seat Headrest at SOMA. Covet at House of Blues. Thirty Seconds to Mars at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre.

Surf Curse at The Irenic. Iration at Del Mar Racetrack. Stan Bush at Brick by Brick.

SUNDAY, JULY 22 Reckless Kelly at Music Box. X at Belly Up Tavern. Cicada Rhythm at Soda Bar.

MONDAY, JULY 23 George Thorogood and the Destroyers at Humphreys by the Bay. Fashion Jackson at The Casbah.

TUESDAY, JULY 24 Logic at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre.

Judith Owen at Music Box. The Teskey

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

@SDCITYBEAT

MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24 Brothers at Belly Up Tavern. Now, Now at The Casbah. Goon at Soda Bar. Roger Hodgson at Humphreys by the Bay.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25 Jenny and the Mexicats at The Casbah.

Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore at Belly Up Tavern. Dent May at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, JULY 26 Joe Bonamassa at Humphreys by the Bay. Stephanie Brown and The Surrealistics at The Casbah. Henry Kapono at Belly Up Tavern. Tennis System at Soda Bar.

FRIDAY, JULY 27 Weirdos at The Casbah. Joe Bonamassa at Humphreys by the Bay. Steel Pulse at Del Mar Racetrack. Mrs. Magician at Soda Bar.

SATURDAY, JULY 28 Brian McKnight at Harrah’s SoCal. Playboy Carti at SOMA. OFU at Brick by Brick. Swindle at The Casbah. Wayward Sons at Belly Up Tavern. Sleeping With Sirens at The Irenic.

SUNDAY, JULY 29 Adam Ant at Humphreys by the Bay. faUSt at The Casbah. The Body at Soda Bar. Taipan at Brick by Brick.

MONDAY, JULY 30 The Decemberists at Humphreys by the Bay. The Modern Appliances at Soda Bar.

@SDCITYBEAT

TUESDAY, JULY 31 The Faceless at Brick by Brick. Corey Leal Duo at Belly Up Tavern. Cobi at Soda Bar.

AUGUST WEDNESDAY, AUG. 1 Dentist at SPACE. G-Eazy at Mattress Firm Amphitheatre. Givers at Soda Bar.

THURSDAY, AUG. 2 Wimps at Soda Bar. Supersuckers at The Casbah. Femi Kuti at Belly Up Tavern.

FRIDAY, AUG. 3 American Football, Phoebe Bridgers at Observatory North Park. Matisyahu at Del Mar Racetrack. Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam at Open Air Theatre.

SATURDAY, AUG. 4 Trinidad Cardona at House of Blues.

Hall & Oates, Train at Viejas Arena. Vacationer at The Casbah.

SUNDAY, AUG. 5 Gipsy Kings at Humphreys by the Bay. Hop Along at The Irenic. Beach House at Observatory North Park (sold out).

TUESDAY, AUG. 7 Toto at Humphreys by the Bay.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave., Pacific Beach. Thu: Karaoke. Fri: Inspired and

COURTESY OF RED LIGHT MANAGEMENT

the Sleep, The Frets, Melvus. Sat: Fluid Foundation, I-Abide. Sun: Karaoke.

Air Conditioned Lounge, 4673 30th St., Normal Heights. Thu: ‘Chulita Vinyl Cllub’ w/ DJ Moniloca. Fri: ‘House Friday’ w/ DJ Matthew Brian. Sat: ‘Juicy’ w/ Mike Czech.

Mon: ‘Organized Grime’.

American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. Thu: Kabir Singh. Fri: Chad Prather. Sat: Chad Prather.

The Bancroft, 9143 Campo Road, Spring Valley. Thu: Scarlet Canary. Fri: Karisma.

Sat: EAR/XIV. Sun: Paco Lipps, Strawberry Mountain.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St., Downtown.

Sat: GG Magree.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St., North Park. Sat: Jon and the Vons, The Loons.

Beaumont’s, 5665 La Jolla Blvd., La Jolla. Thu: Mike Myrdal. Fri: Greasy Petes.

Sun: Nate Donnis.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. Wed: MOE. Thu: MOE. (sold out). Fri: Metalachi. Sat: Tainted Love, DJ Richie. Sun: Sully and the Blue-Eyed Soul Band.

Black Cat Bar, 4246 University Ave., City Heights. Fri: Farm Truck, Ginger Cowgirl.

Blonde, 1808 W. Washington St., Mission Hills. Thu: The Doors live tribute. Fri: ‘Dance Punk!’. Sat: ‘Tron ‘80s New Wave Party’.

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

Fri: ‘Club Musae’.

Brass Rail, 3796 Fifth Ave., Hillcrest.

Fri: ‘Hip Hop Fridayz’. Sat: ‘Sabado En Fuego’. Mon: ‘Manic Monday’ w/ DJ Junior the Disco Punk.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave., Bay

Counting Crows play Tuesday, July 10 at Mattress Firm Amphitheater Park. Thu: UADA, The Black Moriah, WOLVHAMMER, Sicarius. Fri: Kottonmouth Kings, KeE, Van Brando, J.andrew, King Shem, Izzy Projects. Sat: ‘Tribute to Fallen Icons’. Sun: Blackcast.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. Thu: Dead Meadow, Yawning Man, Great Electric Quest. Fri: The Donkeys, Sugar Candy Mountain, Lens Mozer. Sat: The Donkeys, Blank Tapes, Ditches. Sun: The Jacks, The Frets, Steal Away. Mon: Angelo De Augustine, Many Rooms. Tue: Castlecomer.

Che Cafe, UCSD campus, La Jolla. Sun: Petal, Camp Cope, Sidney Gish.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Downtown. Sat: David Borgo 4tet.

F6ix, 526 F St., Downtown. Sat: ‘7 Year Anniversary Party’.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave., Downtown. Fri: Forth Wanderers, Illuminati Hotties, LoveGlow. Sun: Los Cafres. Tue: Karina Garcia, Wengie, Natalies Outlet.

Humphreys Backstage, 2241 Shelter Island Drive, Shelter Island. Wed: Tradewinds. Thu: The Groove Squad. Fri: Viva Santana, Backwater Blues Band. Sat: Gruvmatic, Sue Palmer. Sun: Major Inter-

MUSIC CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 25

BY CHRISTIN BAILEY

ASTROLOGICALLY UNSOUND Weekly forecasts from the so-called universe ARIES (March 21 - April 19): All beings on the planet are bonded in our collective confusion by what it means that we are here in the first place.

However, that still doesn’t mean anyone wants to be drunkenly asked about it on some patio.

TAURUS (April 20 - May 20):

There’s no point in being cautious like that. If you don’t know what you’re doing, a dull knife can be much more dangerous than a sharp one.

LIBRA (September 23 - October 22): The perfect way to celebrate a day

of refraining from endlessly adding things to your Amazon cart is to finally press ‘”checkout.” You’ve earned it.

SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21): There’s a lot in the stars for you this week, but you should just move to a city with a lot of light pollution where you can’t see any of them. That way, they won’t be able to get you either.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 -

GEMINI (May 21 - June 20): If

December 21): Don’t drink still water but also don’t drink water from the ocean either even though it’s moving. I know it’s confusing, but you’re really going to have to remember this.

CANCER (June 21 - July 22): Like

CAPRICORN (December 22 January 19): The point of that “road less travelled” poem is that it turns out the same either way, so put away the compass and just walk the normal path.

No difference.

you could summon up all your psychic energies into a singular focal point you would still not be able to catch that damn roadrunner.

the humble crab who represents your sign, this week you are going to meet your ultimate fate at the hands of Tom Hanks on the island of Monuriki.

LEO (July 23 - August 22):

Running on instinct like a wild rabbit allows you to see and then rapidly act.

You are proficient and sharp, but when you live like that there’s never any time to stop for ice cream.

VIRGO (August 23 - September 22): When you’re looking up your symptoms online to find out what ails you, but then can’t remember any of them, it might just be that you’re totally fine. But then again…

AQUARIUS (January 20 - February

18): Wearing a weird hat or having a funny haircut doesn’t mean you have a personality. Honestly though, it really does get you pretty close.

PISCES (February 19 - March 20): One day you might feel foolish for never having questioned why you shouldn’t stare directly into the sun. Then again, one day you might feel foolish for burning your irises.

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

MUSIC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25 val, Mercedes Moore. Mon: Lady Dottie and the Diamonds. Tue: Blue Largo.

OMNIA Nightclub, 454 Sixth Ave., Downtown. Fri: Klingande.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. Thu: Glacci, Aesthetic Kid, Onhell. Sat: ‘Ascension’ w/ DJs Robin Roth, Kaerie, Psychosomatic.

Panama 66, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park.

Wed: Gilbert Castellanos. Fri: Sahara Grim. Sat: Sergej Avenesov Group. Sun: Alexis Joi.

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave., Kensington. Thu: Thursday night jazz jam.

Fri: Tomcat Courtney. Sat: The Sleepwalkers, Rayford Brothers, The Upshots.

Parq, 615 Broadway, Downtown. Fri: Too Short. Sat: Konflikt.

Lestat’s Coffee House, 3343 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Thu: Kylland. Sat: Sophia Baccino. Mon: Open mic.

Martinis Above Fourth, 3940 Fourth Ave., Hillcrest. Fri: Janice and Nathan.

Sat: Joanna Baduria and Soul Fire. Sun: Ria Carey and Don L. Mon: Andy Anderson and Nathan Fry. The Merrow, 1271 University Ave., Hillcrest. Fri: The Innocent Bystanders, Mad Z and the Boones, Ventralis. Sat: ‘Bear Night’.

Mr. Peabody’s, 136 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas. Thu: The Sickstring Outlaws. Fri: Blackcherry Lightning. Sat: Jessica Lerner, Coyote Blues Redemption. Sun: Tony Ortega jazz jam.

Music Box, 1337 India St., Little Italy.

Thu: Kaminanda & Living Light. Fri: Cazztek, Nicky Genesis, Scotty Boy, XOXO. Sat: 40 Oz to Freedom, No Duh, Geezer, DJ Mancat. Tue: Kina Grannis, Imaginary Future.

26 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · JULY 4, 2018

Proud Mary’s, 5550 Kearny Mesa Road, Kearny Mesa. Fri: Flipside Burners.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave., Hillcrest.

Thu: ‘LEZ’. Fri: ‘Electro-POP’ w/ DJs John Joseph, Will Z. Sat: ‘Voltage’ w/ DJs KSwift, Tristan Jaxx. Sun: ‘Stripper Circus’ w/ DJ Cros.

Riviera Supper Club, 7777 University Ave., La Mesa. Wed: ‘Boss Jazz’ w/ Jason Hanna. Thu: Swing Thing. Fri: Kick Stomp Ensemble. Sat: The Blanks.

Rosie O’Gradys, 3402 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Mon: Monday night jazz jam.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Thu: Launder, Goldensuns, Orchin. Fri: Still Woozy, Temporex. Sat: Daedelus, Holly, Wylie Cable. Mon: TWRP, Planet Booty, JP Incorporated. Tue: Joan of Arc, Rob Crow.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd., Midway.

Sat: The Grove Collective, Wee Beasties, Hate Drugs, Lefties, Alex Lievanos.

SPACE, 3519 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights.

Thu: S O L V, Morher, Kole Galbraith, Yours Truly Jane Palmer, Misty Sunglow.

Fri: ‘Rituals’. Tue: Karaoke.

Spin, 2028 Hancock St., Middletown. Sat: ‘Deep House Runway’.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights. Fri: Lower Class Brats, The 13th Victim, Confused, Dead On The Wire.

Sun: Pants Karaoke.

Tin Roof, 401 G St., Downtown. Wed: The Void Nation. Thu: ‘Paging the 90s’. Sat: Kenny and Deez, Coriander. Sun: Allegra Duchaine. Mon: Lauren Leigh and Sam. Tue: Kyle Castellani.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St., Bay Park. Thu: Tommy Price and the Stilettos. Fri: Big Daddy Orchestra. Sat: Detroit Underground. Tue: Big Time Operator Orchestra.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave., City Heights. Thu: Dirty Few, Kids In Heat, Vietnam Hardcore, Wyldlife. Sat: Round Eye, Squarecrow, Dodges, Wasteaways.

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

Thu: ‘Solace’. Fri: Kid Wonder. Sat: DJ Freeman. Mon: ’31 Flavors’.

Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St., South Park.

Sat: Grampadrew’s Flim Flam Revue.

Winstons, 1921 Bacon St., Ocean Beach.

Thu: Eldorado Slim and the Commodore Hotel Orchestra. Fri: Comedy night. Sat: Blue Jean Simmons, 8 East, Mixmob, Dang, Frontyard. Sun: Karaoke. Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: ‘Mass’ w/ Jay Blu, Tim H, Rafa Nunes.

@SDCITYBEAT

IN THE BACK

CannaBeat Cannabis industry shifts into Phase II

D

ispensaries across California were having fire sales to move products that didn’t conform to new regulations set into place July 1. Some in the cannabis industry think these new rules will give them more legitimacy, but constant changes and lack of information from regulators can be costly.

“My concern is that we've expected the industry to understand how to come into compliance, to be able to act on coming into compliance, but without understanding the burden placed on the industry,” says Josh Drayton of California Cannabis Industry Association (CCIA).

California gave businesses six months to comply with new labeling and packaging standards with information like ingredients and batch numbers. Products must also undergo more stringent testing called Phase II testing standards. These are emergency regulations, however, with three licensing authorities (the Bureau of Cannabis Control, California Department of Food and Agriculture and California Department of Public Health) publishing their final draft, which is scheduled for mid-July. The public will be able to comment directly to the licensing authorities via the respective agency’s websites.

Information on requirements wasn’t readily available, which in turn could be detrimental to businesses, Drayton explains. The Department of Public Health only put out their packaging and labeling fact sheets and checklist Friday, June 29 at 4:45 p.m. in the afternoon. The Bureau of Cannabis Control published its transition period fact

@SDCITYBEAT

sheet on Thursday, June 28.

Despite these growing pains, more regulation is an opportunity for the cannabis industry to be further legitimized in the public’s eye.

“Prop 64 was passed with the promise of tending to public safety and public health,” says Drayton. “It is now time for the industry to take that responsibility to have tested products to increase consumer faith in the industry.”

Chris Coggan, founder and CEO of San Diego-based Therapy Tonics & Provisions, says he’s concerned about the constant changing regulations. He rececently had to pick up all of his non-complaint cannabis infused drinks and tinctures from dispensaries. He hopes to be able to replace them with state-approved products this week. He says that creating the packaging to meet new requirements is expensive—especially if regulations keep changing.

“In order to get custom-made packaging that will address these requirements, you're ordering hundreds of thousands of units, you're spending potentially hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars,” says Coggan.

“That's all before you even have in your hand a single sale.”

Infinite Chemical Analysis co-founder Josh Swider says his lab has been following Phase II testing regulations for a long time (Phase II testing standards were passed January 1). He predicts that many labs and manufacturers might struggle with the new testing standards. Swider says a lack of information made getting into the cannabis industry a lot easier in the past.

“There are labs struggling with proving what they're doing,” says Swider. “They know they're doing it wrong

COURTESY OF THERAPY TONICS & PROVISIONS

Therapy Tonics & Provisions’ new compliant label the whole time.”

On the manufacturer side, Swider expects many products to fail Phase II testing.

After a draft of the final regulations are available for public comment, Drayton says the CCIA will pursue engagement with its members and inform elected officials on what needs to be changed. Since all licensing authorities have to respond to every single comment, Drayton sees this as an opportunity for the industry’s voice to be heard.

“The engagement from the industry is absolutely imperative as we build the foundation for the regulations that we will all be operating under for the foreseeable future.”

—Lara McCaffrey For the latest cannabis news and lifestyle trends, please pick up our sister magazine CULTURE every month or visit culturemagazine.com.

JULY 4, 2018 · SAN DIEGO CITYBEAT · 27