San Diego CityBeat • Aug 6, 2014

Fulton P.4 & 7 Huffman P.6 Eukaryst P.26

Cover artist P.22 Meet our

2 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 3

Face-palm: Bill Fulton is quitting The news last week that Bill Fulton had resigned Institute for Urban Research at Rice University in from his position as the city of San Diego’s planning Houston—was just too good to pass up. We suspect director was not completely unexpected, but still that it was a little from Column A and a little from extremely disappointing.

Column B: a great opportunity to helm a prestigious Fulton’s hire was the best thing former Mayor think tank and a somewhat diminished leadership Bob Filner did during his short tenure. Fulton role in San Diego. Fulton’s task of convincing subbrought a national reputation as a leader in innourban neighborhoods to accept more dense housing vative smart-growth planning to a city that desperclusters near transit corridors was already proving ately needed a bold new approach to the conversachallenging, but we think Fulton was up for the fight. tion surrounding how and where the city will grow But let’s not allow Faulconer to wriggle off the and accommodate an inevitable and gradual swell hook so easily. Faulconer’s opposition to the Barin population. rio Logan plan, based on his allegiance to influenFulton accepted the position with a basic astial business groups and counter to any concept sumption in mind: that Filner would be his boss for of proper neighborhood planning, was cause for at least four years and likely eight. That fell apart major concern. If we’re going to believe that the when Filner resigned after eight months and Kevin mayor genuinely wants smart growth and healthy Faulconer was elected, leading to pessimistic specneighborhoods, he’s going to have to prove to us ulation that either Fulton would be fired in favor of that he can stand up to his business constituents someone of Faulconer’s choosing or the political when those ideas conflict with their desires and environment would simply be too inhospitable for their bottom lines. He’s going to have to show that Joshua Emerson Smith Fulton to stay. he’ll have his professional planners’ One could argue that firing Fulbacks when the political pressure is ton would be a bad PR move for ratcheted up.

Faulconer, who’d co-opted Filner’s And that brings us to the national “Neighborhoods first” message— search for Fulton’s replacement that canning him would contradict the the Mayor’s office says has begun. rhetoric. Fulton lasted for nearly The new planning director must be five months under Faulconer, but in in the Fulton mold. She or he must that time, as has been documented have a reputation for innovative in the wake of his resignation, the thinking and the gravitas to help Filner-created and Fulton-favored persuade folks to follow. Obviously, Civic Innovation Lab was disit’s going to be someone who’s not mantled; Faulconer helped lead completely at odds with Faulconer’s the charge to overturn the Fultonbusiness-first vision, but it must not endorsed Barrio Logan Community be someone who’ll stand for being a Bill Fulton shill and a yes-person for the mayor Plan update; Faulconer hired David Graham as Fulton’s boss and took the economicand his friends in the building-industry lobby. We development function away from Fulton and gave challenge Faulconer to hire someone who’ll chalit to Graham. lenge him rather than bow to him.

It began to look like Faulconer’s plan was to As Joe LaCava, chair of the San Diego Commumake life miserable for Fulton. Yet, when he renity Planners Committee, told CityBeat’s Joshua signed, Fulton seemed to go out of his way in tellEmerson Smith last week, San Diego’s in a crucial ing reporters that that’s not a totally fair assessment time, in terms of how it accommodates population and that Faulconer was on board with Fulton’s progrowth. “We’re still a city in transition,” he said, gram. We have no reason to doubt that Graham was “and we’re going to need strong leadership and the on board and that he was sincere when he said he right vision to carry this city forward.” tried to talk Fulton out of leaving. Fulton’s a savvy As for Fulton’s decision to leave, LaCava addpolitical operator—he knows not to trash his emed, “I’m very disappointed. This is a real loss for ployer on the way out the door, but he didn’t have our city.”

Yes, it is. to praise Faulconer.

The word from both City Hall and Fulton is that What do you think? Write to editor@sdcitybeat.com. the job Fulton’s taking—as director of the Kinder This issue of CityBeat, in the conservatory, with the candlestick.

Our cover art is by Michael Summers.

Read about him on Page 22.

Volume 12 • Issue 52

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4 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

Suffer the children I am so very grateful for your July 9 editorial, which spoke truthfully and, given today’s absurd political climate, courageously. Score one for kindness, compassion and human dignity. Thank you, CityBeat. Your voice cheered me during these moments of despair about the mean-spiritedness of some elements of our society.

And would someone please draw a cartoon showing the parallel between the St. Louis, the ship that was turned away from our shores and consequently delivered Jewish children into the hands of Nazis during World War II, and the turning away of these buses?

I have interviewed many asylum seekers and, in my experience, no one comes here leaving their loved ones unless it’s truly a last resort. (And I’ve only spoken with adults.)

Those speaking against the process itself seem to have the idea that papers permitting residency are handed out like candy. It’s an arduous and grueling legal path that’s very difficult to get through.

The government does due diligence, and then some, in turning away those whose cases are not rock-solid. I’d like to ask the protesters: Would your ancestors have passed this criteria for getting in?

And if any of those protesters consider themselves Christians, have they heard the words “Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me”?

I’d appreciate it if the paper and other media outlets could let the public know where and how to express support for these children seeking safety in our land.

Nicola Ranson, Leucadia

Sad time for Murrieta Regarding your July 9 editorial about the immigration protests: I never thought I’d be ashamed to live someplace. As a fiveyear resident of Murrieta, I am now. I’m not only ashamed but embarrassed.

This town is filled with big churches, and I suspect that many of the protesters consider themselves good Christians. But I have to wonder what Jesus would have done. Somehow I don’t see him out there with a hateful face, screaming at the top of his lungs, waving a flag. In my mind, if he’d been there, he’d have had open arms.

He may not have solved the problem long-term, but for the short term, he’d have been the paragon of hope, love, compassion and acceptance. Why can’t you Christians walk the walk? Shame on you.

You can’t do it anymore than the other religions of the world can do it, so don’t feel too bad. Politics first, beliefs last. Hipocracy most of all.

I am neither a minority, young nor religious. My roots are small-town Midwestern. My dad and three uncles were

World War II veterans, and my husband is a retired Vietnam veteran. For those who would, don’t challenge my loyalty to this country or call me names, left or right.

I always believed that what we did to the Native Americans, Japanese Americans, Chinese workers and other ethnic minorities was born of ignorance, fear and greed. It was a time in our history when people lived off rumor rather than facts, were more isolated and, for the most part, uneducated. It’s all a shameful part of our history, in spite of the fact that we have one of the most well-written Constitutions with amendments in the world.

Where are we now? Did we learn anything? No. Nothing at all has changed, if one takes the actions of a few people in Murrieta. We still see the ignorant, fearful and greedy. But now they hide behind the American flag. Rumor thrives and feeds rumors. The uneducated still rule?

How disappointing that some humans haven’t moved up the ladder of understanding and compassion, including our mayor and City Council. They were supposed to be our leaders—I guess they led.

They had the power to calm and diffuse and are paid to handle “situations,” not create them. Forget the shouldas and couldas; they just didn’t.

So, it’s not just the protesters I’m ashamed of. It is also city officials. They have put a black mark on this community and sent us forth to the nation as racists,

fearful, ignorant, small-minded, without compassion and right-winged.

And the really sad thing is that no matter what good things happen here from now on, it’s very unlikely that national media will ever pick up on it.

We will forever be known as the California town that chased away two busloads of immigrant women and children. How very shameful. Or am I the only one?

Connie Hannah, Murrieta Mesa

Treat people right Thank you for your July 9 editorial on the Murrieta spectacle!

This piece certainly provokes the mind and will generate a conversation that needs to happen. It’s awful to know that I live in a country that protests against immigrants when we are a country of immigrants.

You’re right that most of these immigrants are escaping poverty and other things that our country doesn’t stand for (or does it?). I hope that our country will come to a decision that will resemble our country’s moral and ethics to treat our neighbors and strangers justly and respectfully.

Adrian Calderon, Normal Heights

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 5

Kelly Davis

Stephen Russell will study how to turn Huffman-era buildings in City Heights, like this one, into attractive, environmentally friendly properties.

Curing the ‘Huffman virus’ How one case study could potentially transform City Heights

by Kelly Davis It’s barely 9 a.m. and the humidity is already stifling what would otherwise be a mild August day. In front of a Tudor-style cottage in City Heights, charming with its pitched roof and multi-paned windows, there’s a single tree casting shade across the sidewalk.

It’s an oasis amid all the concrete. On either side of the Tudor—the only singlefamily home that remains on this particular stretch of 36th Street—are faded apartment buildings fronted by multiple parking spaces. Next to those are more drab apartment buildings and more parking spaces. It’s a scene that repeats up and down the street.

Dubbed “Huffman six-packs,” after developer Ray Huffman, these buildings, squeezed into narrow lots meant for singlefamily homes, are the result of hasty, shortsighted urban planning.

“Utilitarian” is how Hanan Bowman, housing director at the City Heights Community Development Corporation, puts it.

Huffman-style properties were built fast to meet a perceived economic threat, he says.

With new Mission Valley shopping centers luring consumers away from neighborhood

6 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

businesses, midcentury Mid-City—North Park, City Heights, Normal Heights, Hillcrest, University Heights and Kensington— needed more density to help those businesses compete. In the late 1960s, Huffman started buying up single-family homes in the Mid-City area and replacing them with eight- to 10-unit apartment buildings (though few are six units, the “six-pack” tag stuck). Other developers, like Conrad Prebys’ Progress Construction, followed, using Huffman properties as a model. It wasn’t until the 1980s that city planners tried to curtail this sort of development. “San Diego’s unhappy history of higher-density housing,” is how a 2004 article in smartgrowth magazine The Urbanist put it, with the consequence being a lingering hostility to any effort to increase density.

“They weren’t really all that well-constructed,” Bowman says of Huffman-style apartments, with “the parking in the front taking up a significant percentage of the lot space, the monolithic face of the buildings and such—while utilitarian and purposeful in the ’60s and ’70s, today is not appropriate for the look of the neighborhoods.”

“Subdivided into meaninglessness,” says Stephen Russell.

Russell’s standing in the lone tree’s shade, looking at the two buildings next to it. The architect and board president of the City Heights CDC is both fascinated and frustrated by Huffmans, so much so that in 2010, while at the NewSchool of

Architecture, he wrote a thesis on how to revitalize older neighborhoods—Mid-City being his focus—that have been plagued by this sort of piecemeal development. What he set out to do, he says at the end of the 142-page study, was “to find a ‘cure’ for the ‘Huffman virus.’”

Ideally within a year, a City Heights Huffman will become Russell’s laboratory.

Last month, the City Heights CDC was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation to help with the purchase and rehab of a Huffman property, which Russell will use as a case study. The question to be answered: “Can the Huffman structure be sufficiently rehabilitated, both its footprint and its street appeal,” Bowman says. “Or, from a cost-benefit perspective, is it more efficient to tear it down and rebuild?”

The project’s still in the early stages, and the CDC will have to cobble together money to acquire the building. The goal is to make the project replicable while also being mindful of the challenge of preserving the neighborhood’s affordability. City Heights includes some of the poorest census tracts in the county, and older housing stock, like Huffman properties, are de-facto affordable housing.

“How do we come up with a solution that the market isn’t going to seize on and do what the Huffmans did and just destroy all the affordable housing?” Russell says.

“Because in many cases, you can’t even

replace what is there under the zoning.…

With public monies, foundation monies, there may be a formula that works for the affordable-housing market.”

The goal isn’t to add density, but to better accommodate it. The density’s already there: According to census data, more than half of City Heights households are considered overcrowded under standards set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Huffman-era properties are typically one-bedroom units, many no larger than 500 square feet.

“These places aren’t so very dense— what they are is they’re crowded,” Russell says. “We’ve crowded everybody in this little footprint in small units.”

To address the need for multi-bedroom units, the project will look at whether Huffman-era buildings were constructed in a way that would allow them to be reconfigured into a mix of unit sizes, going up to a three-bedroom space. Another option is looking at whether the parking spaces that front the properties could accommodate a couple town-home-style units.

Huffman-era buildings are defined by long stretches of driveway that allow for four or five parking spaces in the front of the building. Another four or five spaces in the back give each unit dedicated parking. But, at the same time, those front lots reduce the amount of on-street parking while also undermining public use of the sidewalk.

“You’ve pretty much abandoned [the sidewalk] to a car that uses it 15 seconds a day,” Russell says. “Parking doesn’t have to drive all of this. There’s talk about doing parking reductions on transit corridors.”

Community lots are another option. “We [need to] get past the idea that I have to have my space in front of my place,” he says.

Many of the buildings have an illegal extra space, Russell points out, where the owner pulled out landscaping and poured in concrete. Some owners simply replaced the landscaping with concrete to cut back on maintenance costs. All that impermeable surface means that when it rains, polluted run-off is going into the city’s storm drains.

(There’s a five-block area in City Heights that Russell refers to as the “magic blocks” because there’s not a single multi-family unit. Those blocks lack the alleyways for extra parking, making the lots unattractive to developers.)

The CDC, right now, is just focusing on the acquisition and rehab of one property.

But as Russell walks through the neighborhood, he can’t help but see the bigger picture. He has a map with him, showing the redevelopment potential of each parcel in a four-block area of City Heights. All those Huffmans surrounding the Tudor cottage are “frozen” parcels—dark blue on the map.

The rule of thumb, he says, is that for a property to be attractive to investment, a developer would need to be able to double or triple its current density. That worked great for Huffman and others who purchased single-family homes and replaced them with multi-unit dwellings. But those sites, in response to Mid-City’s Huffmanization,

Huffman CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

SPIN CYCLE

JOHN R.

LAMB Houston-bound and shackled “I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation.”

—William Somerset Maugham A week before he announced his impending escape from San Diego, Planning Director Bill Fulton stepped gingerly into a meeting hall filled with residents from Bankers Hill. He scanned the audience as if trying to gauge if these were friends or foe. “Uncertain,” his eyes seemed to say.

And who could blame him?

Within the sliver of humanity that believes city planning still offers a useful function in modern civilization, you won’t hear much surprise that communities don’t trust the process and therefore push back against any notion of change, invariably envisioned by residents as something bad.

“It’s always been that way, because we build a lot of garbage in this town,” former city architect Mike Stepner told Spin. “Residents always envision the worst.

Developers look very short term and what’s easiest to build based on their pro formas. Planners usually get into too much minutiae or not the right minutiae, in terms of regulation.”

Fulton experienced Residents Revolt in spades in the communities of Grantville, Morena and Ocean Beach. How does one even start a conversation with a neighborhood when residents—at least judging by the signage they employed—equate five-story buildings with Manhattan or threestory structures to Miami Beach?

While that may be typical, what seemed different for Fulton was the highly publicized retreat

from his planning ideas by city leaders themselves—Republican, pro-development, building-industry-darling types particularly.

“The new thing was the pullback by the council and mayor based on community opposition in Ocean Beach and Morena,” Stepner said. “The planning director has to have the support of the council and mayor to be effective. Perhaps that made Houston more attractive.”

On Friday, the nationally renowned urban planner, author and former mayor of Ventura announced that he’ll be leaving San Diego at the end of August to head up an urban-research institute based at Houston’s Rice University.

Considered a big fish in the planning world when lured to San Diego last year by then-mayor Bob Filner, Fulton was hailed as a symbol of change in a city with a history of treating its planning leaders with distain, most recently during the mayoral administration of Jerry Sanders, who now heads up the pro-business San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“Bill will lead this city in a new direction,” Filner said at the time.

“His creativity, thought-provoking ideas and practical solutions

are what we need to move this city away from complacent and decades-old planning processes to innovative and flexible plans that will unleash the expertise of city planners and the imagination of the citizens.”

But Filner’s precipitous fall from grace started almost immediately after Fulton’s hire. One colleague noted that after the announcement, Fulton spent two weeks in Israel for his daughter’s wedding. When he returned, he essentially was a planning director without a mayor.

As his tenure progressed, he was gradually stripped of his Civic Innovation Lab, responsibility over economic development and his liaison role with Civic San Diego, the post-redevelopment agency.

“His role changed,” said urban planner Howard Blackson, who worked in Fulton’s innovation lab before it was disbanded.

“He had too much cachet for anyone to fire him. But put him in a smaller and smaller box, and who would want to stay?”

The business establishment’s ballot defeat of the Barrio Logan Community Plan update in June also was likely a “wake-up call to what San Diego politics is like,” said Councilmember David Alvarez, whose district includes Barrio Logan.

Alvarez added that he thought it “unfair” that Fulton was “thrown under the bus” for the city’s handling of the community-plan update for Ocean Beach.

Last week, the City Council— with Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s blessing—signed off on tighter restrictions aimed at preventing construction of so-called McMansions in the community, rules the city’s Planning Commission had tried to limit.

“If I was him looking at that and what might potentially be coming, I might be looking for other options as well,” Alvarez said.

The irony, Alvarez added, is that while other communities push back against growth, the Barrio Logan plan actually encouraged growth, yet it was opposed by the city’s establishment. Both he and District 4 Councilmember Myrtle Cole frequently “shout for attention” in their underdeveloped communities, he said, all for naught.

“I told Matt Adams, who heads the local Building Industry Association, a couple weeks ago at a public meeting that we want growth,” Alvarez said.

“We’ve got commercial corridors.

We’re not anti-growth. There are places in the city where people

JOHN R. LAMB

Fulton in chains want development and infill because it makes sense there.”

The response, he said, has been silence. “I think it has to do with the fact that they don’t make as much money there and they don’t really know the communities,” Alvarez said. “They don’t really care.”

Fulton seemed to have a soft spot for underserved communities. Last spring, Fulton—a senior fellow at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy—led a planning studio of graduate students that focused on revitalizing the Fairmont corridor in City Heights between University Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard.

For his part, Fulton has had nothing but nice things to say about his time in San Diego and that this job in Houston was just too good an opportunity to pass up. Faulconer issued a terse statement of appreciation for Fulton’s “input and expertise.”

How hard did Team Faulconer fight to keep Fulton in town?

As David Graham, the mayor’s neighborhood-services chief put it, “When Bill Fulton gets asked to run a multimillion-dollar think-tank intent on doing urban research of national and international importance, all anyone can do is quote James Brown’s first single, ‘Please, Please, Please.’”

It is telling, however, that the editorial writers over at the U-T San Diego—who lament any shift of talent from California to Texas—have remained silent on Fulton’s pending departure. Perhaps they’re simply waiting for confirmation that San Diego has officially castrated its Planning Department again. Stay tuned.

Write to johnl@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 7

Huffman CONTINUED from PAGE 6

Write to kellyd@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

8 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

Source: sandiego.gov

have since been down-zoned, meaning that unless a developer can combine parcels into a larger project, this isn’t an area that’s going to attract market-rate development.

Condo conversions—where apartments are upgraded and turned into condominiums, offering a way around the down-zoning conundrum—prettied up Huffman properties in neighborhoods like North Park, Hillcrest and University Heights. But, largely unregulated, the conversions—which took rental units off the market, many of them affordable to lower-income folks—became another example of how not to revitalize an area. Russell says that regulations put in place by the City Council a few years ago have made City Heights unattractive to developers looking to make quick money from a condo conversion.

“Dark blue,” Russell says, pointing to one of the Huffman parcels on 36th Street. “If you tore it down, you could put up half of what’s on the site.”

“What we did is we acted against perceived crowding by saying, ‘Stop, no more development,” he adds. “So, now we’re stuck with exactly what we have. It isn’t going to change, and is this what we want? No, we want to stop this from happening after it happened, as is so often the case.”

Lindsey Voltoline

This map of a portion of City Heights shows the extent to which “Huffman six-pack”-style housing dominates the neighborhood. The Huffmans are the white parcels.

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 9

aaryn

backwards & in high heels

belfer Deporting refugees and welcoming Ebola For a few terrifying minutes last week, I worried I context of medical care. And the folks at the Emory might be a Republican. Not a regular old frownyHospital have a special isolation unit, they’re all faced Republican, but a bona-fide, swirly eyed, jowlvery well trained, so I think the risk, even to healthjiggling wing-nut—the special brand of xenophobic care workers is going to be exceeeeedingly low.” human with a neural glitch for misspelled words.

So—which is it? No risk or exceedingly low risk?

She’s the kind who stands directly in the path of a It can’t be both. bus transporting refugee children (let’s just get that Equally as curious, with regard to how quickly language right), screeching and waving signs with the disease has spread in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra slogans like, “U.S. Citiens Don’t Get Free Pass Y Leone, Schaffner pointed to how officials put the Should Ileagals” and “Save Our Children From Distreatment centers in urban areas, something “most eases.” Indeed, save our littlest citiens. of us would have argued against.” He then added Why would I—a supporter of caring properly for that Americans would have “tried to keep it as rukids fleeing violence and rape and slavery—think ral and as semi-isolated as possible.” When Hobson for even a second that I belong to this tribe of hatepointed out the contradiction between rural and ful people? One word: Ebola. ninth largest metropolitan area in the United States, And now for a whole bunch of words: Fever, Schaffner replied, “Aaaaaah! But we know exactly vomiting, diarrhea, bleeding from every orifice, who’s infected. We’ve gone to an elite infectiousdeath, no cure. Also: The World Health Organizacontrol institution, with highly trained personnel.” tion has warned that the virus is spreading faster And the Titanic was unsinkable. than efforts to control it. So, hey! Let’s bring infectI didn’t care for Schaeffner’s implied American ed patients to America for treatment. exceptionalism and nearly ejected right out of my Well. Not just any patients. American patients. car seat when he said he’d sit next to an infected White American patients. The U.S. of A.: Keep out person on an airplane, no prob. Bitch, please. Look, brown children and lice; bring in white grown-ups I know Ebola isn’t spread through the air, but bodiwith an incurable, contagious disease. That’s some ly fluids happen, and the government lies. I’m not evangelical math right there. down with these reassurances, and that makes me a By the time you hold this isfreakishly ugly wingnut, right? sue of CityBeat in your bacteriaAaaaah, but no. It does not. infested hands, two white, ChrisYou know why? Because I am Look, I know Ebola tian, American patients suffering down with the likes of Mark isn’t spread through from the deadly Ebola virus will Lane, the owner of Poppa’s Fresh the air, but bodily have been transported from LibeFish Company in Logan Heights, ria to the United States for treatwho—through the organization fluids happen, and the ment at Emory University HospiBorder Angels—has given shelgovernment lies. tal in Atlanta. Not to be like Donter and food to a refugee mother ald Trump or anything, but I’ve and her three kids, and who is seen Contagion, is all I’m saying. now being called a “mudshark” I’m guessing scientists are eager to test out and threatened with death for daring to show some some sciency stuff, and the development of a vachumanity. (Even as I inch toward vegetarianism, cine would be particularly fantastic. Interestingly I’m compelled to go support his business and have enough, Dr. William Schaffner, an infectiousa few last oysters.) I’m down with giving some disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, says 60,000-ish child refugees a safe place to sleep, comthat one reason there isn’t yet a vaccine is because plete with blankets and juice boxes and a little bit of the illness has been localized (to African nations, compassion. And I’m down with protecting people where we don’t so much care about what happens) from Ebola by being fucking sensible. and “there’s not a large market for it.” Maybe all we I think the people with the signs—who like to need is a good American outbreak to bring dollars obstruct the pathway of transport vehicles, who to shareholders about a viable medication. stand in their blazing red-white-and-blue glory to That Schaffner is a darn-good PR soldier. Lisverbally defend “our land” from foreign vermin— tening to him on the radio, one could easily conshould get all Tiananmen Square on that airplane fuse him with sportscaster Frank DeFord, with his coming from Liberia. I personally invite the whole conversational, grandpa-esque manner. This tone lot of bigots from Murrieta to Escondido to Oracle is super-effective when trying to get the public beto position themselves along that tarmac in Atlanhind a pretty un-get-behindable thing. ta, with their signs and their flags and stand their “Aaaaaah,” he said repeatedly during an interview ground. They should walk their talk—and save our with Jeremy Hobson on NPR’s Here and Now. When children from diseases. Or, at least, from this one.

Hobson asked about the risk to other hospital paAnd if the plane runs over and squishes a few of tients and citizens of Atlanta and the U.S., Schaffner them in the process? Then I’d actually be perfectly said, “Aaaaaah,” and then spoke about Ebola as if he fine with the Ebola virus coming to America. were detailing the epic dunk shot of a storied baller.

Write to aaryn@sdcitybeat.com “There’s absolutely no risk—none!—for the peoand editor@sdcitybeat.com. ple in Atlanta. If there is a risk, it would be in the

10 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

by michael a. gardiner Michael A. Gardiner

wouldn’t think offal.

Sliced thin, rare in the middle and nicely caramelized on the outside, it’s everything we love about a good steak. Topped with a scallion nest and soy-based sauce, it was offal as comfort food.

But what about gizzards?

Surely, those must have been scary, right? How could one possibly Beef-tongue steak needn’t scare you. make the supplementary stomach of a bird tasty? Why, fry it, of course. What’s not to love about deep-fried anything with mayonnaise? Ouan’s fried chicken gizzards were surprisingly tender yet still toothsome, meaty and irresistible. The dish didn’t read as overtly Japanese in style but, rather, once again, as a tapa.

Iconoclastic izakaya Ouan also prides itself on its ramen. Offered in a number of variations, the best are the black One way to think about an izakaya is as a Japaand the red. The black ramen features homenese gastropub. Another may be as the Japanese made black garlic oil, chashu pork (marinated, version of tapas bars. Hillcrest’s Ramen Izakabraised pork belly) and, for an additional $1.50, ya Ouan (3882 Fourth Ave., ouanhillcrest.com) a perfectly poached egg. The depth of flavor is perhaps best understood in that latter vein. of the broth may not have been at the level of Take, for example, the wasabi octopus with Kearny Mesa’s Yamadaya, but it was not far off. cucumber and lemon zest. Like the most exThe red version is not exactly spicy; instead, it’s citing tapa, the dish has an infinite capacity to painted and perfumed by the chile oil. surprise. Spicy, briny and acidic flavors dance Somewhat oddly for an izakaya, Ouan is at on the tongue as the contrasting textures of the its best when there are the fewest people there. wasabi-marinated octopus, sesame seeds and While the kitchen’s talent is obvious, it seems to scallion strips take turns coming to the fore. It’s struggle when it gets busy. Happily, quality does a dish that intrigues as much as it delights. not suffer, but the wait times get excessive.

The edamame might be a bit easier to piPart of it may be the size of the menu. Ouan geonhole, but garlic hints at another dimension, also offers sushi—nigiri (the horse mackerel is and yellowtail-stuffed shishito peppers work as particularly good), rolls and chirashi—as well as a cross between tempura and jalapeño poppers. sashimi, other noodles (both soba and udon) and Not quite so successful was the avocado with donburi rice dishes. It’s an extensive menu. But, spicy tuna tartare. The attractive appearance then again, Ouan doesn’t necessarily do its izaof the dish on the plate wasn’t echoed in either kaya thing the way that others do. It’s at its best textural or flavor contrasts. with its “snacks” and specials, when it’s playing One thing Ouan uses very well is offal, those izakaya-as-tapas-bar, one surprising taste coming on the heels of the next. parts of the beast that Americans tend not to want to think about: organ meat, extremities, Write to michaelg@sdcitybeat.com etc. Of course, if you tasted the beef-tongue steak and editor@sdcitybeat.com. without knowing what it was, you probably

the world

fare

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 11

BY KELLY DAVIS

cocktail

tales Trevor time

Google “Trevor Easter” and you’ll turn up a 2012 San Francisco Chronicle piece, written when Easter was bar manager at respected Bay Area spot Heaven’s Dog. In it, the Mt. Helix native gives a shout-out to San Diego in response to, “What is your favorite bar snack?” The house-pickled green beans at Hillcrest’s Alibi, he said.

Asked about that recently, Easter, the new general manager at Noble Experiment, describes how much he enjoyed putting those green beans in Bud Light.

Easter’s got that mix of unpretentiousness and smarts that’s sometimes lacking in the craft-cocktail world. He tells the story of being in London and using Burrough’s Reserve, a rare cask-aged gin

by Beefeater, to make an Improved Gin Cocktail (like an Old Fashioned, but with gin).

Beefeater’s master distiller asked Easter what he was doing. “The room went silent,” Easter laughs.

There’s a bottle of Burrough’s on the shelf at Noble Experiment: “I say make cocktails with it,” he says.

Easter left San Diego for San Francisco six years ago to hone his skills at bars like Rickhouse and Bourbon & Branch. He returned home to helm Noble Experiment (nobleexperimentsd. com) after Anthony Schmidt, who helped open the bar five years ago, left to head up Rare Form (godblessrareform.com), a new spot near Petco Park that, like Noble, is part of the Consortium Holdings family, which includes craft-cocktail all-stars like Ironside and Craft & Commerce.

Easter’s new menu features nine cocktails, plus off-menu items like the Pimm’s Rangoon, with a house-made Pimm’s. Menu highlights in-

12 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

clude The Jalisco Stroll, a twist on a Negroni made with tequila, dry vermouth, Campari and salt (“a great flavor modifier,” Easter says of that pinch of salt), and the Mechanical Bull, a take on a whiskey sour made with bourbon, Fernet Branca, lime and fresh ginger.

One of my favorites was The Ivy League (Beefeater gin, Dolin Blanc vermouth and Cointreau, with an absinthe rinse). Easter tapped his bar staff for help with the new menu, and this one was created by Jesse Ross, who also John Dole happens to be a former CityBeat intern.

Bartenders tend to be nomadic. Easter worked at more than a half-dozen spots in San Francisco—“chasing mentors,������������������� ” as he puts it—before returning to San Diego.

But he plans to stay put at Noble Experiment for awhile (he and his girlfriend, Lindsay Nader, are co-owners of Juice, a juice bar located a block away).

“This is where you can really do something cool,” he says.

•••

In May, I wrote about Nate Trevor Easter Howell’s fantastic regional cocktail menu at JSix ( jsixrestaurant.com). Unfortunately, Howell’s leaving to rep craft spirits for Young’s Market Company. As a farewell, he’s rolled out a fab new menu that includes this rich take on an Old Fashioned.

This is the End 2 ounces Woodford Reserve 1/8 ounce brown sugar syrup 2 dashes of chocolate bitters 2 dashes angostura bitters Pinch of salt Combine all and stir. Strain over fresh ice into large rocks glass. Garnish with an orange twist.

Write to kellyd@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

by Mina Riazi mina riazi

Fortunately, no spectral encounters disrupted my dinner. Opened in 2004, the café is owned and operated by Mark Bihm and Humberto Villegas. According to the eatery’s website, Bihm is a “New Orleans native with family dating back to the 1750s in Opelousas, Louisiana.”

The menu reflects the co-owner’s deep-rooted history with the former French colony.

Classic Creole dishes like jambalaya, gumbo, crawfish étouffée and shrimp creole are appropriately served with a wedge of French baguette. The bread is unremarkable, though, lacking the textural complexity that defines a good baguette: a crackly crust and a soft, New Orleans Creole Café’s shrimp po’boy chewy center.

For the most part, the crawfish étouffée doesn’t need its carby companion. A white-rice dome sits smack-dab in the center of the dish and provides enough richness. Celery, bell pepper and onion—dubbed the “holy trinity” of Creole and Cajun cuisines—combine with a light golden roux to create the flavorful sauce. Étouffée, you say?

Along with the jambalaya, the étouffée is one of Creole Café’s most talked-about specialties.

Everyone’s a tourist somewhere. Still, nothing I understand why: The meaty crawfish tails are will make you forget that faster than a touristchewy, tender and flaunt a clean, not-briny flavor; logged sidewalk on a sweaty Sunday in July. Sudthe sauce balances tart and buttery flavor notes. denly, the “T” word becomes a curse word. PluckA crunchy hunk of bread would have been nice to ing a path around the sparky sightseers, you blurt mop up the last soupy spoonfuls, but c’est la vie. the two syllables under your breath, as if together If it weren’t for another inadequate loaf, the they form the greatest insult of all time: tourists. shrimp po’boy would have been a top-notch sandDespite riding on a hop-on, hop-off tour bus wich. Unfortunately, the bread was a too-soft last summer in Barcelona, I felt nothing but conbehemoth whose sheer bulk distracted from the tempt for the touristy mass clogging the streets of shrimp. I ended up refashioning the po’boy, setOld Town last week. I hungered for an escape— ting aside half of the bread so that I could focus and for an early dinner. Located just off the main more on the crisp, lightly battered shrimp. With its road, New Orleans Creole Café seemed like a balance restored, the sandwich tasted great, espesolid solution to my childish whining. cially after getting dunked in cocktail sauce.

I soon learned that the charming restaurant Bread pudding, doused in whiskey sauce and (2476 San Diego Ave., neworleanscreolecafe. served hot, concluded our meal. Creole Café’s vercom), with its breezy outdoor patio dotted by sion of the thrifty dessert is less pudding-like and red-and-white striped umbrellas, inhabits hauntmore cake-like in texture, but still enticing. More ed grounds. The Travel Channel recently termed importantly, though, the bread—snubbed by the entrées—was finally able to show its good side. the nearby Whaley House “one of America’s most haunted houses.” The café occupies the leafy Write to minar@sdcitybeat.com Whaley garden, so ghosts just might be playing and editor@sdcitybeat.com. hide and seek among the trees.

One Lucky

Spoon

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 13

the floating

library

by jim ruland

The enduring influence of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Last week, my first novel, Forest of Fortune, was published. No, I’m not going to review my own work, but I would like to discuss two of the amazing books that inspired me.

First, a quick summary: Forest of Fortune is the story of three haunted souls trapped at a fictional Indian casino set in San Diego’s East County that may or may not be haunted. I worked at a local Indian casino for more than five years, and from my first day on the job, I knew I would use the material in a novel. Now that day has come.

Everyone knows that Indian casinos are located on Indian reservations, but a lot of people aren’t aware that these reservations are sovereign land. That means they are self-governing states with supreme authority, just like France or Mexico or any other nation. The Navajo Nation, for example, is a sovereign nation that happens to exist within the sovereignty of the United States.

How does that work exactly? It’s complicated.

Indian reservations are almost always in remote areas. Drop a shiny new casino with its games of chance, sensory overload and temporal distortions into the mix and you’ve got the makings of a great setting.

In other words, Indian casinos are places where the normal rules don’t apply.

This reminded me of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which was published in 1865 by Charles Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. The story’s origins can be traced back to a fantastic tale Dodgson told during a boating party to the three daughters of a family friend: Lorina, Alice and Edith Liddell. Alice was memorialized forever when she was cast as the story’s heroine.

This anecdote comes with a caveat: Dodgson liked to take photographs, and he took several of young Alice Liddell. Was Dodgson in love with Alice? Was his relationship with Alice inappropriate? Or are we viewing these events through the lens of 21st-century scandal-mongering?

Scholars have been trying to answer these questions that for more than 150 years.

But it’s another photo of Alice that got my attention. When Alice was 20 years old, she was photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron. It’s a haunting image. Her hair isn’t blonde like she’s portrayed by Disney. In fact, her hair is very dark.

Her features are blunt and somewhat androgynous-looking. She looks like someone who’s been down the rabbit hole and back or, at the very least, is less than fond of having her photograph taken. It more closely resembles a photo from the

14 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

American frontier than Victorian England.

That’s when I started toying with the idea of using Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as a template for Forest of Fortune. Many of the characters in my novel have counterparts in Alice, which seems fitting, as many of these characters were based on people that Dodgson knew.

As I did more research, I discovered that Dodgson suffered from a mild form a epilepsy, and his seizures took the shape of hallucinations in which things that were small appeared larger than life and vice versa. Sound familiar? I took Dodgson’s afflictions and gave them to one of my characters, Alice, which is apparently what Dodgson did.

Putting a new spin on Alice is nothing new.

While writing my novel, I collected all kinds of editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Some were edifying, like The Annotated Alice edited by Martin Gardner, which unpacks Julia Margaret Cameron the riddles and puns, and some were whimsical, like the version illustrated

by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama or Robert Sabuda’s astonishing pop-up book that’s so good its often sold at museums.

My Alice is Native American, which created considerable anxiety for me. Working on the reservation alongside tribal members alleviated some of my worries, but I didn’t want to shamanize Alice by making her epilepsy-induced hallucinations seem hokey or cliché.

A book that helped show me the way was StoAlice Liddell in 1872 ryteller by Leslie Marmon Silko. Published in 1981, it seems decades ahead of its time. It’s a hybrid of fiction, poetry, family photographs, ancestral tales and ancient mythology. Silko comes from the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, but her book opens with a story set in the arctic regions of the far north. The way Silko tells the story of a woman so different from her own background and experience gave me the confidence to tell Alice’s story. I stopped seeing Alice as an Indian and came to understand her as a person stuck in a strange place, struggling to find her way.

Alice’s story endures not because of the controversy surrounding its author or the Disneyfication of her story, but because when she’s thrown into a deeply weird situation, she handles it with dignity and grace.

Write to jimr@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

the

SHORTlist

1

COORDINATED BY KINSEE MORLAN

LOVE AND MUSIC

Once is one of those rare indie films that ended up making it big. Part of the attraction is the love story that unfolds on the screen between Glen Hansard (known only as JOAN MARCUS “Guy”) and Marketa Irglova (“Girl”), who also fell for each other in real life. The duo’s inexperience in acting, but talent as musicians, paid off, making the music-filled movie feel more authentic. The soundtrack is charming—if you’re into the slow-crescendo-lovesong thing—and its sweet narrative tunes made it prime fodder for adaptaStuart Ward and tion into a musical. With Dani de Waal eight Tony Awards since hitting the stage in 2011, Once the musical is heading to San Diego. It plays at the Civic Theatre (1100 Third Ave., Downtown) from Tuesday, Aug. 12, through Sunday, Aug. 17. $48 and up. broadwaysd.com

day, Aug. 9. 619-230-1938, digitagym.org

First Thursday Art Walk at The Headquarters at Seaport District, 789 West Harbor Drive, Downtown. Artists will have goods on display such as hand-blown glass, ceramics, paintings, textiles, jewelry and house wares. From 6 to 9 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 7. theheadquarters.com HLandsailers: Neal Bociek at Carlsbad Sculpture Garden, 2955 Elmwood St., Carlsbad. See the sculptor’s new series of playful steel sculptures of imaginary land and sea transportation machines. Opening from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7.

760 434-2920, carlsbadca.gov/arts

INSPIRATION FOR THE INSPIRED

On Friday, Aug. 8, a multimedia party promises to get its most creative guests into a no-holdsbarred poetry contest. Stepping into a room decorated by street artist Eyegato, attendees will submerge into a provocative visual world set to the DJ-stylings of Gill Sotu.

The event is the next installment of the San Diego Art Institute’s Poetry & Art Series. “The theme is, ‘We live in a vibrant arts community,’” said Michael Klam, the event organizer. “We’re getting great artists in and giving the community a chance to get up to the microphone and show what they can do.”

As the wine flows, erotica writer Shawna Kenney will charge up the scene with excerpts from her anthology Book Lovers: Sexy Stories from Under the Covers. Then Idyllwild-based artist Brenda York will offer visual projections of her colorsoaked abstract paintings while reading from her book Big Little Paintings, Short Little Stories.

“It’s a party, but you get a breadth of work, poetry to prose,” Klam said. “People go through a whole range of emotions throughout the show, from thought-provoking work to pure entertainment.”

Once the audience is properly soaked with inspiration, drinks and edibles from Evolution Fast Food, a “People’s Choice Poem Performance” contest will commence. Citizen poets get three minutes to perform their best work, using all manner of song, dance and props. The audience is encouraged to get vocal before casting their secret ballots for the winners, who’ll receive cash prizes.

“The first part of the show is inspiration for the folks in the audience,” Klam said. “The second part is a little bit like a poetry slam. We build in a lot of

2

ART

HBret Barrett, New Works at Visual, 3776 30th St., North Park. New art by the San Diego artist featuring actuated poetry, mechanical portraits, painting machines and collaborations with fellow artist Jason Gould. Opening from 7 to 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8. 619-501-5585, bretbarrett.com Summer of Seuss at Stephen Clayton Gallery, 1201 First St. Ste. 111, Coronado.

An exhibition featuring known and unknown works from Theodor Geisel. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8. 619435-6474, stephenclaytongallery.com Azucar at Sophie’s Kensington Gallery, 4186 Adams Ave., Kensington. New paintings from Hilary Stone, whose work combines pop-surrealism and Mexican Day of the Dead influences. Opening from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. 619-593-2205 Ray at Night Art Walk on Ray Street between University and North Park Way in North Park. Artists will show their work alongside street performances and local food vendors. From 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. 619-534-8120, rayatnight.com

“Boring Faces” by Eyegato mingle time so we get everyone lubed up. Then we encourage the audience to be raucous and interact with the show so poets and artists feed off that.”

The event goes down from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Museum of the Living Artist (1439 El Prado) in Balboa Park. Admission is $5 for nonmembers, and those who bring wine to share get in free. sandiego-art.org.

3

CIVICS ORGY

Right on the heels of the ultimate popculture nerd-a-palooza comes Politifest, San Diego’s burgeoning politics-and-civic-affairs nerd-a-ganza. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, the news website Voice of San Diego will hold its annual free event in the central promenade of Point Loma’s Liberty Station. It kicks off with a conversation with Neel Kashkari, the doomed Republican candidate for governor, followed by one with state Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins. There’ll also be a session on jobs, schools and housing; the annual Idea Tournament; a live Voice of San Diego podcast; a beer garden; and dozens of communityorganization booths to visit throughout the day.

Voice CEO Scott Lewis tells us the kids area is bigger this year, and the beer garden’s in the shade. Hallelujah! voiceofsandiego.org/politifest

A panel discussion at Politifest 2013

HArt in the Yard 6 at Art Produce Gallery, 3139 University Ave., North Park. An art show and sale featuring underground and independent artists, vendors and performers. There’ll be live music as well as an open-mic. From 4:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. facebook.com/sdartintheyard HEnviroscapes: A Jen Trute Retrospective at L Street Fine Art, 628 L St., East Village. The local artist who passed away in 2011 was known for her environmentally conscientious oil paintings. This exhibition features her surreal environmental narratives. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. 619-231-6664, LStreetFineArt.com HWilliam Feeney at Art Produce Gallery, 3139 University Ave., North Park. Feeney discusses his Waving the Flag exhibition, which features mixed-media works that explore American ideology and what he calls “superficial patriotism.” At 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 9. artproduce.org HPaper Theatre Festival & Exhibit at Geisel Library, UCSD campus, La Jolla.

Check out the tiny and intricate paper models of theaters, some dating back to the Victorian era. There’ll be live performances that incorporate the theaters during both days of the exhibit. From noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 9-10. libraries.ucsd.edu/blogs/events HAin’t That A Bitch?! at Thumbprint Gallery, 920 Kline St., #104, La Jolla.

New works from San Ysidro-based artist Optimus Volts, who specializes in mixedmedia work using discarded spray cans, constantly cutting them up and gluing them onto a variety of surfaces. Opening from 5 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9.

ThumbprintGallerySD.com Selfies and Other Self Portraits at Media Arts Center San Diego, 2921 El Cajon Blvd., North Park. Mark Siprut will exhibit a series of interactive multimedia spec portraits using video, photographs and audio which give the show an interactive, gamelike feel. Opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Satur-

Hanging Garden of California at Visions Art Museum: Contemporary Quilts Textiles, 2825 Dewey Road, Ste. 100, Point Loma. San Diego artist and jeweler Arline Fisch has created a hanging garden art installation of her vibrantly colored wire structures for this exhibition. Opening from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. $5.

619-546-4872, visionsartmuseum.org San Diego Photoshop Users Group Annual Exhibition at Lyceum Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, Downtown. Nearly 80 pieces have been selected for this exhibition for their professionalism, creativity and beauty that include digital paintings, multi-media art and artistic photography.

Opening from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. 619-544-1000, lyceumevents.org Katarzyna Lappin at Concordia Church Gallery, 1695 Discovery Falls Drive, Chula Vista. See oil paintings by the local artist, all created within the last two years. Opening from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10.

619-656-8100, concordiachurch.com HFoundry Anniversary Bash at New Village Arts, The Foundry, 2787 State St., Carlsbad. The 16 resident artists of The Foundry Studios will host an open house and celebrate five years of providing a creative space for artists in Carlsbad. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10. 760-4333245, NewVillageArts.org/art-foundry

BOOKS HEdan Lepucki at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The author will sign and discuss her provocative debut, California, about a couple trying to survive in the wilderness just outside of a dystopian Los Angeles. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7. warwicks.indiebound.com Rhys Bowen at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The mystery novelist will be promoting the eighth book in her spy series, Queen of Hearts. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com Abby Lee Miller at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The host and star of Lifetime’s hit show Dance Moms will sign her book, Everything I Learned About Life, I Learned In Dance Class. Ticket price includes a copy of the book. At 4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8. $22.99. 858-4540347, warwicks.indiebound.com Linwood Barclay at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The New York Times bestselling author will be promoting his newest thriller, No Safe House. At 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com HKelli Stanley at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The mystery novelist discusses and signs City of Ghosts, the third book in her neo-noir series set in 1940s San Francisco. At 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. mystgalaxy.com J. Dylan Yates at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The local author will discuss and sign The Belief in Angels.

At noon Sunday, Aug. 10. 858-454-0347, warwicks.indiebound.com Carol Berg at Mysterious Galaxy Book Store, 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. Berg will sign and discuss her latest, Dust and Light: A Sanctuary Novel. At 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10. 858-268-4747, mystgalaxy.com John Gobbell at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The author and former Navy lieutenant will promote his latest, Edge of Valor. At 7:30 p.m. Tues-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 15

THEATER

Quartet lags when it should enliven

The unofficial motto at the retirement home for character revelations made amid a rehearsal musicians where onetime opera singers Reggie that never gets off the ground, choosing and (Robert Foxworth), Jean (Elizabeth Franz), trying on costumes and applying makeup. The Wilfred (Roger Forbes) and Cecily (Jill Tan- pace is slow, which is undoubtedly the realner) reside is “NSP,” which stands for “No Self- life pace of a retirement home, but too slow JIM COX Pity.” Yet in Ronald Harwood’s to appreciate what Harwood’s Quartet, directed by Richard trying to say about courage and Seer at The Old Globe’s theaterliving in the moment. in-the-round, that’s what these The chief disappointment four spend a lot of time doing— of the story is the Rigoletto some more than others. sequence itself. Earlier in the Jean, the biggest opera star play, Wilfred and then espeof the four, is feeling sorry for cially Reggie make the point herself when she isn’t feeling that there’s no art without hostile, and Reggie conceals feeling. And yet Reggie, Jean, his self-indulgence in brooding Wilfred and Cecily lip-sync and ominous silences. Cecily is their performance, principally Elizabeth Franz because Jean no longer has the merriest but the least lucid, and Robert Foxworth a singing voice and because while Wilfred is sex-obsessed, trotting out aging-horndog quips. But at least he doesn’t resort to SP. Quartet hinges on the subplot of oncemarried Reggie and Jean’s uneasy reunion at the English retirement home and the heady prospect of the foursome performing the Act 3 quartet from Rigoletto in celebration of Verdi’s birthday. The tension of the subplot is, for the most part, addressed and resolved in the first act, and the buildup to the big performance drags for three scenes in Act 2, with

they’re all, well, old. To see the four mouthing the words rings hollow and doesn’t look as if any of them is feeling the art of Verdi or the art within themselves.

This does not detract from a likable performance from the ever-dependent Foxworth, a Globe associate artist, or from Franz with her pained yet restrained Jean. Her sadly wistful remarks to Cecily about sex are as soft and surprising as Wilfred’s are loud and predictable.

Quartet runs through Aug. 24 at The Old

Globe Theatre’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre in Balboa Park. $29 and up. oldglobe.org

—David L. Coddon Write to davidc@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

OPENING Fiddler on the Roof: With the Russian Revolution on the horizon, a humble milkman struggles to keep his family’s traditions alive and marry off his three daughters. Opens Aug. 8 at Patio Playhouse in Escondido. patioplayhouse.com Once: A musical stage version of the 2006 film, about a sad Irish musician (Guy) who meets and falls for a piano player (Girl) just as he’s planning a big move to New York. Presented by Broadway San Diego, it runs from Aug. 12 through 17 at the Civic Theatre, Downtown. broadwaysd.com The Sea Horse: A tender yet rocky love story between a seaman who longs to father a son and a tough-onthe-outside bar owner. Presented by Different Stages, it opens Aug. 9 at Swedenborg Hall in University Heights. differentstages.biz The Two Gentlemen of Verona: Two friends leave Verona for Milan, where, natch, they get caught up in a love—er, rectangle? Opens Aug. 10 at The Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. oldglobe.org

day, Aug. 12. warwicks.indiebound.com James Goldsborough at Warwick’s Bookstore, 7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla. The author and former foreign affairs journalist will discuss and sign his new novel, The Paris Herald, a thriller set around the famous newspaper in the 1960s. At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13. 858-4540347, warwicks.indiebound.com

COMEDY

at sdcit ybeat.com

ances on The Bob & Tom Show and NPR. At 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 8-9. $20-$30. 619-702-6666, madhousecomedyclub.com Live Well Project Comedy Show Fundraiser at Comedy Palace, 8878 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont. The fifth annual fundraiser with all proceeds going to help at-risk teen girls. Monique Marvez headlines. At 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8. $50. 858-573-9067, thelivewellprojectcomedy2014.eventbrite.com

HThe Adam Carolla Show at American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. The former host of The Man Show and Loveline records an episode of his popular podcast. At 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Aug. 6. $35. 619-795-3858, americancomedyco.com

James P. Connelly at Comedy Palace, 8878 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Clairemont.

Connelly hosted VH1’s Movie Obsessions and Live From Here on XM Radio for National Lampoon. At 9:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8, and 7 and 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. $20-$25. thecomedypalace.com

Mike Pace at Reds Saloon, 4190 Mission Blvd., Pacific Beach. Described by the Chicago Tribune as a “chameleon mastering everyday characters,” Pace has appeared on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Comic Relief and the Aspen Comedy Arts Festival.

At 9 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6. $5. 858750-2513, thewoodgroupsd.com/reds

HDallas McLaughlin at Mad House Comedy Club, 502 Horton Plaza, Downtown. The local funnyman used to be in the hip-hop band Bad Credit, was a regular on Yo! Gabba Gabba! and performs in the The Aquabats! Super Show! on the Hub Network. At 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10. $15. madhousecomedyclub.com

HMal Hall at American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. The former local comedian is a regular in-studio guest on JackFM and was named the winner of the 2009 Orange County Comedy Competition. At 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7. $12.

619-795-3858, americancomedyco.com

Guy Branum at American Comedy Co., 818 B Sixth Ave., Downtown. The writer and comedian is probably best known for serving as the “Staff Homosexual” on Chelsea Lately and his performance as Natalie Portman’s sassy gay friend in No Strings Attached. At 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13. $12. americancomedyco.com

HJerrod Carmichael at Comedy Store, 916 Pearl St., La Jolla. The actor, writer and comedian was recently featured in the movie Neighbors and has an upcoming hour-long HBO stand-up special directed

by Spike Lee. At 7 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 8-9. $20. 858-4549176, lajolla.thecomedystore.com Patrick DeGuire at Mad House Comedy Club, 502 Horton Plaza, Downtown. The former local comic has made appear-

16 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

For full listings,

please visit “T heater ”

DANCE HWe Got Next Jam at La Bodega Studios and Gallery, 2196 Logan Ave., Barrio Logan. See a breakdance competition featuring a one-on-one breakin’ tournament, North versus South battle and a Bonita Vista High versus Kearny Mesa High battle. There will also be food from San Diego

Taco Company. From 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. mighty4.com/wegotnext

FOOD & DRINK Food Truck Fridays at SILO in Makers Quarter, 753 15th St., East Village. San Diego’s favorite food trucks every Friday throughout summer. Participants include Casanova Fish Tacos, Stuffed, Ka Pow and Brazil on Wheels. There will also be vendors, live music, craft beer and cocktails to benefit a different local charity each week.

From 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8. makersquarter.com/happenings San Diego Burger Battle at Carddine Spas & Grills, 1144 Los Vallecitos Blvd., San Marcos. The county’s best burger masters compete for a chance to advance to the World Food Championships in Las Vegas. There will be food, free cooking classes and prizes. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. 866-9468882, SanDiegoBurgerBattle.com

Downtown. Disney shares one of its crown jewels of feature animation at Summer Pops with a live orchestra concert accompanying scenes from Walt Disney’s original Fantasia and Disney Fantasia 2000 in high definition on the big screen.

At 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10. $22-$79.

619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org HThe Composer Alive In His Music: Claude Debussy at New Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., East Village. The third and final part in the “Composer Alive” series.

Performances include the story of the composer’s life, narrated by Joanne Regenhardt, followed by a performance that features both music and dance. From 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10. 619236-5800, sandiegolibrary.org HKimberly Marshall at Spreckels Or-

gan Pavilion, Balboa Park. The performer, scholar, and professor of music at Arizona State University performs on the famous Spreckels Organ as part of the Summer International Organ Festival. At 7:30 p.m.

Monday, Aug. 11. sosorgan.org Pacific Sound Brass at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3598 Talbot St., Point Loma. The horn quintet plays a concert at Westminster’s Huntington Amphitheatre as part of the Music at Dusk series. At 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 11. 619-223-3193, westminstersd.org Working Cowboy at Spreckels Organ Pavilion, Balboa Park. The country and western band performs as part of the Twilight in the Park Summer Concerts series.

From 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12. balboapark.org/visit/summer-events

Sidewinders at Spreckels Organ Pavilion, Balboa Park. The country-rock band performs as part of the Twilight in the Park Summer Concerts series. From 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13. balboapark.org/visit/summer-events

OUTDOORS Tamarack State Beach Cleanup at Tamarack State Beach, Pine Ave., Carlsbad. The Surfrider San Diego Chapter hosts a beach and street cleanup. Meet at the end of Tamarack Street. From 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. surfridersd.org HBlueberry Moon Viewing at Cabrillo National Monument, Point Loma Peninsula. Nature walk and viewing of the full Blueberry Moon at a special after-hours

event. From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10. $10. friendsofcabrillo.com

PERFORMANCE HThe Revival: Salvation Through Burlesque at Sunset Temple, 3911 Kansas St., North Park. Burlesque inspired by old time tent revival religion. Performers include Lady Borgia and Remele Sparks, as well as special guest stars, the Jigglewatts from Austin and MC/comedian Jade Esteban Estrada. At 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8. $25-$65. keyholecabaret.com Cuties on Canvas: An Art-Tease Extravaganza at Queen Bee’s, 3925 Ohio St., North Park. Come see Drop Dead

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

HDel Mar Grill Fest at Del Mar Racetrack, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. The second annual BBQ grilling festival held in the Seaside Concert area features the flavorings of more than 25 seasoned BBQ pros and local restaurants. Grillers serve up meats, seafoods, veggies and desserts. From 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. $6. 858-755-1141, DMTC.com HLoving Local Music and Local Food at Driscoll Wharf, 4918 N Harbor Drive, Ste. 203, Point Loma. The third annual event where patrons will enjoy a waterfront view, live music, silent auctions, a cocktail reception and a gourmet fourcourse dinner, featuring delicious locally grown foods prepared by some of San Diego’s top chefs. From 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Sunday, Aug. 10. $40-$160. 619-2224930, lovinglocalmusiclocalfood.com Sunday Suppers on the Farm at Coral Tree Farm, 598 Park lane, Encinitas. Enjoy a glass of sparkling wine followed by a five-course “Chef’s Choice” familystyle meal featuring the farm-to-table creations of Chef Jenn Felmley. At 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10. $65. 951-4452342, coraltreefarm.com

MUSIC Sunset Poolside Jazz Series at Westgate Hotel, 1055 Second Ave., Downtown. This week: Jaime Valle Quintet.

From 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7. $20. 619-238-1818, westgatehotel.com Broadway Tonight Featuring the Musical Chicago at Embarcadero Marina Park South, 111 W. Harbor Drive, Downtown.

An all-star cast of Broadway royalty perform Bob Fosse’s smash Broadway musical with the Sacra/Profana chorus backing them up. At 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 8-9. $22-$79. 619-235-0804, sandiegosymphony.org HWu Man, Lee Knight, James Makubuya at Museum Of Making Music, 5790 Armada Drive, Carlsbad. Internationally renowned player of the Chinese pipa, Wu Man, will perform with Dr. James Makubuya, master of the African harp, and banjoist, singer and folklorist Lee Knight for a concert showcasing a cross-cultural blending of sounds and instruments. At 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. $22-$28. 760-4385996, museumofmakingmusic.org HBayou Brothers at Bird Park, 28th & Thorn, North Park. The local Zydeco band delivers their rousing musical gumbo with special guest Robin Henkel as part of the Bird Park Summer Concerts series. From 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. concerts.northparksd.com HDisney’s Fantasia at Embarcadero Marina Park South, 111 W. Harbor Drive,

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 17

Dames Burlesque’s interpretations of their favorite artists through rhinestone encrusted thrusts, tassels and more.

At 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. $15-$35. dropdeaddamesburlesque.com

ics festival with live music, a beer garden, great food, dozens of community booths and lively discussions about public affairs. This year will focus on the issues of jobs, schools and housing. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 9. 323-549-0500 x 765, voiceofsandiego.org/politifest

POETRY & SPOKEN WORD

SPECIAL EVENTS

HBrenda York and Shawna Kenney at San Diego Art Institute-Museum of the Living Artist, Balboa Park. San Diego artist York and Los Angeles-based author Kenney will read from their work. There will also be an art installation by eyegato and vegetarian catering by Evolution Fast Food. At 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8. $5. sandiego-art.org Long Story Short at Broke Girls’ Coffee Bar, 3562 Adams Ave., Normal Heights. Long Story Short offers a populist platform for anyone to jtell a story, without notes, for five minutes or less on a different theme every month.

This month’s theme: “I’m a Traveler, Not a Tourist.” At 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10. $5 suggested donation. 619-8872856, sosayweallonline.com

POLITICS & COMMUNITY Meet the Candidate: Carol Kim at San Diego Foundation, 2508 Historic Decatur Road, Point Loma. Join Open San Diego for a casual conversation with District 6 City Council candidate Carol Kim. From 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6.

843-267-0316. ow.ly/3nUArx HNorth Park Town Hall Meeting: Strategies To Prevent Future Vio-

18 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

Oz Con International/Winkie Con 50 at Third & Orange, Coronado.

Coronado celebrates The Wizard of Oz with seven days of live theater, dance, film and concerts. See website for event schedule and details.

Various times through Aug. 10.

Free-$25. coronadoarts.com

“Madonna of the Salton Sea” by the late artist Jen Trute is on view in Enviroscapes, a solo show opening from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, at L Street Fine Art (628 L St., Downtown). lence at Sunset Temple, 3911 Kansas St., North Park. In response to the recent attacks on women, this Town Hall meeting will explore what residents can do to protect themselves. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Saturday, Aug. 9. 619-795-3630 HPolitifest at Liberty Station, Farragut Road, Point Loma. A family-friendly civ-

New Belgium Bike-In Theatre at The Pearl Hotel, 1410 Rosecrans St., Point Loma. Meet up at The Pearl for a quick loop through Point Loma and return to sip several varieties of New Belgium’s craft beers by the pool while watching the classic comedy, Three Amigos. A portion of beer proceeds benefit the San Diego Bike Coalition. At 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7.

619-226-2100, thepearlsd.com Telling Stories at CalWestern School of Law, 350 Cedar St., Downtown. A site-specific staged reading of an experimental new play about foster care.

Takes place in CalWestern’s mock courtroom. At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7.

Free with RSVP to write@playwrightsproject.org or 858-384-2970.

ASP Supergirl Pro Surf Contest at Oceanside Pier, 300 N. The Strand, Oceanside. The world’s top professional

surfer women return to Oceanside for a weekend full of competitions. Includes a festival village loaded with surf and skate vendors, art, fashion, music, fitness, dance, food and a beer garden. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, Aug. 8-10.

760-632-6843, supergirljam.com HVinyl Junkies Record Swap at The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Midtown.

Vendors will be selling thousands of records in all genres. DJs spinning throughout the day, including Steve West (former 91X DJ), Pall Jenkins (Three Mile Pilot) and Casbah owner Tim Mays. From 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. $3. facebook.com/VinylJunkiesRecordSwap Automobile Heritage Day at Kimball Park, 12th Street and D Avenue, National City. More than 200 participants showcase their automobiles and compete for

awards. Attendees can expect live music and food from local vendors. From 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. 619336-4290, automobileheritageday.com HCardiff Dog Days of Summer at Cardiff 101 Main Street, 124 Aberdeen Drive, Cardiff-by-the-Sea. More than 200 vendors will be showing off their wares so you’re bound to find something Fido will like. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. cardiffdogdaysofsummer.com Oceanside Charity Regatta at Oceanside Yacht Club, 1950 Harbor Drive North, Oceanside. The Oceanside Yacht Club hosts charity regatta benefiting The Elizabeth Hospice. The event includes music, food, a silent auction and, of course, races. From noon to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10.

Free-$50. 760-722-5751, oceansideyc.net

HWienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals at Qualcomm Stadium, 9449 Friars Road, Mission Valley. San Diego‘s most talented daschunds will compete in races, costume contests and more at this 18th annual event. From 8 a.m. to noon. Saturday, Aug. 9. $10. HolidayBowl.com HCityFest at Fifth and University avenues, Hillcrest. A celebration of community spirit under the iconic Hillcrest sign. There’ll be games, activities, over 250 vendors, live music, a beer garden and more. From noon to 11 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10. 619299-3330, fabuloushillcrest.com North Park Wedding Expo at Sunset Temple, 3911 Kansas St., North Park.

Enjoy live jazz and complimentary wine while perusing local vendors including florists, photographers, cake makers, hair

and make-up stylists and more. At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12. $10-$20. 619795-3630, sunsettemple.com

TALKS & DISCUSSIONS Global Classroom: Building Resilient Cities at World Resources Simulation Center, 1088 Third Ave., Downtown. As part of the ongoing series, this week’s discussion focuses on how pollution impacts public health. From 6 to 8 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 7. $10 suggested donation. 619-234-1088, wrsc.org Pirate Nests: The Rise of the British Empire, 1570-1740 at San Diego Natural History Museum, Balboa Park. Mark G. Hanna, professor of history at UCSD, will

discuss the rise and fall of global piracy from the perspective of English colonial maritime communities. Part of the current exhibition Real Pirates. At 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7. $9-$12. sdnhm.org Janet Sobel at Mission Hills Library, 925 W. Washington St., Mission Hills. The author and local attorney discusses how and why the civil legal system is failing to serve ordinary people who seek justice.

From 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13. 619-261-6165, judgingthelaw.com

For full listings,

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

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 19

L in d

No standing

o lt sey V

o l in

e

ovatio n

The first in a two-part series about how the county

does and doesn’t support cultural organizations

In

June, hundreds of local nonprofit leaders filed into a room in Downtown’s County Administration Center during two days of hearings, each there to make a two-minute pitch to the five members of the county Board of Supervisors about why their organization deserves funding.

The pot of money up for grabs was the Community Enhancement Program (CEP), funded by county hotel taxes.

Leaders of arts-and-culture organizations, optimist clubs, land-conservancy foundations, wildlife centers, educational programs, Alzheimer’s centers, veterans’ organizations and chambers of commerce all lined up behind a lectern, nervously awaiting their chance to woo the politicians.

Hoping to stand out amid the often heartstring-pulling messages, arts groups sometimes perform live at these annual hearings. This year, San Diego Children’s Choir gave an endearing performance and ended up receiving money from multiple supervisors.

“I want to thank you for this opportunity to speak about the capacity the arts have to transform individual lives,” Ginger Shulick Porcella, executive director at the San Diego Art Institute, said in her pitch. SDAI was left wanting.

S

an Diego County’s approach to funding arts organizations is unusual, and some question whether it’s fair and yields the best results. Naturally, many arts advocates would prefer a process under which county funds are set aside specifically for the arts and then administered by an arts oversight panel designated by the county Board of Supervisors. That panel, often called an arts council, would be recognized by the California Arts Coun-

by Kinsee Morlan cil through the State-Local Partnership Program, which provides modest annual funding and assistance.

The state’s support is partly what makes having an arts council a no-brainer for counties. Fifty of the 58 counties in California have an arts council. Seven of the remaining eight that don’t are either small or sparsely populated. While not all of the county arts councils are funding agencies, they do support and promote the arts countywide.

“The people on a county arts council are the only ones who wake up in the morning thinking about how they can improve the arts-and-culture ecosystem of the entire region,” said Daniel Foster, executive director of the Oceanside Museum of Art, who helped form an arts council in San Bernardino County in 2010. “There’s all this potential in a county’s arts community that’s untapped when everyone is in silos.”

Local arts-and-culture organizations have been left without such a resource since 1993, when the San Diego County Public Arts Advisory Council was defunded. Some arts leaders say it’s time to bring it back.

“The Advisory Council did so much with just a little bit of money,” said Leah Goodwin, the Arts Advisory Council’s last director. “I think San Diego is growing into an arts mecca, and the supervisors would be smart to consider reestablishing it.”

I

n fiscal year 2014-15, each county supervisor had $708,000 in CEP funds to hand out to nonprofits and county programs that promote tourism and economic development or otherwise improve quality of life.

The CEP is one of two main county funding sources for arts-and-culture organizations. The other is the Neigh-

20 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

borhood Reinvestment Program (NRP), under which each supervisor gets $2 million—a recent increase from $1 million—to put toward one-time expenses for county departments, public agencies and nonprofit organizations providing needed services.

Both pots of money are discretionary, meaning each supervisor can hand out money to organizations both inside and outside their districts, with a few basic restrictions, including a ban on contributing to religious endeavors. The NRP has attracted plenty of criticism for being a “slush” fund sometimes misused by supervisors.

In contrast, the CEP generally flies under the radar, but it’s the primary source for county money for small and mid-sized arts-and-culture groups, which means it, too, has its critics.

“If you look at the money given to arts organizations from supervisors, it’s uneven,” said Larry Baza, who serves on the city of San Diego’s Commission for Arts and Culture and was a director of the now-defunct Arts Advisory Council. “It’s all about who gets the supervisors’ ears and—bottom line—what will get them votes.”

CityBeat talked to several arts advocates who didn’t want to criticize the process on record for fear of hurting their chances of getting county funding in the future. Those sources said the CEP encourages supervisors to make decisions in a vacuum and help pet projects rather than those most deserving. They also criticized the fund as being too exclusive— in part because the county doesn’t

do much to get the word out, which means the same established organizations apply and get money every year.

“That was part of our job at the Arts Advisory Council,” Goodwin said. “We worked hard to get arts organizations to apply.”

Some critics also said that pitting arts-and-culture groups against other nonprofits and county programs doesn’t make sense. Arts councils are composed of people with expertise in the arts, so, in theory at least, they make more informed decisions.

There’s no doubt that arts-and-culture organizations benefit under the current system, but CityBeat wanted to know how much. We analyzed the most recent allocations in both the CEP and NRP and

“

ut o b a l l It’s a ets the who g ars

’e s r o s i super v o m l i n e — and—b

ott

et g l l i w what otes. them v

”

—Larry

Baza

calculated the percentage of the funds that end up in the hands of arts-and-culture groups. We defined arts-and-culture organizations as those with visualor performing-arts programming and also included groups like historical societies and centers that provide cultural programming. We left out business associations, optimist clubs and foundations that maybe provide cultural programming because it proved difficult to determine.

As for the CEP, District 3 Supervisor Dave Roberts came out on top with roughly 47 percent of his total funds going to arts-andculture organizations. District 2 Supervisor Dianne Jacob was at the bottom, with just 26 percent.

District 4 Supervisor Ron Roberts came in at 45 percent, District 5 Supervisor Bill Horn 32 percent and District 1 Supervisor Greg Cox 29 percent.

As for the NRP, which gives priority to capital projects and therefore doesn’t end up with arts-and-culture organizations as often, Ron Roberts was the largest contributor, with 28 percent.

Jacob was again at the bottom with zero funding. Dave Roberts came in at 23 percent, Horn at 9 percent and Cox at 4 percent.

“You’re going to ruin my reputation,” Ron Roberts joked when told of his relatively high percentage of arts-and-culture funding.

Although the District 4 supervisor is largely credited for the robust public-art program at the new County Operations Center in Kearny Mesa, he said he’s not necessarily working toward becoming the next Pam SlaterPrice, the former District 3 supervisor known for her generosity to the arts. He said his main concern is funding any group doing important work.

For arts-and-culture funding, Roberts said he tries to find projects that donors wouldn’t want to fund.

“I just got a nice thank-you note from the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego,” he explained, referring to his grant of $20,000 from the CEP. “In their case, they have a problem with their air conditioning, so I went over there and actually went on the museum’s roof to see it before I funded them.”

He offered the anecdote as an example of why the NRP and CEP work well.

He said he and other supervisors know the county’s needs best. The applications for both

the grants are relatively easy, he said, and since the money isn’t bogged down by the traditional budget process, it’s an extremely efficient funding source. He estimated that about 10 times more groups submit applications than are funded; the numbers, he said, are proof that the county does a good job marketing the grants.

When presented with the numbers, Jacob and Cox cited ball fields, youth recreation facilities, park and trail improvements and libraries as examples of amenities that take prior-

21 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

ity over arts and culture. Horn didn’t respond to CityBeat’s request for comment.

“I’m extremely proud to say arts and culture are important,” District 3 Supervisor Dave Roberts said.

He said he’s happy to continue carrying Slater-Price’s artsfriendly torch. He said, however, that criticism of the decisionmaking processes behind both special funds is valid, which is why he’s set up a CEP advisory panel to help him allocate funds.

He’s the only supervisor to set

up a formal advisory process; the others make decisions privately.

“We all know the supervisors don’t want to let loose control of any of those dollars,” said Patricia Frischer, coordinator for the San Diego Visual Arts Network.

“But maybe what they would want is to have some professional advice—a stamp of approval from an arts council so they would be confident in their choices….

Right now, all they have is a chief of staff maybe, or their own experience; they’re not calling upon art professionals.”

Baza offered harsher criticism.

“The county should have a transparent, competitive process where artists and arts organizations can get a fair cut of the pie,” he said. “As it is, the county’s arts commitments are made like the Medicis—the Italians who patronized the arts. If you didn’t get money from the Medicis, you were shit out of luck.”

Next week, we’ll look deeper into whether a county arts council is a feasible solution. Natalie Eisen helped research this story.

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 21

Kinsee Morlan

Seen Local Carlsbad art on the rise Carlsbad Village is known for its cutesy boutiques and mom-and-pop shops and restaurants. Recently, though, the walkable area along and around Grand Avenue, Carlsbad Village Drive and State and Washington streets is becoming a breeding ground for public art.

At 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, the Carlsbad Village Association and the theater company New Village Arts will lead the first-ever Village Mural Tour (carlsbad-village.com), an hour-long walking tour that’ll introduce attendees to small- and large-scale works like “The Robot” by Jason Markow, which hovers over the big open space in front of a new juice bar housed in a shipping container at the corner of State Street and Carlsbad Village Drive. The tour also kicks off Art in the Village, happening from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10, and featuring more than 100 regional artists who’ll be set up on State and Grand (pop inside The Foundry Studios at New Village Arts, 2787 State St., to see the work of the 16 resident artists). Those wanting to take the tour must RSVP to cva@the nthelement.com.

Four of the murals on the tour were made possible by a grant to New Village Arts from the Carlsbad Charitable Foundation, the purpose of which is to generate more public art in the city.

“I think the response to that program really helped to build even more interest in bringing the downtown area to life with art,” says Kristianne Kurner, executive artistic director of New Village Arts. “Some private business owners have hired artists…. Everyone seems to agree that the more artistic experiences we can have in our little village, the better.”

Carlsbad artist Bryan Snyder has four large murals painted on outdoor walls throughout Carlsbad Village. He’s one of the first artists to work in the village, but he’s not on the official lineup for the tour.

Snyder declined to have his murals included in the tour because he was initially asked to participate in New Village Art’s grant program then later disqualified when it was determined he had too much work already on view and organizers wanted diversity.

Snyder’s a little peeved over the whole thing, but stoked overall that the city’s seeing an uptick in art.

22 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

Michael Summers and his “Cat Nap” mural “Carlsbad’s looking good these days,” he says.

“There’s a lot more going on.”

Snyder’s made it one of his goals to foster Carlsbad’s creative community. He’s done that partly by approaching businesses and offering free art for their walls, both inside and out. He finances the larger works by making prints of the murals and selling them online. Since Snyder’s not on the official Mural Tour roster, he’s setting up his own “art scavenger hunt” (details at snyderartdesign.com).

“Cat Nap” by Michael Summers is one of the most striking murals on the official tour. It’s also the piece of art featured on CityBeat’s cover this week.

“It started off with a good-natured argument with a friend of mine over the virtues of abstract art,” Summers said of his “Right as Rain” series of similar paintings and prints picturing animals caught under colorful drips of paint.

Summers’ friend challenged him to create an abstract painting, and he did—at first—until he couldn’t help but take control. He started painting the drips rather than letting them roll down the canvas. Summers liked the effect and process so much that his entire body of work took a sudden turn, and he’s been working on the series ever since.

“It’s become this personal symbol to me of exposing yourself to trying new things,” he says.

—Kinsee Morlan Write to kinseem@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 23

Bright eyes Documentary battles memory loss with music, one patient at a time

by Glenn Heath Jr. “I’ve forgotten so much,” says an elderly female patient in the early moments of Alive Inside. Social-worker-turned-activist Dan Cohen, the documentary’s priDan Cohen helps a patient remember. mary subject, has heard these words before. Seconds later, a pair of headphones linked to an heart of Cohen’s overall mission to resuscitate the iPod changes everything; the woman listens to music souls of older people lost in a healthcare system that from her childhood, seemingly turning on a switch, doesn’t provide them with substantial dignity. conjuring up memories long obscured by the effects One of the more joyous moments in the film of dementia. For a short moment, remembering be- comes when Samite Mulondo, director of Musicians comes a reality again. for World Harmony, visits a bipolar patient named Director Michael Rossato-Bennett followed Co- Denise with the filmmakers watching close by. Their hen for three years, filming his efforts to bring this interactions debunk the fear and negativity usually kind of music therapy into the mainstream of the associated with such a difficult diagnosis. As MulonAmerican healthcare system. The results of his meth- do’s hypnotic voice fills the space, singing a Ugandan odology are staggering, and the film front-loads its tribal song, Denise touches him softly on the head, content with a series of individual cases that prove enamored with the man’s graceful presence. how powerful music can be for seniors who’ve been Alive Inside—which opens at the Ken Cinema on sequestered in nursing homes for decades. The most Friday, Aug. 8, and runs through Aug. 14—collects such harrowing example involves a man named Henry, profound examples of humanity and asks the viewer who’s unable to show any sort of expression or vi- to remember them long after the credits roll. Fittingly, brancy. When Cohen presses play on a classic gospel the film concludes with Henry’s rejuvenation going track, Henry’s eyes light up as if he were possessed, viral on YouTube, inspiring millions of people to use giving him cause to sing for the first time in years.

Cohen’s method with their own hospitalized relatives.

Alive Inside acts like a Whether or not this is merely a cross between verité and stopgap to the erosion of idenpersonal essay, both fly-ontity or a treatment that might Alive Inside the-wall exposé and lyrical have long-term positive impact Directed by Michael Rossato-Bennett proclamation. This stylistic on the fight against degeneraStarring Dan Cohen, Bill Thomas, hybridization doesn’t always tive disease remains ambiguSamite Mulondo and Oliver Sacks work; throughout the film, ous. Still, it’s undeniable that Not Rated Rossato-Bennett inserts his the music itself has magical own poetic voice-over narraqualities for those usually detion that often distracts from fined by their maladies. the natural power of Cohen’s efforts, which involve While his procedures and goals are showcased finding the necessary funding to provide his services throughout, Cohen himself remains a quiet enigma. to all of America’s senior facilities. Instead of letting This speaks to his selfless attitude and continuous his subject’s actions stand on their own merit, the desire to place the patient at the center of the film. filmmaker feels the need to insert flowery language Alive Inside is less a portrait of Cohen and more a rewhere none is needed. vitalization of what it means to care deeply about an Yet, Rossato-Bennett smartly weaves together older generation pushed to the fringes of society. multiple talking-head interviews that act as a frank “Aging is not a machine-like endeavor. We are counter-balance to his own emotional expression. Dr. made to age,” Thomas says. Alive Inside confirms that William Thomas, a renowned gerontologist working growing old doesn’t have to be inhumane. In fact, it in the field for more than three decades, provides can be quite melodic. a striking critique of our government and society’s treatment of seniors, asking, “Does elderhood have a Write to glennh@sdcitybeat.com place in modern America?” The question gets at the and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

Paradigm shift

Singin’ in the Rain

24 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

“Dignity, always dignity.” The character Don Lockwood’s trademark saying carries an ironic twinge in the early parts of Singin’ in the Rain. At a glamorous film premiere for his latest silent melodrama titled The Royal Rascal, the actor charts his rise to fame through a contradictory montage. The elegant narration

and poverty-stricken imagery created by co-directors Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen don’t add up, allowing the audience a window into the shady relationship between perception and reality.

What follows can only be described as a pop-culture dream of cinema’s rebirth, albeit one founded on a lie. As silent cinema drastically transitions into the talkie era, most of Hollywood’s

elite belittles the paradigm shift.

The film’s flimsy narrative about a misbegotten sound picture hindered by the voice of an arrogant actress is littered with characters that don’t believe change is necessary. A connection can be made between this evolution and the recent alteration between 35mm and digital projection.

But wisdom can be gleaned from Singin’ in the Rain; when faced with an elemental deviation in ideology and craft, the most innovative artists learn to use the new technology to fit their own sensibilities. The film’s effervescent final act explores the drastic and revolutionary changes in the

OPENING A Touch of Sin: Four violent and engaging stories unfold in modern China, foretelling the institutional and political issues plaguing the nation through globalization and economic boom. Screens through Aug. 14 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Alive Inside: Dan Cohen tries to revolutionize the eldercare industry by giving seniors with dementia and Alzheimer’s the opportunity to experience music again with iPods and headphones. The results are staggering. Screens through Aug. 14 at the Ken Cinema. See our review on Page 24.

The Hundred-Foot Journey: The proprietress (Helen Mirren) of a famous French restaurant clashes with the family running a newly opened Indian eatery down the street.

medium’s form, culminating in the hyper-real “Broadway Melody” sequence that sets the old world of cinema on fire.

As a musical, Singin’ in the Rain—which screens Thursday and Friday, Aug. 7 and 8, at Cinema Under the Stars—lacks the formalist daring of Gold Diggers of 1933. Yet it taps into the emotional center of classical Hollywood film: the desire to polish and preen until the final product matches both the professionalism of its makers and the enjoyment of its audience. For that, the movie remains crucial to the understanding of film history.

—Glenn Heath Jr. Singin’ in the Rain: Silent cinema to sound pictures, one glorious tap dance at a time. Screens at 8:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Aug. 7 and 8, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills. See our review on Page 24.

Instructions Not Included: A wild bachelor is presented with a life-changing decision when he’s forced to raise his long-lost daughter. Screens at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 8, at the Jacob’s Center outside amphitheater in Lincoln Park.

The Room: “Oh, hi, Denny!” Screens at midnight Saturday, Aug. 9, at the Ken Cinema.

Tosca’s Kiss: Founded in 1896, Casa di Riposa was the first retirement home for opera singers. In this documentary

originally released in 1984, director Daniel Schmid takes his camera inside the residence and finds a sublime, moving alternate reality. Screens at midnight on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 9 and 10, at the Ken Cinema.

Strangers on a Train: Never make a deal with the devil on a train bound for hell. Maybe Alfred Hitchcock’s most menacing film. Screens at 8:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 9 and 10, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

Key of Life: Swapping identities usually isn’t a good idea, especially when the role you take on is of a world-renowned hit man being stalked by his former employers. Screens at 2 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 10, at the Point Loma / Hervey Branch Library.

The Motel Life: Two brothers flee after they’re involved in a fatal hit-and-run accident. Screens at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 11, at the San Diego Public Library in East Village.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: Paul Newman and Robert Redford star as the real-life bandits who escape to Bolivia, only to get into hot water with the local police. Screens at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 11, at Arclight La Jolla.

Roman Holiday: Gregory Peck is undeniably charming, so one can’t fault princess Audrey for falling in love after they meet by chance in Rome. Screens at 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 11, at the San Diego Museum of Art’s May S. Marcy Sculpture Garden in Balboa Park.

Arranged: This story of an orthodox Jewish woman who befriends a Muslim colleague during their first day teaching at a Brooklyn school is more pertinent now than ever. Screens at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 12, at the Point Loma / Hervey

Branch Library.

Rye Coalition: The Story of the Hard Luck 5: A documentary that uses home video and concert footage to explore the rise and fall of the famous New Jersey punk-rock group. Screens at 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Aug. 12, at Whistle Stop Bar in South Park.

Bridesmaids: Pray for the bride; these ladies can party. Screens at 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Aug. 13, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

NOW PLAYING Borgman: In this enigmatic, magicalrealist horror film, a mysterious vagrant starts tormenting an upper-class family for his own sadistic urges and needs.

Screens through Aug. 6 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Get on Up: The James Brown biopic we’ve all been waiting for from the director of The Help.

Guardians of the Galaxy: American pilot Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and his rowdy alien crew become objects of a manhunt after stealing a valuable orb that belongs to a diabolical space villain.

Lucky Them: Toni Collette plays a rock journalist assigned to track down her musician ex-husband. Screens through Aug. 7 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

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

Into the Storm: An onslaught of unprecedented tornados touches down and causes havoc in the Midwest. Global warming is a real bitch.

Pablo: Part documentary, part animation, this film tells the story of Pablo Ferro, an innovative Cuban-American film and graphic designer whose imprint is on classics as diverse as Dr. Strangelove and Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” video.

Screens through Aug. 13 at Digital Gym Cinema in North Park.

Step Up: All In: Get your grove on, again.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Watch out for Raphael. He’s a party dude.

ONE TIME ONLY Pregnant in America: Exposé about how the healthcare system impacts pregnant women in modern-day America.

Screens at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6, at the Women’s Museum in Point Loma’s Liberty Station.

Jaws: Chomp, chomp. Screens at 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Aug. 6, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.

Un Difetto di Famiglia (A Family Flaw): Small-town Italian life turns batty in this rambunctious farce about a series of misadventures involving a runaway coffin.

Screens at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6, at Ultrastar Mission Valley Cinemas and 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, at La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas.

North by Northwest: Innocent man Cary Grant gets chased by an aggressive airplane and a bunch of nefarious baddies. Screens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, at The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla.

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 25

Suzie Kaplan

Body

the songs on Dreams in the Witch House have been in Eukaryst’s repertoire since the beginning, and, more recently, the band’s been working on new material, which they say is much harder to play. But they’re also working hard on creating music that’s even more intricately crafted— “pretty” and “symphonic” are a couple of words that get thrown around when From left: Ben Marotta, they’re describing their Dylan Marks, Gino Fontana, new songs.

Chase Waggoner and Bel Dimuzio The one area where Eukaryst haven’t been as prolific, however, is in writing shorter, simpler and, well, catchier songs. Not that death metal is known for such a thing, but you’re unlikely to hear a Eukaryst hit single.

“We keep on talking about how important [writing shorter songs] is,” says vocalist Ben Marotta, whose laid-back demeanor is dramatically different than his throat-shredding vocals. “We actually try, but it never really happens.”

“There’s definitely some new parts where you can tell people don’t know what’s going on,” Dimuzio adds, noting that their new material—and even some of their older songs—are works in progress. “It’s awesome riffage, but the groove’s kinda not as steady as it should be.”

The members of Eukaryst have professional lives that don’t typically cross over with being in a metal band. Marks is an elementary-school music teacher, for instance, while Dimuzio works as a microbiologist. But it’s through bassist Gino Fontana’s day job as a brewer for Pizza Port that the band developed their most interesting—and delicious— merch item: Eukaryst Sinister Imperial Oatmeal Stout.

Like the band’s music, it’s dark, heavy and will knock

by Jeff Terich you on your ass in no time if you’re not careful. The recipe metal bands like Slayer and Carcass but also feature their for the beer came about after Pizza Port released a brew own unique touches. There’s an accessible and melodic inspired by The Burning of Rome, and Fontana approached approach on “Witch House” and an intricate network of the head brewer about cooking up a recipe for his own harmonized guitar riffs on “Sinister.” They’re not above band. It now travels with the band to their live shows and, launching into a simple power-chord sequence, but it usu- as part of an event promoting the beer, even got the band’s ally only happens after a few tempo shifts, a change in time CD in the jukebox at Toronado in North Park. signature and some well-placed six-string lightning cour“It’s cool. It’s a way to get our name out there,” Fontana tesy of Waggoner and lead guitarist Bel Dimuzio. says. “It’s afforded us some rare opportunities. And we get Because of much of their material’s complexity, the to bring it to our shows. band wasn’t expecting new drummer Dylan Marks to “Even though it’s a strong-ass beer, people love it.” adjust so quickly after their first drummer, Daniel Eder, For the most part, though, the five guys in Eukaryst moved to Africa. don’t show a lot of enthusiasm for talk“I listened to [the band’s demo] for a ing about what pays the bills. The music is long time, so I just showed up and was, like, where their real passions lie, to the point ‘Let’s go through it,’” Marks says of his authat Dimuzio even says that playing guitar Aug. 8 dition with the band in 2013. “And they’re, and writing songs is how he spends the vast The Merrow like, ‘OK, we appreciate the enthusiasm, but majority of his time outside of work. And Facebook.com/Eukaryst you know—.’ And I’m, like, ‘No, let’s do it!’” it’s not just because it takes a lot of practice “For everyone else [who auditioned], to nail those complicated riffs. we had to count out each part’s time signature before “If you come to a Eukaryst show,” Marks says, “all of us they could figure it out,” Waggoner adds. “He was the are doing the coolest thing [we] did that day.” first one to play a song all the way through—like, ‘Whoa, Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com that was too easy.’” and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

Some of

blood

Eukaryst pledge their commitment to shredding •

A

t first glance, the members of San Diego death-metal band Eukaryst don’t seem like the type to take themselves too seriously. Huddled around a table at the Whistle Stop in South Park, the five musicians share anecdotes over a round of beers—an unfortunate puke incident on the sidewalk in front of a club they played recently, recollections of favorite Metallica riffs, bafflingly bad vocalist auditions—and the laughs come fast and easy.

About 15 minutes into the conversation, guitarist Chase Waggoner even pulls out a favorite from his own personal blooper reel, from the early days of the band in 2009.

“On our first couple of shows, I wanted to tease my hair out like I was in a glam-metal band,” he says, with a laugh.

“I thought I was a rock star. And the next day at band practice… they had a meeting and were, like, ‘Chase, that’s not what we’re about. So, cut that shit out.’”

Eukaryst, who are about to go on their first West Coast tour, know how to have a good time, certainly, but when it comes to the music, they take what they do very seriously.

And part of that is attributable to how physically and technically demanding it is to play their style of music.

In May, the group self-released its debut album, Dreams in the Witch House, a six-song collection of dynamic and complex metal songs that nod to classic thrash and death-

26 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

Eukaryst

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 27

NOTES FROM THE SMOKING PATIO LOCALS ONLY AMSD Concerts is going to make a brief comeback. U-T San Diego reported in May that the venue / concert series would close after 11 years of hosting live music, but the end hasn’t arrived just yet, apparently. AMSD has announced that it will host two more shows—Eliza Gilkyson on Sept. 20 and Ellis Paul on Oct. 26.

AMSD founder and booker Carey Driscoll tells CityBeat that he’s “not actively looking” to start up again, but the opportunity presented itself to host these shows, and both artists are among the most-booked in AMSD’s history.

“I talked myself into doing what’s necessary to make these shows happen,” he says.

The concerts will be held at the Normal Heights Community Center (4649 Hawley Blvd.). Part of the reason for the original announcement of AMSD’s closure was that there wasn’t a long-term location to put on shows, and attendance dropped off when Driscoll moved AMSD to Webster, a neighborhood in southeastern San Diego.

“I looked at enough places to know what is and what isn’t out there,” he says, noting that he hasn’t been able to find a suitable place in a good location with an affordable rent.

Driscoll isn’t entirely ruling out more shows in the future, but until he finds a venue that meets his needs, this is probably it.

MUSIC REVIEW JOY Under the Spell of JOY (Tee Pee) San Diego can lay claim to being the birthplace of one of the most iconic bands of the acid-rock era: Iron Butterfly. But there’s arguably never been a more psychedelic period in San Diego music history than today.

I don’t necessarily mean that people are taking more drugs; in fact, the region’s biggest psych-rock band, Earthless, told Spin last year that they just drink a lot of coffee. But there’s a certain disorientation that’s been seeping into local music, be it through the hazy postpunk of Tropical Popsicle and Barbarian or in the lava-lamp fuzz of Wild Wild Wets, who recently launched the San Diego Freak Out in the service of bringing purveyors of trippy tunes together on one stage.

And then there’s JOY. More than simply an indie-rock band with psychedelic elements, JOY have a dense, freewheeling sound that harks back to the early-’70s era of heavy psych. There’s more than a trace of Blue Cheer or Flower Travellin’ Band in their fat layers of distortion, bluesy melodies and instrumental dazzle. This music doesn’t just take the listener to strange and

28 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

Ellis Paul “It’d be nice to continue to keep going,” he says. “I just wasn’t able to continue with the way things were.”

•••

Folk-punks Sledding with Tigers had to cancel their U.S. tour when they were involved in a car accident in Oklahoma. On Facebook, the group said that “no one was seriously hurt,” but they totaled their car and are selling a limited edition T-shirt to help raise money. The shirt features a picture of the totaled car and is available at antiquerecs.com.

—Jeff Terich

unfamiliar places—it straight-up rocks the fuck out.

On Under the Spell of JOY—the band’s first for Tee Pee Records—the average song length is between six and seven minutes, and each song features some combination of effects-treated vocals, meaty riffs and wild soloing. If you’re averse to indulging in some hot-dog guitar-wizard showmanship, then JOY probably isn’t for you. But for those who can’t get enough of the sound of Big Muff distortion coming through vintage Orange amps, this album is an embarrassment of riches.

Under the Spell is loaded with highlights, from the upbeat shuffle of “One More Time” to the slower and more sinister dirge of “Evil.” And when Zach Oakley fires up his wah-wah on “Driving Me Insane,” the group is more Funkadelic than Grand Funk, which is just fine by me. Even when they appear in danger of getting sucked into a vortex of impossibly acrobatic fretwork, their instrumental dazzle rarely grows stale or redundant. There’s a good reason for that; JOY add fiery solos to already good songs, and not the other way around.

—Jeff Terich Write to jefft@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 29

if i were u

balanced, Dark Measure @ The Merrow.

This week, I wrote about San Diego deathmetal outfit Eukaryst (Page 26), who recently released their debut album, Dreams in the Witch House, and are about to launch

BY Jeff Terich their first West Coast tour. The first date is right here in town, so don your torn denim vest and get in the pit with all the other Wednesday, Aug. 6 heshers. PLAN B: The Sidekicks, DowsPLAN A: Ex-Cult, Zig Zags, Octagrape @ ing, Sundials, Groms @ The Che Café.

Til-Two Club. Memphis garage rockers Ex- Ohio’s The Sidekicks are hard to describe Cult have a dirty sound, but not a raunchy as anything more original than “indie rock,” one. They’re dark, but not necessarily goth. but the music is a lot more satisfying than They’re disorienting, but not entirely psy- that. If you like guitars and hook-laden melchedelic. And they definitely have their share odies, then this might be the band for you. of cool, weird, reverb-heavy songs that’ll get your feet moving. BACKUP PLAN: New Saturday, Aug. 9 Madrid, Swimm, Moonpool @ Soda Bar. PLAN A: Drenge, Wax Witches, Glasmus @ Soda Bar. I’m always a little suspicious Thursday, Aug. 7 when someone calls a band “post-grunge,” PLAN A: Courtney Barnett, Crystal Skulls because that usually translates to “Creed.” @ The Casbah. If you haven’t yet, read Anna- Not so with U.K. outfit Drenge, who are a Maria Stephens’ feature on Australian singer bit more like Arctic Monkeys, or a two/ songwriter Courtney Barnett in last week’s person Queens of the Stone Age by way issue. She’s a tunesmith with an ear for in- of The Smiths. Big melodies, big guitars— triguingly off-kilter melodies and intimate, what’s not to like? PLAN B: The Good slice-of-life lyrics. There are a lot of good Life, Big Harp @ The Casbah. In case you shows happening this week, but put this near need a reminder, The Good Life is the quithe top. BACKUP PLAN: Barbarian, Oliver eter, more chamber-pop-leaning project of Trolley, Hobie Givens @ Soda Bar. Cursive’s Tim Kasher. They’ve been on the back burner for a while, thanks to Cursive’s extensive touring. But if you’ve missed that Friday, Aug. 8 mixture of angst and pretty melodies, then PLAN A: Eukaryst, Unicorn Death, Im- you’ll want to get in line for this one.

30 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

Sunday, Aug. 10 PLAN A: Diarrhea Planet, Those Darlins, Buddy Banter @ Soda Bar. Your enthusiasm for this show will probably hinge on how comfortable you are watching a band called “Diarrhea Planet,” but if you can get past the scatological barrier, this Nashville-based punk group will win you over pretty quickly—if not with their four-guitar wall of sound, then definitely with their catchy, noisy tunes.

PLAN B: Sara Beth, Whales Whailing, Johanna Warren @ Lestat’s. Whales Whailing is the project of former San Diegan and current Portlander Peter Ryan, and it’s a stunning thing to hear. He incorporates gentle guitars, hypnotic post-rock arrangements, dark atmosphere and gorgeous vocal harmonies into a sound that’s accessible but not necessarily familiar. Very cool stuff.

BACKUP PLAN: Crocodiles, Tweens, Viv Vates @ The Casbah.

Monday, Aug. 11 PLAN A: Iron & Wine, Jerome Holloway @ Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay. Spend the weekend tenderizing your body with some intense punk or metal bands?

Then maybe Monday’s a good day to dial it back, settle into a comfy seat by the bay and let Sam Beam serenade you with his sweet, soulful folk-rock. Beam’s songwriting with Iron & Wine only grows more interesting with each release, and his repertoire is diverse enough to make you forget he ever covered The Postal Service. PLAN B: Steve Gunn, Matt Kivel, Sick Balloons @ Soda Bar. Steve Gunn is best known for being a member of The Violators—the backing band of Philadelphia singer / songwriter Kurt Vile.

But Gunn’s got some great songs of his own, Iron & Wine which have a laid-back, yet psychedelic feel that gives him a creative edge over so many other indie folk-sters.

Tuesday, Aug. 12 PLAN A: Harper Simon, Guy Blakeslee, Henry Wolfe, Pearl Charles @ The Casbah. I reached my limit on adorable twee indie pop a long time ago—probably around the 100th time I heard a ukulele in a commercial. But there’s something about Harper Simon that makes me want to make an exception. Maybe it’s because his music isn’t overly precious, or maybe it’s because he sounds sort of like Paul Simon, but, either way, it works.

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 31

HOT! NEW! FRESH! Creedle (Casbah, 8/27), Hot Snakes (The Irenic, 9/10), Chuck Ragan (Casbah, 9/15), Sole (Soda Bar, 9/20), Rival Sons (BUT, 9/24), Gov’t Mule (Balboa Theatre, 9/27), Blitzen Trapper (Casbah, 10/2), Boys Noize, Baauer (SOMA, 10/2), Yellowcard (North Park Theatre, 10/17), The Story So Far (Epicentre, 10/17), The Spits (Soda Bar, 10/26), Shakey Graves (The Irenic, 11/9), Relient K (HOB, 11/13), Noah Gunderson (BUT, 11/20), Minus the Bear (Casbah, 11/21),

GET YER TICKETS The Zombies (HOB, 8/20), Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 8/21), Built To Spill (The Irenic, 8/23), The Murder City Devils (The Irenic, 8/25), Buzzcocks (HOB, 9/18), Andrew Bird (Humphreys, 9/19), Lykke Li (North Park Theatre, 9/22), Unwritten Law (Porter’s Pub, 9/26), Temples (BUT, 9/27), The Gaslight Anthem, Against Me! (HOB, 9/30), DJ Shadow, Cut Chemist (HOB, 10/1), Blue Man Group (Civic Theatre, 10/3), Pinback (HOB, 10/4), Chromeo (SOMA, 10/8), Twin Shadow (BUT, 10/9), The Horrors (BUT, 10/13), Washed Out (North Park Theatre, 10/16), Perfume Genius (Soda Bar, 10/17), The New Pornographers (BUT, 10/18), Metronomy (BUT, 10/19), Charli XCX (HOB, 10/21), Tinariwen (BUT, 10/21), The Afghan Whigs (BUT, 10/24), Phish (Sleep Train Amphitheatre, 10/25), New Politics (HOB, 10/30), Iceage (Casbah, 11/3), Rhye (North Park Theatre, 11/6), The Black Keys (Viejas Arena, 11/9), Death From Above 1979 (HOB, 11/12), Blonde Redhead (HOB, 11/15), The Misfits (HOB, 11/16), Psychedelic Furs, The Lemonheads (BUT, 11/17), John Waters (North Park Theatre, 12/1), Mannheim Steamroller (Civic Theatre, 12/28), Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven (BUT, 12/30).

August Wednesday, Aug. 6 Arctic Monkeys at Open Air Theatre. ExCult at Til-Two Club.

Thursday, Aug. 7 Lynyrd Skynyrd at Humphreys.

Friday, Aug. 8 Steel Pulse at Del Mar Racetrack.

Saturday, Aug. 9 Counting Crows at Del Mar Racetrack.

The Good Life at The Casbah. Sara Bareilles at Open Air Theatre. Toad the Wet Sprocket at Belly Up Tavern.

Sunday, Aug. 10 Crocodiles at The Casbah. Rx Bandits at House of Blues. Those Darlins at Soda Bar.

Monday, Aug. 11 The Head and the Heart at North Park Theatre. Steve Gunn at Soda Bar.

Tuesday, Aug. 12 Imelda May at Belly Up Tavern.

Wednesday, Aug. 13 Foxygen at Belly Up Tavern.

Thursday, Aug. 14 Black Kids at The Casbah.

Friday, Aug. 15 The Helio Sequence at The Casbah.

Chrome at Tower Bar.

Saturday, Aug. 16 Sonics at The Irenic. The Angry Samoans at Brick by Brick.

Sunday, Aug. 17 Grouplove at Open Air Theatre. Hawthorne Heights at Open Air Theatre.

Rascal Flatts at Sleep Train Amphitheatre.

Tuesday, Aug. 18 Lila Downs at House of Blues. Quilt at The Casbah. The Fresh and Onlys at The Casbah.

Thursday, Aug. 20 The Naked and Famous at North Park Theatre. Sylvan Esso at The Casbah.

The Zombies at House of Blues.

Friday, Aug. 21 Mad Caddies at Soda Bar. Jason Mraz at Civic Theatre. Nine Inch Nails, Soundgarden at Sleep Train Amphitheatre.

Saturday, Aug. 22 Lake Street Dive at North Park Theatre.

Benjamin Booker at Soda Bar. Future Islands at The Irenic.

Sunday, Aug. 23 John Legend at Open Air Theatre. Whitey Morgan and the 78s at Soda Bar. Jason Mraz at San Diego Civic Theatre.

Tuesday, Aug. 25 Keyshia Cole at House of Blues. The Murder City Devils at The Irenic. Jacuzzi Boys at The Casbah.

rCLUBSr

710 Beach Club, 710 Garnet Ave, Pacific Beach. 710bc.com. Wed: Open mic, open jam. Thu: Live band karaoke. Fri: Grizzly Business, The Major Minus, LIFE. Sat: VIBE, The Dojo Masters, Atlantis Rizing.

Sun: Karaoke. Mon: Battle of the bands.

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

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

Wed: ‘Breezy Bliss’ w/ DJs Slutty Beats, JoshthebeaR, Volz, Just Sven B2b Gianna, Viking. Thu: ‘DIVE’ w/ DJs ALA, Mikeytown. Fri: DJ Junior the DiscoPunk. Sat: ‘Juicy’ w/ Mike Czech. Sun: ‘Church’.

Bang Bang, 526 Market St, Downtown. facebook.com/BangBangSanDiego. Fri: Etnik. Sat: Solidisco.

Bar Pink, 3829 30th St, North Park. barpink. com. Wed: DJ Grandmasta Rats. Thu: DJs Blairly Legal, Platinum Pat. Fri: Euphoria Brass Band. Sat: The Milkcrates DJs. Sun: ‘Rat Sabbath’ w/ DJ Ratty. Mon: ‘Wreckord Mania’. Tue: Alvino and the Dwells.

Bassmnt, 919 Fourth Ave, Downtown. bassmntsd.com. Thu: Brillz. Fri: Destructo, Wax Motif. Sat: Don Diablo.

Beaumont’s, 5662 La Jolla Blvd, La Jolla. brocktonvilla.com/beaumonts.html.

Wed & Sun: Kayla Hope. Thu: Phil Carillo. Fri: John Stanley King. Sat: Jewel City Rhythm Authority.

Belly Up Tavern, 143 S. Cedros Ave, Solana Beach. bellyup.com. Wed: Jesse Daniel Edwards, Neighbors to the North, Brothers Weiss. Thu: Bumpin Uglies, Project! Out of Bounds. Fri: Israel Vibrations, Roots Radics, Piracy Conspiracy, DJ Carlos Culture. Sat: Toad the Wet Sprocket, Tommy and The High Pilots. Sun: Wade Bowen, Sean McConnell. Tue: Imelda May, Omar and The Stringpoppers.

Boar Cross’n, 390 Grand Ave, Carlsbad. boarcrossn.net. Thu: Homesick Hitchers, Freako Suave. Fri: ‘Club Musae’. Sat: Revival.

Brick by Brick, 1130 Buenos Ave, Bay Park. brickbybrick.com. Thu: Spiral Out, Domination CFH. Sat: Geezer, Green Today, The Big Lewinsky.

Cafe Sevilla, 353 Fifth Ave, Downtown. cafesevilla.com. Wed: Aro Di Santi. Thu & Sat: Malamana. Fri: Joeff and Co. Croce’s Park West, 2760 Fifth Ave., #100, Bankers Hill. crocesparkwest.com.

Wed: Sahara Grim. Thu: Gilbert Castellanos and the Park West Ensemble. Fri: Christopher Hollyday Quartet. Sat: Agua Dulce. Sun: Gio Trio.

Dizzy’s, 4275 Mission Bay Drive, Mission Bay. dizzyssandiego.com. Fri: Bi-National Mambo Orchestra. Sat: Kawsak. Sun: Allison Adams Tucker and Leonard Patton.

Elbow Room, 5225 Kearny Villa Road, Kearny Mesa. elbowroomsd.com. Fri: Blue Largo. Sat: Reflectors.

Epicentre, 8450 Mira Mesa Blvd, Mira Mesa. epicentreconcerts.org. Fri: Kieran Lux, Spittin Image, LAMBO Sly Messiah.

Fluxx, 500 Fourth Ave, Downtown. fluxxsd.com. Thu: ‘IDGAF’ w/ Tony Junior. Fri: Mixed Reactions. Sat: Sid Vicious.

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

Thu: Heritage Band, Hazmatt, DJ Reefah.

32 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

Fri: Danny and the Tramp, DJ RM. Sat: The Routine, DJ Chelu. Sun: Lady Dottie and the Diamonds.

Reds Saloon, 4190 Mission Blvd, Pacific Beach. facebook.com/RedsSaloon. Wed: Mike Pace.

Henry’s Pub, 618 Fifth Ave, Downtown. henryspub.com. Wed: Johnny Tarr, DJ Christopher London. Thu: Mark Fisher, DJ Yodah. Fri: ‘Good Times’. Sat: DJs E, Yodah. Mon: ‘Kinetic Soul’. Tue: Big City Dawgs.

Rich’s, 1051 University Ave, Hillcrest. richssandiego.com. Wed: DJ Kiki. Fri: DJs John Joseph, Will Z. Sat: DJs Taj, Nikno, K-Swift. Sun: ‘Stripper Circus’.

House of Blues, 1055 Fifth Ave, Downtown. houseofblues.com/sandiego. Thu: Juicy J, Luke Christopher. Fri: Our Last Night, Set It Off. Sat: Chippendales. Sat: This Is All Now. Sun: RX Bandits, The Dear Hunter, From Indian Lakes.

Kava Lounge, 2812 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. kavalounge.com. Wed: ‘Fully Patched’. Thu: ‘S.H.A.F.T.’. Fri: ‘Kizomba Night’. Sat: Tom Cosm. Sun: ‘Drumetrics’. Tue: ‘High Tech Tuesday’.

Kensington Club, 4079 Adams Ave, Kensington. 619-284-2848. Fri: Gloomsday, Badabing, The Pheasants, The Steinbacks, Shovel, Good Morning Coffee. Sat: Secret Fun Club, Idols Plague, Plunger, Slig, International Dipshit, Meat Piled High.

Mc P’s Irish Pub, 1107 Orange Ave, Coronado. mcpspub.com. Wed: Tone Cookin’.

Thu: Sophisticats. Fri: Trunk Monkey. Sat: Manic Bros. Sun: Ryan Brolliar. Mon: Jason. Tue: 2 Guys Will Move U.

ies Record Swap. Sat: The Good Life, Big Harp. Sun: Crocodiles, Tweens, Viv Vates. Mon: Chill Clinton, Privet, Saint Diego. Tue: Harper Simon, Guy Blakeslee, Henry Wolfe, Pearl Charles.

Seven Grand, 3054 University Ave, North Park. sevengrandbars.com/sd. Wed: Gilbert Castellanos jazz jam.

The Che Cafe, UCSD campus, La Jolla. thechecafe.blogspot.com. Wed: Little Nature, Taco Control, Lora Mathis, Hollie Might. Thu: Teenage Burritos, Rank/Xerox, VIAL, CONTACT. Fri: The Sidekicks, Sundials, Dowsing. Sat: Bogsey and the Argonauts, Alexander the Grape, Les Ours. Sun: Arroyo Deathmatch, The Thiefs Lineage, Fry Hugs. Tue: Protestor, Misled Youth, Drug Control, Slums of the Future.

Shakedown Bar, 3048 Midway Drive, Point Loma. theshakedownsd.com. Thu: ‘Darkwave Garden’. Sat: Go-Go Riot, The Tramplers, Confederate, Downs Family, Standard and Poor, The Brookhounds.

The Hideout, 3519 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. thehideoutsd.com. Thu: Creature and the Woods, Flower Glass, The Whiskey Circle. Sat: Subtropics, The End, Cardielles.

Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. sodabarmusic.com. Wed: New Madrid, Swimm, Moonpool. Thu: Barbarian, Oliver Trolley, Hobie Givens. Fri: The Chop Tops, The Strikers, The Gore Horsemen. Sat: Drenge, Wax Witches, Glasmus. Sun: Diarrhea Planet, Those Darlins, Buddy Banter. Mon: Steve Gunn, Matt Kivel, Sick Balloons. Tue: Josh Berwanger Band, Archie Powell and the Exports.

The Merrow, 1271 University Ave, Hillcrest. theMerrow.com. Wed: Open mic.

Fri: Eukaryst, Unicorn Death, Imbalanced, Dark Measure. Sun: Karaoke.

Tue: AJ Fromann, Brett Wailing.

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

Thu: Michael Dwyer. Fri: The Sleepwalkers. Sat: Joe Con and the Real Thing.

Patricks Gaslamp, 428 F St, Downtown. patricksii.com. Wed: The Rayford Brothers. Thu: The Fuzzy Rankins Band. Fri & Sun: Trey Tosh. Sat: Mystique Element of Soul. Mon: The Groove Squad. Tue: Walter’s Chicken Jam.

SOMA, 3350 Sports Arena Blvd, Midway. somasandiego.com. Fri: Wovenwar, Killing The Messenger, Hundred Caliber, City Of Crooks. Sat: Scarlett Avenue, Short Stories, I Am The Conqueror, Split Decisions, It All Starts Here, With Age. Sun: Suburban Legends, The Chili Banditos, Riboflavin, Sol Remedy.

Porter’s Pub, 9500 Gilman Dr., UCSD campus, La Jolla. porterspub.net. Sat: He Is Legend, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, Wilson, Of Hope and Heresy, Rogue Stereo, Approaching Fiction.

The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd, Midtown. casbahmusic.com. Wed: Jagwar Ma, Fascinator (sold out). Thu: Courtney Barnett, Crystal Skulls. Fri: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Alec Ounsworth. Sat: Vinyl Junk-

The Office, 3936 30th St, North Park. officebarinc.com. Wed: ‘Dub Dynamite’ w/ DJs Rashi, Eddie Turbo. Thu: ‘No Limits’ w/ DJ Myson King. Fri: ‘After Hours’ w/ Kid Wonder, Saul Q. Sat: ‘Strictly Business’ w/ DJs Kanye Asada, Gabe Vega. Sun: ‘Uptown Top Ranking’ w/ Tribe of Kings.

The Tin Roof, 401 G Street, Gaslamp. tinroofbars.com/Home/SanDiego. Wed: Karaoke. Thu: Full Strength Funk Band, Bandapart. Fri: The Get Down Party, Clint Westwood. Sat: Random Radio, Chris James. Sun: Kris Bradley Duo. Tue: ‘G Street Sessions’.

Til-Two Club, 4746 El Cajon Blvd, City Heights. tiltwoclub.com. Wed: Ex-Cult, Zig Zags, Octagrape. Fri: Swing Ding

Amigos, Lenguas Largas, The Underground Railroad to Candyland, Treasure Fleet, Blank Pages. Sat: ‘Sleepwalking’.

Tin Can Ale House, 1863 Fifth Ave, Bankers Hill. thetincan1.wordpress.com. Wed: Josh Damigo and the Freeloaders, James Anaya, Patrick Lanzetta. Thu: Pulse Liberation, The Young Gents, Speaker In Reverse. Fri: Robin Hill, Cult Vegas, Trips.

Sat: Gods of Science, Sound Lupus, The Natives. Mon: ‘Tin Can Country Club’ w/ Daniel Crawford.

Tio Leo’s, 5302 Napa St, Bay Park. tioleos.com. Thu: Rockin’ Aces. Fri: Colour. Sat: Kitten With a Whip. Tue: Zydeco All-Stars.

Tower Bar, 4757 University Ave, City Heights. thetowerbar.com. Fri: Caskitt, Micah Schnabel, The Shell Corporation, D-Cent Jerks, Western Settings. Sat: Ox, Glaciers, Deep Sea Thunder Beast, Bhorelorde. Sun: Dirty Denim, Dirty Eyes.

Ux31, 3112 University Ave, North Park. u31bar.com. Wed: ‘Tribute to Morrissey’ w/ Still Ill, Bidi Cobra, DJ Saul Q. Thu: ‘Rock the Discotek’.

West Coast Tavern, 2895 University Ave, North Park. westcoatstavern.com.

Wed: DJ Slowhand. Thu: DJ Chris G. Fri: Billy the Kid. Sat: DJ Colton Story. Tue: DJ Clean Cut. Whistle Stop, 2236 Fern St, South Park. whistlestopbar.com. Thu: Steve West, DJ Saul Q. Winstons, 1921 Bacon St, Ocean Beach. winstonsob.com. Wed: Jam Kwest, DJ Carlos Culture. Thu: Jefferson Jay. Fri: HIRIE, Arise Roots, Psydecar. Sat: Pocket, The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble. Sun: Karaoke. Mon: Electric Waste Band. Tue: ‘Meeting of the Meyends’.

August 6, 2014 · San Diego CityBeat · 33

Brendan Emmett Quigley

Across

Baby talk

1. Campaign issue 5. Milwaukee Bucks coach Jason 9. Members of Hamas, e.g.

14. In an adroit manner 15. The neighborhood 16. Capital served by Noi Bai International Airport 17. Dutch cheese that blows up in your mouth?

19. UN head before Ki-moon 20. Take in 21. Send to one’s room without supper, say 23. With 50-Across, McCartney’s title when he was in India?

24. Toll hwy.

26. Yellow signs 28. Fashion for the undead set?

33. Canadian clam 34. “Phooey!”

35. Do some landscaping work, say 38. Hill denizens 39. “Start playing” 40. In the ___ (firing on all cylinders) 41. Exclamation said while shrugging 42. Memphis street noted for the blues 43. Following forwardly 44. High-end sandwich belonging to an Italian fashion house?

46. Use a binder clip 49. Psyche’s lover 50. See 23-Across 51. Day to spend with your Peeps 55. “Check back later” in listings 58. Tie often fastened with a tack July 16th: All the theme answers have a double rebus in them: WHITE appears in the Across answers, where MAN appears in the crossing Down entry.

34 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

60. Viscous chowder?

62. Fact-finding mission 63. Coastal eagle 64. Makes a boo-boo 65. “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’” singer Travis 66. Construction paper?

67. Use, as an Underwood

Down 1. Some British sports cars, briefly 2. Reed with 10 keys 3. Wireless linking protocol 4. “The Madcap Laughs” singer Barrett 5. Theatrical genre with heavy makeup 6. Pressing need 7. Singer Lovato 8. Applications of hair gel 9. “I shoulda guessed that” 10. Hot spots?

11. Make void 12. Business people?

13. Cold spot?

18. Put to use 22. Wyndham rival 25. Sisters 27. Those with connections 28. Queen’s style 29. Sharpen the carver 30. Computer that had 17,468 vacuum tubes 31. “The Expendables 3” star 32. Iroquois tribespeople 35. “Don’t even ask” 36. Singly 37. Contemporary 39. Anne of TV’s “Hung” 40. Round number?

42. Raymond James Stadium athlete 43. “There’s not a minute to spare!”

44. Big ape 45. Signaled completion, as a microwave 46. Put away from everything 47. Zapping device 48. Stanley who appears in the “Hunger Games” franchise 52. Worse for wear 53. Hot under the collar 54. “I don’t like your ___!”

56. [I drank too fast] 57. Altar spot 59. Red sticks, briefly 61. Broadway production?

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36 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

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38 · San Diego CityBeat · August 6, 2014

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